They were clearly trying to piggyback on the success Battlestar Galactica, but I think they massively missed the mark by being boring.
BSG was dark, gritty and at times ruthless but it never really felt slow, there was always plot development or character arcs worth following.
Universe was just boring half the time, it felt like you had to persevere through 40mins of filler each episode before getting to the next part of the story.