Yeah, that was kinda depressing. Didn't get a chance to get on until later and had the same experience.
It happens though. If nobody is willing to hang around in an empty server the server can't get started, and I'm guessing that's just what happened tonight. Unfortunately I can't really get on until ~10pm EST most thursdays anymore since I moved to the west coast, and by then if nobody's on it's unlikely anybody else will join.