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Does Syfy Really Love Sci-Fi?
brumgrunt writes "Has Syfy fallen out with science fiction altogether? A look at its latest scheduling shows that it's further away from its roots than ever. 'There's still a lot of the older sci-fi content on the airwaves, but it's slowly being phased out, and forget about original programming. After all, this is the programming crew who ruined Caprica by stuffing it into the Friday night death slot and splitting the season into two parts. These are the geniuses who killed off Stargate Atlantis and Stargate Universe. These are the people who wrecked Farscape, one of the most inventive and fun sci-fi shows to ever be on television. They also ended Mystery Science Theater 3000, only the greatest show ever invented by robots in space.' Is this now as good as it gets?"
From a lot of recent articles I've been reading, Fantasy Books are now king while interest in science-based fiction is almost null.
So if the same for books is also true for television, then it makes sense for Sci-Fi Channel to rename itself, and then move towards more fantasy shows. Fantasy is more profitable.
Information wants to be expensive AND wants to be free. So you have Value vs. Cheap distribution fighting each other.
Yes.
"A Goddess rarely smiles for she is forced by others to be an island unto herself." - Zephiris
I am in complete agreement.
Hebrews 11:8
Jeremiah 33:3
This was the only reason I watched them ever. What a brilliant show and probably the best thing I've seen on TV.
"and forget about original programming."
You could not be further from the truth! I'm very much looking forward to Mega BearLion vs Giant Robo-Piranha 2: The Revenge!
This Space Intentionally Left Blank
I have no idea what you are going on about. I've been watching Farscape for the first time recently, and it's among the least original and most awful "science" fiction I've seen.
I turned off my fucking cable and disconnected the antennae.
I has become clear that TV will all eventually run programs like "Ouch My Balls!" Pretty soon we'll see the antique "Ouch my Balls!" on PBS.
Even the science shows on PBS seem to be dumbing down - I mean, Come on Nova! WTF?!?
...on an unfairly neglected topic.
They killed SGU so they could put wrestling in its place. What more evidence do you need?
While I agree with most of this, how is Friday night the death slot? Stargate SG-1 ran for 10 years in the same Friday night slot didn't it? I am however still unhappy that they killed off Atlantis and Universe.
scifi = science fiction
syfy = wce wrestling
From what I can tell, SyFy doesn't hate Sci-Fi so much as it hates shows that require money to produce. That's why it's chock full of Ghost Retards type shows and horrible Canadian subsidized horror movies.
That said, the costuming reality show (Face Off) has been fairly interesting, even if the producers are hitting the "reality show drama" notes quite a bit too hard. There is some skill and technique on display, and I would be ecstatic if they added little segments about the different techniques they're using "this material takes a couple of hours to set and require different kinds of paint, but allow for more realistic mobility..." instead of the "But Person X is hitting on Person Y, and that's making Person Z jealous" manufactured bullshit.
I read the internet for the articles.
just wonderin
Syfy has become to science fiction like MTV is to music television. Or TechTV (now "G4") is to technology.
It's a shame. I used to love their original programming. Now... wrestling? Really?
I will not miss B-rate actors, C-rate scripts and F-rate over-used, oft-repeated plots.
I'm speaking of course only about the made-for-TV movies. Some of their series lineups were pretty good, but piss on the rest.
They don't "love SciFi" and anyone who thinks they do is an idiot. They're a business, they love making money. They're learning more and more that making a SciFi show that's profitable is extremely difficult, so they're putting on my non SciFi programming to keep their network afloat. And they didn't "ruin" any of those shows, the shows cost a lot of money to make and didn't draw enough of an audience to support their budget. As to why SciFi as a genre is dying these days, it's a genre that caters almost exclusively to the geek crowd, a crowd that increasingly does not watch broadcast television. Whether it's torrents or DVRs, a huge percentage of fans don't watch the shows when they're broadcast, driving advertising rates for those programs into the ground. Considering the high production costs compared to regular dramas due to special effects, the market is dying and will continue to do so unless something changes. Meanwhile, something like pro wrestling is dirt cheap to produce other than the license, and the vast majority of fans will watch the broadcast because it's actually live and they want to know how it turns out.
SyFy didn't ruin Caprica. Ronald D. Moore did. The show sucked Baltar's Balls. The presense of Eric Stoltz was not enough to fix horrible story telling.
this is a question whose answer reveals less about reality and more about the psychology of whomever answers
intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
They love money. If SciFi programming isn't bringing in the viewers they will show what does.
So it's pulling a TLC? Moving from educational shows to Say Yes to the Dress, Cake Boss and the most objectionable show in TV history: Toddlers and Tiaras. There's almost nothing left for them to keep their name, it should be rebranded to fit the crap they show.
The programming has become so bad that when deciding on a cable tv package the only significant difference (for us) between the tier I ordered and the one above was the Syfy, Bravo and an extra c-span.
I ordered the lesser priced service specifically because I was no longer interested in that channel. So Syfy sucking has saved me $20+/month
It looks like I'll get my science fiction in print and from any number of the streaming services.
"After all, this is the programming crew who ruined Caprica by stuffing it into the Friday night death slot and splitting the season into two parts. These are the geniuses who killed off Stargate Atlantis and Stargate Universe. These are the people who wrecked Farscape, one of the most inventive and fun sci-fi shows to ever be on television. They also ended Mystery Science Theater 3000"
How DARE they cancel that show that nobody liked, and those two shows that had bad ratings. And that other show that had bad ratings. And that nine-year-old show that had a good run for years on their network.
I sometimes get the feeling that Sci-Fi fans are so desperate for more content that they religiously and desperately cling to whatever they get, and in the process make shows into far more than they actually are. It's understandable, and even sympathetic. Then again, so is the network trying to pay the bills.
We'll put some fiction on there and call it "science based TV shows". Kinda similar to how History now shows the present (history made today).
Information wants to be expensive AND wants to be free. So you have Value vs. Cheap distribution fighting each other.
BSG/Caprica is really the singular exception to their near-continuous crap fest of pseudoscience and really crappy weekly embarrassments to the b-movie genre. They even had that Bruce Campbell movie with the horrible cave-man makeup that was absent camp value.
They have never loved sci-fi and it is sad they got any ratings success with the crap they have been pumping out since day one.
Or maybe this is the effect of the rise of the "MTV-Geek"? Maybe it's the lack of product placement opportunities that turns away alternative marketing revenue streams?
With my and what I know as many of my friends' affinity for not only watching but also buying sci-fi merchandise, I have found the steady decline rather surprising. Is there nobody that wants our money?
It also seems that Sci-Fi that does get made has progressively been getting more "mainstream". With that it seems that any and all shows I like are getting watered down with soap style love-tangle sub-plots etc...Should I just be grateful that there is no SciFi "reality" show yet?
Killing MST3K was a capital offense. Gimme back Professor Bobo and Brain Guy (Observer).
Let's see, come up with interesting shows... then kill them, or ruin them. Then, you've got a specific niche market that you're targeted at, why not "rebrand" yourself, and try to appeal to an overfull market, while treating the folks who made you viable as ignorant , and chasing them away as hard as you can?
*Great* business plan.
But then, most of them a) don't read SF, b) don't understand it, and c) flunked 5th grade science, and know so much about how the world works that they'd electricute themselves cleaning a toaster (you have to clean them? Really? How? Why?)
And on the sf side, as a lifelong sf fan, it *used* to be that there were 10 year or so cycles, where you'd get more fantasy for 10 years, then more sf; the last 15 or so, it's overwhelmingly fantasy. My take is that with the dumbing down of the educational system, and especially the unravelling of the Space Program, kids don't see a chance for them, so they go off into fantasy worlds where *something* can happen, and maybe they'll win the lottery, too.
mark
I thought everyone knew that they wanted to put reality TV and fantasy into their programming schedule. This was the reason they changed their name.
That's why I've taught my children to pronounce the new name as "sifee".
n2c here
The SyFy channel is getting away from SciFi because the execs see the SciFi audience pie slice is "too small". I have seen this happen in other media where the execs feel that their channel needs to get a bigger slice of the audience pie as if they can go up against the "big dogs" like SpikeTV and such. The problem is that they can't win against their competition in that "big slice" and they are too greedy to know that. I guess SyFy will die but someone else will get the idea and restart a new cable channel just for the SciFi and Fantasy fans, but SyFy will have to practically die first and the whole process may take 5 to 10 years to happen.
It boils down to this:
Science fiction and fantasy programming, no matter how high-quality or compelling, do not draw a sufficiently advertising-targetable, high-spending audience to justify a seperate channel.
In lieu of this, Syfy has chosen the fallback position, which is to appeal to a much broader but reliable audience, young men. Programmers know what shows appeal to this demographic, and advertisers know which products to pitch to them during the breaks.
Thus: Wrestling, ghost hunting, lurid monster movies.
Science fiction is not the only genre or category to suffer. A&E and Bravo were concieved as outlets for artsy movies. MTV used to show music videos and be about, well, music. What kind of programs do these channels show now?
Under the current rules of broadcast and cablecast TV, the situation will never get better. Non-premium channels will get more and more generic and lowbrow. Cheap "reality" shows and infomercials will fill more and more programming slots.
If you really want high-quality SF&F content, you're going to have to be willing to PAY for it. Either on a premium channel, or by some kind of net subscription.
I miss Stargate :(
TekGoblin
How awkward to have a show, mst3k, lambasting bad movies while at the same time all of their original saturday night movies would be fodder for mst3k?
I find myself watching this channel less and less. The last original series I liked was Eureka. The last original miniseries I liked was Battlestar Galactica. It's been downhill ever since.
I think their target demographic is 12-13 year olds. Your average high school science geek would laugh at most of the crap they show.
If you have Amazon Prime, you can now watch all of the Farscape episodes for free. Since I was already a Prime member, I started watching it when it became available.
I use to watch them all the time, now they are so bad I unlisted the channel on my tv so I don't even have to channel browse over it
Summarizer clearly forgets the years when there was no palpable science fiction on the channel and it was all horror shit.
Look at other "specialty networks": The Learning Channel (TLC), MTV, VH1, etc have all bailed on their original programming and having nothing to do with the name of their network. Hell, even the History Channel has bought into the reality TV bullshit. For the most part all of the networks are showing the same crap now.
"A plan fiendishly clever in its intricacies"- Homer Simpson
Stargate Atlantis was terrible. Terrible. .5 seasons was a killer. We watched every episode of 1.0 but none of 1.5, just couldn't get interested again. .5 season, they streamlined it at the end but that was too little too late. Toss out the New Cap City crap and go all film noir sci-fi, it might have been more successful.
SG:U was good but those long breaks between
Caprica tried to do too much with too many subplots the first
The good news, of course, is that there is clearly an audience for actual sci-fi. Someone WILL decide that they'd like to take that audience and make money selling their eyeballs to advertisers. The audience tends to have a lot of disposable income, too, which makes them a prime target for certain sellers. So rest assured, this problem will fix itself.
"Who is the Journal of Quantum Physics going to believe?" --Stephen Hawking
I can just DVR that channel when something interesting shows up on the schedule, if I even reference it. I know from sites like this one and other more in tune sites when something interesting might show up on that channel, the thing is, I use those sites to find it across any channel. After they changed their name to SyFy I was honestly relieved, its is perfect for who they are, some fruity feel good channel trying to cash in on whatever they can but most definitely not bout science fiction.
They have had some good original productions, The OZ and Dune come to mind. Series wise, Stargate and SGA were good to watch, though I admit I much rather watch SG compared to the other two. BSG was good till it started split seasons, then it became annoying. Some of the older shows simply ran their course. They were cult status by the time SciFi mangled them. They have had some original shows, Eureka was definitely out there at times.
Caprica - get real, name one episode that was worth watching - talk about no connection to the series your supposed to be related too - they could have added vampires and werewolves to it and not missed the marker farther than they did.
* Winners compare their achievements to their goals, losers compare theirs to that of others.
When they started showing crap like wrestling, ghost hunters and changed their name to that insipid SyFy I knew they were gone for good.
Let's also not forget the tragedy of Babylon 5. They said they were canceling at season 4, so the creators had to rush the show's plot, then they decided afterward to renew a 5th season, so they had to make up new crap completely outside the realm of the original planned plot line.
No, SyFy does not live Sci Fi. I thought they made that apparent with the name change.
Also, SGU was not science fiction, it was Twilight in space with fewer vampires and more tears.
Motorcycles, Robots, Space Gossip and More!
"Fantasy" and "Sci Fi" have been confounded as long as the genres have existed. Check out any issue of "Weird Tales" from the 30's.
Note how many true Sci Fi authors have gravitated to to name "Speculative fiction" cf. they don't want their lofty ideas to be constrained
by the weights of "Science".
These are the reasons I abandoned most sci fi long ago. I think the best Sci Fi explores Limits, can thrive on the limits of science. In the movies
which is more compelling, laser sword battles or "open the pod bay door HAL". Firefly had an episode "Out of Gas", the Bowie movie
"Moon" all had to deal with physical reality. Contrast to the BS of "Transformers" or any superhero movie. Why do I care?
comcast / nbc seems to be doing a tech tv to syfy!
I think they like stealing good SciFi from BBC. At least Merlin was the actual thing, but Being Human is just disgusting in comparison to the BBC original.
I do enjoy their B movies that they produce on the weekend, they're horrible and poorly written which makes for a good laugh.
After what they did in 2010. I'm all for ESPN taking over. Same thing for the NHL.
They stopped loving Sci-Fi the second they put wrestling on. Just like MTV stopped loving music the second they switched to reality programing in stead of music.
excitingthingstodo.blogspot.com
...came on, those guys are the love of the $$$$, not because they like Scifi stuff. At least they still offer good productions for us to watch. "Mega Shark vs Giant Octopus"
From the article summary:
The Mystery Science Theater 3000 show is the greatest experiment ever invented by two mad scientists working for a scientific institute here on Earth. The robots in space were created by the subject of the experiments, who at the time was just another face in a red jumpsuit working for the mad scientists.
Also, it hasn't happened yet. It will happen, though, in the not too distant future.
Get your facts straight.
-dZ.
Carol vs. Ghost
During her recent Senate run at the GOP Convention, Linda McMahon asked what it would take to get my vote? I replied, "keep the WWF off the SciFi channel". She laughed and said, she didn't work there anymore. So I voted for Rob Simmons.
SyFy is infuriating. I loved Caprica and all that is/was Stargate - sure, they all had their highs and lows, but it was still decent storytelling, enjoyable, and worlds more intelligent than wrestling. My only hope is that some other network starts picking up the shows that SyFy deems unprofitable - if nobody does, we're going to fall into a "sci-fi" vacuum again, and some real garbage will start to creep in before anything really good comes along.
when most sci-fi geeks are tech-savvy and would rather download the eps, the broadcaster and its dwindling ad revenue will have no incentive to produce original shows.
Cable channels used to be about narrowcasting to targeted demographics. About eight years or so back, the channel owners started to rethink that strategy. So The Nashville Network (country-targeted) went to TNN and then became Spike, aiming its programming against a broader male demographic and de-emphasizing and abandoning an explicit connection to the music genre. Unless a cable channel has a lock-hold on a very loyal demographic with a great profile for advertisers, it will go to diversifying its programming and slug it out with general interest programming with a more subtle skew.
MTV - Originally showed music videos, now Real World type shows ..." and "The 100 Greatest..." ...probably some more.
VH1 - Originally music vids, now "I Love the
A & E - Originally showed British shows (Masterpiece Theatre, etc.), now reality and edgy syndicated series.
History - Originally documentary, now reality mixed with edgy docu-drama.
Discovery - similar to History
Bravo - Originally arts/drama, now reality
HBO - Originally movies, now split between movies and series
AMC - same as HBO
What is the point in having niche channels, when you abandon your niche? As someone else mentioned, a lot of channels on cable (The Learning Channel, History, Discovery, etc) are just reality TV and conspiracy theory BS. Why even create niche channels, if they don't want to serve that niche? Even the Science channel is bad these days. There are thousands of good science based documentaries that have been produced, but yet every time I try to watch something on the Science Channel it's just that silly "How Things are Made" crap. Seeing how the Cheetos got from a bag of orange shit, to my face, isn't exactly science!
I turn on Sci-Fi expecting Fiction and get stuff about hunting down ghosts and big-foot. Which would still at least be fiction if the people hunting the creatures didn't themselves act as though they believed in it (and if it had writers). ... well no. No one expects Music on MTV anymore.
I turn on History expecting biographies and documentaries and see Ice Road Truckers and other "history in the making" crap that isn't even significant enough in the long run to be considered "news".
I turn on Discovery expecting documentaries and instead get Myth Busters.
I turn on MTV and
Ginga no Rekshiya Mata Each page.
Make a foundation and get funds to create a real science fiction channel.
Chicago sports fans need to look for NBC messing with CSN and maybe NBC feelings about the bulls, cubs, sox, hawks games on WGN / WCIU.
I know this is off topic but now that NBC is part of comcast I don't want the NBC people who F*** up scif to mess with the sports.
Unfortunately, we live in the age of Twilight. The most popular shows/books atm seem to be obsessed with the human girl and the vampire boy blah blah blah blah blah BAH. Getting tired of there being at least a dozen shows with the exact same plot being spammed everywhere. Add that onto SyFy (stupid name to begin with, it -was- fine) being mostly for wrestling and ghost hunters these days, killing off SGU (I know, diehard SG fans, that you can't handle a show based on non-campy enemy-of-the-week plots ala Buffy the Gate Slayer, get over it), and god knows what else, that Eureka is probably one of the 2(?) watchable shows on this channel now. Let it and it's parent NBC die the death they deserve (not that NBC will ever go anywhere...unfortunately).
Who the hell watches wrestling anyway?
Couldn't agree more.
All the new supposed sci-fi shows are "supernatural" shows, featuring vampires, ghosts, monsters and the rules of science and logic are meaningless. A few (like Warehouse 13) tread around the edges of Sci-fi (but are really more crime-drama, but true Sci-fi can no longer be found on Syfy.
As a result, this channel, which used to be my most watched channel, is now an increasingly rare visit (I don't really even bother checking its listings now). Such a shame. My favorite type of TV show is gone :(
I have said the same thing! Why is there a Sci-Fi Channel? because there are Fans of Sci-Fi who will watch. So why then the name change to SyFy? who knows but the Dink that's running the show clearly is not a sci-fi fan, nor do they have any clue how to run a business. You do not take over a company and change its target customers.
Imagine if the guy running SyFy desided to go to the Food network.
Lets call it the Fûd network. (so i can change a few things that aren't food and it wont seem so bad).
lets add the Survivor series and Jersey boys, because they are getting a lot of attention on other networks. (you know networks dedicated to that type of thing).
it angers me, and there is nothing we can do about it...except hope that an alien comes down and probes the bastards.
Many people felt like SyFy was nothing but reruns with little original sci-fi content 11 years ago. This is not news.
I think it is a matter of sci-fi being expensive to make, so TV executives will inevitably sabotage such shows.
comcast should move the WWE to VS or G4.
comcast wants to make VS a bigger channel and the WWE will do that and If VS loses the NHL they will not have much on it.
wcg ultimate gamer move it to G4.
Let's also not forget the tragedy of Babylon 5. They said they were canceling at season 4, so the creators had to rush the show's plot, then they decided afterward to renew a 5th season, so they had to make up new crap completely outside the realm of the original planned plot line.
Babylon 5 ran on PTEN for four seasons. When they didn't renew it for season 5, it moved to TNT for the final season. One canceled it, and another picked it up. Not only did the networks not do what you described, SciFi had nothing to do with it.
Let's face it, good scifi doesn't bring in the money. It's expensive to produce and the audience is limited for the budgets demanded.
Hopefully Torchwood US will be watchable, thank god it's on Starz and not Syfy.
Non impediti ratione cogitationus.
It wouldn't make a difference.
You are entirely correct in your assessment of SF versus F in the literary world.
But to a TV programmer, the audience for these genres is A) hardly distinguishable, and B) hardly worth targetting programming at.
Why? There aren't a lot of products they can specifically target to SF&F fans. At least, products from industries that make enough money to make television advertisements and pay for airtime.
Battlestar Galactica ruined Caprica for me. Galactica went off the rails in the middle and each episode started leaving me more and more frustrated. I stuck with it, though, but the ending just killed it for me. I don't care to re-watch any part of it, and I'm not slightly interested in any spinoff.
Fun with Anagarams! LADS HOST, SHALT DOS. HAS DOLTS. AD SLOTHS, HATS SOLD. ASS HO, LTD.
While "SyFy" is on cable and therefore sees a bit of revenue off your cable bill, a big percentage of their revenue comes from advertising. Unfortunately their target market (geeky males) generally don't watch ads. They torrent SyFy shows or PVR them and skip through the ads - So it's likely harder for SyFy to recoup their costs for expensive shows with lots of FX if ad revenues are down. Yeah, yeah, I know 'content wants to be free' blah blah blah, but anyone who has watched fan-produced Star Trek or Star Wars webisodes knows that producing quality Science Fiction television programming is complex and expensive.
Yes, SyFy's programming sucks, but let's not pretend that "Caprica", or "Stargate:Universe", or even the last years of "MST3K" were GOOD. They were all terrible, and deserved to be canceled.
"They also ended Mystery Science Theater 3000, only the greatest show ever invented by robots in space."
They may have ended it, but I considered that a mercy killing. I personally lost interest in the show when Joel left and Mike came along. I thought Mike's humor fell flat and to top it off, they killed off some of the best aspects of the show. I mean really, who gets rid of the invention exchange? The Vend-A-Gut shall live in infamy!
If big boobed women work at Hooters do one legged women work at IHOP?
After the way BSG ended, Ca-prick-a didn't stand, or deserve a chance.
If someone is passing you on the right, you are an asshole for driving in the wrong lane.
I'm very interested to see what HBO does with Game of Thrones. When I saw the first previews, I wasn't very enthused, but I recently unpacked all my boxes of books and came across the first book, which I had never read. I'm about 2/3 of the way through it and am really enjoying it. Though, to be honest, the story is more of a political thriller than fantasy (I never watched The Tudors; perhaps this will be somewhat similar in tone?). HBO has shown that they can handle political soap operas very well, so I have high hopes for GoT.
Another poster made the point that a single network can't support itself purely on SF/Fantasy, and there is probably some truth to that. It would be interesting to see HBO take a stab at a SF series. Perhaps the future of quality SF series is through avenues such as HBO (i.e. premium subscription service, high production values, etc.).
Ceci n'est pas un sig.
The first clue, and the only clue you need, that "Syfy" had no respect for science fiction came when it changed its name to "Syfy."
Farscape was produced to be an Australian series. Sci Fi didn't have anything to do with producing that show, they just aired it.
As someone who watched a lot of episodes - towards the end I really got the impression they were running out of old 60's and 70's movies to license and riff. A good chunk of the movies they went after during that time period were student/low budget film projects like Soultaker, Merlin and Future War - which were all painful to watch no matter how much riffing was going on.
From what I understand they couldn't own the term SciFi for their channel so they changed it to ScyFy. Could someone start a channel specifically named SciFi and actually put real science fiction shows on it since they gave up?
~~ Behold the flying cow with a rail gun! ~~
didn't get the ratings.
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
While i'm probably not qualified to comment as I don't have cable... I discovered Eureka on Netflix and must say it's a fun show. Kind of like Star Trek meets CSI if you will. It's definitely not hardcore science fiction, but it's a start.
Everyday You see me is the worst day of my life -Office Space
The default position of just making money isn't enough - they've gotta do better every quarter so the only way to do that is to make cheaper content and/or abandon the niche and try to appeal to more people. Of course everyone is doing that so the market young people are already abandoning becomes an even bigger wasteland as everyone battles for a slice of the shrinking pie.
Of course we know what it takes to run a profitable network that can do really good original programming... about $10-$15/month. It's called HBO. Band of Brothers, Boardwalk Empire, The Pacific, Generation Kill, Rome, The Wire, Six Feet Under, The Sopranos, Sex and the City, Oz, The Ricky Gervais Show, Bored to Death, the upcoming Game of Thrones, and many more. I don't know if a Science Fiction channel can sustain that kind of paying audience but imagine BSG without commercials on a network like HBO. I'd certainly subscribe.
Of course I'd also happily pay $10/month for a REAL Discovery channel. Bring back the historical documentaries from the old History channel, the real science programs from the Science Channel, real educational programs from TLC, etc and put it on a paid network with no commercials.
History International was carrying the History Channel banner for a while but it too has descended into the UFO hunter/ghost/reality/monster wasteland that is the History channel. Science Channel is heading down the same road. Five years ago my programming guide used to be on a favorites list with only the discovery networks, HBO, and a few other channels. Now I barely watch them at all and I'm in the most coveted demographic: 18-30 male. It makes me wonder how they are making money when they seem to be producing dreck that doesn't seem to appeal to the most valued target audience for advertisers. I guess it must just be extremely cheap to produce so it doesn't matter.
Natural != (nontoxic || beneficial)
When I got rid of satellite service back in 2001, there really wasn't much worth watching on sci-fi.
5.5 years later after ending up with cable due to ending up with step kids, morning reruns that didn't make me want to vomit were replaced with infomercials. Try turning on basic cable at 6 or 7 in the morning and tell me if you get less than 2/3 informercials?
At this point I say "Screw this," I'm down to a handful of prime time soap operas. The networks that air them have quit screwing around and made them fairly painless to view online (And grabbing via bittorrent and an appropriate rss feed is only slightly more convenient).
So at this point I either grab a book from the public library, grab it from B&N after the hardback price has dropped at or below the new paperback price, or go work in the yard.
If it means they will fuck it up so it's not on ALL THE FUCKLNG TIME, and interupting other shows, then I hope to hell they do fuck it up.
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
In some cases, the opposite almost seems to be happening with BBC America. Less British stuff, and strangely more Sci Fi. You've got Doctor Who, Torchwood and Primeval, but then strangely you also have ST:TNG and the X-Files.
Dr. Who
The trend towards fantasy started long ago. I remember reading an article in Time about it in 2002 (http://www.time.com/time/covers/1101021202/amfantasy.html), and even then, the trend was not new. There was so much excitement and "looking forward" to the future in the 50s, 60s, and even the 70s, but that has largely died out. I believe the main reason has to do with the fact that no matter how amazingly advanced we become, the "reality" of advanced technology is infinitely more mundane than the "promise". The most exciting tech lately has all centered around consumption. Is consuming audio/video on a tablet really all that better than a TV or laptop?
The few actual sci-fi shows SyFy does have are rebroadcasts or remakes of series from the BBC. You can generally catch them on BBC America weeks or months before you see them on SyFy.
Like another poster stated, the hours I used to spend watching SyFy have generally been replaced with AMC and TCM (and of course BBC America). I can count on AMC and TCM to show the "classic" Sci-fi movies I like and BBC America for more contemporary selections.
For shit sci-fi movies that nobody will remember by the time the DVDs hit the shelves, there is always The Pirate Bay.
since they aren't serous about science fiction anymore, they should mock them selves. turn it into a comedy network.
after daily planet airs they can have a daily mars, when the science is just made fun of.
once they establish a comedy following, they should try adding food or sports, maybe music would be nice, since there isn't a music station anymore.
In a few years, we'll look back and say "Remember when there was science fiction on the scifi channel?"
Or maybe we're doing that now. The other day, Daughter and I were talking about that really revolting Earthsea tv movie, and that led to all the really bad movies and miniseries we'd seen on the skiffy channel (or however you pronounce the current, tragically hip spelling). I reminisced a little about how in the old days scifi would rebroadcast science fiction series from the sixties and seventies, which although sometimes corny in their own right, were much less shudder-worthy than seemingly intentional crapfests like Mega-Python vs Gatoroid. So I guess we're already saying "remember when there was scifi on the scifi channel?"
Oliver's law of assumed responsibility: If you're seen fixing it, you will be blamed for breaking it.
Is this now as good as it gets?
They are following the proven MTV path to riches.
XKCD:Xeric Knowledge Comically Dispen
Chicago sports fans need to look for NBC messing with CSN and maybe NBC feelings about the bulls, cubs, sox, hawks games on WGN / WCIU.
I know this is off topic but now that NBC is part of comcast I don't want the NBC people who F*** up scif to mess with the sports.
I wouldn't worry too much about that. Comcast shares ownership of the Flyers and Sixers with Ed Snyder, who gets sports broadcasting. In addition, the Roberts' (father and son) are friends of Mr. Snyder. I, also, believe that Mr. Snyder got a peice of Comcast when he did the deal that got Comcast part ownership of the sports teams. I am quite confident that the upper echelons of Comcast understand sports broadcasting much better than the incumbents at NBC. And unlike AOL, Comcast has a history of taking over the companies they buy, not the other way around.
The truth is that all men having power ought to be mistrusted. James Madison
Also heard the same thing said about American football; reminded of these lyrics (MC lars, Everyone's A Little Bit Gay)
It's the feeling that you get watching sports with your buddies
In any room of Niners fans, half of them have chubbies
Football, that's gay
Milonakis had it right
Guys shower in the locker room and put on pads and tights
They dance around with balls and slap each others' butts
If you told me that was straight then I'd tell you that you're nuts
I listen to both RIAA and non-RIAA stuff if I like the music, tangential business/politics nonwithstanding.
Also, JMS said that he didn't rush anything - all the plot threads relevant to ending the Shadow War and the Earth Alliance civil war were given the amount of time he wanted for them.
The real problem was that it forced him to put all the Telepath War stuff in season 5, and since the Telepath War stuff kind of sucked, it made season 5 kind of worse. The Fall of the Centauri Republic stuff made up for it, though.
Really, when it comes down to it, the two real tragedies were the miscommunication that resulted in Claudia Christian not returning for season 5, and TNT's total screwing up of Crusade through extensive meddling and canning the show after half a season. Oh, and Legend of the Rangers totally blew chunks, so I guess that's three.
It's definitely gone downhill. I used to watch it for hours a day; now I might watch one movie a month. What they should do is something along the lines of Analog magazine: Science-Fiction/Science Fact. And, they should split their content times and ad times distinctly - if you want to see the kind of ads they run (which I don't*), tune in between 12am and 6am. The rest of the time, pure sciency goodness. Finally, ditch the THIS vs. THAT and reality crap, unless the story really calls for it. I keep expecting a werewolf diva or giant snakeghost to pop up almost anywhen.
* Unless, of course, the ads could be changed to be even less believable; like anti-viagra aimed at our new Jovian overlords so they don't split the poor Earth women in half an shit like dat.
Refuse to watch any show not in line with the genre networks image (Reality or otherwise) as it just encourages them even more.
Ahh, Babylon 5, quite possibly the most overrated sci-fi TV show of all time. Keep in mind I LIKED it, a lot, but it wasn't nearly as good as the cult seemed to think.
Ghost Hunters? In the Frozen North we get that crap (and its kin, like 'conspiracy theory') on the so-called 'Outdoor Life Network'. I guess shit smells the same, no matter what beast it belongs to.
Maybe the whole specialized-channel paradigm is flawed, and there simply isn't enough popular programming to support any of them.
In fact, as far as I can tell, only a few specialized networks have really stuck to their roots (Home & Garden, Comedy, Golf). Most (Space, History, Outdoor Life, TLC) have become some sort of bizarre cable-tv schlock-fest.
I recall asking, almost pleading my cable company to add SciFi to their lineup. By the time they did, it was already in decline. But my philosophy was, I asked for it, I should watch it... so I slogged on, and on. I've probably watched twenty of their wretched made-for-TV movies, unable to believe there wasn't ONE that had redeeming value - I was wrong. The first couple of times I stumbled across "professional wrestling" I checked and re-checked the channel guide, sure a mistake had been made. The name change to something resembling (to me) a venereal disease was the final straw. Off my cable box's channel list, forever.
I used to download the series every week, with spanish subtitles (my english is very poor as you can see)
Funny, you can measure how a series sucks, because it gets harder and harder to find subtitles for it (nobody cares writting them) ... I'm still searching for the last four episodes subs xDDD
When there are new cable channels, they almost always have an over-specific focus and branch out because they don't have enough content or they just think they'll do better with general focused programming. MTV barely even shows a music video. BBC America is always showing Americans shows like Star Trek. The History Channel shows "Ice Road Truckers." American Movie Classics shows Mad Men and movies that are nowhere near classic status. ESPN shows poker games and eating contests. It is not at all surprising to see Syfy just showing whatever they think can get ratings at this point. Maybe they can come out with Syfy 2, for the true sci-fi, and then slowly transition it just showing music videos.
Democracy Now! - your daily, uncensored, corporate-free
I knew SciFi was gone last holiday season when we didn't get to see a classic literary work re imagined like "Tin Man" or "Alice" from prior years.
To be focused now on really poorly written and produced tv movies. It seems they are much more concerned about putting on bad tv that has someones nephew as a star in some lamely written "action" flick.
Joe Investor
Linda McMahon admitted that wrestling was a Soap Opera during her campaign. Move it to SOAPnet!
Hey, someone that is not at work right now please find and post the cracked article about it. It's quite amusing.
Back when fantasy was more widely considered pollution, so was the phrase "Sci-Fi", which was derisively pronounced "skiffy".
A lot of people thought "skiffy" would be the ruin of the genre.
And we were right.
To ensure perfect aim, shoot first and call whatever you hit the target
It's called BBCAmerica.
Dr Who
Torchwood
Being Human
Etc.
more original and better programming than "Sci-FI" ever had.
(BTW, Stargate SG1 started on Showtime, not Sci-Fi)
TV "sci-fi" has always been mostly fantasy. Anyway, "SyFy isn't showing much if any fantasy either. "Reality" shows and wrestling is wher they're heading.
Drop the SyFy - it does no service for the network, and puts a cramp in the Sci-Fi genre.
Call the station GES (general entertainment station) and be done with it.
When I started watching Sci-Fi all those years ago, I thought 'this is fantastic - finally a channel that promises to show something that I want'. Over the last few years, I have become so unbelievably disappointed with their choice of programming. Okay, even in the early days they did show some real crap (think Stephen King), and they were struggling for content even then because they would show the same stuff at least three times in a week. But at least they did have some good stuff.
They have lost their focus and have wandered far from the path of science fiction to utter and absolute crap. Wrestling? Ghost Hunters? WTF?!?!?! These shows are from complete MORONS! It has become painfully clear that the pencil pushers at the network have completely gone off their rocker. And the name change: SyFy? What the hell is up with that? How stupid can you get?
Farscape: Gone. (I liked this one) Stargate: Gone. (the best of the lot) Stargate Atlantis: Gone. (and in such a terrible way) Stargate Universe: Gone. (and good riddance!) BSG: Gone. (too bad because they could have done something really good with this) Caprica: Gone. (those Fracking Bastards! This was just getting really good!)
But, hey it's not only SyFY who are fucking it all up. Firefly and Dead like me were great shows killed off way too early.
As far as fantasy goes - I don't mind good fantasy, but lately, it's gotten pretty bad.
To be honest, I don't even watch SyFy, let alone regular broadcast anymore, it's all too depressing. I watch stuff that I do like on DVDs - Yes I have an extensive collection and it's always growing. The only time that I watch anything on broadcast is when I visit with family.
What we really need is a channel that can bring us the best in Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror. Show some of the old classics, and make some real commitments to new original programming. I'd support such a channel with real cash. Hell, if I had enough I'd start my own.
SyFy: Sit and spin motherfuckers! You are no longer worth my time!
Why is it that most of the people that I encounter seem to have been shat from the Sphincter of Mediocrity?
Outsourcing!
Syfy could be a great source of Chinese-made or Indian made Sci-Fi movies. And since China doesn't give a rat's ass about copyrights, we could see their take on Terminator or Predator.
At least in *their* version of the Matrix, Neo would be doing real kung fu... or actually know kung fu... or actually act like he could do kung fu... or hopefully act... But I digress.
Secondly, I'm seeing Sci-Fi migrating to other channels. ION was recently running Firefly, The Family Network runs old Lost in Space episodes, and Firefly is coming to the Science Channel starting March 6th.
All that said, I think someone needs to reboot a Sci-Fi network, because SyFy's owners (USA) just don't get it. There's so much existing content out there. It's weird that FX runs more sci-fi movies than the SyFy channel.
I mean, Star Trek content alone could fill some airtime especially since Deep Space Nine hasn't run anywhere for about a decade. Heck, I'd be a fan of any channel to run Star Blazers and Robotech. And Babylon 5. And Space:1999.
If telephones are outlawed, then only outlaws will have telephones.
The name change and their actions make this so blatantly obvious I'm surprised we're even debating this.
Vacuum cleaners suck. Kings rule.
Caprica could have been good, if it had a plotectomy. Somewhere around the time when Zoe was pit fighting WhateverHerNameWas in VR world, I was hoping SyFy would just cancel the show in mid-air and put Tom & Jerry on for the remaining time instead.
So, do you actually have any idea what really happened with B5, or are you just making shit up as you go? SyFy had nothing to do with it. B5's renewal was in doubt every single season, and it was a source of endless angst for fans (and staff) at the time. UPN didn't renew B5 for a fifth season, and TNT did pick it up for a fifth season at the last minute. As for rushing the plot--the S4 shadow/vorlon war plot was NEVER going to be longer than it was when broadcast because if it was a single episode longer, they'd've had to pay several of the actors a lot more money (appearing in X number of episodes means you're a regular) and give them better billing. And as for the liberating earth plot that took up the rest of the season--the last thing needed was to be stretched out even longer. S4 was subpar because JMS was running out of steam. S5 was shit because JMS was out of steam mid-way through S4, but couldn't stop.
More like Syfayl after the marathon of crappy Mega Python vs Gatoroid movies that are shown on there now. The channel is an embarrassment to what it used to be.
SYFY doesn't mean "science fiction", it means "SillY FantasY"!
I mean, "Warehouse13" is the only show I enjoy on that channel, but, come on, it's not science fiction.
... is crap. It must be said, even the 'good' stuff isn't all that great.
Slightly longer answer: SyFy Original Mega Python Vs Gatoroid
SyFy (I prefer to pronounce it "Sih-Fee" since it has almost no sci-fi anymore) has gone in the crapper. I remember when they used to have tons of awesome sci-fi, not to mention being the home of things like Stargate, one of the most trumpeted sci-fi franchises in history, and great unique things like Mystery Science Theater 3000. Now, they have this crap Mega whatever Vs. Whateveroid, surrounded by syndicated shows and wrestling. Really? How is Wrestling sci-fi? Perhaps it is "Sih-Fee", but certainly not Sci-Fi. There is nothing Sci-Fi about of bunch of dudes running around in spandex. And no, I don't hate wrestling. I grew up with it, but that isn't the point. SyFy has become just like every other station, doing whatever they can to whore themselves out to make the most money. Lifelong viewers be damned. Now I know it is their right to do whatever they want on their station, but for them to kill off entire franchises and at the same time move in crap like WWE Smackdown and freakin Mega Python Vs Gatoroid, as a life-long sci-fi fan and "Sih-Fee" watcher, I can't help but feel scorned.
Also, if you feel the need to disagree, please don't throw the "Caprica and/or Stargate: Universe were bad shows" argument at me, because they killed them before they had a chance to flourish. They didn't even bother informing the actors on Stargate that the show was canceled. Shows exactly what SyFy thinks of their talent and fans.
"I hope you know how very lucky you are to know me, because I am so incredibly incredible."
I'm so tired of snakes, vampires, ghosts, and bugs that SyFy is pretty much useless to me. I get more out of Lifetime Movie Network.
So I'm reduced to watching V as if it's not just another snake plot. When SyFy took the Is out of their name, it was the admission that they are chasing popular culture for the bucks. Guys, there's a lot of money in real Sci Fi and fantasy. Dr Who had an audience, I think. Anyways, staking themselves to the SciFi/fantasy genre would have at least given them something to claim as their own. Now they are just another lame movie network, bleagh.
deleting the extra space after periods so i can stay relevant, yeah.
we pirates and others are doing the sci fi , because to do sci fi you have to innovate.
Fantasy is part of sci fi. THE ancient and old and magical.
Take that and put it with future and you always have fun.
THEY cant do that last bit nor are they about fun.
There still can be some money to be made in working small niches; sometimes it's even an attractive alternative to trying to break into a crowded mainstream market.
Alternately, a business might want to try and make money in both markets (although whether can successfully manage such distinct product lines is another issue)
I listen to both RIAA and non-RIAA stuff if I like the music, tangential business/politics nonwithstanding.
How DARE they cancel that show that nobody liked
No doubt there were some shows that got canned deservedly. In other cases, however, the mis-handling of the show by SciFi channel was a major factor in causing audience dislike. The extent of mis-handling suggests that the scheduling decision-makers lacked any understanding of SciFi, and were likely completely alienated by it. Why else would they do things which were almost certain to decrease audiences?
One example is Lexx, a pretty good series if you get it on DVD. In its "wisdom", the SciFi channel decided not to show the first season at all [*]. This guaranteed that the audience would be a bit mystified, as the first season provided the context for subsequent seasons, and was excellent in itself. The SciFi channel then aired the second season shows out of their intended sequence. Audience confusion was complete, and the series bombed in North America, largely due to the actions of the SciFi channel morons.
[*] Maybe they were scared of the jiggling tits shown in one of the episodes. I doubt this, however, as they could easily have cut a minute from the episode and stuffed another ad in the gap.
Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities. - Voltaire
It's modern steady-cam drama bullshit just like 24. I was half expecting them to break out Jack Bauer for Cylon interrogations. I can only take so much intensity, I need some humanity and hell a laugh here and there never hurt anyone. Shit even guys in war zones chuckle from time to time. If any crew was really that intense all the time they'd all die from stress related injury.
Tiger Blooded Bi-Winning Machine
...all of the Stargates deserved to be axed. Terrible. terrible television.
-- Even if a god did exist, why the fsck should I worship it?
First, it's "Ow My Balls"
But the scary part is is that I could imagine that being quite popular today; hell, I might even tune in for a bit of lowbrow entertainment
I listen to both RIAA and non-RIAA stuff if I like the music, tangential business/politics nonwithstanding.
NERDS!!!
"Imagine more (because we have run out of stock!)..."
Rwe obliged 2 save our future by choosing:O3 hole-greenhouse effect instead of accepting everydays gossip-nonsense chat?
In other news, The Learning Channel won't teach you anything not in the following categories: Midgets, Quintuplets, Midget Quintuplets.
Tiger Blooded Bi-Winning Machine
If they did they wouldn't have changed their name (or, for that matter, air ghost hunting crap).
You mean WWE Smackdown doesn't smack of sci-fi?
Battlestar Galactica ruined Caprica for me. Galactica went off the rails in the middle and each episode started leaving me more and more frustrated. I stuck with it, though, but the ending just killed it for me. I don't care to re-watch any part of it, and I'm not slightly interested in any spinoff.
The thing is, when all of the geeks started complaining that Season 3 of BSG turned into a soap opera, my wife and I thought it was a lot more interesting than boring space battles between Cylon raiders and Vipers. What's wrong with spending an episode learning about how the people on the fuel-supply live? After all, each episode was telling us how many humans were still alive.
Caprica wasn't that good to begin with. Had some fascinating concepts but that's about it.
Stargate Universe was like a b-rated ripoff of the re-imagined BSG series.
Besides, they changed their name to Syfy so I'm not sure what all of you were expecting. It's time to go after BBC, HBO, Showtime and AMC and get these networks to produce a killer serious science fiction show (SERIOUS, Dr Who is awesome but I'm talking BSG).
I'm god, but it's a bit of a drag really...
we should try to get the space channel in the usa.
It's the sci-fi in Canada but it does not have the us sci-fi channel crap.
MTV's lack of music videos these days has been pointed out several times already, but there's something called COOL TV now that actually shows music videos most of the time.
Hope: Repeat the process here
Cynicism: How long until the replacement channel gets messed up too
And a quote-
Chelsea Handler, 2010 VMAs intro monologue: "Don't clap [for Jersey Shore] - that stuff is why MTV is not playing your videos"
I listen to both RIAA and non-RIAA stuff if I like the music, tangential business/politics nonwithstanding.
directv has Versus HD and Versus alt HD.
Comcast system don't have the 2 Versus feeds. Come play offs on D* you will be able to pick the game you want see when there is over lap.
Proof positive of what I've always known: The general intelligence level of human civilization is going down. Each succeeding generation is dumber than the last. This disgusting deterioration of the SyFy channel is only the most obvious peak of this social iceberg. The only way I see to fix this situation would be to fire everyone on SyFy's staff younger than 30 and replace its leadership with pentagenarian SF writers.
I worry about team control that why FSN Chicago was dropped. How does NBC / comcast feel about the WGN games?
Pretty much. The premise was good, but after the third or fourth episode, I got tired of almost all the characters being dickheads and quit watching.
"16MB (fuck off, MiB fascists)" - The Mighty Buzzard
SyFy is probably catering to their audience - who apparently are more interested in ghosts and paranormal than in anything based on real science. We've lost our way - if we don't focus on science education (parents, get your kids interested in science when they're young!), there won't be any science fiction - or even any real science done. Remember the dark ages? Fact is better than faith, folks, and no matter how desperately you want to believe in ghosts and paranormal, it isn't going to create new antibiotics or cancer treatments. If we allow this to continue, we'll only get what we deserve.
at first. Then towards the end the robots and teenage digital girls stopped being emphasized. I liked the idea that the Cylons were born out of teenage rebellion and religious fanaticism. The adults were mostly boring in that show.
Being human is pretty decent.
There was a 200th episode show of Stargate SG1 that had a mock-up of its own show where they pretended to recreate Stargate SG1 with a more hip, young crowd (the punch line where one of the characters reveals she's pregnant). When Stargate Universe aired, all I could think was they took the joke of that one episode and made it real. They even did the joke from the show where they pretended to shorten the intro of the show to just showing the title, a one note of theme music and then go to commerical, which they did with SG1. Turns out, that's exactly what they did with Stargate Universe as well. It's almost as if they made a joke and then someone saw it and realized, hey that might just work. And of course, it didn't.
Sarbonn's blog: http://www.sarbonn.com/blog
All this vampire crap is diluting what the fantasy section at the local bookstore used to be.
Sorry but teen romance in the guise of sparkly vampires is NOT fantasy.
I've completely given up even browsing the fantasy section at bookstores now due to this.
I so miss the original sci fi channel when it was actually sci fi. It became almost the only channel I was watching on television at one point. When I moved to a new apartment and had to subscribe to cable, I even chose the cable company based on which one offered the Sci Fi Channel. And then Sci Fi turned into what it is now. It kept getting worse, to the point where I don't think the same people own the company any more and someone decided they could profit more by showing cheap crap instead.
Sarbonn's blog: http://www.sarbonn.com/blog
The real problem isn't the programming, it's mergers and acquisitions. Cable was to be a boon for independence. But because NBC/Comcast now own half the channels and TBS owns a quarter and Fox the rest, that doesn't leave any room for any competition.
as slashdot loves news for nerds.
10 years ago, The Sci-Fi channel presented sci-fi and slashdot presented news for nerds.
Hell, that was true even 5 years ago.
Today, SyFy cares about whatever everyone else is doing to gain viewers and slashdot cares about posting slashvertisments and trolls in order to rank up the page views and cares not how true anything it posts may or may not be.
In short, both have fallen to their corporate overlords and are no longer useful for their original purposes. They are both, basically like every other channel/website respectively that they originally differentiated themselves from and go their initial view/user base.
Both have forgotten why they were created.
Persistent Volume manager for Kubernetes - https://github.com/dwimsey/openshift-pvmanager
When VOY ended that was the death of decent scifi series.
First of all, Eric Stoltz can fix ANYTHING. That's right--fuck you Michael J. Fox, fuck you right up your shaking ass.
Secondly, Caprica was not BSG 2, nor was it meant to be. People tuning in expecting that were going to be disappointed. But if you took it on its own merits, it was a great show with a few weak moments and storylines (there were a few of those on BSG too).
SJW: Someone who has run out of real oppression, and has to fake it.
Sorry, I don't understand the question.
The truth is that all men having power ought to be mistrusted. James Madison
Hey, the channel is owned by NBC now.
Pretty much, if NBC touches it, it turns to shit. It wasn't always like that, NBC used to be the top dog network.
About the time they started partnering with M$, everything went to hell.
Coincidence?
If you trend SciFi (SyFy) over time you will see how the NBC effect took hold and how they are to blame for ruining yet another station.
Farscape was canceled, with a follow up movie to clean up the loose ends. A Lot more than Most series get.
Farscape was an awesome show.
SG:Atlantis was an awesome show.
SG:Universe was an awesome show.
Wrestling.......not so awesome.
In the same way the 24 hour news cycle has killed news, 24 hours a day of "sci-fi" has ruined sci-fi on Syfy.
This is an especially egregious subject for me as I am a fundamental hard science fiction fan, and I have always been a fan of Arthur C. Clarke, Ben Bova and Isaac Asimov. Why are more of those books not sci-fi movies or tv shows? Why hasn't Rama been remade for TV???
Even Scooby-Doo whose characters used rational thought to see reality has become supernatural.
When they started showing crap like wrestling, ghost hunters and changed their name to that insipid SyFy I knew they were gone for good.
This is the same network that showed "Crossing Over with John Edward" and various other shows tossing around copious amounts of bullshit related to nutjob conspiracy theories, ghost sightings, etc. They were doing this pretty much from the start, as I recall.
(And I did watch at "the start" - FTL newsfeeds, Doctor Who hour... good times...)
Bow-ties are cool.
and I was modded flamebait. Now it's a slashdot submission? You can all go to hell.
Will NBC / Comcast want there to be no more WGN / WCIU cubs, sox, bulls , hawks games?
Also, JMS said that he didn't rush anything - all the plot threads relevant to ending the Shadow War and the Earth Alliance civil war were given the amount of time he wanted for them.
Well, I thought it seemed like kind of a rush. Season four starts and it's like, "OK, time for the Shadow War to end and the First Ones to go away, so we can wrap up the civil war thing." Even if it's not the truth, it seemed like season 4 was packed tight, and then with season 5 seeming kind of sparse, that only reinforced the effect.
Bow-ties are cool.
Syfy should be spoken as "see fee" as in see fee tee vee.
That ain't liver; that's beef kidney!
Fact is, the production of good sci-fi is too low to feed a niche-channel. Sci-fi in tv shows generally sucks, an the number of crappy shows are long, even if a few are shining crap (Start Trek NG, Battlestar Galactica (orig and reboot), Firefly and Farscape).
Sci-Fi is all about Sci-Fi.. That is discussing sci-fi genuine things, for instance What is the status for the android Mr. Data in Start Tek NG - is he a thing, or a individual? recently TV Sci-fi has been more and more about "action" and character-development. But in Sci Fi the love life or the emotional conflicts of Mr X or Miss X is completely irrelevant. It's just a statement from the writers: "We have bad fantasy, and prefer to whore in the ratings scheme". They write generic stories where "sci-fi"is just a thin layer of background. Most of these stories could effortlessly been adapted to Western series or whatever.
The main problem however is that most Sci-Fi is produced in US. For some reason US TV Sci-Fi writers seems to believe that every possible future is some variant of contemporary US, even if involving several galaxies.
I think you have a point. The best Sci-Fi show, Firefly, will be re-run on cable, and it will be on the Science Channel. That probably means something.
SyFy... blarg. The only decent show on nowadays is Sanctuary, and note I said "decent". Everything has gotten so politically correct that they simply won't air anything that pushes the envelope anymore. This SF starvation has pushed me to seek out dystopian B-movies from the 70's and 80's, most with really awful acting, but at least it wasn't about a sparkly vampire or an effeminate teenage wizard.
Maybe (*snicker*) people have gotten so terminally stupid from watching MTV and Michael Bay films, that they can no longer appreciate the poignant social commentary expressed within fiction. And then we wind up with messes like Doomsday and Resident Evil, which completely miss the point, focusing on the images of chicks with guns, rather than the IDEA of a fucked up future that shares enough with reality to get your own speculative mind revved up. I mean really, why bother understanding the many allusions and projections of a plot, when you can glaze over and indulge in random sexualized violence... this is what the average TV/movie watcher has become.
-Billco, Fnarg.com
are science fiction lovers the bulk of their customers?
the Microsoft customer base is universal
google customer base is universal
ibm is either mega-corporate to hell and gone or consumer end users
it's been this way for a while
so, they should advertise to 'the masses' & not the sci-fi subset
are you still thinking the only people who are microsoft customers are tech heavy nerds? that hasn't been the case for well over a decade..
the customers microsoft needs to win over by the way, aren't the technicians and sysadmins, but the CEO's and purchasing agents.
CEO's, and btw their spouses, watch the food network.
fans of SCI-FI use & support the products of these companies, but are not the CUSTOMER so far as the goal of marketing goes.
every day http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Random
And, fwiw, they picked up mst3k and gave it another 5 years after CC had already torched it.
It's hard to sell a two hour block of programming in general. Doubly so when the pitch is "ITS UNWATCHABLE SHITTY TV! hehehe"
Atlantis had run it's course and Universe sucked: the casting was just horrible and the show itself was amazingly low of science-fiction content much less the fact that they were on a potentially very interesting alien ship at immense distances from earth.
Never say never. Ah!! I did it again!
Why would they have a say?
The truth is that all men having power ought to be mistrusted. James Madison
I think another name change is planned. Sometime this year the name will become "The Wrestling Channel"
Last time I checked the SciFi channel had been replaced by the Wrasslin, Fortunetelling and wannabe Ghostbusters channel. I cant remember the last time I turned it there, I know it was sometimes shortly after Battlestar Galactica ended.
What was science fiction, is now not just reality, but obsolete.
I mean take a look at Dick Tracy's watch - not even as good as our cellphones. The stuff they did in Star Trek? We don't need a starship to do the same. Look at World of Warcraft. It's not a video game - it's a simulator for how human beings will behave in the future when we have the power to transfer our consciousness into bodies other than our own for entertainment.
Syfy is failing not because of a lack of sci fi material to work with, but because it's no longer more amazing than reality.
If you can read this, I forgot to post anonymously.
SGU was meant to be BSG 2, and thereby pissed off lots of SG fans and lots of BSG fans. I liked it -- lots of people didn't though.
We (and by that i mean the geek community at large) made this channel what it is today. Our taste may have changed over the years and it has gained new fans as kids grew older. I think at the core it is still a geek based channel but alot of us who were fans back in the day have gotten older and perhaps jaded. What it means to be a geek has changed and it may not be in line with our thinking. Personally I hate this channel now and make the choice not to watch most of it's programming because it holds no interest for me but I see that is not true with the younger generation. So I make the distinction that I would love to see The old school Galactica, Science Fiction movie classics IE: The Day The Earth Stood Still (1951), Forbidden Planet, Classic Star Trek being broadcast that may not be the consensus nowadays and i am not a majority but a minority. The channel has changed with it's audience and it's audience has grown.
Chris Sheppard
they can kick the teams form CSN and WGN does not have the room to pick them all up.
Yes, that's what we need. A audience-driven science fiction channel. I would gladly pay a monthly fee to get quality programming, in particular, wouldn't it be nice to have something like Firefly again?
The thing is, SF shows are EXPENSIVE and have a limited audience. My guess is that the only way we're going to get what we want is if we pay as we go. After all, it's not like we have much of a choice nowadays.
"...Well, there's egg and bacon; egg sausage and bacon; egg and spam; egg bacon and spam; egg bacon sausage and spam..."
SGU was the only one of the Stargate series I like. It had a lot of acting muscle (particularly the great Robert Carlye and pretty good Louis Ferreira) and the stories were nearly as silly and hokey as other SG series. But while it definitely wasn't in the same league as BSG, it was worth watching. Caprica and SGU were the last two series I watched on Scfy (and perhaps the last).
SJW: Someone who has run out of real oppression, and has to fake it.
The channel has pretty much gone down the tubes, I don't watch it any more. Whenever I flip to it all I see is some ghost busters crap or wrestling. Adult Swim is the only thing that is moderately interesting, and they moved the Anime well past midnight so there's no point trying to watch it on that channel.
For the record, the FarScape movie was the BEST ending to a science fiction series ever. Nothing else comes even remotely close to that ending. But the SciFi channel didn't have much to do with the production of that series.
-Matt
The faster this channel can be made dead the better, they've been out of my Tivo channel list for many years. Fuck them dead with a fuck tool.
Given the tech ability of a number of SF&F fans, I can see instances where the fans and authors work to create quality programming that is then distributed via the Internet.
It is happening to a small degree today. But as personal computers get more powerful, and animation software gets simpler to use, the quality of the work will increase and groups like the SyFi network may take note and do something decent.
I just hope they don't break out the legal eagles and try to lawsuit the independents into oblivion.
I always do, and always switch channels.
There is nothing to prevent it from being built again, perhaps under a different name using a different media, to cater to those who like classic SF&F.
I suspect that some groups would be willing to finance it and perhaps there could be some marketing tie-ins.
I cut cable off about a year ago even though I pirated off and on before that I have now switched to full on pirating of entertainment as far as television is concerned. I use western digital wtv live to stream torrented or megaupload divx movies over the network to my television. Television channels are all spam, the amounts of commercials are staggering, you can't watch a show for 5 minutes without a commercial, and the commercial breaks are so long that they have to stop and remind you of what you are watching "We'll be right back with xxx" then continue into more commercials. I've had enough of spam, and fake reality tv. It's not reality tv, it's all scripted. And for those reasons Its not worth my money, with the MASSIVE AMOUNTS of commercials they got their money and I am not a nielson family anyhow so I'm not counted for anything anyhow. So I will continue to pirate the shows commercial free that I enjoy and hope more and more people follow suit. If more and more turned to P2P the advertisers and networks will have to wake up and realize their tired old ways no longer work and things will have to change. piracy is now the only way to enjoy television without the massive amounts of spam and being able to choose when, where, and how you want to watch. And I wont stop until television has a major wake up call and realizes we don't want reality tv, and stop spamming us.
" I got two words for ya!"
Mick Foley.
"You can't fake gravity". So look at it as a sport of how to do outrageous looking stuff *without* getting killed. Mick Foley's biographies are incredible. He has a stunt where he wraps his head in the ropes. Except one time on a German tour the ring tech screwed up the tightness settings so the carefully calibrated normally safe stunt resulted in Mick Foley legitimately about to die. He yanked his head out of the ropes and that is how he damaged his ear.
My first Journal Entry ever, in 8 years! http://slashdot.org/journal/365947/aphelion-scifi-fantasy-horror-poetry-webzine
Why would Comcast kick the teams from their flagship station? THis is Comcast buying NBC, not NBC buying Comcast. It isn't even a merger of "equals". Comcast bought NBC from GE. Once again, the Roberts' (father and son) appear to understand sports broadcasting. I could see Comcast trying to get all of the TV broadcasts for those teams off of WGN and onto CSN, but I doubt that would reduce their current lineup of CSN games.
The truth is that all men having power ought to be mistrusted. James Madison
I hate wrestling, and I hate Ghost Hunters. It's all they show now. Neither one is science fiction or epic fantasy. Those idiots who took over Syfy don't understand that the people who used to watch SciFi don't watch anymore, because of their stupidity. They have killed off every show that was even moderately interesting to watch.
The whole point is that Scifi was a place where stuff that wasn't mainstream could flourish. The audience doesn't want the bland stuff that's dumbed down for people with a 50 IQ. Now the morons who own it have turned it into another version of TBS.
With Scifi dead, I have no reason to bother keeping cable other than the History channel, which is also starting to go downhill with stupid reality shows. (Pawn Stars is great though..it's actually genuine.)
I was with ya till you mentioned stargate universe, if anything ever needed killing it was that piece of shit.
I don't know, seasons 2-4 were among the best sci-fi I've seen. The main draw was the well-managed story arc. For me, it was better than its contemporaries (st:ds9 & early st:voyager).
I still rate TNG, the later seasons of Voyager, and BSG higher, but B5 was good.
The Sci-Fi channel is all but dead. There has not been a single Star Trek episode since 2004 (or something like that) since it was killed by UPN (now a long gone tv network or a station). Forget about having it on Sci-Fi.
The people how run and control Sci-Fi do not appear to have interest in having Sci-Fi on the tv screen. It is all about cheap reality tv.
While that most people think that Sci-Fi is only about space. It is in reality not like that. Sci-Fi can be a lot more then that. But not all tv shows are sci-fi shows. There is a lot of drama and comedy shows out there, they belong to the other tv stations and not Sci-Fi channel. All reality shows should be canceled. They are all rubbish and not worth the effort to watch. They only make them because they are cheap and easy to make.
The former channel known as Sci-Fi is now not far from a channel called Discovery Channel. But Discovery channel is today not about discovering thing (expect with the show called Mythbusters). Today the Discovery Channel is more of a military channel where they show off military hardware, they also have some other trash that is not worth watching. Same goes for Sci-Fi channel. They might have some sci-fi programming. But it is a minority of the programming and is today not the main line of it. While it should be.
This is also a reminder of what did happen to a channel named MTV. There is no music on it today (just during the night and early mornings). Just bad and worse reality shows and South Park.
There is a need for a new Sci-Fi channel. That actually shows some Sci-Fi for a change.
I noticed there was never anything on good nowadays on SyFy, sucks too cause I used to really like that channel. They had some really good things to, like "The Lost Room", which was a really good mini-series that they even had a petition asking for them to make a full series out of. But then just went south for them with their programming.
Lets face it, a niche channel that stops serving their niche either needs a name change or a swift death. It is somewhat "ok" for some special event somewhat related to the channel on without being of its genre, such as Cartoon Network having an award show for cartoons but not the live action shows they have, but come on.
I don't know, why run a music channel that shows no music?
or a history channel that likes swamp people, truckers and hillbillies?
or a "Learning Channel" that has not much to teach except how not to exploit your family for tv profit and pseudo-fame?
or "Discovering" the world around you, namely motrocycle shops?
or "Traveling" to a place where a guy eats grotesque amounts of food for a 1/2 hour?
or a "Pro-Women's" network that shows murderers and bad girls?
I thought SciFi was dead when they started showing wrestling.
In 2011 America, Borders stops wanting you!
My first Journal Entry ever, in 8 years! http://slashdot.org/journal/365947/aphelion-scifi-fantasy-horror-poetry-webzine
You have to appeal to the broadest base to compete. Since we now have 200-400 channels showing mainly reality shows, I blame the public school system for creating cave people capable only of appreciating a good clubbing. I think I just insulted cave people.
ok - so call it a sport on how to "do outrageous looking stuff *without* getting killed" - and give it a name
wrestling is already taken by a legit sport that does not fit that description - so please pick a different name.
when i was in school that was actually the hardest part in recruiting people for wrestling.. no mater how many times you explained it the kids parent(s) would think/envision the fake shit and say "no my son can't participate" we even had some parents try to get the program canceled without even knowing what it really was.
'...if only "Jumping to a Conclusion" was an event in the Olympics.'
That wasn't the issue. The issue was ever increasing religious BS. The monotheistic cylons vs the polytheistic humans. The death and return of Starbuck, and other nonsense. Especially where it was revealed that 6 was seeing an angel, or something, in the persona of Baltar.
Friday night is a death slot on major networks, not specialty channels. For a channel with limited audience, Friday Night is when they can gather the largest share - especially for something like science fiction. As long as you keep the scheduling consistant. Of course, SyFy SAYS tuesday is their highest rated night, but that has already been proven false. And it's obvious that it was false to begin with - they want to make money, not science fiction - hence putting the highly profitable wrestling on their highly profitable friday night.
After all, isn't The White Trash Channel more accurate nowadays? I think the programming they put on that channel now is insulting to the entire science fiction genre. Hell, I think the programming they put on that channel is insulting to every genre.
---jstlook ---For that is the way of Elves, for they say both yes AND no, and mean every word of it. --- J.R.R.T.
From what I can tell, SyFy doesn't hate Sci-Fi so much as it hates shows that require money to produce.
Really, there's nothing inherent in SciFi that requires $2.4M per episode to produce. Some of my favorite SciFi show episodes of all time basically amount to a few people sitting in a room having a conversation.
Do good writers cost $2.4M per episode? Of course not. I think many in the SciFi business are just really bad at business to not see this.
My God, it's Full of Source!
OUTSIDE_IP=$(dig +short my.ip @outsideip.net)
It's great to see the innovation our corporate fathers are providing us in marketing, first Google invents chrome, now Apple invents Launchpad! I hear rumors Microsoft is going to invent a new virtual assistant called Firefox! What new names will they come up with tomorrow?
But... the future refused to change.
...so I could care less I guess. :)
Discovery - American Chopper and copies channel because we like seeing 2 fat annoying biker guys go at (excluding MythBusters and Dirty Jobs)
History - Pawn Shop shows, because Americans are retarded and can't handle real history unless its associated with Pop Culture
HGTV - Reality TV, because we want to see whats over the fence and what the Smiths have
TLC - Wedding Bonanza! and f***ing cakes!
Travel - Fat guys gorging their fat faces and attempting to tell you its Middle America
Food - Iron Chef!
Comedy Central has it correct. Show me something funny and you got it!
I had assumed this was why they changed their name from "Sci Fi" to "Syfy" a few years ago. Based on the programming they were airing back then, it was apparent to me that they didn't feel their science fiction platform was sustainable.
This same phenomenon has occurred with a sizable percentage of cable stations over the course of the last decade or so. Turns out, in the world of TV , niche marketing is a less viable strategy than had been originally thought.
Remeber when MTV abandoned the music-only format and found success aiming for the lowest common denominator? Other stations have followed, moving farther and farther from their niche roots and closer and closer to the mainstream. Anyone remember old school Discovery channel--shows about science and nature? Now they have Mythbusters and American Chopper. These stations are only doing what they feel is necessary to compete with the broadcast networks for advertising dollars.
Come on... Sure they shit canned two bs sequels (admittedly of shows I didn't give a pint of rat's milk for), but what about Warehouse 13 or Eureka? Lattimre and Micca were a great funny couple. That and Eureka's little super arching plot was pretty stellar. Two quality shows. Sanctuary is starting to get my attention this last season as well!
Accordingly to TV guide:
Syfy has acquired all 31 episodes of Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, which will debut on Thursday, April 7, the network announced Tuesday.
http://www.tvguide.com/News/Syfy-Terminator-Stargate-1029750.aspx
Great.. I didn't care for that show much on fox, but if it's floating around I'll watch. Hell I'll watch more 'Face/Off' (*sigh* sans Nick Cage and Johnny T) if it means less wrestling. Truthfully I finally got most of the episodes for 'Enterprise' watched (thanks Syfy!) and I really did enjoy the show. It didn't piss me off like Voyager so that was a high five.
My question is where's my reshowing of Babylon 5 or Deep Space Nine?
I am certain that the perception of the original audience was not a great demographic.
Viewers who are:
* Sufficiently intelligent that trying to sell them products using, "New and improved" was futile.
* Living in their mother's basement without disposable income or the decision making position of most purchases.
* Tech savvy, capable, and willing to pirate content.
The US government have made it clear that we have no inalienable rights; any we do not defend vigorously will be taken.
1.Piracy (more and more geeks tend to download shows rather than pay extra for channels like SyFy)
2.DVRs. (even when geeks DO have SyFy and other such channels, they rarely watch content live, they just set the DVR to record it and watch it later when they can fast forward most of the ads)
and 3.Advertising. (the demographic that likes shows like Stargate and Star Trek and Farscape tends not to be the demographic that those companies with TV advertising dollars wants to advertise to)
Rather that push my favourite show/novel/TV series, I take the liberty of proposing an assessment code which is not only for Americans.
1. Thou shalt not compare books with movies, ever;
2. Thou shalt not compare movies with video games, ever;
3. Thou shalt not vilify fantasy/hard SF/vintage SF/alternate history, etc.;
4. Thou shalt not believe that the inordinate passion for vampires/demons/supernatural horrors extends to countries which are far less religious than the USA;
5. Thou shalt not acritically judge any prequel, as so far, in most areas, from Star Wars to Star Trek to Caprica, they were chemically pure drivel.
And, to prove that human beings are illogical, here I go now providing contradictory advice.
Read books like "Twister", written by a real research physicist, if you want to read very entertaining hard SF, not Greg Bear, not Isaac Asimov.
You will instantly see the difference from folks like Asimov (a biochemist) who had (forgive me...) a manifestly insufficient grasp of physics.
Even I, research physicist, was always underwhelmed by his forays in areas he knew precious little about (a PhD in biochemistry does not make you an authority on particle physics or quantum mechanics or a number of other things).
He even proceeded to top up his display of ignorance by publishing divulgative stuff on any possible subject.
That he is still considered a saint by a sizable community makes me wonder...
And to finish in beauty: casting a Scotsman who was famous for roles as e.g. the lead male actor in The Full Monty was not just catastrophic, but plain dumb. This contributed greatly to transform a would-be SF series as Stargate Universe into a boring reality-like show, eventually killing (deservedly) the show. Just like dreadful Caprica.
Should I be so dumb to want to watch a reality, then I will go for the real thing, not for an SF travesty...
The Force actually is with me.
Dear syfy:
Before you start putting Paris Hilton Best Friend Forever XIX,
Could we have a Foundation series?
You don't have to spend too much. I don't care if the robots are played by people in cereal boxes. You can save a lot in special effects that way.
Just make sure you name one episode 'Zeroth'.
Thanks.
I liked it to the end. Because it was a story about people, not about technology. Yes, they could have done it better. But frustration? Nope. I was just happy that I didn't have to see starbuck flying a cylon raider by kicking its guts from inside. *That* was the lowest point in the series.
Not that many years ago, sci-fi was a demeaning term used by SF fans for low grade science fiction. I recall going to a con where the program book mentioned the distinction.
I suspect that SyFy will be what SF and sci-fi fans call the current brand of low grade science fiction. When I first heard about it, my thought was that it sounded like a STD.
The accountants found that they had an audience back then and provided content. Now they have decided that the audience has changed so they have changed the content.
Perhaps the name change is a good thing. It tells people that the channel is not what it used to be. Truth in advertising so to speak.
> SG:Atlantis and SG1 were great shows.
SG:Atlantis and SG1 hardly belong in the same sentence. They were both set in the same universe, but after that they diverge greatly because of the quality of the writing. SG1 had self-awareness and good prose. Atlantis had recycling of tropes with bad dialogue. McCay being afraid of oranges is close to the best sideline going.
SGA's writing has nothing at all on exchanges like Daniel: "Teal'c is so deep! Tell them how deep you are. You're not even going to understand this!" Teal'c: "My depth is immaterial to this conversation." Daniel: "See?" O'Neil to Daniel: "No more beer for you."
The McCay two-people-in-one-body bit was a good episode--but they were few and far between. SGA lacks the dialogue quality of SG1, the character rapport of DS9, the cadence of B5, or the 3-dimensionality of BSG.
To put it succinctly, if you immediately know the candlelight is fire, the meal was cooked a long time ago.
-- IANAL, this isn't legal advice, and definitely isn't legal advice for you. Also, Squee!
I've had to give up TV because it kept interfering with my reading.
If I really want to see a show, I wait until it comes out on DVD so I can immerse myself in it with minimal commercial breaks.
I don't think there has been a show on there that I could bring myself to watch. Its sad I used to watch it all the time but when when I go there now I find nothing that even remotely interests me anymore. I would say the last time I even checked what was on was when they started putting WWE SmackDown on it... Other than it being fiction I'm not sure what other part of it belongs on that chnl.
I recently entered into a cable contract so that I could watch Sci-Fi (I won't use the new name). So far I am incredibly disillusioned. *starts singing* "Where oh where can my Sci-Fi Be...The Executives took her AWAY FROM ME!..." But seriously, Face Off, Being Human, Face Off, Being Human... 2am Highlander....6am Paid Program ...
(Ok, so it may not always be precisely that...but it is close).
On the weekend I definitely don't need to wake up early, last weekend "Paid Program" was on until 9 AM!
I am incredibly disappointed.
Of course they gave up on Sci-Fi, that's why they changed their names you stupid idiots.
SyFy is going the way of MTV. I can't remember the last time I saw actual music being played on MTV. I predict that SyFy will devolve into a channel that offers nothing but reality shows, pro wrestling, and other cheaply produced drek.
They already found one.
"Sports Entertainment".
My first Journal Entry ever, in 8 years! http://slashdot.org/journal/365947/aphelion-scifi-fantasy-horror-poetry-webzine
SyFy has been suffering from the create-and-cancel syndrome that has plagued broadcast media. Too many programs are canceled due to a reliance upon an antiquated ratings system. Apart from being unfortunate, it irritates the heck out of me (and many I've corresponded with).
Part of this may just be growing pains as they search for different revenue streams. I for one would pay a subscription fee or whatever if it meant that shows like Farscape, Battlestar Galactica, Caprica (just canceled) and the like could live on.
SyFy's motto is "Imagine greater" yet they seem to be suffering from a brain disorder that doesn't allow them to think outside of their box. They should take advantage of new media such as Internet streaming services, get creative and the revenue streams will reappear. Shows like the aforementioned could continue to be broadcast over subscription-based, Internet streaming networks, etc.
Sure, I don't know a ton about production and I imagine it's terribly complex and competitive and costly. But gimme a break, SyFy.
In fact, I've pretty much stopped watching SyFy (I prefer SciFi) at this point. Everything I've enjoyed is canceled, other shows like Sanctuary are really starting to suck badly.
Start with some Red Dwarf, MST3K and Firefly, get some Godzilla on there, more Trekkie stuff and build a base from there.
If you don't like it you can always CANCEL YOUR CABLE !!!!!
There are a million ways to watch your favorite shows now. And when you cancel let your cable provider know why.
Personally I am a big wrestling fan. But wrestling is not Sci-fi and does not belong on that channel. (I consider wrestling a sport the same way I consider gymnastics a sport. The are no real points and who wins doesn't really matter)
When ever I order cable I would always get the package that included the Sci-Fi Channel (Screw their new spelling), but after how badly they mismanaged a bunch of different shows I was losing any loyalty to them. The final straw was when they canceled Stargate Universe. Ok I understand not all show deserve to be on tv. But to cancel a show and have your cast learn about it Via Twitter, They can blow me. There were a lot of really good shows that could have and should have made it but Sci-fi screwed them over.
How is anyone supposed to be able to follow a show if you keep switching the nights its on around. Or if instead of having a regular season, half way the the season you have a break thats longer than the break between seasons.
And as for what they are puting on Sci-fi now. Its garbage. Ghost hunters. Dear god that makes Wrestling look real.
Screw Sci-Fi. They have lost a customer for life.
SGA did have a lot more interesting "Science" though IMO. SG1 wasn't all to creative about the scenarios presented (bla bla bla more jaffa, bla bla bla another primitive tribe) vs all of the interesting ancient tech stuff the SGA team runs into. And they had more CG space battles++ I do agree that all the other characters besides McCay are kinda shallow, though I absolutely love McCay.
You have to remember this is the same station where the executive said publicly in an interview "The the SyFy channel is not meant for the science nerd that watches science fiction and still lives in his mom's basement" so if that is the attitude of the executives has can you ask if they love science fiction of course they don't they despise hard core science fiction fans. The downfall of scifi channel happen when USA sold it to NBC. IMHO
The part that continues to annoy me (more than the stupid name change) is how they continue to take and repackage BBC shows (Dr Who, Prime Evil, Merlin, Being Human, etc) and advertising them as "original series".
Now they don't directly claim it to be a SciFi channel (hate the new name) original but they make no mention of the fact they were originally on someone else's network. Almost seems like they are violating copyrights for profit.
I've actually started watching more BBC America, History and Discovery than SciFi, more interesting.
Stargate Atlantis and Farscape both lasted 5 seasons which is a pretty good run for a series on American TV. Syfy didn't ruin them. They just ran their course.
And SyFy gave us 3 more years of MST3K after Comedy Central canned it. And it's not their fault it ended. It's the fans fault really. With the show growing to cult status many of the license holders for the films needed to make the show starting demanding more and more for those rights. Eventually it got to the point that the show just wasn't feasible anymore. Sucess killed the show, not Syfy.
Caprica however was just a terrible show. Maybe if they'd put it on the CW network it'd have done better. It would have fit in well with Vampire Diaries and 90210.
Stargate Universe deserved it's death as well. Someone decided to take the Battlestar setting, completely rip off the plot of ST: Voyager and stuff it into the Stargate Universe but with the humor and charm of the movie and the previous 2 Stargate series.
A show about a bunch of people stuck in a ship that didn't go anywhere interesting, didn't see anything interesting, and was filled with people who didn't do anything interesting didn't have much hope. Half the episodes were pointless filler and the other half seemed as if they were trying to build to something interesting but the writers forgot what that was before they got to it.
And like many people have pointed out, a niche network whose niche is one of the most expensive genres to produce has to make some concessions. Reality shows like Ghost Hunters are a necessity as they're immensely profitable even with relatively small audiences as they cost peanuts to make. Ditto for shows like Wrestling which help attract key ad demographics. Splitting seasons so they can produce a finale type episode for 2 different sweeps periods and thus boost their ad rates is another tool needed by such networks.
Syfy may not be all about Sci-Fi, but they still air more classic Sci-Fi than any other station and they produce some decent original shows as well like Eureka, Warehouse 13, and Sanctuary.
The SciFi Channel's blog had it biggest comment thread EVER (over 1000) on their post of the announcement of their name change to SyFy in July of er....2008, was it?. Most of the comments were negative. I wish I could say the name change was the beginning of the end for what was, once, our fave niche channel, but it wasn't; it merely cemented its ongoing dissolution into drivel and tripe.
There's nothing left to watch. With so many past sci fi (and fantasy) shows available, including those from the UK, they could have just gone the syndication route--I'd bet a lot of us would still be watching. Since they are a niche channel, they aren't going to garner network-type ratings numbers, but they could have gotten CW ratings numbers.
The joy I felt at the airing of Dark Shadows on day one of the SciFi Channel's reign was too short-lived :(
The SyFy channel should rename itself the horror channel, since all they ever broadcast are horror movies.
1) That's not Eric Stoltz, that's Charlie Sheen. MJF never was slated for Caprica, but Charlie Sheen "could have" saved Caprica! (Yes, bad joke within a bad joke.)
2) I thought a variant theme in Caprica was stealing the crime family genre (with no beloved head mobster, but on a different planet, in an Earth 2010 technology timeframe). Oddly, the "cool" twist was how technology was driving the evolution of power groups/alliances. (An old story in history, but not well done in cinema, or with this show.)
3) But ultimately, it was a snorefest, probably with inferior acting, writing, and direction, so Caprica died a rapid death, on schedule.
There is no America. There is no democracy. There is only IBM and AT&T and DuPont, Dow, General Electric, and Exxon
I keep telling you youngsters, SG:U wasn't ripping off BSG, it was ripping off Lost in Space (season 1).
There is no America. There is no democracy. There is only IBM and AT&T and DuPont, Dow, General Electric, and Exxon
Being Human is a good timekiller, though its in the fantasy genre.
There is no America. There is no democracy. There is only IBM and AT&T and DuPont, Dow, General Electric, and Exxon
It all comes down to this: NBC Universal............nothing more needs to be said here, except possibly the statistical data that conclusively proves that this company and any subsidiary of said company, can in fact f up a wetdream........................
I am no longer interested in taking over the world, I just want a modest corner of the Solar System
did you get a new boss? who ever is doing all the changes should be fired. I used to watch sci fi 90% now it is down to 20%
I like Being Human and the new movies,please bring the channel back to the way it was
If every science fiction show was canceled because it had a mediocre (or bad) first season, we never would have seen more than one season of Star Trek TNG/DS9, Babylon 5, Stargate SG-1/Atlantis, etc.
Caprica was mediocre to bad in the first half of its showing, but it looked like season 2 would have been awesome.
It's a teenage drama, and it getting cancelled = good riddance. Stargate Atlantis was not cancelled by Syfy, they wanted a 6th season. It was cancelled by MGM & the twats in charge (Brad Wright & co.) because they wanted to make the piece of shit that is (was) Stargate Universe.
Certainly less painful.
Caprica was far more fantasy than scifi anyway. All that religious bollocks.
I'm sorry brumgrunt but Stargate Universe killed itself. sify (as I like to call it now) had nothing to do with it's horrible directing and screenplay.
SciFi was the only real reason I kept the extended channels subscribed on my cable tv. Now I just have basic and that's only because it's a couple dollars more than if I had cable modem access alone. (seriously, $68 for both or $60-65 with Internet only) Thanks Comcast. Since SciFi got corrupted with all the other nonsense, I haven't looked back.
I recently wrote this to the SyFy channel not realizing there's lot's of us out there talking about it:
Hi,
I don’t know why I’ve waited so long to say this to your company. Maybe it’s just timing.
I resent that the trend in material associated with Science Fiction has slowly moved towards horror. I think if they were meant to be one subject they’d have only one name.
Which is why I guess who ever is making the decisions there has changed the name of your channel to Syfy. It is both similar and different enough from Scifi that it makes it easier to redefine the genre than if you were to leave it Scifi.
It seems clear to me why this is being done. To subtly support the masses away from science by associating it with fear.
Would you please stop that? Make a new channel and call it the Horror channel. There’s still plenty of people addicted to their adrenal glands I’m sure it would do well.
There is so much Scifi material that you are neglecting – I’m betting you’d actually get more viewers if you pursued it with even a little enthusiasm.
I have to ask as I always ask for 100% of what I want. But I think that if the whole of our society were aware of your intentions I’m sure they’d ask you to stop also.
I see the general trend of science in our race’s growth to be more rather than less healthy for us. Please allow the primary purpose of Science Fiction to continue to be a forum for exploring how science can improve our lives. And secondarily how to avoid possible pitfalls as we integrate it into our existence.
I’m guessing the people running your scene must love fear and want to share it with everyone anyway they can. I’m saying no thank you.
I see no need to for you to reply to me. If there really is a subversive element behind the SyFy channel they’re probably just snickering at my request. If I’m mislabeling your intent I’m sure you’ll forgive my impertinence and take to heart what I’ve said.
Live well.
Akash
I AM IN AGREEMENT WITH SOME OF THE COMMENTS. I WOULD HAVE TO PAY TO WATCH BBC THAT WAS WHY I WATCH SCI-FI BUT IT IS CHANGING AND NOT FOR THE GOOD. THEY HAD SOME GREAT SHOW (SG-1, BATTLE STAR, OR YOU KNOW WHICH ONES I MEAN. IT DISTURBED ME WHEN THEY MOVED TO BEST SHOW TO THE 10 O'CLOCK TIME BUT I COULD WATCH THEM ON-DEMAND THANKS TO MY CABLE COMPANY. IF THESE SHOWES ARE NOT BEING MADE ????????