Sci Fi Channel Becomes "Syfy"

[Tyrel Lohr]

Here's a link to the press release:

http://scifiwire.com/2009/03/sci-fi-cha ... become.php

I have to admit, the first thing that comes to mind when I see "Syfy" is syphilis; I am not sure if that is what Sci Fi wanted people to think, but comparing their programming lineup the last five years to a venereal disease is probably not a bad analogy.

I can remember when the Sci Fi Channel actually had some decent programming, even when they just did reruns of old shows. There was always something on there to watch if you were bored. Then they started doing their original programming, which was very hit-or-miss (mostly miss).

As with most people, this Friday will probably be the last time that I watch the Sci Fi Channel, so that I can see how the trainwreck that is Battlestar Galactica will end (I joked that it would be a holodeck episode before last week... and that is about what we got! Just watch out for Frakes showing up to call for the arch!). After that, I don't see much else to watch on there. I have no idea if or when we will get the rest of Eureka, and even then I might just wait for the DVDs. And Stargate: Universe sounds like it will be an even suckier version of Voyager. So there just isn't anything left there to watch.

After hearing the news, I did have to go check about the old Syfy Portal site that I remembered the name of but never visited. It seems that NBC Universal did buy them out so that they could control the name.

-Tyrel

[Chyll]

I cheered when SciFi first started.

I cheered when Farscape first came out.

I cheered when SciFi stepped in to help Stargate survive.

I cheered when BSG first came out.

I shook my head when that fake psychic started broadcasting.

I shook my head when Ghosthunters started.

I shook my head whne they started showing wrestling. Wrestling! (I know its fake, but SciFi?!)

I shook my head the first time I heard this.

I shook my head when I read your post.

So much promise unrealized.

[Tyrel Lohr]

The cancellation of Farscape was pretty much my final straw when it came to any kind of "viewer loyalty" to Sci Fi. They had been promised another season, and then Sci Fi backed out so that they could throw the money to the Stargate franchise (Atlantis, I think?). Then, when Henson and the German financiers put together The Peacekeeper Wars, Sci Fi had the audacity to insinuate that they were doing anything else than just airing it.

I think you can blame most of Sci Fi's decline on Bonnie Hammer (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bonnie_Hammer). Her tenure as head of Sci Fi was when things started heading this direction. She's gone, but her hand-picked successor is still there, thus the continued homogenization of the channel.

-Tyrel

[mwaschak]

Scifi is still good for the clump of good show reruns. I think you can still catch some Doctor Who or Space: Above and Beyond during the day when everything else is a morning program. Like so many themed networks, they realized that doing more of the same is higher $$$. Anyone remember when TLC was The Learning Channel and showed documentaries? I believe it was a competitor to Discovery, which now prides itself on American Chopper.

I miss the nest of good television: Syndication! Had Whedon put Firefly in the same low-budget arena that let Buffy survive and not with the highly anxious Fox Network, it may have lived.

-Jay

[mwaschak]

[troll comment]

Anyone else feel like Ronald Moore is just killing time with this last season of BSG? Why are we watching character flashbacks in the second to last episode? Is this Lost?

That is all.

[/troll comment]

[Tyrel Lohr]

[troll comment]

Anyone else feel like Ronald Moore is just killing time with this last season of BSG? Why are we watching character flashbacks in the second to last episode? Is this Lost?

That is all.

[/troll comment]

I really don't understand why so many people fawn over Ronald Moore. It probably isn't a very popular opinion, but the new BSG isn't all that good. It had a decent miniseries and first season, but since then it has just become a meandering mess plagued by poor pacing, lack of direction, and out-and-out lazy writing ("let's jump the timeline forward several years for giggles, but then act like nothing really ever happened!").

It is obvious that the Cylons don't have a plan, and the writers never had one, either. They were flying by the seat of their pants and wrote themselves into a corner, and the last two or three seasons have been the result of trying to fix the situation.

-Tyrel

[Charles Lewis]

While I'm not sure I agree completely with you about the last couple of seasons, the wife and I have been disappointed in the last few episodes. With the end looming ever closer, we had hoped for some noticeable movement towards resolution.

She is firmly of the opinion that the series should have ended with the episode at the mid-season break: They find Earth, and it is an irradiated husk. Based on what I've seen so far since that episode, I find myself agreeing with her.

[mwaschak]

And on that note:

http://popwatch.ew.com/popwatch/2009/03 ... ca-un.html

[jygro]

She is firmly of the opinion that the series should have ended with the episode at the mid-season break: They find Earth, and it is an irradiated husk. Based on what I've seen so far since that episode, I find myself agreeing with her.

Having seen the rest of the episodes, I have to agree with her, but I'll leave the rest of my comment to the 'spoiler' post

-Bren

[ianstead]

You want to see the UK Sci Fi channel? That really is PANTS!