New Developments at the SciFi Channel

[jdavis]

I think what you are talking about is only one way to look at things, yes go to a bookstore and you will find it that way but go to a movie store or a rental store and you will find Science Fiction videos are all "SCIENCE" fiction, fantasy has it's own area and horror has it's own area. Video's are closer to TV than books, this type of chance will be seen as leaving science fiction by a lot of people as they think science fiction and they think Space. They are moving towards Paranormal and humor which is "Ghostbusters" not Star Wars.

They are getting away from space shows and in a way are looking down on the fans of them, a lot of their comments on the subject could be interpreted as them being down on "geek programming" and trying to switch demographics, but that is their fanbase, I watched part of Scare Tactics and what I saw looked like scare the college girls TV and felt like it should be on Mtv instead. I just can't get through more than 10 minutes of Tremors the series and their big sucess story is the guy who speaks to dead people and tell their families about it while they sit around a set, that show has to be dirt cheap to make. This is a definate shift from what they have been doing since they first came on the air it will ruffle some feathers and will cost them viewers, whether it is a good long term strategy remains to be seen, new viewers may or may not show up, that will be the test of this programming change. The guy talking to dead people caught on maybe some of this stuff will too.

 

[William Ronald]

I doubt I will be watching anything on Sci Fi with the possible exception of Stargate and one or two shows in reruns, and sum of the miniseries. (Of course, an idiotic show like Knight Rider is being shown in Babylon 5's old time slot.)


Indeed, the current programming at the Sci Fi Channel reminds me of something I once read in a Harlan Ellison essay. In it, he stated that there was a structure at the headquarters of a major television network which resemble the monolith from 2001: A Space Odyssey. In the movie, ape-like ancestors of man would touch the obelisk from the stars and gain greater intelligence and insight. Ellison proposed that the structure at the TV network studio had the opposite effect.

Mr. Ellison, I believe we have found where the anti-obelisk is ... and the Sci Fi Channel executives much be touching it frequently.

Honestly, the ideas that some people have mentioned here sound better than some of the proposed line up. As much as I hate to say it, I think the best thing for the Sci Fi Channel is to shrivel, die, and to be reborn. (Unless someone buys them out and actually airs programs with plots, well written scripts, good characters, and good actors.)