RatPunk said:
Getting away from space-oriented shows?? This from the channel whose highest rated and most critically acclaimed show is Farscape...
Somehow, I'm not surprised though. I've found a lot of Sci-Fi's recent decisions to be questionable at best.
It is, of course as always a matter of money. Remember that a sound investment is not the one which brings you the biggest pile of dollars. It is the one that brings you the biggest pile of dollars compared to the dollars you put into the investment.
In other words, let's say that an episode of B5LOTR would cost Sci-fi $1M (I recall JMS mentioning long ago that B5 had an average budget of $800k per episode, and that was quite a few years ago) and bring in $1.5M in advertising revenue. However, another show might only cost $500k to make. Sure, it wouldn't get as big an audience, but they could still get $900k for it. On the surface, you might think that they'd do better with B5 since they would make a profit of $500k per episode as opposed to $400k per episode. However, in the case of B5 they only make a relative profit of 50%, while they make 80% for the other show - the other show is thus a better investment.
I still think that it sucks that both Crusade and Legend of the Rangers are dead, but such are the harsh economics. Space-based shows often have big FX, lots of CGI and require extensive make-up for various aliens. Other shows can be made cheaper and even if they don't draw as big an audience, they can be a better investment.
Another contributing factor to Sci-fi not picking up Legend is probably that Sci-fi is owned by Universal, whereas Legend and other B5 stuff would be made by WB. Sci-fi would of course be more likely to buy stuff from a company in the same "family".