New Developments at the SciFi Channel

[Hand of Evil]

Well, go look in your local B Dalton's, Waldenbooks, or any other chain bookstore, or probably even your local library. Look at the "sci-fi" section. You'll see both sci-fi and fantasy there. That's how the mass market defines things.

Fantasy, pulp, sci-fi, sci-fantasy I think that is the order of things.

I also think we are really are in the sci-pulp area these days. Hey, can I trade mark that word?

 

[Brown Jenkin]

Well, go look in your local B Dalton's, Waldenbooks, or any other chain bookstore, or probably even your local library. Look at the "sci-fi" section. You'll see both sci-fi and fantasy there. That's how the mass market defines things.

Yes but Horror gets it own section that includes paranormal. Dead people/Devils fall in the horror camp. I would be happy with a Sci-Fi/Fantasy channel but what they are programming is the Horror/Paranormal channel. If thats the channel they want then change the name.

 

[Eridanis]

"Hollywood suits"? I thought that Peter Jackson (a Kiwi) oversees the entire post-production process. After all, it's his baby.

Q.E.D.!

Dalmuti - Welcome to the boards! I think you're spot-on with your comments. Reading them, it pushed home the parallel between Sci-Fi Channel, and TSR when Lorraine Williams took over. Someone who detested her company's core market, and tried to push her company in directions that weren't the right fit, making it worse off, rather than better, and causing the whole enterprise to go belly-up.

 

[Airwolf]

Well, with the Sci-Fi channel looking to make lots of weird (and some not so weird) sci-fi and fantasy shows maybe WotC should pitch the D&D series to the suits at Sci-Fi.

Not that I could watch it, since I don't have cable or satellite. It's just a thought.

 

[jdavis]

Well, with the Sci-Fi channel looking to make lots of weird (and some not so weird) sci-fi and fantasy shows maybe WotC should pitch the D&D series to the suits at Sci-Fi.

Not that I could watch it, since I don't have cable or satellite. It's just a thought.

I think Sci Fi would only be interested if it was a series based on the D&D movie.

 

[Henry]

I think Sci Fi would only be interested if it was a series based on the D&D movie.

Budget's too high.


And I'd watch TTPC in a heartbeat, because I'm a sucker for Time travel shows.

 

[Umbran]

Yes but Horror gets it own section that includes paranormal. Dead people/Devils fall in the horror camp.

Maybe for you they do, but I don't see the division is kept so strongly. I see ghosts and zombies and vampires in fantasy. I see devils in fantasy. I only rarely see "paranormal" restricted to the fantasy section.

Here's the big litmus test for you. Books that contain all those elements: X-Files tie ins. Found in the sci-fi section, not in horror. The horror section is based upon intent rather than content. If it's specifcally to scare or gross you out, it's Horror. Things that are merely supposed to be creepy, part fo a larger whole, or different, are in sci-fi.

 

[jdavis]

Maybe for you they do, but I don't see the division is kept so strongly. I see ghosts and zombies and vampires in fantasy. I see devils in fantasy. I only rarely see "paranormal" restricted to the fantasy section.

Here's the big litmus test for you. Books that contain all those elements: X-Files tie ins. Found in the sci-fi section, not in horror. The horror section is speciifcally for those things intended to scare or gross you out. Things that are merely supposed to be creepy, or different, are in sci-fi.

Like the new reality series "Scare Tactics"?

 

[Hand of Vecna]

I've heard the producers of that show've already been sued. Apparently one of their "marks" had a heart attack at the scare, and sued them.

 

[Umbran]

Like the new reality series "Scare Tactics"?

Well, now we hit the poroblem of synonyms. While I have not seen that show, I doubt it counts as "horror". There's many kinds of fear, of being scared. Not all are "horror".

But then, I don't think that show counts as "Science fiction" either. Nor do I expect it to be around for long, so I think it's a bit moot.

My intent isn't to say that it really is all sci-fi, but that the mass market to whom they are trying to sell themselves think that paranormal and dead people and such are a part of sci-fi. Afficianadoes with highly cultured genre tastes and picayune shades of genre definition aren't the channel's main clients, so you really shouldn't expect the programming execs to use such definitions.

[edit: As for the lawsuit thing, I take that story with a grain of salt. It's just the sort of thing one would circulate to boost ratings, and I was hearing it long before the show ever aired. Heck, I personally thought about the lawsuit potential before I heard the rumor, which may indicate that it's just an overblowing of what many of us were thinking.]