Sci-Fi Channel voluntarily walks the plank..........

[gearhound]

The Sci-Fi channel makes some of the WORST movies I've ever seen!!
Makes Steven McQueen in THE BLOB.....look like CITIZEN KANE.


Steve

[ducati_EL34]

Originally Posted by BigNate

According to the article, the guy who helped found the SciFi channel then tried to distance it from science fiction. That should tell you all you need to know about these clowns. MSNBC, History Channel, A&E, SciFi — every channel with programming on a downward spiral can be traced back to the same culprit: NBC Universal.

But sci-fi-stir-fry is not a on a downward spiral. An truth be told, science fiction does have a reputation of having weird fans. Can you say trekkies? I knew you could. These are the 40 somethings, still living at home with mom, has not had a date in 15 years, still going sci fi cons (that is geek speak for conventions). Then there is the fringe element, who considers bathing as optional.

It is not an attractive demographic, and I can understand a network wanting to distance themselves.

[Hokieman]

Originally Posted by EchoWars

"Monster Quest" and "UFO Hunter" are on The History Channel, and are two good reasons why I rarely watch HC anymore.

Those in addition to "Ice Road Truckers" and "Deadliest Catch" killed THC for me as well. On the other hand, my wife adores Sci-Fi, and I can just hear the howls from her now when I inform her of the impending changes.

[M Jarve]

Reading that, I suddenly heard the sound of whale song and a whiff of incense. El' Reg should have some fun with this, in any event.

But, I must admit that it has been years since I've actually sat down and watched television, so no loss to me.

[fotno]

Why can't we have a sci-fi channel devoted to sci-fi. A history channel devoted to history, and a music channel devoted to music. They got a golf channel don't they?

What I would pay 10 dollars a month to have, is a horror channel. Uncut, uninterrupted, with a huge catalog of films and television shows devoted entirely and exclusively to the genre. In an age when there are hundreds of channels why can't there be channels that are not designed to please everyone? Seems like every channel has gone the route of MTV, billing and designing themselves to be a "life-style" channel.

[ducati_EL34]

Originally Posted by fotno

Why can't we have a sci-fi channel devoted to sci-fi. A history channel devoted to history, and a music channel devoted to music. They got a golf channel don't they?

What I would pay 10 dollars a month to have, is a horror channel. Uncut, uninterrupted, with a huge catalog of films and television shows devoted entirely and exclusively to the genre. In an age when there are hundreds of channels why can't there be channels that are not designed to please everyone? Seems like every channel has gone the route of MTV, billing and designing themselves to be a "life-style" channel.

I guess it all comes down to money. They would see that as having too small a number of viewers, and not profitable...

[fotno]

I think you're correct. They've been told it wont be profitable, so they never try: which makes no sense to me. The statistic based marketers are wrong as much as they're right, and that gets proven again and again, when shows that don't do all that well in the first season, subsequently develop a rabid and growing fan base later. NCIS is a perfect example. The first two seasons the show was on the verge of cancellation, and currently the show ranks consistently in the top 10.

If there's a large enough market in this country for a Horse racing, Golf or even a Romance channel then there's money to be made on a channel that is just as tightly focused on Sci-Fi or Horror. A huge library of films and shows are out there already, there's a proven market for those goods, and no one needs to look any further than the profitability of genre films and books to see there's money to be made. One example I've seen quoted often: Saw I cost 1.2 million dollars to make and earned 55 million domestically, and that's before DVD sales and rentals are counted in.

Ultimately I believe the problem is that the industry considers itself in the money making business, not the entertainment industry. They have no pride of purpose in their product, and don't care what they produce as long as it makes money.

[soundmotor]

Originally Posted by ducati_EL34

I guess it all comes down to money. They would see that as having too small a number of viewers, and not profitable...

I can't wait until the Military Channel unveils Lee Ermie's 'Mess Tent Nightmares' or Firebase 'Design on a Dime'.

[Arkay]

The name change, while I do NOT like it, makes sense from a business point of view. The unusual spelling "Syfy" can be copyrighted and protected; "sci fi" predates them and is (or should be considered!) a much too well-known part of the language for them to "own" and protect it in any way.

The stupidest thing about it, though, is that one would naturally want to pronounce it "sih-fee" or "see-fee"... which might be exactly what they are doing!

If I were in their shoes, I'd give serious consideration to making that name change, and if I decided it was needed, I'd put the best spin on it I could, just about as they are doing... but I would NOT like it personally, and would secretly hate myself for doing it!

Originally Posted by fotno

Why can't we have a sci-fi channel devoted to sci-fi. A history channel devoted to history, and a music channel devoted to music. They got a golf channel don't they?

What I would pay 10 dollars a month to have, is a horror channel. Uncut, uninterrupted, with a huge catalog of films and television shows devoted entirely and exclusively to the genre. In an age when there are hundreds of channels why can't there be channels that are not designed to please everyone? Seems like every channel has gone the route of MTV, billing and designing themselves to be a "life-style" channel.

I completely, totally and wholly agree with this. Unfortunately, we have a "music channel", but it is called MTV, and is devoted entirely to the "wrong" kind of music for my tastes! "thumbsdn"

I would pay money for a channel that showed all the old horror movies, monster movies, and/or sci-fi movies; the 50s and 60s things like "It Came From Outer Space", "The Crawling Eye", "The Blob", "The Island of Dr. Moreau", etc... etc... and even later stuff from the 70s and even later, like the Star Wars and Star Trek series, movies and spin-offs (like Enterprise), Battlestar Galactica, etc...

I LIKE horror movies, but preferably the older ones. I'd rather watch Boris Karloff in an old-fashioned laboratory complete with Jacob's ladders, than yet another copy of a Japanese movie about a haunted house with poltergeists with a message to send to the living. I'm bored to death by those.

I LIKE sci-fi movies. If that makes me a geek, then so be it. But again, while I watched the X-files and even the Cryptkeeper series with something between tolerance and enjoyment, I'd actually rather watch the older stuff.

I like monster movies, but again I prefer the older ones, even if the creatures looked a bit corny, like regular lobsters enlarged with trick photography or guys in rubber suits, rather than invisible "beings" that take over peoples' minds.

I'd love to see the old "World Beyond" and "Twilight Zone" series on one of these channels, even if only for nostalgia reasons.

I guess I'm not within their target demographic. Maybe I'm too "geeky". I'm just grateful that I can find a lot of this stuff on DVDs.

The new trend here is channels with "video on demand". I think the sci-fi channel may be one that is doing that. I'll take a closer look at their offerings and their pricing, and MIGHT go for it, if it means I can avoid their modern, in-house yawn-fest stuff, and watch the kind of oldies I was just mentioning. But I doubt it; they probably offer their most popular channels, which are the ones I'd like least to watch. If I can get the old stuff I like, I might go for it. Otherwise, I'll pass altogether.

Then again, much of the time I prefer to go online and listen to old-time radio shows, rather than watch what is on television, just as I usually prefer reading a book to watching its movie version. Definitely not "in synch" with what is trendy or popular with anyone's target market! The ironic thing is that some of my areas of interest are usually 2-3 years ahead of whatever becomes trendy, buying vinyl LPs being an obvious example that most of us on AK share.

[Sandy G]

What gets me is that we were promised that w/the internet, cable TV, digital TV, every new & fantastic "flavor of the month" technology that has come down the pike, & subsequently been shoved down our throats-Or up our keester as the case may be-that here would be unlimited CHOICE...If I have a jones for, say, "One Step Beyond", an obscure early '60s "Twilight Zone" wannabe, I'd be able to just lookit up on my super-duper nifty-neato kompooter/media dee-vice doohickey & watch it to my heart's content, 'cause there'd be a channel devoted to those of us who get Fondue in our drawers over THAT particular show...Instead, guess what...we get 5011 channels all aimed at pretty much the SAME old mass-market demographic, for the same dreary reasons we have 5011 "Lite Rock" FM stations, all playing the same limpdik songs from the Gayties over 'n' over 'n' over again...That's Where The Mazuma Is. Newton Minnow was right...TeeVee is nothing but a Vast Wasteland...Cable has NOT lived up to its promise or potential, & neither will this whoop-de-doo digital crapola thingy.....

[soundmotor]

Originally Posted by fotno

I think you're correct. They've been told it wont be profitable, so they never try: which makes no sense to me. The statistic based marketers are wrong as much as they're right, and that gets proven again and again, when shows that don't do all that well in the first season, subsequently develop a rabid and growing fan base later. NCIS is a perfect example. The first two seasons the show was on the verge of cancellation, and currently the show ranks consistently in the top 10.

If there's a large enough market in this country for a Horse racing, Golf or even a Romance channel then there's money to be made on a channel that is just as tightly focused on Sci-Fi or Horror. A huge library of films and shows are out there already, there's a proven market for those goods, and no one needs to look any further than the profitability of genre films and books to see there's money to be made. One example I've seen quoted often: Saw I cost 1.2 million dollars to make and earned 55 million domestically, and that's before DVD sales and rentals are counted in.

Ultimately I believe the problem is that the industry considers itself in the money making business, not the entertainment industry. They have no pride of purpose in their product, and don't care what they produce as long as it makes money.

Having been involved in marketing for the last decade I can tell you that it works great 50% of the time. What I can't tell is which 50% actually works.



On the rest, you nailed it. We usually tend to be USA focused on films & shows when we start discussing them. What I would like to see is Cold War era Eastern-Bloc sci-fi from the Czechoslovakia, Hungary, & USSR. Also films from Mexico, Korean, India, or anywhere there was a film industry. In the 60's & 70's Mexico was cranking out vampire & sci-fi films so why does it always need to be Tarrantino that rediscovers some forgotten gem? Geez, Sci-Fi barely mined the surface of what is out there. How about a regular show on propmaking and another on special effects? How about one one the background work in making a specific film, director interviews w/ Ridley Scott or the Wachowski brothers? Further, make Saturday mornings nothing but sci-fi cartoons. I would have believe that any of this would be in the wheelhouse of their fanbase. From my comfortable armchair I conclude they truly need to put someone who loves the genre in charge of their programming. That is not the marketers & brand specialists for damn sure.

When you try to stand for everything you ultimately stand for nothing. Again, SyFy hasn't rolled out anything and they could have the most brilliant program schedule ever with carefully considered shows under development and tightly defined demographic data that..................Bwaaaaaaaahaaaaaaaaahaaaaaaa aaahaahhhhh! I can't go on. I've sat through too many of those kinds of meetings and there is only one Apple.

[VinylHanger]

Originally Posted by fotno

Why can't we have a sci-fi channel devoted to sci-fi. A history channel devoted to history, and a music channel devoted to music. They got a golf channel don't they?

What I would pay 10 dollars a month to have, is a horror channel. Uncut, uninterrupted, with a huge catalog of films and television shows devoted entirely and exclusively to the genre. In an age when there are hundreds of channels why can't there be channels that are not designed to please everyone? Seems like every channel has gone the route of MTV, billing and designing themselves to be a "life-style" channel.

DirectTV has Chill channel. I haven't watched it much if at all, but the listings look like they may be fun.

[thunderroad]

Originally Posted by soundmotor

“It made us feel much cooler, much more cutting-edge, much more hip, which was kind of bang-on what we wanted to achieve communication-wise.”

Did you now. Were you experiencing a paucity of middle-age hipness? It seems to me that everything they want to add in order to make themselves "more gooder" is already found elsewhere on the cable menu. I'll hold final opinion until fall but my gut tells me it was good while it lasted.

Sci-Fi Re-Imagines Itself

Oh sh**! Here we go again! I thought this stuff only happened at work! It seems to me that when you finally get something to work like it should, you'd leave it the hell alone. Just seems like common sense to me!

If its workin', don't fool with it!!!

[Chazb11]

Originally Posted by fotno

Why can't we have a sci-fi channel devoted to sci-fi. A history channel devoted to history, and a music channel devoted to music. They got a golf channel don't they?

My thoughts exactly!
Sci-Fi shows everything but science fiction, with the exception of the really bad "made for sci-fi" movies already mentioned.
The History channel has gotten away from history and shows more sci-fi than the sci-fi channel does, with shows like Monsterquest and UFO Hunters. (which I happen to like BTW...ugly demographic be damned!)(...and what kind of image do you think audiophiles have with the general population?)

TLC (the learning channel) is my favorite channel to hate! They need to change the name to TSC (the sideshow channel) with all the shows about little people, fat people, deformed people, medical oddities, etc. I NEVER watch TLC anymore.

Thanks for letting me rant!

[ducati_EL34]

Originally Posted by Chazb11

(...and what kind of image do you think audiophiles have with the general population?)

I doubt most of the general (read dumb) population can spell audiophile...

TLC (the learning channel) is my favorite channel to hate! They need to change the name to TSC (the sideshow channel) with all the shows about little people, fat people, deformed people, medical oddities, etc. I NEVER watch TLC anymore.

Thanks for letting me rant!

But at least you learn something about the little, fat, deformed people, with medical oddities. That is more than I can say for the History channel and to a large part the sci-fi channel.