[LarryFlowers]

From Variety:

"Sci Fi gave greenlights to two reality series and a scripted skein that dabbles in both live action and animation. Nonscripted hourlongs "Cash or Capture" and "Estate of Panic" each drew six-episode commitments. Both will debut in November.

Based on a Japanese gameshow, "Cash or Capture" pits contestants looking for a cash prize while being "hunted." If they escape, they take home coin. Rick Telles exec produces.

In "Estate of Panic," from Endemol USA, significant amount of money are hidden in a large home and contestants are asked to locate it. Richard Hall is exec producer."

Any one besides me concerned about the direction our beloved SciFi Channel is going? I realize that "reality" programming is cheap for the network, but I see no realtionship between this kind of reality programming and SciFi.

I was never happy about Ghost Hunters, but that isn't far fetched from SciFi. Wrestling infuriated me and had the added insult of frequently messing up the start time of the show that followed.

The plus side of NBC's presence is bigger episode orders of some of our favorite shows, the down side is network executives who look at the SciFi channel as airtime that needs filling as cheaply as possible without respecting the fans.

 

[Sirshagg]

Might as well just rename the channel NBC2

 

[phrelin]

When they moved the complex anti-corporate hard core scifi Charlie Jade to the middle of the night and put reruns of Joan of Arcadia as the lead into Dr. Who and Stargate Atlantis for SciFriday, that's when I realized that the heavy hand of GE was coming into play. Not that GE would care about the Charlie Jade content, it's just that Joan's demo and appeal to advertisers is more appropriate to meeting GE's standards for next week's bottom line. Cable channels have become the new cash cow for NBCU as NBC itself goes down the drain.

 

[Drew2k]

I wonder if the SciFi honchos think being "hunted" will remind someone of "The Most Dangerous Game" or something, which is more of the fantasy genre that SciFi channel also purports to offer. I'm not into fantasy... :nono:

 

[trainman]

Might as well just rename the channel NBC2

Some of NBC's affiliates might object to that because of the confusion it might cause.

 

[Stewart Vernon]

Just now becoming concerned?

Wasn't it last year sometime when SciFi was going to pick up some "Pro" Wrestling? I don't follow Wrestling... but even folks that like Wrestling had to admit SciFi was not the place one expects to find it!

 

[Mark Holtz]

Where were you when we were expressing concern that Braveheart was pitched as a great SciFi film?

Great film? Yes. Science Fiction or Fantasy? Uh, highly doubtful.

Somebody bring back those old Japanese SciFi flicks.

 

[heathramos]

Where were you when we were expressing concern that Braveheart was pitched as a great SciFi film?

Great film? Yes. Science Fiction or Fantasy? Uh, highly doubtful.

Somebody bring back those old Japanese SciFi flicks.

when I was a kid, I used to watch a show about a family that lived in a volcano and could turn into rockets

don't remember the name of that show

 

[Sirshagg]

Just now becoming concerned?

Wasn't it last year sometime when SciFi was going to pick up some "Pro" Wrestling? I don't follow Wrestling... but even folks that like Wrestling had to admit SciFi was not the place one expects to find it!

Yep, that's almost as bad as finding it on ESPN.

 

[Tigerman73]

Marketing whizzes always make TV better. I mean who doesn't sit at home all day watching music videos on MTV1, 2, VH1 and VH1Classic.

 

[Mark Holtz]

when I was a kid, I used to watch a show about a family that lived in a volcano and could turn into rockets

don't remember the name of that show

The Thunderbirds?

 

[phrelin]

Just now becoming concerned?

Wasn't it last year sometime when SciFi was going to pick up some "Pro" Wrestling? I don't follow Wrestling... but even folks that like Wrestling had to admit SciFi was not the place one expects to find it!

Somebody got confused. It's fiction and the actors were in strange costumes.:sure:

 

[BubblePuppy]

The Thunderbirds?

Thunderbirds was a Gerry Anderson production using marionettes. Gerry also did my saturday morning favorite Fireball XL5 back in the 60's.
See link:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fireball_XL5

 

[petergaryr]

I know some people (well, probably most people) make fun of the cheezy SciFi movies that they broadcast on the weekend---but they are for the most part in HD---sort of have a scifi plot---and aren't pro wrestling.

Perhaps if more people watched them they wouldn't have to resort to what is now being scheduled. :0

 

[kal915]

Marketing whizzes always make TV better. I mean who doesn't sit at home all day watching music videos on MTV1, 2, VH1 and VH1Classic.

I would if those channels actually showed music videos

 

[kevinwmsn]

Too many channels have gone away from their roots. SciFi joins MTV as another channel that doesn't show what the channel was originally created for.

 

[space86]

Sci Fi reality show idea, dressed up fanboys living in there parents basements.

 

[Stewart Vernon]

There is a history of channels morphing into something other than their original intent... but usually it happens because they misjudged interest in a devoted channel at that time.

The Nashville Network, for example, was mis-timed and while country music does have a following this network launched in a downcycle AND was tailored more to people in my age bracket or older who were familiar with "traditional" country music, whereas country music itself had started to trend into more pop/rock crossover hits.

So they became The National Network, or something like that, to still be TNN... and eventually had things like Star Trek that were not even close to the original thought... and one day they became SpikeTV!

SciFi, on the other hand, really should be able to find a large SciFi audience. Good SciFi movies and TV shows always do well... so it's not like it is a bad or unpopular genre. I have an increasingly sinking feeling, however, that the bean-counters just don't want to spring for good SciFi and tend to go for whatever is left.

SciFi dropped classic Doctor Who many years ago because they didn't want to pay for the rights... They picked up Sliders after FOX had cancelled it, and ran that into the ground... They did pick up Stargate after Showtime had decided to stop, and in a rare good decision this was a good thing and they didn't seem to screw it up.

Battlestar Galactica has been good, but it will be over by this time next year. They have picked up some other things from time to time like the new Doctor Who, but that only fills a small portion of the airtime.

Eureka is good... but again only on for a little while each year.

It is the only SciFi themed channel of its kind... so it should be able to corner that market and be THE standard for SciFi on TV... but do they want it to be?

 

[ChrisPC]

The Nashville Network, for example, was mis-timed and while country music does have a following this network launched in a downcycle AND was tailored more to people in my age bracket or older who were familiar with "traditional" country music, whereas country music itself had started to trend into more pop/rock crossover hits.

So they became The National Network, or something like that, to still be TNN... and eventually had things like Star Trek that were not even close to the original thought... and one day they became SpikeTV!

TNN launched in the early '80s, back when country music was huge. It slowed down, but came back in the early '90s. By the late '90s the owners sold TNN off, and it became another boring channel. They also sold Opryland USA, which was then demolished to make way for a mall. :nono2:

 

[Stewart Vernon]

TNN launched in the early '80s, back when country music was huge. It slowed down, but came back in the early '90s. By the late '90s the owners sold TNN off, and it became another boring channel. They also sold Opryland USA, which was then demolished to make way for a mall. :nono2:

I'm not sure country music ever truly slowed down... but it most certainly morphed. The old-guard gave way to the younger new-guard, and sometimes today it is hard for me to tell the difference between pop and country. TNN, as a channel, seemed to be more geared towards the old-guard and when country music styles changed TNN didn't ride that wave.

I didn't know about Opryland, though... that is a shame. I used to hear about that place all the time when I was a kid. Never went, but heard about it all the time.