SciFi channel adds ECW (wrestling) to lineup
05-18-06, 09:50 AM
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Sci Fi's new show: Extreme Championship Wrestling
05-25-06, 12:09 PM
#8
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SciFi channel adds ECW (wrestling) to lineup
Sci Fi grapples with summer wrestling series
By Andrew Wallenstein
Thu May 25, 1:23 AM ET
LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - Sci Fi Channel is getting into the ring with wrestling.
The cable network is following its NBC Universal sibling USA Network into a deal with World Wrestling Entertainment for a weekly series devoted to a WWE spinoff league, Extreme Championship Wrestling.
Beginning June 13, the yet-to-be-titled series will air at 10 p.m. Tuesdays on the network through the rest of the summer. Bonnie Hammer, president of USA and Sci Fi, hopes the latter channel gets the same ratings lift that USA has gotten from WWE's "Raw."
"This is going to be a great summer series for us," Hammer said.
She cited research documenting an overlap among Sci Fi's viewers and WWE fans. "It's a huge duplication," she said. "Close to 50% who watch 'Raw' watch Sci Fi as well."
As for how a wrestling franchise fits within the parameters of the Sci Fi brand, Hammer said the series is being developed to match the sensibility of the channel's "stretching the imagination" theme. "It will have a nice little twist that will fit in the brand," she said.
While the ECW is scheduled to run only in the summer, Hammer did not rule out extending its run year-round a la "Raw" if it proved successful.
"ECW on Sci Fi will push the boundaries of sports entertainment in new and unexpected ways," WWE chairman Vince McMahon said.
In recent weeks, WWE has been incorporating ECW into its story lines, positioning it to be a standalone series opposite "Raw" and UPN's "Smackdown," which will continue next season on the CW. The ECW franchise also has been a brisk seller for WWE on DVD and pay-per-view since McMahon acquired the brand in 2003.
_________________________________
File this in the Braveheart and Law & Order file. Can someone please, *please* go back in time and murder this bitches' parents?
SciFi channel has been an insult to Science Fiction and its fans for many a year. And the beat goes on.
By Andrew Wallenstein
Thu May 25, 1:23 AM ET
LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - Sci Fi Channel is getting into the ring with wrestling.
The cable network is following its NBC Universal sibling USA Network into a deal with World Wrestling Entertainment for a weekly series devoted to a WWE spinoff league, Extreme Championship Wrestling.
Beginning June 13, the yet-to-be-titled series will air at 10 p.m. Tuesdays on the network through the rest of the summer. Bonnie Hammer, president of USA and Sci Fi, hopes the latter channel gets the same ratings lift that USA has gotten from WWE's "Raw."
"This is going to be a great summer series for us," Hammer said.
She cited research documenting an overlap among Sci Fi's viewers and WWE fans. "It's a huge duplication," she said. "Close to 50% who watch 'Raw' watch Sci Fi as well."
As for how a wrestling franchise fits within the parameters of the Sci Fi brand, Hammer said the series is being developed to match the sensibility of the channel's "stretching the imagination" theme. "It will have a nice little twist that will fit in the brand," she said.
While the ECW is scheduled to run only in the summer, Hammer did not rule out extending its run year-round a la "Raw" if it proved successful.
"ECW on Sci Fi will push the boundaries of sports entertainment in new and unexpected ways," WWE chairman Vince McMahon said.
In recent weeks, WWE has been incorporating ECW into its story lines, positioning it to be a standalone series opposite "Raw" and UPN's "Smackdown," which will continue next season on the CW. The ECW franchise also has been a brisk seller for WWE on DVD and pay-per-view since McMahon acquired the brand in 2003.
_________________________________
File this in the Braveheart and Law & Order file. Can someone please, *please* go back in time and murder this bitches' parents?
SciFi channel has been an insult to Science Fiction and its fans for many a year. And the beat goes on.
Last edited by adamblast; 05-25-06 at 12:12 PM.
05-25-06, 12:11 PM
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Remember when the Sci-Fi Channel actually had appreciation for the genre? When they actually played classic television shows and tried to show most movies in their original aspect ratio? Sigh. Those days are just a memory...
Bonnie Hammer is such a See You Next Tuesday.
Bonnie Hammer is such a See You Next Tuesday.
05-25-06, 12:21 PM
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I guarantee this has been posted already, but searching for "wrestling" or "Hammer" didn't return the thread. 
Edit: Found it http://forum.dvdtalk.com/showthread.php?t=465880
Edit: Found it http://forum.dvdtalk.com/showthread.php?t=465880
05-25-06, 12:31 PM
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Originally Posted by Matthew Chmiel
Remember when the Sci-Fi Channel actually had appreciation for the genre? When they actually played classic television shows and tried to show most movies in their original aspect ratio? Sigh. Those days are just a memory...
Bonnie Hammer is such a See You Next Tuesday.
Bonnie Hammer is such a See You Next Tuesday.
05-25-06, 12:36 PM
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Ahh, thanks Chew. I figured with the debut just a couple weeks away it might have (OK, probably had) already been mentioned, but my search turned up nothing as well.
It just boggles my mind that they've reduced a once-fine channel to this. I pray they change the name soon, so someone who gives a crap about the genre can start from scratch. The Canadian and UK genre stations are gold compared to this.
It just boggles my mind that they've reduced a once-fine channel to this. I pray they change the name soon, so someone who gives a crap about the genre can start from scratch. The Canadian and UK genre stations are gold compared to this.
05-25-06, 01:31 PM
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It seems like everytime a genre channel has been on the air for more than 3 years, the programming changes. Remember The Nashville Network? After awhile it became The National Network, then TNN and now Spike. The Learning Channel has become just TLC and has no educational programming anymore. Mtv, Mtv2, VH-1 and now Fuse have all started showing original programming and show less music videos.
05-25-06, 02:04 PM
#17
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Title should be SciFi channel adds ECW wresling to lineup
ECW will be run as a separate entity/league. WWE owns it, but this is not a WWE branded program.
ECW will be run as a separate entity/league. WWE owns it, but this is not a WWE branded program.
05-25-06, 02:15 PM
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"It will have a nice little twist that will fit in the brand," she said.
Must be a wormhole or space/time anomaly in the final episode.
05-25-06, 02:17 PM
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Don't forget AMC, suddenly every movie is a classic and they add commercials. A&E has also been producing a lot of new 'reality' type programming, although besides Columbo I wasn't that attached to their original programming lineup. They never really had a coherent theme going.
Remember 10 years ago when the big joke was that there would be 500 very niche channels. Now it seems there will just be 500 USA-like networks. I guess that's just what the people want to watch, I would hope there is a market saturation point for generic cable channels.
Remember 10 years ago when the big joke was that there would be 500 very niche channels. Now it seems there will just be 500 USA-like networks. I guess that's just what the people want to watch, I would hope there is a market saturation point for generic cable channels.
05-25-06, 04:49 PM
#22
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Hopefully this means Dr.Gaius Baltar will hire RVD & Balls Mahoney as his personal bodyguards against the impending cyclon invasion. But alas, me thinks this will not happen.
05-25-06, 06:36 PM
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Well, I know that Pro Wrestling is Fiction - but where does the Science come in? (Unless hitting someone in the head with a chair is considered a "Science Experiment")
05-25-06, 06:40 PM
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Originally Posted by adamblast
A&E started out like a commercial PBS alternative, showing very obscure, highbrow and/or intellectual stuff. Same with Bravo. Look where they are now. 
It seems like practically every intelligent channel eventually gets dumbed down and J6P-ized.
05-25-06, 07:20 PM
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Originally Posted by Matthew Chmiel
Remember when the Sci-Fi Channel actually had appreciation for the genre? When they actually played classic television shows and tried to show most movies in their original aspect ratio? Sigh. Those days are just a memory...
Bonnie Hammer is such a See You Next Tuesday.
Bonnie Hammer is such a See You Next Tuesday.
That was back when Comedy Central was focused on funny programming and back when Cartoon Network was... well you get the point
Das, what have you said in the past about Bonnie Hammer?
They need this show on tv so it was either here or Home Shopping Network.
It's on late on a weekend so it shouldnt affect much, and I can sacrifice one episode a week of Knight Rider.