(Yet Another) Article about Sci-Fi Channel
03-17-03, 08:51 AM
#1
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(Yet Another) Article about Sci-Fi Channel
This one's from Sunday's Boston Globe:
http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/07...riction+.shtml
Science Friction
The Sci-Fi Channel's slick new shows are causing an outcry from its longtime fans
By Suzanne C. Ryan, Globe Staff, 3/16/2003
For die-hard science fiction fans like Jason Seaver, Friday will be a sad day in TV land.
It's the day the Sci Fi Channel will run the final episode of its first original series, ''Farscape,'' a show that Seaver and other passionate followers call television's best science-fiction program since the original ''Star Trek.''
Sci Fi officials, pointing to flagging ratings, say ''Farscape'' must go to make room for new and higher-profile programming such as the Steven Spielberg-produced miniseries ''Taken'' and ''Frank Herbert's Children of Dune,'' which begins tonight and stars Oscar-winner Susan Sarandon. Next, the channel introduces its first original reality series, ''Scare Tactics,''as well as a horror-comedy series that spins off the movie ''Tremors.''
But Sci Fi's fans don't want to hear about an image makeover. They want the channel to stay the same. ''I've talked to a ton of people online who have said they're through with the channel after the last episode of `Farscape' airs,'' says Seaver, a 29-year-old computer programmer in Cambridge. ''I can't say I'm too interested in much of their upcoming slate. ... `Tremors' looks like it's going to stink. And just what does `Scare Tactics' have to do with science fiction anyway?''
After operating for 11 years in relative obscurity, the sleepy channel known for airing old episodes of ''The Twilight Zone'' is finally attempting to jettison its pocket-protector image.
''Many of the top-grossing movies of all time are science fiction. We're realizing there is a huge audience to explore,'' says Bonnie Hammer, president of the 24-hour basic-cable channel, which is available in 81 million subscribing homes nationwide.
Five years ago, it was available in only 49 million homes. Today its reach is comparable to MTV, which is available in 85 million households.
But by going mainstream, Sci Fi may lose its core fan base. Other cable channels have changed their original format and survived, but science-fiction fans are renowned for being particularly passionate - and willing to speak their minds - about the genre.
While in the past, Sci Fi was primarily a rerun channel, Hammer says, the mandate now is to ''define ourselves as a front-runner in original programming.''
''Children of Dune,'' a six-hour, three-night saga that premieres tonight at 9 p.m., is a prime example. The film is a sequel to the network's Emmy Award-winning ''Dune,'' which aired in 2000.
With ''Children of Dune,'' Sci Fi hopes to follow the remarkable success of ''Taken.'' A risky project - the 20-hour miniseries about alien abductions ran a whopping 10 consecutive weeknights last December - ''Taken'' broke Sci Fi's viewership records, attracting an average of 4.97 million people and making it the most-watched basic cable network on television during those two weeks.
The channel has realized, Hammer says, that traditional science-fiction shows that attempt to portray the future via space odyssies and gee-whiz technology are no longer as appealing to tech-savvy viewers as Earth-based twists on modern-day reality, such as ''The Sixth Sense'' and ''The Matrix.''
''Years ago, science fiction was based on all of these predictions about technology. Well, there is nothing new out there for kids who are so used to technology,'' she says. ''People don't care about the future that much but about new perceptions on the here and now. We're trying to develop products that deal with that.''
To be sure, the channel has not abandoned the space odyssey. In December, it is rolling out the four-hour miniseries ''Battlestar Galactica'' based on the 1970s show. But the reality, Hammer says, is that Sci Fi must expand its reach.
Anticipating her critics, she calls it a myth that the channel is watched by only ''geek boys.''
''In fact,'' Hammer says, ''we're very balanced - 55/45, male/female.''
Fans of ''Farscape'' are fed up with her justifications.
Launched in 1999, the series chronicles the adventures of an astronaut lost in space who is traveling through the universe on a ship with a group of alien renegades. The show's cancellation has spawned a huge public outcry. There are websites and fan clubs devoted to reversing the decision, including www.savefarscape.com and www.farscapefans.com (which sells Save Farscape T-shirts for $22). Some fans have banded together to pay for their own ''Save `Farscape''' television and radio commercials. Others have attended ''Farscape'' conventions in Los Angeles and New York, where they have signed petitions expressing their discontent.
Chatter on the Internet is intense and extensive leading up to the show's last broadcast.
Julie Rayhanabad, a founder of savefarscape.com in Huntington Beach, Calif., says she's ''really disappointed'' in the channel because it doesn't appear to be ''committed'' to traditional science fiction the way its fans are.
Indeed, on March 28, Sci Fi will debut ''Tremors: The Series,'' a weekly show starring Michael Gross, who will reprise his monster-hunter role as Burt Gummer from the film series. In April, Sci Fi will premiere ''Scare Tactics,'' a ''Candid Camera'' type reality show in which friends will stage elaborate science fiction-style hoaxes on other friends, from a Bigfoot sighting on a campground to a baby-sitting job in a haunted house. Shannen Doherty will host the show.
''We don't see `Tremors' as a good series. The worm comes to get you and you kill it,'' says Rayhanabad. Likewise, ''Scare Tactics'' is a ratings ploy, she adds. ''It will pull in more random viewers who aren't science fiction fans but will tune in because it's a reality show.''
In another affront to fans, she adds, Sci Fi has decided to replace one of the ''Battlestar Galactica'' main male characters - Starbuck - with a female actress in the December mini-series. ''There's a huge uproar over that,'' she says.
Paul Bender, a Brooklyn, N.Y., resident who attends ''Farscape'' conventions and is a member of several ''Farscape'' Internet chat groups, believes the channel's primary mission should be to air reruns of the shows that didn't survive on other networks as well as create original programs on par with ''Farscape.''
''I would like to see shows like NBC's `Earth 2' [which was cancelled in 1995] and Fox's `Firefly' [which was canceled in December],'' he says. ''It is the science-fiction channel after all. That is what they should be doing.''
Going forward, Sci Fi will still offer daytime reruns of shows such as ''Lost in Space,'' ''The X-Files,'' and ''Mystery Science Theater 3000.'' During prime time, the channel offers original episodes of ''Stargate SG-1'' (its top-rated show starring Richard Dean Anderson), as well as acquired reality series such as ''Beyond Belief: Fact or Fiction,'' horror flicks, and action movies like ''Raiders of the Lost Ark.''
For late night, Sci Fi offers the popular ''Crossing Over with John Edward,'' in which Edward says he communicates with deceased family members of the studio audience.
Sci Fi's president Hammer concedes she receives e-mails daily from upset viewers. ''Science fiction for some reason has an even more passionate fan base than other genres, so when any series ends, somehow there is a backlash,'' she says. Still, she insists that ''Farscape'' is ''coming to its natural end. ... It was a fabulous series that told great stories with a fabulous cast and at some point you have to say goodbye. ... Like many series, it started waning in the ratings, and we have to move the channel forward with fresh product.''
On the surface, tonight's ''Children of Dune'' - a story about life on two other planets - would seem to contradict Sci Fi's new mission. But director Greg Yaitanes says the film is really a story about powerful women and a dysfunctional family. The film begins 12 years after the conclusion of ''Dune,'' in which Paul Atreides freed Dune from an evil empire.
As the new emperor, or Muad'Dib, Atreides has become a messiah to his people, and society has been taken over by religious zealotry in his name. Trapped in a role he cannot control, Atreides is surrounded by enemies who are scheming to remove him.
Meanwhile, from a distant planet, Atreides's sister-in-law Princess Wensicia, portrayed by Susan Sarandon, is also plotting his death. Haunted by visions of the future, Atreides hands the fate of his oppressed people over to his twin children, who must outsmart his enemies and shatter the myth of Muad'Dib.
''I looked at this as a story of a family, not a science fiction film,'' says Yaitanes, a Wellesley native who directed an episode of Sci Fi's ''The Invisible Man'' three years ago. ''What's great about the film is there are empowered women in it. Science fiction traditionally has had a male appeal to it.''
What's more, he says, his film offers a lot more than ''just hardware and monsters and explosions. There are real human emotions, which is very, very rare in science fiction.''
That's just what Sci Fi executives want to hear. But whether the network's biggest fans will bother to listen is another matter entirely.
Suzanne Ryan can be reached at [email protected]
This story ran on page N1 of the Boston Globe on 3/16/2003.
http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/07...riction+.shtml
Science Friction
The Sci-Fi Channel's slick new shows are causing an outcry from its longtime fans
By Suzanne C. Ryan, Globe Staff, 3/16/2003
For die-hard science fiction fans like Jason Seaver, Friday will be a sad day in TV land.
It's the day the Sci Fi Channel will run the final episode of its first original series, ''Farscape,'' a show that Seaver and other passionate followers call television's best science-fiction program since the original ''Star Trek.''
Sci Fi officials, pointing to flagging ratings, say ''Farscape'' must go to make room for new and higher-profile programming such as the Steven Spielberg-produced miniseries ''Taken'' and ''Frank Herbert's Children of Dune,'' which begins tonight and stars Oscar-winner Susan Sarandon. Next, the channel introduces its first original reality series, ''Scare Tactics,''as well as a horror-comedy series that spins off the movie ''Tremors.''
But Sci Fi's fans don't want to hear about an image makeover. They want the channel to stay the same. ''I've talked to a ton of people online who have said they're through with the channel after the last episode of `Farscape' airs,'' says Seaver, a 29-year-old computer programmer in Cambridge. ''I can't say I'm too interested in much of their upcoming slate. ... `Tremors' looks like it's going to stink. And just what does `Scare Tactics' have to do with science fiction anyway?''
After operating for 11 years in relative obscurity, the sleepy channel known for airing old episodes of ''The Twilight Zone'' is finally attempting to jettison its pocket-protector image.
''Many of the top-grossing movies of all time are science fiction. We're realizing there is a huge audience to explore,'' says Bonnie Hammer, president of the 24-hour basic-cable channel, which is available in 81 million subscribing homes nationwide.
Five years ago, it was available in only 49 million homes. Today its reach is comparable to MTV, which is available in 85 million households.
But by going mainstream, Sci Fi may lose its core fan base. Other cable channels have changed their original format and survived, but science-fiction fans are renowned for being particularly passionate - and willing to speak their minds - about the genre.
While in the past, Sci Fi was primarily a rerun channel, Hammer says, the mandate now is to ''define ourselves as a front-runner in original programming.''
''Children of Dune,'' a six-hour, three-night saga that premieres tonight at 9 p.m., is a prime example. The film is a sequel to the network's Emmy Award-winning ''Dune,'' which aired in 2000.
With ''Children of Dune,'' Sci Fi hopes to follow the remarkable success of ''Taken.'' A risky project - the 20-hour miniseries about alien abductions ran a whopping 10 consecutive weeknights last December - ''Taken'' broke Sci Fi's viewership records, attracting an average of 4.97 million people and making it the most-watched basic cable network on television during those two weeks.
The channel has realized, Hammer says, that traditional science-fiction shows that attempt to portray the future via space odyssies and gee-whiz technology are no longer as appealing to tech-savvy viewers as Earth-based twists on modern-day reality, such as ''The Sixth Sense'' and ''The Matrix.''
''Years ago, science fiction was based on all of these predictions about technology. Well, there is nothing new out there for kids who are so used to technology,'' she says. ''People don't care about the future that much but about new perceptions on the here and now. We're trying to develop products that deal with that.''
To be sure, the channel has not abandoned the space odyssey. In December, it is rolling out the four-hour miniseries ''Battlestar Galactica'' based on the 1970s show. But the reality, Hammer says, is that Sci Fi must expand its reach.
Anticipating her critics, she calls it a myth that the channel is watched by only ''geek boys.''
''In fact,'' Hammer says, ''we're very balanced - 55/45, male/female.''
Fans of ''Farscape'' are fed up with her justifications.
Launched in 1999, the series chronicles the adventures of an astronaut lost in space who is traveling through the universe on a ship with a group of alien renegades. The show's cancellation has spawned a huge public outcry. There are websites and fan clubs devoted to reversing the decision, including www.savefarscape.com and www.farscapefans.com (which sells Save Farscape T-shirts for $22). Some fans have banded together to pay for their own ''Save `Farscape''' television and radio commercials. Others have attended ''Farscape'' conventions in Los Angeles and New York, where they have signed petitions expressing their discontent.
Chatter on the Internet is intense and extensive leading up to the show's last broadcast.
Julie Rayhanabad, a founder of savefarscape.com in Huntington Beach, Calif., says she's ''really disappointed'' in the channel because it doesn't appear to be ''committed'' to traditional science fiction the way its fans are.
Indeed, on March 28, Sci Fi will debut ''Tremors: The Series,'' a weekly show starring Michael Gross, who will reprise his monster-hunter role as Burt Gummer from the film series. In April, Sci Fi will premiere ''Scare Tactics,'' a ''Candid Camera'' type reality show in which friends will stage elaborate science fiction-style hoaxes on other friends, from a Bigfoot sighting on a campground to a baby-sitting job in a haunted house. Shannen Doherty will host the show.
''We don't see `Tremors' as a good series. The worm comes to get you and you kill it,'' says Rayhanabad. Likewise, ''Scare Tactics'' is a ratings ploy, she adds. ''It will pull in more random viewers who aren't science fiction fans but will tune in because it's a reality show.''
In another affront to fans, she adds, Sci Fi has decided to replace one of the ''Battlestar Galactica'' main male characters - Starbuck - with a female actress in the December mini-series. ''There's a huge uproar over that,'' she says.
Paul Bender, a Brooklyn, N.Y., resident who attends ''Farscape'' conventions and is a member of several ''Farscape'' Internet chat groups, believes the channel's primary mission should be to air reruns of the shows that didn't survive on other networks as well as create original programs on par with ''Farscape.''
''I would like to see shows like NBC's `Earth 2' [which was cancelled in 1995] and Fox's `Firefly' [which was canceled in December],'' he says. ''It is the science-fiction channel after all. That is what they should be doing.''
Going forward, Sci Fi will still offer daytime reruns of shows such as ''Lost in Space,'' ''The X-Files,'' and ''Mystery Science Theater 3000.'' During prime time, the channel offers original episodes of ''Stargate SG-1'' (its top-rated show starring Richard Dean Anderson), as well as acquired reality series such as ''Beyond Belief: Fact or Fiction,'' horror flicks, and action movies like ''Raiders of the Lost Ark.''
For late night, Sci Fi offers the popular ''Crossing Over with John Edward,'' in which Edward says he communicates with deceased family members of the studio audience.
Sci Fi's president Hammer concedes she receives e-mails daily from upset viewers. ''Science fiction for some reason has an even more passionate fan base than other genres, so when any series ends, somehow there is a backlash,'' she says. Still, she insists that ''Farscape'' is ''coming to its natural end. ... It was a fabulous series that told great stories with a fabulous cast and at some point you have to say goodbye. ... Like many series, it started waning in the ratings, and we have to move the channel forward with fresh product.''
On the surface, tonight's ''Children of Dune'' - a story about life on two other planets - would seem to contradict Sci Fi's new mission. But director Greg Yaitanes says the film is really a story about powerful women and a dysfunctional family. The film begins 12 years after the conclusion of ''Dune,'' in which Paul Atreides freed Dune from an evil empire.
As the new emperor, or Muad'Dib, Atreides has become a messiah to his people, and society has been taken over by religious zealotry in his name. Trapped in a role he cannot control, Atreides is surrounded by enemies who are scheming to remove him.
Meanwhile, from a distant planet, Atreides's sister-in-law Princess Wensicia, portrayed by Susan Sarandon, is also plotting his death. Haunted by visions of the future, Atreides hands the fate of his oppressed people over to his twin children, who must outsmart his enemies and shatter the myth of Muad'Dib.
''I looked at this as a story of a family, not a science fiction film,'' says Yaitanes, a Wellesley native who directed an episode of Sci Fi's ''The Invisible Man'' three years ago. ''What's great about the film is there are empowered women in it. Science fiction traditionally has had a male appeal to it.''
What's more, he says, his film offers a lot more than ''just hardware and monsters and explosions. There are real human emotions, which is very, very rare in science fiction.''
That's just what Sci Fi executives want to hear. But whether the network's biggest fans will bother to listen is another matter entirely.
Suzanne Ryan can be reached at [email protected]
This story ran on page N1 of the Boston Globe on 3/16/2003.
03-17-03, 08:54 AM
#2
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Thread Starter
My personal favorite part: here Bonnie claims that Farscape is ''coming to its natural end..."
Natural end? By renewing for 2 years and cancelling after 1? By ending the show with "To Be Continued..."? That's a natural end?
Overall, the article rambles a bit (and it's pretty clear that the author doesn't know much about the actual issues -- she's just taking quotes from both sides and writing them up). But I couldn't believe that line... "natural end". Dear Lord.
Natural end? By renewing for 2 years and cancelling after 1? By ending the show with "To Be Continued..."? That's a natural end?
Overall, the article rambles a bit (and it's pretty clear that the author doesn't know much about the actual issues -- she's just taking quotes from both sides and writing them up). But I couldn't believe that line... "natural end". Dear Lord.
03-17-03, 09:39 AM
#4
DVD Talk Legend
Here's an idea: would it be so hard to devote just a single night a week to appease the "geek boys" and keep Farscape and the like? Who cares if it's on a rating deprived day like Saturdays? We'll still watch.
Expand the viewer base on the other 6 nights and let us have our one night. Keep the "true" Science Fiction fan happy.
Expand the viewer base on the other 6 nights and let us have our one night. Keep the "true" Science Fiction fan happy.
03-17-03, 09:43 AM
#5
DVD Talk Hero
While in the past, Sci Fi was primarily a rerun channel, Hammer says, the mandate now is to ''define ourselves as a front-runner in original programming.''
Maybe "original" is airing repeats of a USA series? Or buying the latter seasons of a Showtime series? Or buying up a bunch of crappy B-movies from the mid-90's, slapping the word "Sci-Fi Original" on the front of it and airing it in Prime Time?
Bonnie,
das
03-17-03, 01:17 PM
#7
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Y,WdS. 
Didn't see a mention of The Wet Dream Team...
I'm still trying to get my mind around Starbuck as a broad. Is she gonna smoke cigars and chasewomen?
Didn't see a mention of The Wet Dream Team...
I'm still trying to get my mind around Starbuck as a broad. Is she gonna smoke cigars and chase
03-17-03, 01:20 PM
#8
DVD Talk Legend
Originally posted by Wizdar
I'm still trying to get my mind around Starbuck as a broad. Is she gonna smoke cigars and chasewomen?
I'm still trying to get my mind around Starbuck as a broad. Is she gonna smoke cigars and chase
03-17-03, 04:22 PM
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On the surface, tonight's ''Children of Dune'' - a story about life on two other planets - would seem to contradict Sci Fi's new mission. But director Greg Yaitanes says the film is really a story about powerful women and a dysfunctional family. The film begins 12 years after the conclusion of ''Dune,'' in which Paul Atreides freed Dune from an evil empire.
As the new emperor, or Muad'Dib, Atreides has become a messiah to his people, and society has been taken over by religious zealotry in his name. Trapped in a role he cannot control, Atreides is surrounded by enemies who are scheming to remove him.
Meanwhile, from a distant planet, Atreides's sister-in-law Princess Wensicia, portrayed by Susan Sarandon, is also plotting his death. Haunted by visions of the future, Atreides hands the fate of his oppressed people over to his twin children, who must outsmart his enemies and shatter the myth of Muad'Dib.
''I looked at this as a story of a family, not a science fiction film,'' says Yaitanes, a Wellesley native who directed an episode of Sci Fi's ''The Invisible Man'' three years ago. ''What's great about the film is there are empowered women in it. Science fiction traditionally has had a male appeal to it.''
What's more, he says, his film offers a lot more than ''just hardware and monsters and explosions. There are real human emotions, which is very, very rare in science fiction.''
We don't get sci-fi here in Canada, but if we did i'd boycott.
03-17-03, 04:48 PM
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Originally posted by Chew
Here's an idea: would it be so hard to devote just a single night a week to appease the "geek boys" and keep Farscape and the like? Who cares if it's on a rating deprived day like Saturdays? We'll still watch.
Expand the viewer base on the other 6 nights and let us have our one night. Keep the "true" Science Fiction fan happy.
Here's an idea: would it be so hard to devote just a single night a week to appease the "geek boys" and keep Farscape and the like? Who cares if it's on a rating deprived day like Saturdays? We'll still watch.
Expand the viewer base on the other 6 nights and let us have our one night. Keep the "true" Science Fiction fan happy.
03-17-03, 05:13 PM
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Shes a great spin doctor isnt she?
She has an excuse for everything.
She must have a little book of excuses.
I wont be watching Children of Dune or Scare Tactics or Knight Rider reruns.
Its over.
She has an excuse for everything.
She must have a little book of excuses.
I wont be watching Children of Dune or Scare Tactics or Knight Rider reruns.
Its over.
03-17-03, 05:16 PM
#13
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What's more, he says, his film offers a lot more than ''just hardware and monsters and explosions. There are real human emotions, which is very, very rare in science fiction.''
das
03-17-03, 06:05 PM
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The dude’s a TV writer. There’s no such thing as serious SF on TV. Or, at least, there won’t be after a few days.
What amazes me is hacks who think they know the genre, but clearly haven’t the talent to make it in the serious SF print media, and likely haven’t even read any good SF.
Moron alert! Serious SF is fairly genderless. Although “traditionally” the numbers may have been slanted in the male direction, that’s no longer true and hasn’t been for quite some time.
Hammer obviously agrees with the male slant and is trying to make a difference “for women.” Trouble is, I doubt that she’s asked any women about this. And if she’s ever been exposed to SF beyond TV or movies, I would be very surprised.
What amazes me is hacks who think they know the genre, but clearly haven’t the talent to make it in the serious SF print media, and likely haven’t even read any good SF.
Science fiction traditionally has had a male appeal to it.
Hammer obviously agrees with the male slant and is trying to make a difference “for women.” Trouble is, I doubt that she’s asked any women about this. And if she’s ever been exposed to SF beyond TV or movies, I would be very surprised.
03-17-03, 06:20 PM
#16
DVD Talk Legend
Re: (Yet Another) Article about Sci-Fi Channel
From the article originally posted by bboisvert
After operating for 11 years in relative obscurity, the sleepy channel known for airing old episodes of ''The Twilight Zone'' is finally attempting to jettison its pocket-protector image.
After operating for 11 years in relative obscurity, the sleepy channel known for airing old episodes of ''The Twilight Zone'' is finally attempting to jettison its pocket-protector image.
Can somebody, somewhere, PLEASE write a story about this channel without using these trite cliches.
At least they dropped the "30 year old virgin living in their parent's basement" line.
I get 107 channels of basic and expanded digital cable. Is it too much to ask that ONE channel actually attempt to reach a target demographic outside the lowest common denominator?
03-17-03, 08:26 PM
#19
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Ugh. Well Hammer will get what she deserved.
Taken did get huge numbers, was it because everyone all of a sudden decided to take in some SCI-Fi programming, or did the massive marketing campaign have anything to do with it.
I couldn't go to the movies without seeing a trailer, I couldn't watch TV for more than 15 minutes without seeing a commercial, I couldn't drive around town without seeing billboards. A monkey picking his hair would draw millions of viewers with that massice an advertising campaign.
The realization that Hammer will comes to, and how great it will be, is that you Taken and Dune carry you 13 days a year, what are you going to do with the other 352 when your core audience has abandoned you because you bailed on 22 hours of programming....guess what Bonnie, John and Jane TV Watcher won't be showing unless you spend the big dough on every single hour or programming.
Taken did get huge numbers, was it because everyone all of a sudden decided to take in some SCI-Fi programming, or did the massive marketing campaign have anything to do with it.
I couldn't go to the movies without seeing a trailer, I couldn't watch TV for more than 15 minutes without seeing a commercial, I couldn't drive around town without seeing billboards. A monkey picking his hair would draw millions of viewers with that massice an advertising campaign.
The realization that Hammer will comes to, and how great it will be, is that you Taken and Dune carry you 13 days a year, what are you going to do with the other 352 when your core audience has abandoned you because you bailed on 22 hours of programming....guess what Bonnie, John and Jane TV Watcher won't be showing unless you spend the big dough on every single hour or programming.
03-17-03, 08:27 PM
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Re: (Yet Another) Article about Sci-Fi Channel
Anticipating her critics, she calls it a myth that the channel is watched by only ''geek boys.''
''In fact,'' Hammer says, ''we're very balanced - 55/45, male/female.''
From the Time Article last week
That change is the work of network president Bonnie Hammer, charged with "broadening" the fan base, which, not to put too fine a point on it, largely means: bring in women.
That change is the work of network president Bonnie Hammer, charged with "broadening" the fan base, which, not to put too fine a point on it, largely means: bring in women.
03-17-03, 10:58 PM
#21
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Sigh . . . I'm a female viewer, and in my opinion, if the Sci-fi cared about me, they would have renewed Farscape and kept their Babylon 5 reruns. 
tasha
tasha
03-18-03, 01:12 AM
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Wait... They're becoming female-friendly by getting rid of Farscape, and airing a spinoff of Tremors? Farscape seems about as female-friendly as anyone could ever hope (I thought it appealed to the same audience as Buffy, which is largely seen as a girl's show).
Reading the article, I have to wonder why the SciFi channel hasn't just gone ahead and changed their name. The message is clearly "This whole science-fiction thing just isn't pulling in the ratings we want." Blah.
Reading the article, I have to wonder why the SciFi channel hasn't just gone ahead and changed their name. The message is clearly "This whole science-fiction thing just isn't pulling in the ratings we want." Blah.
