What are some of the good shows on this network. I just got it added to my dish and am thinking about checking out something. How is the Chronicle, it's the only one I've seen anything on so far.?

Unfortunately, you're joining Sci-Fi at probably a bad time.

I guess there are only three new shows still being produced by the channel: Farscape, Lexx, and The Chronicle. (Unless you could Crossing Over and Exposure)

Farscape is one of the most unique and inventive science fiction shows in a long time and helps fill the void of good science fiction on TV. It's really an incredible show in many ways: it's visually stunning, the characters and dialogue are great, and the stories are surprisingly strong. It had almost completed its 3rd season and then disappeared in November with 4 episodes to go ... these should air in March in the US, from what I understand. When it disappeared, they aired every episode in order each weeknight at 8pm EST. That concluded a few weeks ago, and they started airing them again midway through the first season ... I assume they'll continue in order until March. The first season is on DVD if you want to catch up. It's a damn fine show, and the best on the channel.

Lexx is one of those stupid shows that people seem to like, probably because of its sexuality. I've never particularly gotten into it, but many people really like it. I don't know its current status, as I rarely watch it.

The Chronicle is somewhat entertaining and stars one of the hottest chicks on television, Rena Sofer. It's a tongue-in-cheek fun show that I don't really watch that often, but it's pretty enjoyable. I think it returns January 4th. Again, they reran all the episodes in order the past two months.

I have no idea what the future holds for The Invisible Man, which was cancelled around a month ago. Other than Farscape, it was their best show. It really did kick ass in many ways, and they still air repeats on Friday nights at 8pm. Like Farscape, there are 4 remaining episodes that should air in February.

And, of course, Babylon 5: Legend of the Rangers will premier on January 19. It may not be as enjoyable without knowing the Babylon 5 story, but it will likely be a while before you can catch up to that saga, as it's in 4th season reruns now. Perhaps they'll restart them in order again, but likely not. It's my choice as successor to Star Trek as the king of science fiction.

There will be an insanely long Twilight Zone marathon starting in a couple hours and going through New Year's.

Earth: Final Conflict should start airing in order on Wednesday, I think. I never liked this show past the first few seasons (and even then, it was only average), but others seem to get into it.

Crossing Over with John Edward is the 30 minute show with the guy who claims to speak to the dead. Judge for yourself. I don't find the show too enjoyable, but it is somewhat intresting.

Exposure is where they show short films. Sometimes they're really cool. Othertimes they're incredibly lame.

That's all I can think of. They have a bunch of shows that they rotate regularly. There's a list somewhere over at www.scifi.com but their website is so moronically designed that I avoid it. Some of those shows are pretty cool and shamefully overlooked. Others are pretty stupid, but they were cheap for Sci-Fi to buy. You'll have to see for yourself. Their schedule rotates a few times a year. They're pretty good about setting up a show to run all the episodes in a row and then putting it back on the shelf for a while. It's not the best channel on TV, but I applaud their effort. Good luck ... I'm sure you'll find something that's worth your time.

das

First Wave is being shown from the begining in early January.
Also I read they are re-airing/re-starting the Earth Final
Conflict series from the begining.
Personally I like the FW, but...EFC lost me years ago.
Also as mentioned above Lexx/Farscape are very good.
But they are not for everyones tastes.

They also air some sci-fi movies that are actually good.
One was called the CUBE. And the new Dune series.
Their best tv stuff is Outer Limits & Babylon 5 universe.
Plus their daily airing of many old sci-fi/horror series.
If you are interested in their tv/movie schedule just
log on to scifi.com.

Twilight Zone marathon is on right now

I basically just want to say "Yeah, what das said."

But, I also wanted to stress how great FARSCAPE is. You should definitely check it out. I would suggest buying/renting the first volume DVD, just so you get a good sense of what's going on. Then you should be able to start watching episodes and not be too lost.

And I'll say, me three. Das and bboisvert said what I wanted to say - Farscape is fantastic, as is B5, and you'd be doing yourself a favor to check them both out. I hadn't ever seen Farscape and then watched all of the episodes when they replayed them in order starting in September, and never looked back. I love this show.

Check out the Babylon 5 dvd of the first movie if you've never seen the show. It's really not the best idea to drop in the middle of this show as there is a TON of character and story development that you miss out on, but they seem to show programs in order, so if you wait a bit you'll be able to see B5 in order also.

Have fun!

And when you do ... keep an open mind. The first movie is pretty uneven and, while important to the story, is maybe 10% as good as the rest of the series. If you do intend to follow the series, just understand the B5 is not the kind of show that's going to astonish you with the first episodes. It take some patience in the early days, but in the end you'll have watched one of the finest series in all of television, not just Sci-Fi.

das

It's all about Farscape.

Actually the first wave was pretty good. IMO

Looks January 2 is the starting date for a whole new schedule.
Some shows have been moved around. I am excited to
see that the Original Outer Limits is airing again.

Looks like it WAS a good time to add the scifi channel.
Anyways....Lets hope the new B5 series is good.

Wow ... that is good news. The recent version is underwhelming at best.

das

Well... The last couple of years I agree for the most part
are pretty lame. But the first 3 seasons had some good
written eps. Also under looked is the terrific music score's
that several eps had for all the seasons. Next time anyone
views a epsiode. Listen to the music score. Many are cool.

The series as a tv show is ok. Its the subtle things that make it stand out as a very good sci-fi series.

hehehe I check out Crossing Over. First watched it because he was doing a reading for Deborah Gibson. Sometimes you think 'oh he is just putting things together', other times it is a little eerie. I think another dude is going to do a show also since Edward's is doing well.

I like to check out the Superhero mondays or something SciFi had, don't know if they still do... I would have Tivo set to tape Batman and I would check out Wonder Woman sometimes. Also, don't they have the original Dark Shadows? Caught that a few times in the morning.

Oops ... "could" was supposed to be "count."

das

I miss the Sci-Fi Santa....

As far as I'm concerned the two best shows they had were cancelled... Mystery Science Theater 3000 (even though it had seen better days) and Invisible Man (which was charming in a loose way). As far as their other stuff...

Crossing Over -> John Edward is a modern day snake oil salesman,... its bunk preying on peoples grief.
Farscape -> Sorry, never could take puppets acting dramatically. Dont like the jokes, dont like the creature design.
First Wave -> Never saw the appeal. Witless. Budgetless. Unoriginal.
Lexx -> Bad fx. Bad Characters. Bad Writing... Better stuff to touch oneself too.
The Chronicle -> Aimiable white guy+hot chick+sassy talkin' black guy, investigating the paranormal? Hop on the cliche bandwagon; totally unoriginal and worthless.
Earth: Final Conflict -> I thought it was over in syndication, so I would be rid of it, now SciFi pickes it up?
Exposure -> Like already said, hard to sit through an hour long show just for one good 5 min short.

Other than that, they do the occasional neat original miniseries/film like DUNE, show Star Trek, Quantam Leap, Friday the 13th, have programming during the day running old 70's and 80's science fiction programs like Automan and Manimal. Sometimes they show movies you never see on cable anymore, like Funhouse, the Hidden, and such. I found I watched it more when they had less original programming, when they just showed Buck Rogers, Doctor Who, The Prisoner, and anime cartoons every morning and on Sat nights/morinings.

That was my complaint when I tried watching the series when it premiered. Stopped watching and only starting watching again with six episodes left in the last season.

Those episodes were awesome. Hooked ever since. (Would had them all on tape too had my cable not gone out for two weeks)

Anyway, I really liked First Wave when it started but my interest fizzled at the end of the first season.

They have some great older shows during the daytime which might pique your interest...one of my guilty pleasure is on, Viper.

The only show I watch is Mystery Science Theater 3000, but that's may finally end after January (it's only repeats anyway since the show ended production over a year ago).

I've tried several of the other Sci-Fi series, but they just seem very poor to me. I tried to like Farscape, but just couldn't do it.

I also have to throw in my support of Farscape. Right now it's my favorite show currently in production, and thankfully episodes for seasons 4 and 5 have been ordered. Unfortunately there won't be any new episodes until April.

I caught one episode of Lexx...that was an hour too much of that thing for me. First Wave, I never watched until the end--it was decent. I loved The Invisible Man. It was worth watching just for the conversations between Fawkes and Hobbes. I didn't know it was cancelled, but I guess there's a new episode this week at least. I've caught The Chronicle a couple of times and it's pretty decent--a lot like MiB though.

Of course there are some movies coming up. B5: Legend of the Ranger on Jan 19th--it's B5 so it'll rock (B5 is my favorite all-time series, BTW, along with MST3K). Hopefully it will be picked up as a series and not get completely screwed over like Crusade did. And there's another Dune miniseries on the way, Children of Dune, which also covered Dune Messiah, I guess.

The Twilight Zone is the only show I watch on Sci-Fi. Every now and then, they'll show some good movies, like Army of Darkness and Bladerunner.