An Open Letter to the Sci-Fi Channel

[billybob476]

I must say, I agree with this completely!
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An Open Letter to the Sci-Fi Channel

Jan 7, 2008, 06:48 AM | by Marc Bernardin

Categories: I'm Just a Geek, Sci-Fi, Television

Why are you not way more awesome?

Don't get me wrong, when you're good—like with Battlestar Galactica or Eureka (and I'll even give you credit for Doctor who, despite that being a BBC show you just imported)—you're a phenomenal destination network. But let's be honest here, there's not a lot of "good" on your schedule. The Stargate franchise is stale, Flash Gordon (left) is a derisible, stillborn remake, and ECW Wrestling is...wrestling! (And I swore an oath never to speak of Who Wants to Be a Superhero again.)

The thing that infuriates me is that you have so much potential. We're living in the Age of the Geek, where pop culture has finally come around to our way of thinking. Where the most-watched shows on TV are geek-nip like Heroes, Lost, and Bionic Woman; where we buzz about movies like Pan's Labyrinth, Spider-Man, I Am Legend, and Iron Man. The audience could not be more primed for this material, so why are you offering them Ghost Hunters International and crappy "original movies" like Mansquito?

Again, why aren't you more awesome? After the jump, some friendly advice.

Why aren't you adapting more classic sci-fi texts—like you did with Dune—into miniseries events? (Ones that, hopefully, will fare better than Tin Man.) Where's the Foundation saga, or Ender's Game, or Footfall, or The Man in the High Castle, or The Forever War?

Why aren't you engaging today's premiere purveyors of genre material and giving them ten episodes to do whatever the hell they want? I'd watch contained, BBC-style series from folks like Neil Gaiman, William Gibson, John Scalzi, Cory Doctorow, Warren Ellis, Charlie Huston, Neal Stephenson, or China Mieville. The names alone would attract viewers by the truckload. And even if what they produced were failures, they'd be interesting failures—marked by reaching too far, instead of not far enough.

Why don't you try a daily sci-fi soap opera? Airing late at night, so people could actually be home to watch it—or DVR it. Why can't the same kind of serial storytelling that's worked for 50 years on shows like General Hospital be marshaled to create compelling science fiction? (Actually, I've got to give Evan Narcisse a tip of the hat for this one. Because I'm just that kind of bloke.)

Mark Harris was right when he said that science fiction needed to ditch the nostalgia if it's going to reclaim its integrity. Lucky for those of us who love sci-fi that there's a whole network devoted to it. I just want them to fulfill their mandate.

Imagine that. (No, seriously. Get to work imagining.)

http://popwatch.ew.com/popwatch/2008/01/scifi-open-lett.html

[Jen]

HERE HERE! Awesome.

But I thought Tin Man did well.
And Ghost Hunters is not a bad show... it's entertaining. The rest I agree with.

[Rico]

I agree with a little of it but frankly it comes down to money.  If they had more money I'm sure they would create more original programs and buy more classic series.  One show I do wish they would start doing again that wouldn't cost a lot is a weekly SF Entertainment News type show like the old Sci-Fi Buzz they used to do.  Loved that show!  I'd be willing to host - FOR FREE.  ;)

[billybob476]

Treks in Sci Fi Buzz starring Rick Dostie!

[space_invader64]

I was just about to ask you guys if you had seen this.

[Darth Gaos]

Agree...almost completely...as I am also a fan Ghost Hunters, in whatever incarnation they choose to create.  But I must say that Rico is spot on here...money, money, money.

[KingIsaacLinksr]

Treks in Sci Fi Buzz starring Rick Dostie!

/agree with this statement!!  lol

As for Ghost Hunters, I'm unique amongst my family in that I like to watch the shows myself. They aren't too bad.  But I have to agree, when I watched Sci-Fi channel, I was very disappointed with it in that it lacked good shows.  I mean, cmon, WRESTLING??  If I want to watch that, I'll go to the WRESTLING channel. 

Course, I don't watch Cable often, but still Sci-Fi needs a huge work-up.

King

[Geekyfanboy]

Yes it is all about money.. but there is so much great older sci fi TV series that they can fun. I know there is alot of red tape but still Sci fi should be Sci fi... when did wrestling become sci fi.

[Darth Gaos]

Excellent point...I couldn't believe it when I first saw the advertisement for ECW....Wrestling????  Wha-huh?

[billybob476]

Yes it is all about money.. but there is so much great older sci fi TV series that they can fun. I know there is alot of red tape but still Sci fi should be Sci fi... when did wrestling become sci fi.

It could be sci fi if they make it wrestling...IN SPACE!

[jedijeff]

I don't have Sci-Fi channel where I live, so I feel your pain. We have a station that is equivalent to it in Canada, but it gets a lot of its programming from the Sci-Fi channel. So the less new Sci-Fi on Sci-fi channel means less new sci-fi for us as well :( . I guess I am fortunate as ours plays a lot of Star Trek, so usually something good to watch. Fortunately in Canada, our speciality stations tend to stick to their Mandates, our Sci-Fi channel Space plays Sci-Fi, our Tech Channel shows tech :)

[space_invader64]

Are there any even wrestling fans who enjoy ECW?  That brand of wrestling was a fan favorite in the 90s but just couldn't make any money.  What they are doing now has no resembelence to what it was.  Scifi fans aren't into it.  And this has been the worst year for wrestling since 1993.  What are they trying to do?