Monday, May 19, 2008

"What if?" the Sci-Fi Channel became mundane?


Nelson sends in an article from nytimes.com that waffles a bit on the present leadership and the programming of the Sci-Fi network. TIM ARANGO might not go so far as to call the present person at Sci-fi's helm schizophrenic, but does go a long way towards admitting that Sci-fi's Dave Howe may have something less than a clear idea of what science fiction really is. Scii-Fi is now in the hands of Dave Howe, who was promoted to president of Sci Fi from general manager in January. To give you an idea of where he wants to take the network, he has been quoted saying, “It’s not just aliens, spaceships and the future,” “It’s about asking that simple question, ‘What if?’ ”

OMG What if? no....its more of WTF! Where does wrasslin come in according to that scenario?
It's clear that they are trying very hard to expand their market by taloring the product to women. In marketing materials for “Battlestar Galactica,” for example, there are no spaceships, and the story lines try to create more of a balance between action and emotion. Which if you look at that trend, you see that very well may be what happend to BSG in the second season. They may have gained a market share in gender but managed to confuse and alienate fans from the first season.

This quote pretty much sums up my feelings on the present course for the Sci-fi channel: Generally speaking, the feeling within the science fiction community is that a lot of the shows on the Sci Fi Channel are watered-down versions of the real thing,” said Michael Capobianco, the president of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America.

Thank you Michael...wonder if they will listen...

click title for complete NYT article.



photo by Chester Higgins Jr./The New York Times

3 comments:

Peggy K said...

For me the problem SciFi isn't the "watered down" science fiction - it's all the crap that isn't science fiction at all. "Real" ghost busters aren't science fiction, the "mystery" of the crystal skull isn't science fiction, and wrestling definitely isn't science fiction. Personally I like a mixture of SF - some hard science based, some more focused on relationships, and (even better) some that is both. I like humor, I like action, I like the mundane and I like the far out - as long as it's actually SF. But what they've been showing - all this psychic woo stuff - is crap.

Anonymous said...

I've got agree here. Though I'm less than thrilled with the "watered down" SF, it is the completely non-genre crap like wrestling and psychics that keep me from watching that channel anymore.

Anonymous said...

Hi Peggy! You and Dave just nail it home. I have been raving at the non genre related material taking root on Sci-fi and the new captain is hell bent on loads more "woo stuff crap" in the future. What makes it even more telling is that his methodology is based on the "female" watcher. Your message made it very clear that they are off my a goodly margin when it concerns the female fan.