Why Syfy = SyFail
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OK, I was mad when they cancelled Caprica last year -- it had just started to get good, despite being really slow. It almost had to be slow, considering it had to explain how the Cylons actually came into existence and the belief structures concerning resurrection and the One True God.
I was even more pissed when they showed all the unaired episodes back-to-back on a Tuesday evening (not the regular time slot) with no warning at all. We weren't even able to DVR them. And they haven't shown them since.
Now that Syfy has cancelled Stargate Universe when it finally started getting really good, I am boycotting the entire channel.
See, SG:U got a bad rap in the beginning. For starters, it was slow and the characters were not as interesting -- for all of ten minutes. After five episodes, the only characters I gave a crap about were Eli, Dr. Rush and Greer (because he was a badass, but a likeable badass). After the entire first season, they were still the only ones I liked, but I was warming up to the development of the rest of the cast. It wasn't like the other Stargate shows -- there were no Ancients, very few aliens who knew anything about the Ancients, nothing. It was like Voyager and Lost in Space, but finally done right this time (because let's face it, Voyager was super-lame, and Lost in Space was way too ahead of its time in concept).
Then it was put on Friday night. In the middle of the regular network season. It didn't do too well up against Smallville. They moved it to Tuesdays. Up against new episodes of stuff like NCIS and Criminal Minds. They moved it to Mondays after Being Human... at 10 p.m. when no one was awake to watch it. Then they blamed the cancellation on poor ratings (1.9 million at the low point), citing shows like Eureka and Warehouse 13 that did so well on Fridays and Tuesdays, they just didn't understand why SG:U didn't survive on those nights except that the fans just weren't interested so why shouldn't they cancel it, right? It's all the fans fault for not watching.
Which is bullshit.
They pointed out two hit shows that run in the summer season. Shows with no competition except from re-runs and crappy made-for-TV movies. Of course more people will watch a new show in the summertime. But a brand new show up against new episodes of established shows on bigger networks? Networks, I might add, that stay true to their programming. I'd venture that the original Stargate would have failed if put head to head with Fringe or Smallville had those shows been established at that time. SG-1 didn't do so hot against Buffy the Vampire Slayer, remember?
2 million viewers at it's lowest point -- especially against Smallville -- is NOT a drop in the bucket, SyFail.
Bjorn thinks that SG:U cost more to produce (the production quality was excellent) and pay Robert Carlysle's salary than Syfy wanted to afford. Crap like Ghost Hunters costs next to nothing to produce -- I can fake a ghost sighting with silly string and a point-and-shoot thermometer and have some asshole chase me with a JVC camcorder screaming "What the hell was that?!" for around $25. Less if I pay that asshole with pizza and beer. And WWE is almost entirely self-sustaining and very profitable. So rather than just say "We want more money in our pockets, so screw quality programming!", Syfy is trying to blame the fan base for "not being there" to support SG:U.
So I guess I won't "be there" to support Syfy's other shows at all.
I will not watch Eureka this summer.
I will not watch Warehouse 13 either.
I will not watch Being Human when it comes back, no matter how good Sam Huntington is as an awkward werewolf or how hot Sam Wittwer is as a vampire (who still shouldn't be able to go out in the sunlight, no matter what because he's a freakin' vampire...).
I haven't even turned to SyFail since the last episode of SG:U last Monday. They were showing 'Dawn of the Dead' and I was bored last night... but rather than have the cable company report our box as tuned into Syfy, I watched the Golden Girls.
I mean, hey... both are about zombies, right?
I was even more pissed when they showed all the unaired episodes back-to-back on a Tuesday evening (not the regular time slot) with no warning at all. We weren't even able to DVR them. And they haven't shown them since.
Now that Syfy has cancelled Stargate Universe when it finally started getting really good, I am boycotting the entire channel.
See, SG:U got a bad rap in the beginning. For starters, it was slow and the characters were not as interesting -- for all of ten minutes. After five episodes, the only characters I gave a crap about were Eli, Dr. Rush and Greer (because he was a badass, but a likeable badass). After the entire first season, they were still the only ones I liked, but I was warming up to the development of the rest of the cast. It wasn't like the other Stargate shows -- there were no Ancients, very few aliens who knew anything about the Ancients, nothing. It was like Voyager and Lost in Space, but finally done right this time (because let's face it, Voyager was super-lame, and Lost in Space was way too ahead of its time in concept).
Then it was put on Friday night. In the middle of the regular network season. It didn't do too well up against Smallville. They moved it to Tuesdays. Up against new episodes of stuff like NCIS and Criminal Minds. They moved it to Mondays after Being Human... at 10 p.m. when no one was awake to watch it. Then they blamed the cancellation on poor ratings (1.9 million at the low point), citing shows like Eureka and Warehouse 13 that did so well on Fridays and Tuesdays, they just didn't understand why SG:U didn't survive on those nights except that the fans just weren't interested so why shouldn't they cancel it, right? It's all the fans fault for not watching.
Which is bullshit.
They pointed out two hit shows that run in the summer season. Shows with no competition except from re-runs and crappy made-for-TV movies. Of course more people will watch a new show in the summertime. But a brand new show up against new episodes of established shows on bigger networks? Networks, I might add, that stay true to their programming. I'd venture that the original Stargate would have failed if put head to head with Fringe or Smallville had those shows been established at that time. SG-1 didn't do so hot against Buffy the Vampire Slayer, remember?
2 million viewers at it's lowest point -- especially against Smallville -- is NOT a drop in the bucket, SyFail.
Bjorn thinks that SG:U cost more to produce (the production quality was excellent) and pay Robert Carlysle's salary than Syfy wanted to afford. Crap like Ghost Hunters costs next to nothing to produce -- I can fake a ghost sighting with silly string and a point-and-shoot thermometer and have some asshole chase me with a JVC camcorder screaming "What the hell was that?!" for around $25. Less if I pay that asshole with pizza and beer. And WWE is almost entirely self-sustaining and very profitable. So rather than just say "We want more money in our pockets, so screw quality programming!", Syfy is trying to blame the fan base for "not being there" to support SG:U.
So I guess I won't "be there" to support Syfy's other shows at all.
I will not watch Eureka this summer.
I will not watch Warehouse 13 either.
I will not watch Being Human when it comes back, no matter how good Sam Huntington is as an awkward werewolf or how hot Sam Wittwer is as a vampire (who still shouldn't be able to go out in the sunlight, no matter what because he's a freakin' vampire...).
I haven't even turned to SyFail since the last episode of SG:U last Monday. They were showing 'Dawn of the Dead' and I was bored last night... but rather than have the cable company report our box as tuned into Syfy, I watched the Golden Girls.
I mean, hey... both are about zombies, right?