SciFi needs Kaiju. Nuff said.

I wouldn't know because I haven't gotten the Sci-Fi channel in years. Stupid basic cable.

Sci Fi needs to stop being FOX and cancelling shit. Dresden was a GREAT show, and then pow it is gone. Battlestar is ending, but up to the creator on that one. Ghost Hunters are good/ok, and then Inernational show is ok, but they have had UFO Hunters, another ghost show etc. and they are shown once and disappear. What the fuck? I think there are monkeys running the scheduling. I mean seasons are short, like 10 episodes or less on shows and then like said in the article, stupid snakes, insects etc. No Incredible Hulk, Star Trek, old Battlestar, Babylon 5, Swamp Thing, etc. on. Hell no, just stupid POS movies created by Sci Fi on low budget and almost no special effects. *sigh* When/if the Ghost Hunter shows go off, I am done with Sci Fi. Battlestar is the last truely excellent show on there. Dresden was one, but got canned. Sci Fi is killing themselves....

To me, Doctor Who is often as campy as Mansquito. I remember BH saying something about skiffy not being able to fill it's schedule with all TRUE sci fi and that Trek was too expensive. Also, you do have to think about ratings here, and the MOV monster shows do well (average about a 1.4), and they make a killing on DVD (see EPOCH, etc.).

And Sci Fi is not setting itself up for a buy out. That's one of the stupidest thing's I've ever read. It's a prime property for NBC U, and ratings have been up consistantly for the past 5 years +, with the craptacular Oz movie its highest mini EVER (beat even Taken).

While I love to complain about Sci Fi, they're running a business. I hate ECW as much as the next guy - but as long as we get BSG, those Farscape minis, Firefly reruns, camp like Eureka, etc., it's hard for me to complain TOO much.

If it was up to me, they'd be running forgotten shows Earth 2, SAaB, and Odyssey 5 (they have the rights to all three), but it's not, and they'd probably get bottom-of-the-barrel ratings. Maybe it's time for ANOTHER true Science Fiction channel. Maybe that's the answer...

I think the name you're all looking for is Bonnie Hammer. She's the one who axed Farscape, greenlit all the reality and set Sci-Fi's original movie-of-the-week program (top budget: $250-300K)

She stepped down last January, but her legacy is felt still.

@sandmanfvr: Dresden was a terrible show, in virtually every respect. It was a great idea for a show, but they didn't make their idea. They made that inane pile of crap instead.

Cheers to Savage! I cannot get my head around why SciFi keeps showing Extreme Championship Wrestling. Even reruns of old lost shows like The Phoenix would be better.

I was under the inmpression that "Babylon 5" wasn't being broadcast anywhere anymore. A few years ago, Space: The Imagination Station (Canada's version of Sci-Fi Channel) ran the series, announcing it would be the last time it was ever to be shown, forever. Is that true, or did Space just not want to run it anymore?

@braak: Agreed. Absolutely awful (though it did get a little better). The Lost Room was excellent though. Would highly recommend it. Travesty it didn't get picked up. A travesty I tell you!

Funny braak, from the ratings the show was a hit its mark, but Sci Fi "didn't hit the correct demographic". You might not have liked it, but it had ratings and still was canned.

SciFi Channel needs more mainstream movies. All the good shit goes to TNT and USA. I'd much rather watch Predator again than Mansquito.

Yeah! And while we are at it, what happened to Mystery Science Theatre 3000? I know it stopped around year 2k but why? Why??!? WHY??!??!

How about showing Sci-Fi?

Seriously, there is a LOT of it. HUGE amounts. Let it be the channel that you can turn to at any time of the day and expect to see something that involves SF. Not horror. Not generic action movies. Science Fiction.

There is nothing wrong with re-runs. Just plundering the 90's forward you could do an entire 24/7 line-up without repeating yourself. Hell, I bet they could buy the rights outright to a lot of forgotten shows on the cheap. Burn through a one or two season show in two or three months and then release a DVD set to coincide.

Then make new headline shows to fill the big time slots. Go with the BBC model of commissioning a three or four shows with 6-8 episode stand alone seasons. That gives you roughly 4 seasons a year. Anything that does well in quarter 1 gets picked up again, films in quarter 2 and airs season 2 in quarter 3. Keep the shows rotating and see what sticks.

Release DVD sets and direct downloads FAST. And keep them reasonably priced. 8 episode series? I should be able to pick that up for $30-$40 max. Often a show does only OK in ratings and by the time the DVD gets released and the real money starts coming in it has already been long cut.

Co-operate with foreign channels. Import the best stuff from around the world. Hell, if there is good foreign language SF, I bet you could pick it up cheap, subtitle it and get a cult late-night following for some French or German show. Then release THAT on DVD. And download.

Basically, be happy serving a small and reliable market. Don't try and be everything to everyone. There is nothing wrong with being a small profitable station. Unless you happen to be owned by NBC and have to show 5000% growth every quarter. In that case, you and everyone who enjoys you as you were is proper fucked.

The skiffy channel sucked from Day One.

Rather than try to actually focus on science fiction, they've ALWAYS tried to be as mass appeal as possible. And cheap.

Considering the wealth of material out there (from ALL over) that they could chose from, there's no reason for the outright dreck they run most of the time.

The good stuff is the exception.

I remember when they announced sci-fi -- a house by a lake with a ringed planet in the sky. Man I was excited. It was all reruns then but it was stuff I wanted to see.

Then there came Sci-Fi Prime. I remember sitting down and anxiously awaiting the Invisible Man, I wasn't too impressed, but stuck around for this other show... Farscape. My mind was blown and it was the reason I decided to go into film and TV.

But since the cancellation (and besides BSG... when it's on), the Sci Fi Channel seems to be nothing more than B Movies, poor "reality" programs, and sometimes "wrestling."

My old boss worked there after Farscape was cancelled. She saw what they did. Sadly a message board post won't do anything to fix the problem of Ms. Hammer.

@extracrispy: Wait, you're telling me Alone in the Dark and Ice Spiders don't do it for you?

The Sci-Fi Channel either just doesn't have the money or does not want to spend the money needed for good sci fi. In either case they should just close-up shop because as it is they are giving science fiction a very bad name.

I think once BSG is over, the channel will go down in flames. There's not much left.

Don't say anything bad about "Battle Beyond the Stars." That movie was awesome.

One question I've wanted answered the last few months; What the hell is it with wresting being on Sci Fi?

Nothing the audience can do about it. ECW? Forget about it.
It's like when AMC changed formats, from uninterrupted movies to relatively recent b-movies, in heavy rotation. Bottom line is everything.

I don't have cable right now and the only reason I would consider it is to watch BSG but I think I'm either gonna go on iTunes, the series of tubes, or whatever, because cable is such a ripoff in general.

scifi is a really dull channel that's trying to be too many things at once. they have magazines, they do blogs, they do all sorts of stuff, and yet at the core of it most of their shows with the exception of BSG, jumped the shark. Stargate was great until the end of Season 7 ,then it just sorta sucked. Atlantis? I stopped watching that after the millionth "aliens ate my brain" episode.

The ghost hunter stuff is just stupid, and the movies? Well they make decent money off the movies, and that's fine, but if they're not going to invest in dcent original programming, and not even bother to buy good product to sell ads with, screw 'em.

Plus, they kinda screwed with BSG, giving it a full season, but then saying "that's it." ARgh.

Three points:

1) Run when you hear the phrase "A SciFi channel original series/film"

2) There's more to scifi than Star Trek and Stargate

3) Ghosthunting type shows just don't do it for me

I think SciFi's decline started in earnest after they lost the bidding war for Star Trek: TNG to TNN (TNN started out as The Nashville Network until Viacom's buyout in 2000, when it became The National Network).

To TNN's credit, they did the franchise right and showed TNG multiple times a day, rocketing their viewership. Viewership that robbed SciFi of much needed ratings.

From there, it's been downhill. From the cancellation of Farscape, to missing out on opportunities like picking up Firefly when FOX canceled it. Someone thought that ECW Wrestling was a better match for the channel.

Anyway, it's going to need a major shakeup before any real, pure programming will come back. I know it's about making money, but really, is anyone watching any of with crappy programming with real regularity?

I remember when it launched ... the count-down clock and then the launch ... of Lost in Space.
SciFi was NEVER properly science fiction. It has wandered into horror, gothic romance, and now effing wrestling!
There was a running joke in my house that this channel was the Bizarro version of SciFi - the place where good shows were murdered and crapola was showcased. Where The Invisible Man and FarScape and Third Wave went to die inglorious deaths with their format destroyed, the scheduling randomized and their budgets hacked to the bone.
I am a life-long fan of science fiction in all its many forms. I hope someday the real SciFi channel shows up and kicks BizarroSciFi's bean-counting, cigar-chomping, liesure-suited butt off the air.

Once Sci-fi started airing wrestling I knew it had really gone down the drain.

I can live with all the crap so long as they start letting shows finish their damned story arcs. Seriously, SG1 was dying a long slow death, but deserved enough time to wrap its story arc. Farscape got cancelled in its prime. Along with loads of other good shows like the invisible man... There is no reason to support a show and give a channel good ratings if they are going to end the story sans conclusion.

And I know its not their fault but I hate whoever canceled Odyssey 5 as well.

Farscape's "death" actually started Sci Fi Channel's downfall, as others have said. Farscape was the best sci fi show out there, or one of the best. It was original, new characters and just rocked, but it was canned and thus Sci Fi Channel went to the way it is now. I agree with radink360, once BSG goes off the air, Sci Fi Channel may be hosed. To many Ghost Hunter want to be's will ruin it and the movies, well they suck already. I think we could see the end of Sci Fi Channel soon, either that or a rebirth.

@Tommmcatt: the MST3K guys are back together doing various MST3K direct-to DVD series and/or podcasts that are all MST3K by other names. Specifically, The Film Crew and RiffTracks. They're good! Also, MST3K: The Movie is finally gettting re-released on DVD. Rejoice!

@Gopherit: Sci-Fi and USA (which does show wrestling) are owned by the same parent company. The term is "repurposing," the advantage is "cheap," the reason is "Bonnie Hammer," and the result is "cheap."

I want a venue for classic Dr. Who to be shown on cable again. BBC America no longer airs it, it would be a goldmine!

They could use a lot more shows... get foreign Sci Fi, get older sci fi. Run random 80's shows that didn't last like The Highwayman, Misfits of Science, or Otherworld.

That being said... I love vegging out to their crap B-Movies. Some (a small handful) are actually decent. Dagon was pretty sweet. Oh yeah... and if a movie shows boobs, do what Comedy Central does and run it uncensored after midnight. Its a sad weird country we live in where they can show someones head popping off, with blood everywhere, but not a nipple.

@PVIII: The Lost Room over Dresden Files? Now that's crazy talk!

Fwiw, the channel has actually produced a few decent made-for-TV movies, The Breed and Dark Kingdom. Neither had the production value to compare with "real" movies, but they're far from bad and even further from Ice Spiders. Occasionally there's the interesting miniseries event, too. That Oz one was a step in the right direction though the end product was absolutely horrible. (I'll give it a "yay" for Zoe Deschanel and monkeys flying from bosoms, but that's it.)

Ah, and I forgot Joel Hodgson's latest neo-MST3K project, Cinematic Titanic, also out on DVD. Haven't seen it, but I hear good things.

As long as they're owned by NBC/Universal, it will continue to suck.

But the original owners who sold it to USA in the first place were bozos, too. Anyone remember Tekno Comics?

They're really not setting up for a buy out. They're NBC Universal. Paramount is Viacom, which somehow means that good trek shows on TNN.

And good sci-fi costs money. They get 'enough' ratings by making cheap sci-fi.

Granted, they are doing BSG, and they only really have the money for one good show at a time. They spend the rest on crap films.

@AgtShadow: Yeah, I wanted to like OZ, cause it was almost good.

The only way I would have any respect for SCFI CH is if they had picked up Firefly after Fox canned it, as a previous poster suggested.

BSG is the only thing I can stomach on it nowadays. It's really too bad, as they could at the very least be showing a better variety of older shows and movies if they are not gonna make decent original content.

Hell, the only reason I have cable is to see LOST, BSG, Terminator and Heroes episodes a few hours before they hit the torrents and newsgroups.

@PVIII: Those movies belong on Comedy Central. :o)

The only time I ever watch Sci-Fi on a regular basis is when new BSG is running. I do enjoy the occasional X-Files rerun, but even then I'm far more likely to catch it on TNT.

Sometimes the movies/minis are worth it: I loved Children of Dune. It was a great improvement over their Dune, but then the second and third books seem much simpler to adapt. But the only high-profile minis I can recall since then are Earthsea and Tin Man, of which the less said the better.

@PVIII: I liked Dresden, and Painkiller Jane, shows all i know.. I would druther they show old B SF Movies, and even some very old serials and TV shows for camp value, rather than Ghost Hunters and those pretty awful SciFi movies.

I just mention this on the off chance somebody is lisening

Fuck the SciFi channel, and the poorly directed and acted giant spider movie they rode in on. That's what Bittorrent is for.

@Tommmcatt: Honestly, I don't think SciFi understood MST3K. I couldn't have been that expensive to produce.

@RusM: Cinematic Titanic had a great first effort and I'm looking forward to more.

Anyway, whet can I say about SciFi? There's a lot of great SFTV that they could do, but they show infomercials, wrestling and paranormal reality shows all the time.

I agree, no channel has blown it as badly as the sci-fi channel did. It's almost laughably ironic that as soon as you see a preview and it states "A sci-fi pictures original", it means you have to change the channel immediately.

It certainly doesn't help that whomever truly runs the network is totally incapable of understanding the difference between sci-fi and fantssy- they are not the same and most sci-fi lovers dislike fantasy, some useless network execs need to learn the difference.

And whatever happened to their great Saturday morning cartoon block with animated Trek, Thundarr, the Herculoids, and real space ghost?

Oh, and I so totally agree that the very worst thing sci-fi ever did was to start that stupid ghost show.

Unless scifi is being intentionally destroyed, it appears unlikely to survive much longer.

RIP Sci-fi channel!

I too miss the old SciFi, which I'd flip to each night to see what was on and often get hooked. I miss the old 80's and 90's syndicated shows (shown regularly, not just the occasional marathon), but what I'd really love to see return is great experimental shows like "Welcome to Paradox." I think about that series every time I skip over yet another showing of "Kaw."

So. It's agreed then.
Sci Fi channel sucks.

Next on the agenda?

It's crap and has been since Farscape went off the air.

Stargate used to be a lot of fun... but the last few seasons were terrible (despite the addition of some great new cast members) and Atlantis has just never captured my attention.

Battlestar is probably the best show on television, but it's been handled poorly.

Lost Room was the most interesting thing they've done in years, and they didn't do a damn thing with it.

But, hey.. long as we can see movies about giant snakes and crap. It is astonishing that the channel is still on given how bad it is. I used to watch it ALL THE TIME and now... I watch Ghost Hunters (cause it's just so... absurd watching these plumbers hunt ghosts) and Battlestar when it is new. Once Battlestar is over, however, I hope the bloody thing goes out of business and maybe something better can take its place.

I agree about Dresden... great IDEA for a show, bad implimentation. I liked the actor - but the scripts were rotton.

For a station named "SciFi", there have been very few truly amazing "SciFi" programs/movies to come out of them. I agree with what some people here said about Farscape. I have been a die-hard fan of SciFi for a while now, but when they cancelled the best SciFi show they had and replaced it with fricken Tremors, even I lost faith in them. I came back for BSG, but last season seemed to go down the tubes along with the rest of SciFi's line-up.

As difficult as it is to get into the new crap they're airing, it's even harder when you remember SciFi's lack of respect for it's viewers when it cancels it's best show and doesn't even have the decency to allow it a proper ending until the fans start boycotting the station (Farscape ended in "to be continued" and was brought back with peace keeper wars to officially conclude the series). Maybe the station should be bought out and managed by someone who can give the fans what they want.

... and that's my two cents. :)

I also guess I must be the only person on here who watches Eureka.

Oh and although I never watch them.. Ghost Hunters and Destination Truth (a show I'd never heard of) are their two biggest hits, so they ain't going anywhere.

@aixelsyd: "Unless scifi is being intentionally destroyed, it appears unlikely to survive much longer."

I doubt it. The shows they're doing have got to be cheap cheap cheap, so their bottom line is low. They're not going anywhere.

Get rid of the Ghost Hunters, the UFO Hunters, and the rest of the bull****. I think the first sign of what was to come was that paranormal "news" show, Sightings. I say they bring back old series. Giant animals isn't sci-fi, it's crap.

@Garrison Dean:
I watch Eureka, but nowhere have I heard that it's getting another season.

@edosan:

What good are cheap shows if no one is watching them? Does anyone know what their ratings are like (especially for their Saturday night crap fests?)

All "Ghost Hunters" teach people is how to be & stay gullible: there are no such things as ghosts. Sorry, there just aren't.

And I've never understood how wrestling is scifi... homoerotic? yes. Soap operas? yes. Scifi? No.

Dresden was moving in the right direction and the lead actor was great, I think he carried the weak plots with his personalty alone sometimes. I see dark days ahead when BSG is gone and they've finally run Atlantis into the ground.

...and for those of you who actually like those Ghost Hunter shows, always remember to use a condom.

@Plague: Actually I remember reading on AICN a while ago that it got renewed for another season. I could be wrong, but thats what I remember. I hope so, its such a good show. Pleasant, is the right word to describe it I would say.

See, I thought Ghost Hunters was terrible too... until I watched it as an absurd comedy - then I realized it was genius.

Destination Truth isn't too bad... mainly because they take the subject matter with the seriousness it deserves (none.)

At any rate, Sci-Fi has seemingly found some sort of niche - enough to sell advertising, at least.

Scifi needs to look North and see what Canada offers its scifi fans......Space Cast ([www.spacecast.com]). I pleaded with my parent's satellite dish company to bring Spacecast to the US. No such luck. But THAT is what a science fiction channel should be. No frakking wrestling. And less emphasis on the never ending creature-features.

I love SciFi as a genre but never liked the channel. I only watched the twilight zone marathons. I met with someone there for a job and realized that they were not interested in appeasing techheads and geeks. They're motivation is to get viewers. Especially women, which is why alot of the shows feel more like soaps.

I can assure you, they are not being sold. They are a part of NBC/Universal so no signs of a buyout.

Now if the channel had the editors of this blog at the helm I would be glued to that channel.

Beam me outta here!