Sci Fi Channel & B.H.

[Elenopa]

Are you including the non-series movie actors (I think they were different), the replacements for multiple-Doctors episodes when one of the olders passed away, and the Ronan Atkinson spoof?

Yes, I was counting Peter Cushing (the Movies) and Richard Hundall (The Five Doctors). I didn't count 'The Curse of Fatal Death', as that would take it up to fifteen.

 

[StarStuff]

Information from TIME magazine - How to reach us: Letters to the editor

E-mail address letters@time.com

or you can send your letter to:

TIME Magazine Letters
Time and Life Building
Rockefeller Center
New York, NY 10020

Letters should include the writer's full name, address and home telephone, and may be edited for purposed of clarity and space.

 

[hypatia]

Why on Earth would I give my home telephone number (which is unlisted) to Time magazine?

Why on Earth would they want it, in the first place?

 

[A_M_Swallow]

Why on Earth would they want it, in the first place?

This permits the printer to ask the writer what the hand written scrible said. When they cut the letter for length to make sure that they have kept the original meaning. Also to get addition background information if one of the reporters wishes to follow the story up.

 

[ElScorcho]

The unfortunate thing about all this is that the executives at the SFC no longer view their channel as one that is designed for sci-fi fans. I don't know how they reached this conclusion, but I'm pretty sure it had something to do with their checkbook. Now, they are simply another cable channel that has to grudgingly offer some of what it's name promises (i.e. MTV, vh1, Comedy Central) while trying to make heaps of money.

This is why great shows are cancelled. Program directors don't care if a show has fans, but rather if the show has sponsors. It's all about advertising, which is stupid considering you have to PAY for SFC anyway. If they can get cheaper shows and get more advertising revenue, then that's the way it goes. F*ck the fans, as long as somebody else can take their place.

And by the way, I'm not a 30 year old virgin yada yada, but I WISH they'd play Doctor Who.

 

[hypatia]

I, too, would love to see Dr. Who on any station that I could get. Our PBS station stinks when it comes to showing good sci-fi. For years they only reran the Tom Baker Dr. Who episodes.

Dr. Who had charm and grace, I think. Silly at times, o.k. sometimes hilariously silly. (In college I started to laugh uncontrollably when the Krotons came on screen.)

But I adored that show.

I would be truly shocked if the skiffy channel every aired anything that classic, though. Well, to give them credit, they did pick up Star Trek TOS. And Twilight Zone. But I hardly ever see these anymore. (TZ is on when I'm at work or on New Years day it seems.)

 

[StarStuff]

Elenopa

There's nothing wrong with being a 30-year-old virgin who watches Science Fiction.

What would the writer of this article find cool . . . a 30-year-old _______ who watches reality TV?

 

[KoshN]

<font color="yellow"> Originally posted by StarStuff: </font color>
Information from TIME magazine - How to reach us: Letters to the editor...

Thank you, StarStuff!

 

[Elenopa]

What would the writer of this article find cool . . . a 30-year-old _______ who watches reality TV?

Probably.

Thank you for the support StarStuff.

 

[A_M_Swallow]

The unfortunate thing about all this is that the executives at the SFC no longer view their channel as one that is designed for sci-fi fans. I don't know how they reached this conclusion, but I'm pretty sure it had something to do with their checkbook. Now, they are simply another cable channel that has to grudgingly offer some of what it's name promises (i.e. MTV, vh1, Comedy Central) while trying to make heaps of money.

Do not worry Sci-Fi have not sold their soul for money. They have sold their birth right for a bowl of soup. There is no money in what they are doing.

 

[PsionTen]

Agreed. In my mind, selling-out would mean that they were pimping every valuable sci-fi property possible in order to get those last few dollars... Quantum Leap: The Next Generation; Babylon 5: The Lost Years; The Six-Billion Dollar Man... and so forth.

 

[Kaleb]

Id have to say that co-productions (companies in different countries) are prob the best way forward for a lot of sci fi.

 

[Recoil]

As bad as Sci-Fi has been lately, they are still managing to put out GOOD Science Fiction --- Space and Alien Sci-Fi even. The Children of Dune miniseries is excellent.

 

[PsionTen]

The Children of Dune miniseries is excellent.

Agreed.

 

[StarStuff]

I had some mixed feelings about Children of Dune. The special effect and sets were great. I had read the books so was able to follow the story but my husband kept asking, "Now, who is that? We both agreed that some of the actors were, in our humble opinion, miscast.

But, all in all, it was worth watching. It had great special effects and a complex story line.

 

[G Kar of the Kha Ri]

Agreed. In my mind, selling-out would mean that they were pimping every valuable sci-fi property possible in order to get those last few dollars... Quantum Leap: The Next Generation; Babylon 5: The Lost Years; The Six-Billion Dollar Man... and so forth.

Actually, they ARE going to air a remake... or something... of Quantum Leap, are they not? And of course, there's also that Battlestar Galactica miniseries I'm not going to watch.

 

[Lyta]

More on BH and SciFi in an article that was run in the Seattle PI last month:

Mar.14.2003
Rosy as things look at this moment, Sci Fi is in for a struggle to maintain its momentum. Though its miniseries have enabled it to wiggle into the top 10 most watched cable networks from time to time, it currently resides at a respectable but not stellar No. 17.

But "Farscape," the channel's first bona fide critical hit and cult favorite, ends next Friday at 8 p.m. after four seasons on the air. Additionally, Sci Fi has been relegated to second runs of "Crossing Over With John Edward" because the show's rating on the channel inspired its distributor, Universal TV, to give first airplay rights to stations purchasing the syndicated version.

In other words, at the end of March, Sci Fi will lack a signature program, the kind of show that raises a cable channel's profile above the ever-expanding crowd.

And the two new series joining its slate, "Tremors" (coming March 28 at 9 p.m.) and the evil "Scare Tactics," hosted by the evil Shannen Doherty (April 4 at 10 p.m.), aren't inspiring much of a buzz.

"Do we need our break-out hit? You bet," Hammer said. "Do we expect to get it? Absolutely." What will it be? We won't have any idea until the end of this month, when Stern unveils his plans for a new Sci Fi series. For viewers to lock on, it will have to pass the David test and bring in more viewers than its core of young males on a regular, non-event-driven basis.

For the full article, go here.