<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, arial">quote:</font><HR>(
Trek)... is being run into the ground. My question is why? And why can't we, the fan base bombard scifi with that question...
Who knows that the fans can make happen if they spam scifi.com enough.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>
We can probably make the folks at Sci-Fi really ticked off since they (rightly) pay very little attention to e-mail, and even less to obvious spam. As for affecting their scheduling, bombing them with e-mails won't do a damned thing. (Ditto on-line petitions.)
This is a
business decision. Historically
B5 reruns decline in the ratings in a given timeslot every time they're rerun. That's the downside of a "novel for television." When people finish a novel, they don't immediately start reading (or watching) it again. So it (and
Hill Street Blues,
Wiseguy and other "arc" shows) tend not to do as well in reruns as traditional episodic series.
Trek has been on the air for over 30 years precisely because it
does still attract an audience (just like
I Love Lucy does.) It is a good, solid, action-adventure show with a bit of a thinking man's element to it. It is fun for kids, and nostalgic for older viewers who grew up on it. It is embedded in the popular culture.
And you can tune in to any random episode, understand it and enjoy it. (Well, except for a few.
)
<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, arial">quote:</font><HR>is anyone else as *SHOCKED* that 'Crossing Over with John Edward' is still on the air?<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>
Not in the least. (A) Always bet on stupidity. (B) It is cheap to produce for the ratings it generates, so it is probably making more money for Sci-Fi than anything else they could put in that slot.
<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, arial">quote:</font><HR>I wouldn't be surprised to find out that Paramount gave them a Very good price on TOS.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>
I wouldn't be surpised to find out that Sci-Fi paid through the
nose for
ST:TOS. They were desparate for a "name" SF series to air, something to "brand" the channel with. That's why they later went after the other
Trek series, and probably why they gambled several million dollars on a new
B5 project, and are looking at
Battlestar Galactica.
<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, arial">quote:</font><HR>Now did Sci-Fi buy the rights to show ST:TOS? I know it was always re-run on FOX or some other regular TV network in the past. Is Sci-Fi now the only station that can re-run TOS episodes?<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>
Trek was never rerun on a broadcast network, because broadcast networks do not show reruns (except of their own current series, usually in their regular timeslots.) Your local Fox affliate may have aired
Trek reruns in off-network hours, but that is a very different thing.
Sci-Fi bought the exclusive rights to
ST:TOS years ago, and their contract still has time to run - so it make sense for them to get as much mileage out of the show as they can. Having just been beaten out on the rest of the
Trek series (TNN paid somewhere around $300 million for the set, and will get
TOS once Sci-Fi's deal expires) they have a reason to do so. (Just as TNT made sure that got in one more full run of
B5 before Sci-Fi took over the show, airing the show six days a week and even running back-to-back episodes on a couple of Saturdays to do it.)
Regards,
Joe
------------------
Joseph DeMartino
Sigh Corps
Pat Tallman Division
joseph-demartino@att.net
