SciFi Channel Tries to Become Anything But

The Sci-Fi channel announced on Monday that they were to be undergoing a major rebranding effort, changing the name of the channel and its related projects to the SyFy Channel.

It's a terrible idea.

The impedus behind this move is a logical one for the company, I'll be honest. The channel, according to all reports, has really been growing over the past couple of years. I frequently hear about how various miniseries events, television premieres and films that are aired on the channel break prior records for viewers, which is a positive step for the genre, and the network has gained a number of viewers outside of the normal fan routes for shows such as Battlestar Galactica, which have gained considerable attention over the past five years.

Still, this move, and others that the channel has made in the past couple of years, are worrisome. In 2002, the channel cancelled Farscape, citing expenses, although there was a considerable fanbase for the show, although that was later brought back. Part of the decision has widely been reported to have been taken because the channel was attempting to transition away from the image of space ships and aliens, and towards more grounded and accessible shows and movies. As a result, shows such as Stargate and Battlestar Galactica are being transitioned out, to be replaced with shows such as Eureka and Warehouse 13.

The main problem that I see here is that the network is essentially alienating and marginalizing its core target audience, which is both insulting and unfair to the demographic that is largely watching Sci-Fi's shows. The impression here is that the 'geek'/'nerd' demo is not only enough for the channel's expansion, but it is unwanted, because the nerds are the unwashed, unsocial and unwanted people in general, and, what they like, of course, must be something that the rest of mainstream audiences won't like. Hense, space ships and aliens are on their way out, to be replaced with a number of reality shows and uninteresting shows, not to mention WWE Wrestling.

The channel as it stands right now isn't making things easier for itself. A frequent topic of conversation amongst some of my friends is the programming that they already have, that never seems to change - the Saturday night movies, designed to immitate the bad b-films of years past, even worse shows such as Sanctuary, Moonlight, Primeval and Painkiller Jane, all of which have been panned critically. This is opposed to shows such as Battlestar, which has garnered much media attention and awards, Stargate SG-1, which ran for ten seasons and won numerous awards, and Farscape, which likewise was a critical and fan favorite.

What bothers me more is this rejection of the core demographic. Geeks and nerds, as I've written about before, don't generally fall within the sterotype that we're typically branded with. They're intelligent, obsessive, interested and, as Farscape and Firefly have proven, are willing to do a bit of legwork with TV shows - they'll promote, talk about it, and spread it around. While I'm sure that most SF fans will continue to watch the show's content and this will still be the case, the notion that the programming will be broadened to encompass a larger audience is worrisome. Battlestar Galactica and Farscape were not the most accessible shows, yet they were still successful because of their complexity and work with moral grey areas. They still prove to be facinating when you go back to re-watch them. This move indicates that something like this might be stripped away to something far more mainstream, less interesting and less likely to be as critically successful.

Essentially, the network is trying to distance itself from Science Fiction, and in a way, away from the fans that make it up, while still counting on their support, if that makes sense. The move looks to new areas, such as fantasy and other paranormal, which is what they have been moving to over the past couple of years. The name change is essentially the final cap on this whole sorry tale. I honestly can't say how replacing the I's with Y's is going to really make any sort of difference when it comes to the broader perception of the public. The SciFi channel can do far better than what they have been doing, and we've seen evidence of that. I honestly don't care what they call the channel, but so long as they reject what has really worked in the past and continue with some of the really bad programming, they're still going to have perception problems, while continuing to alienate their core audience.

On Fanboys

This is a rant that's been building for a little while.

I hate fanboys. I absolutely can't stand the lording over such aweful movies such as Terminator 3, Transformers and every other Sci-Fi Genre movie, especially the blockbusters, with the sense that it's the absolute best thing to ever happen to cinema. Same thing goes for books, although to less of an extent. Television seems to be really untouched by this at times. To clarify, here's the wikipedia definition: "Fanboy is a term used to describe an individual (usually male; the feminine version fangirl may be used for females) who is utterly devoted to a single fannish subject, or to a single point of view within that subject, often to the point where it is considered an obsession. Fanboys remain loyal to their particular obsession, disregarding any factors (often including logic) that differ from their point of view." Now, there are various degrees to this, and I think that I personally avoid most of this.Star Wars is a big thing for this, and I mainly come across this sort of thing at discussion forums. I love Star Wars, I really do, but it's certainly not above critism, and has plenty of flaws throughout the broad range of movies, books and comics. The big thing is that Star Wars and now Lord of the Rings are essentially the fanboy's epitomy of Science Fiction and Fantasy movies, and it's almost like there's nothing better in the world, and critism of said movies is non-existant. Granted, I was like that for a long time. But those movies do deserve a bit of that to some extent. But it's the really bad movies that really get this sort of treatment. I can understand enjoying a blockbuster, but those are complete fluff when it comes to films.

Last year was a fantastic year for genre films - We had the Fountain, Children of Men and Pan's Labyrinth, all absolutely brilliant works. This Summer, we had Transformers, Spiderman 3 and Fantastic Four, which not only gross more money but have the bigger budgets, cookie-cutter dialogue and screenwriting and CGI. These films get all the attention.

Fortunently, books and television, as mentioned, seem to really avoid this - maybe because it takes a little more effort to go through and it's not as visual at times, but there is the fanboy reaction for some of the larger books, such as Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings and certainly with Star Trek and Star Wars books. Television series such as Battlestar Galactica and Heroes get a little of the attention, as does Firefly (that's a big one) as well as Star Trek, Stargate SG-1 and Stargate Atlantis. These are certainly worthy of some attention though, and it's not nearly to the same extent.

I just don't really understand it, and I can't really remember any reasons for completely adoring Star Wars when I did. I still read the books, but really look and read in the universe with a much more critical eye. I finished Death Star in a couple of days and really was let down by the story and quality, but the book gets high marks on the Literature section at the boards.theforce.net forums. On a happier note, Karen Traviss's books, which deserve more fanboy-ing, got higher marks.

I think what bothers me the most is the extreme close-mindedness of some of the people. I remember reading in near disbelief at someone writing in that there should be tie-in novels for Lord of the Rings in prose that's much more readable and with more action, something along the lines of what we see with the Star Wars and Star Trek books out there. Some things just shouldn't have that happen to them.

Okay, rant over.