Early termination for Sarah Connor?
by Doc on Sep.30, 2008, under Television
SyFy Portal is reporting that a source at Fox says that Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles could have the plug pulled within a week due to low ratings. After 4 new episodes, the ratings are off 34% from last season’s average of 5.6/9, and that was way down from the premiere of 11.1/16.
October 2nd, 2008 on 1:51 am
Boy I hope so
Quite frankly I’m really surprised this show lasted as long as it has. Had it not been for the Terminator license this show wouldn’t be much different from a Sci Fi channel original show. You know, back when that wasn’t a complement.
October 2nd, 2008 on 11:02 am
Re:Boy I hope so
You mean, it is a complement now?
October 2nd, 2008 on 9:54 pm
Re:Boy I hope so
To me there are two epochs of the Scifi channel. Pre and post Farscape. It’s not all Farscape (hell they don’t even play Farscape anymore) but the channel has improved greatly.
October 2nd, 2008 on 10:14 pm
Re:Boy I hope so
Honestly, I feel the opposite.
There was a time when the main focus of SFC was science fiction. The closest thing to “reality” shows was news magazine-type stuff like Sci-Fi Buzz. Off beat meant that weird guy that was on an episode of Identity that always says “May the power of the universe be yours!” had his own Saturday morning show. FTL Newsfeed gave “future news” in 30 second bits over the course of the season. Classic if short lived shows had new life. Of course, like any new cable network there was no real cash for original drama programming.
Then comes the beginning of original programming…they take over Stargate SG-1, give Farscape an outlet, etc. They want more and more original programming. Of course, more new programming means less time available for the “classic” programming, which starts to fade away. Programming that helped define the channel gave way to new stuff…but it wasn’t stuff like Stargate and Farscape. It was stuff like Crossing Over With John Edwards”…Scare Tactics…Who Wants To Be A Superhero…and Wrestling.
Yes, SFC still produces some great original SF programming…but they also abandoned their roots to air more original but totally off-topic or marginal programming.
October 4th, 2008 on 6:38 pm
Re:Boy I hope so
I guess where I was coming from is the production value has greatly increased since the early days. Though obviously the quality and selection of programming is… debatable.
As is often the case in entertainment there seems to be a race to the bottom of the lowest common denominator (which apparently is where the money is). Hardcore scifi isn’t generally as accessible to the general public so it gets diluted or replaced entirely.
You make some very good points. I miss Scifi Buzz, especially Harlan Ellison (as he is never one to hold back his true opinions). There was also some show with Joe Bob Briggs (Trailer Park or something like that?) that I liked. I also greatly miss MST3K.
Yes I did somehow look over Crossing Over, Scare Tactics, Superhero and Wresting. I’ve also never really cared for the mix of horror in with scifi programming. Perhaps my glasses have a tint of rose.