# The beginning of the end for Sci-Fi?



## tsmacro (Apr 28, 2005)

Sci Fi Gets Pro Wrestling
You read that correctly: pro wrestling
May 25 2006

USA/Sci Fi Channel President Bonnie HammerWorld Wrestling Entertainment and NBC Universal are extending their relationship, bringing the resurrected Extreme Championship Wrestling to the Sci Fi Channel for a summertime run.

See the rest of the article:

http://www.zap2it.com/tv/news/zap-scifiprowrestling,0,5191378.story?coll=zap-tv-headlines

It seems like one of the first things that happen when a "genre" channel is about to become yet another general interest channel is that they start adding programming to it that doesn't fit. And then eventually the channel gets a hip new name and you don't see any of the programming that used to define it anymore.


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## Nick (Apr 23, 2002)

I happen to think it's a fit -- doesn't the SciFi genre extend to strange things? :sure: 
The only thing stranger to me than (not then) so-called "_professional_* wrestling"
are the wingnuts who watch it.



Seriously, I feel your pain -- I still miss TLC -- The LEARNING Channel. :grrr:

*Just because one gets paid for what one does doesn't necessarily make one a professional.


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## dave1234 (Oct 9, 2005)

Nick said:


> Seriously, I feel your pain -- I still miss TLC -- The LEARNING Channel. :grrr:


What? Don't you enjoy all the reruns of "Pimp my House"


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## tsmacro (Apr 28, 2005)

Nick said:


> I happen to think it's a fit -- doesn't the SciFi genre extend to strange things? :sure:
> The only thing stranger to me than (not then) so-called "_professional_* wrestling"
> are the wingnuts who watch it.


Well it's definitely Fiction anyway.......where the science part would fit in....  I guess Sci-Fi does show a fair amount of Fantasy as well, maybe that's how it fits.:nono2:


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## DTC mac (Oct 23, 2005)

Just APPALLED!!!!!


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## Steve Mehs (Mar 21, 2002)

Add SciFi to the growing list of channels whose names don't reflect programming.

MTV, MTV 2, CMT, Travel Channel, TLC, Cartoon Network, Toon Disney


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## homeskillet (Feb 3, 2004)

I noticed a long time ago that The SCIENCE Channel pretty much became what the DISCOVERY channel was in the 80s and early 90s. I'm sick of seeing this happen to all my favorite channels.

Add to that list ZDTV... even though TechTV lasted awhile, but I don't count it.


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## Bogy (Mar 23, 2002)

tsmacro said:


> Well it's definitely Fiction anyway.......where the science part would fit in....  I guess Sci-Fi does show a fair amount of Fantasy as well, maybe that's how it fits.:nono2:


It should be obvious where the science comes in. All those steroids that come from science.


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## Eraven34 (Dec 23, 2005)

This is kind of sad, but not entirely unexpected. I thought it was the beginning of the end when Sci-Fi aired the movie 'Liar Liar' and then knew it could be the end when 'Law & Order: SVU' showed up for a couple episodes.


Eric


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## Fifty Caliber (Jan 4, 2006)

Add USA Network to that list too.


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## UKintheUS (Dec 23, 2005)

Ah but Sci Fi is about Fantasy, and whats more Fantasy like than WWE Wrestling.
Only the realy Stupid think its real. Thats why they had to Change there name to WWEntertainment From Federation. Its not a real Sport.


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## Ray_Clum (Apr 22, 2002)

UKintheUS said:


> Thats why they had to Change there name to WWEntertainment From Federation. Its not a real Sport.


Actually, they changed it because they got sued by the World Wildlife Fund because the (now) WWE used the same common name, WWF.


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## Nick (Apr 23, 2002)

This doesn't bode well for many, if not most of the so-called niche channels which
initially targeted a narrower audience within a particular sphere of interest, whether
it be science-fiction, tennis or basket-weaving.

Historically, provider packages have made carriage of such narrow-focus channels
possible, but eventually, ROI rules and the dollar deals. The common denominator
here is the bottom line which, ultimately, overrules all other considerations, including
the vision and original intent of a specialty channel's founders. Now, with the pressure
on providers to offer ala carte, the long-term outlook for the niche channels doesn't
look good.

Probably sooner than later, other niche channels will be forced abandon their original
focus as they seek to broaden their appeal in order to survive. Eventually, all these
specialty channels will become homogeneous as they reach out to larger, but less
sophisticated audiences.

Simply put, look for more of the same -- reruns, old sitcoms and an upsurge of
_perfeshonal wrasslin'_, the ultimate electronic opiate of the mindless masses.


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## Richard King (Mar 25, 2002)

> Now, with the pressure on providers to offer ala carte, the long-term outlook for the niche channels doesn't look good.


Yep. That's one of the problems with ala carte. Look for more watering down of specialty programming channels and for more of those channels trying to get popular (must have?) programming that is unrelated to their specialty. Could this be another step in the race to the bottom?


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## music_beans (Mar 21, 2003)

Toon Disney is still pretty much cartoons, but without the Disney classics we know and love and some useless Jetix that keeps growing and taking over. Why not just rename TD to Jetix already?


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## KyL416 (Nov 11, 2005)

Some believe that is the eventual plan. Starting Monday, JETIX will expand another two hours from 6am - 8am, and this fall, a few more hours will be added when the block leaves ABC Family and makes Toon Disney its exclusive home. BTW, JETIX is hardly useless at all, according to Disney and Nielsen, JETIX is the highest rated part of their programming day and for the second quarter Power Rangers was their highest rated show. They also use the block to market the station to affiliates. The channel couldn't last with countless rerun cycles of Disney Afternoon shows, after X ammount of cycles viewers tend to tune out, which is why Disney has DVD releases of those shows on tap.

As for ECW going to Sci-Fi, even though I'm a "wrasslin'" fan, and an ECW fan from back in the late 90s, I hate the idea. The way they put it in the press release hardly justifies it. Sure, ECW is an alternative style to WWE's main shows, but it in no way is the type of alternative that will appeal to the average Sci-Fi Channel viewer. Most of the time when channels want to expand, they at least pick shows that still appeal, in some way, to their current audience.

BTW, yes I know it's "fake", but the better terms are "scripted" and "staged". Pretty much the only thing that is pre-determined is the outcome of the match, and the only fake things are the obvious punches and kicks and the storylines behind the match. Many of the moves are actually done.


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## BobMurdoch (Apr 24, 2002)

Folks, don't sweat it. They are filling some dead slots during rerun season. SciFi is pulling in unheard of numbers on SciFi Fridays when the two Stargates and Battlestar are on, Dr. Who gives them anothertentpole, and their cheap to produce movies of the week are pulling in regular watchers.

Even though UPN was an "urban" channel, wrestling plugged a hole in the schedule there too. And look where it got THEM. This will be a short term fix. If the ratings are through the roof, it may stick around, but I wouldn't hold your breath on that....


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## tsmacro (Apr 28, 2005)

BobMurdoch said:


> Folks, don't sweat it. They are filling some dead slots during rerun season. SciFi is pulling in unheard of numbers on SciFi Fridays when the two Stargates and Battlestar are on, Dr. Who gives them anothertentpole, and their cheap to produce movies of the week are pulling in regular watchers.
> 
> Even though UPN was an "urban" channel, wrestling plugged a hole in the schedule there too. And look where it got THEM. This will be a short term fix. If the ratings are through the roof, it may stick around, but I wouldn't hold your breath on that....


I hope you're right. But I can't help but think of how so many channels morphed from what they were to become what they are today. Spike, TLC, MTV, AMC, G4 and the list just goes on. I'd hate to see Sci-Fi rebranded something like "SFI" and they give us one night of sci-fi (fridays most likely) and every other night just gives us whatever cheap general interest programming they can plug in.


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## Scarpad (May 22, 2006)

It also goes to the Dumbing down of the channels I mean I once respected channels like Bravo, A& E and Discovery, but now they are just more simple minded reality crap, I've been so figuring on Pulling the Plug and going back to basic and waiting for my favorites to hit DVD, paying for all this crap or waiting to pay for the DVD Set, what's looking like a better alternative now.


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## invaliduser88 (Apr 23, 2002)

"an alternative brand of wrestling suited to fit the Sci Fi Channel's commitment to fuel the imagination."

What are these guys smoking???


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## jrjcd (Apr 23, 2002)

wrestlers dressed up as cybermen, cylons, and slithreens methinks...lol


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## BobMurdoch (Apr 24, 2002)

Now if you had Number Six and Boomer from BG wrestling you would have something relevant.....


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## Stewart Vernon (Jan 7, 2005)

Remember when UPN picked up wrestling to help their ratings?

And we all know how UPN worked out...

I sincerely hope this isn't a sign of things to come with SciFi.


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## BobMurdoch (Apr 24, 2002)

Don't sweat it... they are one of the top ten highest rated basic cable channels..... It may drag a few extra viewers in.....


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## invaliduser88 (Apr 23, 2002)

And Seven of Nine to represent Star Trek


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## durl (Mar 27, 2003)

So now Sci-Fi is "broadening" their content. Great.

-I just noticed that VH1Classic has started showing things besides videos.

-Cartoon Network is showing non-animation movies now? I saw Spider-man (the recent theatrical release) on there the other day.

-Noggin shows "Fresh Prince of Bel-Air?"


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## KyL416 (Nov 11, 2005)

Noggin split into two networks several years ago. Between 6pm - 6am ET they are a teen oriented network known as The N. Fresh Prince fits right in on The N.


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## Stewart Vernon (Jan 7, 2005)

Whether or not you like professional wrestling (I happen to not like it).... what this essentially shows is:

Either there are not enough hours of true Science Fiction to fill the slots on SciFi OR there are not enough hours of good Science Fiction... since there is nothing SciFi about wrestling.

Aside from liking or disliking wrestling (there may be some common audience in there)... this does raise a flag that perhaps a SciFi themed channel just cannot survive on its own merit. That being the case, it seems only a matter of time before there is less and less actual SciFi on SciFi.


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## wkomorow (Apr 22, 2002)

I can't believe there isn't enough SciFi and fantasy to fill the schedule. I am not certain whether SciFi fails to aggressively pursue these shows or if they are using the channel to promote programming for other Universal channels, or if they simply lack imagination, but wrestling has no place on SciFi.

They could fill their schedule with great SciFi movies and probably never run out of programming. In addition, there are a number of classic shows that could fill blocks of time - Lost in Space, Time Tunnel - or near classics - Alien Nation, Farscape, Sliders, even Seaquest. They could even schedule a Sat/Sun morning with children fantasy/SciFi shows - My Favorite Martian, Alf, Mr. Science, Land of the Lost, Dinotopia, etc. I'd even enjoy a Saturday night featuring the the worst in SciFi - Aliens in the Family, Attack of the Killer Tomatoes, etc. Or, even a Monday night with SciFi from around the world - TV programs and movies subtitled into English.


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## Fifty Caliber (Jan 4, 2006)

KyL416 said:


> Noggin split into two networks several years ago. Between 6pm - 6am ET they are a teen oriented network known as The N. Fresh Prince fits right in on The N.


Sort of like how Nickelodeon used to be split into three segments, Nick Jr., Nickelodeon, and Nick at Nite.


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## Mike D-CO5 (Mar 12, 2003)

I miss episodes of the Six Million Dollar Man and the BIonic Woman. I wouldn't mid Sci Fi doing old classic Sci fi shows for the day time and maybe agian in the late night hours during the am. Kind of like NIck at Nite does. During primetime they could show origional programming and movies.


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## harsh (Jun 15, 2003)

Mike D-CO5 said:


> I miss episodes of the Six Million Dollar Man and the BIonic Woman.


Those would more likely be candidates for Sleuth.


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## cheer (Nov 9, 2005)

Mark my words, two years from now SciFi will have a new name.

On the other hand...there's a lot of bad sf out there. I find myself watching SciFi less and less because...eeeeegh. Not that wrestling is better -- it isn't IMO. But let's be honest here, it's hard to fill a full schedule with decent sf.


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## BobMurdoch (Apr 24, 2002)

They keep showing Galactica 1980 so they have no qualms about playing bad sci fi....


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## Paul Secic (Dec 16, 2003)

Scarpad said:


> It also goes to the Dumbing down of the channels I mean I once respected channels like Bravo, A& E and Discovery, but now they are just more simple minded reality crap, I've been so figuring on Pulling the Plug and going back to basic and waiting for my favorites to hit DVD, paying for all this crap or waiting to pay for the DVD Set, what's looking like a better alternative now.


A&E bought The Sapranos last month. Talk about watered down programming WHEW! I won't watch it on A&E NO WAY. Does anybody know if HBO kept the rights? I'd love to watch it from start to finish, (un edited). Maybe I'll use Xmas money and buy the boxset.


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## tsmacro (Apr 28, 2005)

BobMurdoch said:


> They keep showing Galactica 1980 so they have no qualms about playing bad sci fi....


Well apparantly there's an audience for bad sci-fi, it's the only way I can explain their saturday night movie schedule! :eek2: But someone must be watching them because it's a mainstay of their line-up! I like sci-fi shows & movies and can even stand it to be fairly corny at times, but i've never gotten the what seems to be the "delibrately bad sci-fi" genre.


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## homeskillet (Feb 3, 2004)

I read somewhere that the Discovery Channel is eliminating a lot of "Reality" based shows, and will focus on returning to the programming they had in the past.

Found it: 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Discovery_Channel


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## Aransay (Jun 19, 2006)

jetix si alredy a chanel in altin america , it took the aplce of fox kids that i like jetix soent fit for nme 

sifi channel laitnoameirca o scifox wodul n the p0lnnig for altin america 

i lveo ecw but it sueres dosent fit in scifi 
in altina emrica it woul shwo in fx


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## jrbdmb (Sep 5, 2002)

Nick said:


> Now, with the pressure on providers to offer ala carte, the long-term outlook for the niche channels doesn't look good.


I *hope* that the exact opposite occurs - if a la carte is ever implemented, good niche channels will find an audience willing to pay. For example, a long time ago Bravo was a pay service that showed a ton of international movies and bore no resemblance to the channel it is today, and it seemed to be doing OK. Likewise, enough people might pay for the original TLC or original MTV to keep them going, while I expect very few would bother to pay for the TLC / MTV / USA product of today.

But of course, since we'll probably never get true a la carte, we'll never get to find out.


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## Paul Secic (Dec 16, 2003)

tsmacro said:


> I hope you're right. But I can't help but think of how so many channels morphed from what they were to become what they are today. Spike, TLC, MTV, AMC, G4 and the list just goes on. I'd hate to see Sci-Fi rebranded something like "SFI" and they give us one night of sci-fi (fridays most likely) and every other night just gives us whatever cheap general interest programming they can plug in.


On KGO this morning Edie Sellers, a fill in talk host said Sci-Fi will air 7 hours of people playing computer games a week. I don't shes too bright because she comes up with off the wall subjects. She sits up all night and plays multiplayer games, so take this with a grain of salt. She said August.


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## Paul Secic (Dec 16, 2003)

Yes it's true!

http://www.mediaweek.com/mw/news/cabletv/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1002801131


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## robert koerner (Aug 20, 2005)

She was actually #6. They changed her name for TV.


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## Paul Secic (Dec 16, 2003)

KyL416 said:


> Noggin split into two networks several years ago. Between 6pm - 6am ET they are a teen oriented network known as The N. Fresh Prince fits right in on The N.


TV LAND is showing movies on Friday nights now.:nono2: :nono2: :nono2:


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## Doug Higley (Dec 31, 2005)

Last nights ECW was about as disgusting a display of Jerry Springer moments one could imagine. All Sex and degrading dialog and brutality of smashing heads with metal chairs...(Lesbian Bimbo moments too!)

Sci-Fi has sunk to a low it will be hard to dig out of. Even their crappy Sat night original movies were laffable but not totally embarassing to any family tuning in.

Really sad. Temporary or not.


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