Syfy Portal is reporting that the Sci-Fi channel might decide to extend the time during the mid-season break for BSG.

I had heard rumors of this over on a Yahoo list I am a member of. Jamie Bamber and Aaron Douglas had been quoted as saying in one of the panels at the latest Dragon Con that Sci-Fi was trying to get two seasons out of one by airing only 10 episodes this upcoming year and then making fans wait until next year for the final 10 episodes.

I thought "Oh come on they have got to be joking!!". We, the fans, have already had to wait nine months for this season premiere. Now hearing this I just couldn't fathom this idiotic programming choice.

Then I saw a post over on the Sci-Fi boards from a guy who was there stating he believed they were joking and jesting. I breathed a sigh of relief.

BUT immediately after I shared this with my group they came right back with a number of their own FIRST HAND reports. Since a good number of my own group-mates attended the Dragon-Con and they too were up front and center of Mr Bamber.

They quoted him as flat out saying, "I am NOT joking, Sci-Fi wasn't expecting this to be such a hit."

Now the Yahoo group I belong to is only about 1150 members strong. So it is very tiny compared to ...well any of the major Forums out there. But, I can say that the majority of the members have become very disenchanted with the Sci-Fi channel and NBC/Universal in general due solely to their programming practices and choices. We have a small overseas contingent, but for the most part I think it is Americans and they watch on the Sci-Fi channel. I could be completely wrong as I have never done a market study of the Yahoo group :-)

My point is over the last years I have been a member of both that group and of GW I have watched good Sci-Fi shows slowly being run into the ground because of poor programming executive decisions. Sadly, there might be other really good Sci-Fi shows coming out on the this channel but I and others like me will never know or care because we have lost the faith in this network.

Times used to be that you could count on your favorite shows being on at the same time on the same night on the same channel for years. At the very least a couple of years. But greed has negated that to the point that if a show has not paid for itself within 5 episodes or so its gone. Regardless of how good it might have been written.
Also due to greed, a popular show gets moved around to different times slots and days to try to generate interest in programming for that day. While I can appreciate that concept, when the antiquated ratings system you use does show that your test has failed. Don't blame the fans or the TV show Programing Execs...blame YOUR decisions!!! and fix what you broke. The fans are still out there if you only listen and read your mail. But sometimes I think pride or ego or the almighty $$$ stands in the way of any network retracting their mistakes.


I know many of you don't think this all ties in...But it does. Its about perspective. The Sci-Fi channel has steadily been making some extremely poor programming choices regarding the shows I happen to enjoy. When they began to do so I began to take a good long hard look at how I was spending my hard earned money for entertainment. Asking myself "Do I want to support this product any longer?" "Is my money better suited being spent elsewhere?"

I budget for my entertainment. I budget for my cable bill. I budget for my DVD purchases. I am the consumer that Sci-Fi has to satisfy in order for me to continue to purchase their product. If I am no longer satisfied with a product I stop using it and look for something else. It may be time for me to so that now.

I can't change the level of greed the TV industry has grown to. But I can be aware of it and put it in its proper perspective. it is ONLY TV, not rocket science (As Rick Anderson once said) and it is meant to be entertainment. So that means I can find other means to be entertained. I can still support my favorite website, GW, by buying books or DVDs through GW's Amazon.com link. I can spend more time out and about at free park concerts or buy a ticket. I can definitely re-think my cable package to include only those channels that offer me the entertainment that I watch with some regularity.

I am not out to change the TV industry, nor even make a dent in it. But I am tired of reading rants about how awful things are and yet that person isn't actually doing anything to take a stand. I am tired of listening to folks spout rhetoric about the wrongness of things but yet in the next breath say they can't make a difference so why bother. Every single action you take is a choice, even non-action.

So for me this whole programming thing for BSG may very well be the straw that breaks this Sci-Fi fan. I have already sent a respectful letter off to Sci-Fi letting them know I as a fan would prefer they not go this route. However, I know that I mean little in the whole scheme of things. But as a fan and as a source of revenue I felt I had a right to say my peace.

It might seem somewhat petty that the programming BSG will be the deciding factor for me. But after everything that has already happened to Star Gate SG-1 and I stayed and supported what I felt was already a diminishing product. It doesn't seem petty any longer to me. When shows like wrestling and Ghost Hunters are said to be the *Top Rated* shows on Sci-Fi then it may seriously be time for me to move on. While I have nothing against either type of programming, I don't watch other channels with those shows so why would I watch Sci-Fi for it?
When a network consistently thinks that I am a useless demographic, even though I, like many women in two person households have the majority of the control over impulse spending. It no longer even seems remotely petty to me.

Enlightenment comes in many forms....sometimes when I am sitting here typing this here blog, I enlighten myself....go figure... :-)

see ya all on the flip side.............

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