Canceling Television
By Timothy Pecoraro
The
intention of this article is to put down into words not only what a lot of
people feel about the current state of media but also to give voice to my own
concerns about what has been happening in the last few years to media.
This is punctuated by the recent decision to cancel the long running
Farscape series as well as the decision of various other channels to discontinue
new and exciting programming.
Not
too long ago, it probably seems that way now but it wasn’t; cable television
was a loosely held together group of movie channels, music video channels, and
the odd channel that showed community programming.
Today many people feel that cable and satellite television is the only
television on. However many of the
major networks (NBC, ABC, and CBS) have stepped up to the challenge and created
excellent programming as well. But
shows like the Sopranos, Band of Brothers, and many others have proved beyond
all doubt the worth of cable television. These
channels from HBO to TNT to the Sci-Fi Channel have become forces in media.
My
problem with all this and many other peoples’ problem is that very rarely do
these channels truly deliver on their promises.
What do I mean? For one thing, the Sci-Fi Channel is nothing more than a
collection of horribly bad movies and “cult” classics which were cheaply
purchased and that many don’t care anything about. Up until recently the Sci-Fi Channel hadn’t shown
one episode of the most popular and longest running of the science fiction
series and didn’t even show Star Wars. Instead
they have bought horror and fantasy series and movies, which were some of the
worst that the Twentieth Century had to offer.
I am a die-hard science fiction fan but I really don’t want to see any
of the shows that the Sci-Fi Channel serves up on a daily basis.
TNN managed to get the rights to Star Trek the Next Generation and the
major networks seem to have cornered the market when it comes to Star Wars,
which they edit for time every time they are on.
What happened to Star Trek Deep Space Nine, which no one has shown in any
form in at least two years? I
don’t know, the rights are probably still in some legal paper mill.
But
all this aside, I have a much bigger bone to pick with the Sci-Fi Channel, the
WB, TNT, and FOX. In the last year
they have all canceled Science Fiction, Fantasy, or Horror related to shows to
put in their place cheaper to make and maintain shows that are simple cookie
cutters of the same old stuff. The
WB canceled Buffy the Vampire Slayer which was probably their best show, the
last season of Buffy had a less than stellar ratings run so they decided it was
too expensive to make and shipped it off to UPN.
TNT, having problems with their lead actor Yancy Butler decided that
after only three seasons that Witchblade needed to die.
FOX decided that Dark Angel, which was a maturing show wasn’t maturing
fast enough and canceled it too. Finally
and probably most egregious of all the Sci-Fi Channel discontinued their long
running and award winning series Farscape.
Many
of these networks: TNT, FOX, and the WB carry their ratings by showing old
movies and having major sports programs on them. So the cancellation of such series shows shouldn’t be such
a big shock. However, you will see
that these networks haven’t changed their high priced show strategy just
changed the shows they spend the money on.
The
WB has tried with shows like Dawson’s Creek, Felicity, Charmed, and a few
others to try and get younger viewers to watch it. Buffy was one of these shows, in fact one of the originals.
Now the WB is putting forward Birds of Prey, a high priced super hero
show, it is a good show but how long will they give it and Smallville before
they decide it is too expensive. After
all Roswell ended for that reasons and so did Buffy.
Both of which had to be getting better ratings than either of these will. Which makes it’s cancellation of that show those shows that
much more reprehensible.
TNT
I suppose decided that sports was their best offering to everyone because since
canceling Witchblade both the US OPEN and many Nascar events have appeared on
the channel with the appearance of Law and Order which had to be an expensive.
They also have grabbed NYPD Blue and picked up a bevy of movies.
It is hard for me to believe that with 5 HBOs, 5 Starz channels, 3
Showtimes, and 5 Cinemax channels, along with many others that anyone would
watch movies with commercials in them and edited for content and time. I wish TBS, TNT, and the other cable channels would give it
up.
FOX
which makes most of it’s money from the Simpsons, American Idol, Sports, and
the slew of poor quality that they were the originator of decided that Dark
Angel wasn’t good enough to remain on their channel of third rate programming.
They promptly replaced it with Firefly, an even more expensive looking
space adventure show that premiered without much purpose or major storyline.
Finally
and the worst offender of all the Sci-Fi Channel Which when it originated
claimed to be the source of all things Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror.
What they didn’t mention was that they would be showing the same poor
quality science fiction movies as TNT, TBS, FOX, and many others just for longer
and more often. They don’t bother
showing true quality shows, classics… Such as Forbidden Planet, Night of the
Living Dead, or the impossible to find in video or DVD extended version of Dune.
They may have showed these once or twice but certainly not with the
frequency that such a channel’s existence would seem to require.
Their
series programs are some of the worst. Mystery
Science Theater had a VERY SHORT run which didn’t produce any NEW shows only
reruns, which had just been shown on Comedy Central the year before.
Finally after years of this poor quality their appeared a ray of hope.
A group of original series emerged: Farscape being one of these.
Farscape became Star Trek like in it’s fan base and is considered by
many to be the finest science fiction ever shown on television.
Even if you don’t like Farscape, think of it this way.
Any new show that the Sci-Fi Channel produces is headed for cancellation
because the ratings cannot compete with the money that needs to be spent to
produce the shows.
The
biggest hits in the fantasy and horror genres of recent years have come from
foreign makers like those of Hercules, Xena, Earth Final Conflict, and recently
Andromeda. All these shows play on
the WB on Saturdays. All have been
given a lot of growing room. The
Sci-Fi channel which stated in it’s founding philosophy to be the true home of
all things Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror have failed to produce this type
of programming in favor of shows like Crossing Over with John Edward which
probably costs nothing to make. Sci-Fi’s
new show premereing on October 26th is Saint Sinner by Clive Barker.
I am truly looking forward to this because Clive Barker is my favorite
author as I am looking forward to Steven Spielberg’s Taken, which also
premieres soon. But this also fills
my heart with sadness because as soon as we all like these shows and get
attached to them they are going to pull the plug on them and we will lose them
forever or perhaps until UPN or USA or TNT decides to pick them up after the
“TRUE HOME” of all things science fiction, Fantasy, and horror decides they
are too “costly.”
What
is most disturbing about all this is that the popular media seems to believe
that the public is only interested in cop shows, murder mysteries, reality
shows, and situation comedies. I
like very few if any of those and it seems that every year I watch less
television and read more. Which is
good for me but as a child I remember watching wonderful science fiction,
fantasy, and horror shows on television. Many
times a kid won’t read an 800 page book but will sit down and watch an hour
program. If we lose television to
fire our imagination we lose a very important part of our culture.
Please head over to www.savefarscape.com if you feel as strongly about this issue as I do.
