Black Wolf Smith Posted December 19, 2015 Share Posted December 19, 2015 About 18 months ago, the powers that be at SyFy decided that they needed a new image, that they had lost most of their core audience over the last 10 years, because they were mostly making cheap crappy shows, since they change they rebranded them selves as SyFy. They announced 4 or 5 major projects, and they also have given the axe to shows to some of the cheaper shows like Haven, who was canceled even before its latest/last season started to air.The first 2 shows of the "New Image" aired this week. The mini series "Childhood's End" and "The Expanse"( I would give CE a B+, and the 4 ep's on-line of TE an A)While It is fine to bring up, and state a brief OP of an SyFy show on this thread, I am more interested in your OP of the channel in and of itself, and where it is head towards. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
polishgenius Posted December 19, 2015 Share Posted December 19, 2015 Didn't all this start off last year with that Ascension miniseries and then Killjoys and Dark Matter (although I gather those two are made by Space in Canada)?Anyway, I really like this concerted effort by them to get back to what is basically their rationale for existence. The Magicians in there too for a bit of fantasy. It's what they should be doing and the Expanse is the perfect show to remind people that they made BSG without trying to ape that show too closely. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
red snow Posted December 19, 2015 Share Posted December 19, 2015 I agree it's been a year of changing their image - it just appears that "the expanse" (I haven't seen Childhood's end) is something syfy can be proud to call a flagship show (like HBO with GOT, AMC with Walking Dead etc). 12 Monkeys wasn't shoddy and a lot of people seem to have thought Killjoys and dark Matter were watchable. They've been brave in ditching shows that while doing well were maybe a bit embarassing for them.Seems a good time with Star Wars probably encouraging a lot of cinema goers to seek out SF on TV when there isn't a great deal of it. They're just missing something with a bit of fantasy in it (as far as I can tell). Something like a Flash Gordon show or something akin to Farscape would fit nicely in terms of capturing those star wars fans. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
williamjm Posted December 20, 2015 Share Posted December 20, 2015 Seems a good time with Star Wars probably encouraging a lot of cinema goers to seek out SF on TV when there isn't a great deal of it. They're just missing something with a bit of fantasy in it (as far as I can tell).I've not seen it but I think they've got an adaptation of The Magicians to provide some fantasy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martini Sigil Posted December 20, 2015 Share Posted December 20, 2015 I'm glad to see that SyFy seems to be stepping up their game, too... for the life of me I never understood why they didn't do this sooner.... it's almost as if they went out of their way to air hacky crap.... I do understand budgetary concerns,,,, and I get that the Expanse is 5 million an episode.... but not everything worth watching needs to have a huge price tag... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RedEyedGhost Posted December 20, 2015 Share Posted December 20, 2015 I agree it's been a year of changing their image - it just appears that "the expanse" (I haven't seen Childhood's end) is something syfy can be proud to call a flagship show (like HBO with GOT, AMC with Walking Dead etc). 12 Monkeys wasn't shoddy and a lot of people seem to have thought Killjoys and dark Matter were watchable. They've been brave in ditching shows that while doing well were maybe a bit embarassing for them.Seems a good time with Star Wars probably encouraging a lot of cinema goers to seek out SF on TV when there isn't a great deal of it. They're just missing something with a bit of fantasy in it (as far as I can tell). Something like a Flash Gordon show or something akin to Farscape would fit nicely in terms of capturing those star wars fans. Dark Matter is rubbish. Killjoys is quality fun though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SpaceChampion Posted December 20, 2015 Share Posted December 20, 2015 They're also doing a Horror anthology show called Channel Zero, and greenlit two seasons of it already. Each season is one story, the first based on a creepypasta short story Candle Cove. Not my thing, but glad to see they're staying ambitious. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
red snow Posted December 20, 2015 Share Posted December 20, 2015 I've not seen it but I think they've got an adaptation of The Magicians to provide some fantasy.A college version of Harry Potter makes complete sense - given there will be a lot of fans in that age group now.Dark Matter is rubbish. Killjoys is quality fun though.HAven't seen either but I guess there must be enough enjoying Dark MAtter for it to get a second season.They're also doing a Horror anthology show called Channel Zero, and greenlit two seasons of it already. Each season is one story, the first based on a creepypasta short story Candle Cove. Not my thing, but glad to see they're staying ambitious.I think this is the key point - we don't have to love all of their shows but they need to be diverse enough to ensure there's always someone watching. AMC would love it if everyone who enjoyed "Walking Dead" enjoyed "Better Call Saul" too and vv. I don't think that's reality though. I think FX has done a good job in this respect by having a lot of different dramas and genres for viewers to pick from - i think SFF is the only thing the channel is missing, although it does have horror with AHS (which channel zero appears to have been inspired by). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RedEyedGhost Posted December 20, 2015 Share Posted December 20, 2015 HAven't seen either but I guess there must be enough enjoying Dark MAtter for it to get a second season.Somehow Dark Matter actually had better ratings than Killjoys, it still baffles, and makes zero sense. I guess it's because it had higher profile actors, and SyFy did seem to push it a lot more. But it is so much worse. Killjoys took a few episodes to get going, but Dark Matter was pretty shitty from the jump. Seriously, I can't explain it. I'm really ready for Killjoys to hit Netflix so that I can watch the shit out of it a couple of more times before season 2 starts. Very fun, and it builds marvelously. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
red snow Posted December 20, 2015 Share Posted December 20, 2015 Somehow Dark Matter actually had better ratings than Killjoys, it still baffles, and makes zero sense. I guess it's because it had higher profile actors, and SyFy did seem to push it a lot more. But it is so much worse. Killjoys took a few episodes to get going, but Dark Matter was pretty shitty from the jump. Seriously, I can't explain it. I'm really ready for Killjoys to hit Netflix so that I can watch the shit out of it a couple of more times before season 2 starts. Very fun, and it builds marvelously.Maybe a lot of Stargate fans are watching it in the hope it'll get better? That or they just lick mid-range sci-fi? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crazydog7 Posted December 21, 2015 Share Posted December 21, 2015 We need more Science Fiction on TV and less Ghost Hunters/Wrestling Killjoys was actually pretty damn cool I will always have a warm spot in my heart for Datak Tarr and there are even parts of Z nation that are watchable. It will interesting to see how long it will be before the pendulum swings back. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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