RIP Television for Geeks

[jetpack_monkey]

Sci-Fi Channel to become SurgeTV. They're looking to move away from the geek demographic, so to speak and overtake SpikeTV (another renamed network) as the place for xTreme Doodz, looks like.

...this pisses me off more than I can say. Sci-Fi might have been the home for a lot of made-for-television bad sci-fi/horror, but it stood for something. Imagine. Let's imagine a world where geeks and nerds have a channel to watch geeky and nerdy things. Let's imagine that there's a media parent out there willing to front the money to keep such a network going...

I should've seen this coming with the announcements about the ECW. NBC/Universal has shown very little imagination in everything they've done with the channel, save their original programming (because BSG FTW). They're retaining Sci-Fi's original shows *now*, but don't look for them to keep producing similar shows.

Ah, I am not a happy duck.

ETA: Hoax. Although that it is so believable is sad.

Comments

[kittycat22.livejournal.com]

That. Is. Disgusting.

I also notice the Sci-Fi channel representative didn't exactly let that one slip at Comic-Con this year. And I wonder how much of SG-1's cancellation has to do with this.

UGH.

[jetpack-monkey.livejournal.com]

No kidding. *just edited post with commentary*

[kittycat22.livejournal.com]

Indeed. This should meet with, hopefully, a fairly large declaration from the geekcrowd that this is NOT COOL. Not that it will change anything, necessarily, but I hope the response at least happens.

Imagination is dead.

[kajivar]

Awww, suck! *grr*

[jetpack-monkey.livejournal.com]

Seriously. It's grotesque.

[ktnb81.livejournal.com]

*flails!* WTF?! Do you have another link, because that one's not working anymore.

[ktnb81.livejournal.com]

Oh wait. It seems to be a hoax.

http://www.tvsquad.com/2006/08/24/someone-has-it-in-for-the-sci-fi-channel/

[rhi-silverflame.livejournal.com]

Somebody at the Skiffy boards posted the text of it, purportedly.

http://mboard.scifi.com/showflat.php?Cat=0&Number=2079304&an=0&page=0&gonew=1#UNREAD

I *think* there's a chance that it's an elaborate joke, since from what I understand pretty much anyone can post a release to PRweb, but . . . eh, I'm withholding judgment on this one for now. That way if/when I have to flail, I have the energy stored up to flail right.

[ktnb81.livejournal.com]

Heh, yeah. I googled "surgetv" and found this:

http://www.tvsquad.com/2006/08/24/someone-has-it-in-for-the-sci-fi-channel/

So, it does seem to all be a hoax. But how sad is it that it could be accepted for truth?

[rhi-silverflame.livejournal.com]

Somebody definitely knew exactly which points to hit and hit 'em all, yeah.

[timjr.livejournal.com]

I'll be over here, snickering.

But yeah, it -is- sad that it's so believable.

[qkellie.livejournal.com]

You know, the sad thing is SpikeTV isn't even very "xTreme Doodz," and G4 is turning into a kind of neo-Adult Swim. I ought to write a commentary about network branding identity and discuss why things happen like the transformation of VH1 from Baby Boomer MTV to Celebreality Crapola.