Space-Based Fare

Just about 4 years ago to the day, I wrote a blog post called, "Cooking, Party Planners, Feng Shui, Magic and a Docusoap. Really? REALLY?!?!?!" that was about SyFy's announcement of their latest slate of shows and their declaration that the channel's genre was now "imagination-based entertainment" which in my mind was a cover-your-ass way of saying they were going to be able to put on whatever they thought would expand the audience so they could charge more for advertising and not have to worry about it being science fiction anymore.

Given that the cooking, party planner, Feng Shui, magician and psychic mom shows were short-lived, I am not sure if their plan was successful. They did launch Face-Off as a part of that group and that continues to this day. And of course there is that old science-fiction standard: wrestling.

Anyway...

In July of 2010, Syfy President Dave Howe told Forbes that Syfy felt that for the 18-to-34 demographic, "the traditional trappings of science-fiction don’t appeal to that audience. And by that I mean the science-based, technology-based, space-based [fare]."

So I did find it ironic that yesterday, Syfy president Dave Howe talked to The Hollywood Reporter about the network’s beefed-up slate of "space-set sci-fi series and harder sci-fi projects."

Did what that coveted demographic want change in the last four years? Maybe. Certainly networks like TNT, NBC, CW, ABC, HBO and others are showing more sci-fi and fantasy stuff than in years past. The Hollywood Reporter article even positions this as SyFy "getting back" an audience that is finding their sci-fi fix on some of those other networks.

As a fan of space-set sci-fi and such, it will be interesting to see what programming pops up.

Meanwhile I am anxious to check this thing out once it gets done at SXSW and ends up in a local theater or DVD: https://www.facebook.com/SpaceStation76