The Scifi Peacock
When the Scifi channel first launched in way back in 1992 I was ecstatic. Finally a channel for science fiction lovers. There were already plenty of cooking, automotive, history, travel and music channels. Did science fiction deserve any less of a place in our couch potato lives?
Fast forward 12 years and I’m still waiting for a science fiction channel. Instead of getting a channel devoted to all the best programming science fiction lovers want, we have the Scifi channel. Of course you can find reruns of the original Star Trek and the occasional Battlestar Galactica, and every once and while a well produced mini-series. The problem is the channel isn’t very cutting edge and aside from Stargate SG-1 and Atlantis (which incidentally, originally came from Showtime) their original programming sucks. Instead of giving us science fiction, there are plenty of idiots trying to find ghosts, aliens and long dead aunts.
At the heart of the matter, Scifi channel is owned by NBC. In an effort to make up for their past science fiction programming disasters, namely canceling the original Star Trek and decision they will never live down, they are attempting to give science fiction a home of its own. The problem is NBC has never been that great at science fiction or truly cutting edge television. (That may not be entirely fair, but I don’t feel like being charitable at the moment. NBC has all but thrown away their Must See TV leaving us little to nothing left to watch on the Peacock.)
So, why am I surprised there isn’t one originally produced, decent space fiction series on Scifi channel? Why am I surprised that the one truly shining star of a show, cutting edge in the extreme, was canceled? In case you don’t realize, I’m talking about Farscape. Sure the channel has had a few successes in the last 12 years: Dune and Children of Dune; Farscape: Peacekeeper Wars; and most probably a successful return of Battlestar Galactica. Still, these successes are few and far between. When most of their programming is sub par reruns from other channels and original programming that isn’t really science fiction they can’t claim success, at least not to this science fiction fan.
