I don’t watch much TV in general. Not because there’s nothing good to watch, but because there’s so damn much good TV nowadays that if I get involved I have to watch all of it, and I waste enough time as it is. Aside from Doctor Who, the last major SF series I followed was Firefly, and that didn’t take long to watch all of. Before that, I watched all of Farscape, and Babylon 5. I collected Doctor Who, Firefly and Babylon 5 on DVD, but not Farscape. Then of course, there’s Star Trek. I think Enterprise is the only Star Trek TV series where I didn’t see all the episodes. The original series is the only one I have DVD of, but it’s a good blu-ray set.

It’s interesting, though, how it’s turned out that there seem to be three centers that crank out some pretty reliably good visual sci-fi, usually the episodic variety: Vancouver BC (all the good Syffy series); Cardiff, Wales (BBC Dr. Who and spinoffs); and somewhere in Eastern Europe, where they pull off amazing feats like a respectable production of Dune. Makes sense that if you move the sci-fi productions out of Hollywood and let people spend a few years specializing in just sci-fi, the quality will inexorably rise. But it also seems like it’s helped the serial productions more than the one-off movie productions. Maybe that’s just where the money is.

The statement that you haven’t watched “even the good ones” on Syffy, is kind of puzzling. Are you boycotting the network? Just seems kind of perverse to not watch what you think might be good. I’m with Frank in having such an appetite for sci-fi that I’m grateful when it’s not half bad. Don’t think I have the will or willpower to boycott the not-half-bad, considering what that leaves.

I was browsing Amazon’s sales rankings, which is confusing because different media are tracked separately. Eureka on DVD sells about as well as Sanctuary, normally around #7500…but get this: Last night’s Sanctuary episode about the Gilbert and Sullivan virus shot up to #304. It’s being called “ground breaking”. Looks like you and I were in the minority when we gagged.

Anyway, for sales perspective, New Dr. Who season 6 is around #1200, and Warehouse 13 looks like Syffy’s hottest property at #5,372.

Eureka had respectable audience figures, but maybe the problem is production cost. Eureka seems to have lots of elaborate physical sets. That’s what did in Firefly, apparently: $2 million/episode was too rich for Fox’s blood.

The reason I was checking out Amazon’s sales figures was that I started wondering whether it might be possible to save Eureka by pointing to direct video sales. I thinks the networks have tunnel vision about the primary importance of their Nielsen audience ratings, but in this world there are other ways to sell video. I’d subscribe to future Eureka seasons just like I did this last one. How many others would pledge upfront? Add in ad-supported hulu streaming, and maybe Eureka can be liberated from the clutches of Syffy.

Eureka was until recently high quality programming and that does not fit with the direction that syfy has chosen. All of their recent original programming has turned to shit.

You have to wonder if all of their programming executives hate the S/F genre

Hopefully they will give Eureka a decent send up.

I was whimpering within seconds of Magnus breaking into song. Not that she, and everybody else who sang, didn’t have nice voices. But it was just wrong, somehow.

A sci-fi musical. That’s what they were trying to do, and I have to applaud their audacity. Not much comes to mind in that genre. Little Shop of Horrors. Rocky Horror Picture Show. I see a pattern there. Maybe there’s a good reason there aren’t many examples.

I missed that episode of Happy Days, so I never truly appreciated the expression “jumping the shark” until now.

O…M…G…

Haven’t seen the latest episode yet, but I’ve been questioning whether it’s worth it to pay a premium (full) price just to see the episodes within 24 hours. I’m planning to watch the episode this evening, and I think it’ll decide whether I cancel the subscription.

Seems like the show took a nosedive this season. Just phoning it in. Not even much in the way of CGI eye candy, the last resort when the writers all block.