Ugh. "listening to the audience" when you're also showing ECW = get ready for more blondes in tight outfits and various live action versions of "Halo".
Dear Sir Richard Branson, Would you be interested in launching a cable network called OMNI? I have a stack of books that would make great series and original movies with built-in followings. If you have a spare $300M US, lemme know, we'll start a network you'll be proud to show on your spaceships. Your pal, Daryle Lockhart On Dec 6, 2008, at 8:08 AM, Martin Baxter wrote: > They're going to develop a way to allow the fans to help guide > story lines. > > Behold. Armageddon has arrived. > > > > > > ---------[ Received Mail Content ]---------- > > Subject : [scifinoir2] Sci Fi charts its course for the future > > Date : Sat, 06 Dec 2008 00:15:17 -0500 > > From : "brent wodehouse" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > > To : scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com > > > http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/la-ca- > network7-2008dec07,0,1368411.story > > TELEVISION > > Sci Fi charts its course for the future > > 'Battlestar Galactica' helped lift the cable channel; 'Sanctuary' > reflects > its openness to new models. > > By Geoff Boucher > > December 7, 2008 > > > The end is in sight for " Battlestar Galactica" and the beleaguered > humans > of the 12 Twelve Colonies aren't the only ones fretting about their > survival -- there are also the executives at Sci Fi, the cable channel > that has ridden "Galactica" as its esteemed flagship, who will now > have to > carry on without her. > > The final 10 episodes of "Battlestar" begin Jan. 19, and though a > prequel > series called "Caprica" has been locked in for 2010, that show > begins with > a new cast, a new story and no guarantees. Dave Howe, the president > of the > cable station owned by NBC Universal, said there is anxiety about > losing > the award-winning drama that gave Sci Fi so much of its identity. > > "Believe me, none of us could ever overestimate the success of > 'Battlestar' in terms of putting us on the map with not just a > critical > audience but actually with a new audience," Howe said. "I think all > of us > will be depressed when it's over." > > On a recent visit to Los Angeles, Howe was plainly proud of the > broader > success of Sci Fi (formerly called the Sci Fi Channel), which for a > considerable part of its 16-year history was known primarily as a > fanboy > corner of the cable dial with reruns of "The Incredible Hulk" and > "Planet > of the Apes." Now the channel is in a different stratum. > > "We're at No. 5 for the year," Howe said, "and within spitting > distance of > A&E at No. 4, which I think has shocked some people who have > assumed that > we're so niche and narrow that we don't even register on the Richter > scale." > > The question is how the channel will make the earth move again. Howe > pointed to the new series "Sanctuary," which premiered Oct. 3 and > saw its > pilot finish as the night's No. 1 prime-time cable entertainment > program > among adults 25 to 54, as part of the answer. > > The fantasy show -- about the mysterious 157-year-old researcher Helen > Magnus (Amanda Tapping), who tends to a refuge for magical beasties > -- is > also a symbol of Sci Fi's eagerness to embrace new models. > > "Sanctuary" began as an Internet series of webisodes and is filmed > on a > "virtual set" of green-screen technology and CGI effects. The show > also > uses "RED camera," which records straight to a computer hard drive > for a > nimbler post-production process. > > Howe and his team are pushing online as well and view the cable > channel as > just part of the hard-wiring needed to get today's sci-fi and fantasy > fans. Sci Fi is now working on a project for a 2010 premiere that Howe > calls "the Holy Grail": The channel is teaming television writers with > video-game designers to create a franchise that is both a television > series and a massive multi-player game on the Internet -- more than > that, > the fans who play the game will actually help shape the show's > story arc. > > And although it has fiction in its name, Sci Fi is making a push into > scripted reality shows, such as "Estate of Panic," where contestants > compete in a haunted house, and the delicately titled "Cash or > Capture," > where "men in black" hunt players. > > If anything, Sci Fi seems to be dealing with too many ideas with a > staggering number of development deals. That may be a bit of anxious > hyperactivity by a channel losing its go-to franchise. Howe clearly > hopes > there's another "Galactica" in the stars. > > "To take something that was a cheesy 1970s show and turn it into > something > like the 'West Wing' of outer space is not something that anybody > set out > to do," he said. > > "It brought in people who would have never touched us before. Now > we have > to build on that. That is our challenge." > > Boucher is a Times staff writer. > > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > > > > http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JQdwk8Yntds
