Dec 31, 2007,
D. Maass
If in theaters Westerns ruled the genre wars, then on TV it was, of course, science fiction. Battlestar Galactica was as good as ever; Doctor Who's third series too. And I wrote all about the diversity, the real highlight of the year, in last week's post.
But for all the good they produced in 2007, science fiction tv programmers still a slap in the face for not going all the way. Here are the worst things in Sci Fi TV this year.
PRO WRESTLING IS NOT SCI FI!
Sure, most video stores and pizza places offer Tuesday night rent-and-gorge specials, but, as an alt.weekly writer whose publication hits news stands on Wednesdays, my Tuesday nights are dedicated to post-deadline hibernation. I want escapism and I want it with aliens. But no, Tuesday nights on the Sci Fi channel is dedicated to Extreme Championship Wrestling, or ECW. Instead of time travel and laser beams, I'm presented with carved-chest testosto-heroes who can't deliver dialogue and are engaging in homoerotic tangles. I'm sure it pays the bills for Sci-Fi, and makes all the decent programming possible. But still! Can't they just buy a new station where they can broadcast pro-wrestling all the time and keep Sci Fi in the future?
REALITY ON SCI FI
I can't be the only to see the irony in reality programming on the Sci Fi Channel. Fair enough, Who Wants to Be a Superhero was sweet and sincere, if not as green cheesy as Superman on the moon. But Ghost Hunters? I'm sure somebody's watching it, but I can't stand it. Ghosts aren't real. They're not. And I can't watch an entire series dedicated to fruitless goose chases, no matter how cool their technology is. I have to admit, I never bothered with Destination Truth, mostly because if I'm going to watch exotic travel programs I'd rather turn to whatever Michael Palin special the nature channels are running. (But I do have to give serious props to Sci Fi for picking up Mind Control with Derren Brown.)
FRACKIN' WITH MY HEAD
First of all, screw the writers on strike. With a cliffhanger like "Crossroads Part Two," with four of the final five Cylons revealed and Starbuck back from the dead, I'm going nuts waiting for how all it concludes. Now it seems that the final Season 4 will be pushed back even further because of the strike. I understand the Guild's complaint (I've been watching BSG online myself), but I'll save that rant for another post.
Sci Fi Channel wasn't the only network to leave me hanging. NBC announced they weren't renewing Journeyman, their stab at the time-travel genre, and yet, in the finale, they never explained what the hell was going on, why Dan Vassar and Livia Beale were jumping back and forth in San Francisco past, present and future. I feel like I've wasted a full days worth of TV watching.
HALF-BAKEDNESS
I'll round this off with a few more swipes at the Sci Fi channel. First of all, Flash Gordon was a bad idea. Sometimes reviving old shows works (BSG and Doctor Who and Bionic Woman) as long as they don't produce campy garbage. I could've avoided the series altogether had Sci Fi not made the decision to insert the BSG Razorettes during the Flash Gordon commercial breaks.
Then there was Tin Man. A lot of people liked it. I couldn't get through the first half hour. If they'd followed the natural logic of the title, and centered the story around the Tin Man, told it from his perspective, like a Gregory Maguire novel, I'd be writing now calling it a stroke of genius. But no. It was cliche and awful and I'd much rather watched The Wiz again.
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