NationStates Jolt Archive

My fiancee and I have noticed that over the last year the SciFi Channel's presentation of Stargate has gone from a couple episodes a week to an almost constant bombardment of SG-1 and Atlantis fare.

Marathons are commonplace, reruns are everywhere, and we've taken to refering to it as the Stargate Channel since our informal study where at least 60% of the time we turned on the TV at varying times of the day and week we see Stargate.

Has anyone else noticed this phenomenon?

(what we need is more BATTLESTAR GALACTICA)

its just you

the scifi channel is also the home of called-B-to-be-kind scifi movies. crap so bad that no one else would ever show it.

what we need is more battlestar galactica!

Just like TNT was the "Law & Order" channel for a while (that title goes to USA now). A & E was the first one to hold the distinction. TV channels stick with what works for them and brings in the advertising revenue, y'know?

Just like TNT was the "Law & Order" channel for a while (that title goes to USA now). A & E was the first one to hold the distinction. TV channels stick with what works for them and brings in the advertising revenue, y'know?

It just blows my mind that it still works after all this time in the first place... I'd have thought that people would be utterly sick of it.. even SG1 fans.

Let's be honest.. if SciFi presented 5 episodes of rerun Battlestar Galactica a day, wouldn't we start getting tired of it?

well.. maybe not BSG.... but you know what I mean :D

It just blows my mind that it still works after all this time in the first place... I'd have thought that people would be utterly sick of it.. even SG1 fans.

Let's be honest.. if SciFi presented 5 episodes of rerun Battlestar Galactica a day, wouldn't we start getting tired of it?

well.. maybe not BSG.... but you know what I mean :D

Yeah, I know. The thing is, though, after a while it's kind of nice, you tune in, see the first few minutes of the show, decide whether to stay and watch or find something else. We do that with the L & O shows. Apparently people don't get tired of it, I think there's a comfort factor at work, a show you know, that you like, that's always there ... *sniff* ... it's so ... maternal. :p

Here they show like 5 episodes of Star Trek every saturday afternoon.

Star Trek Original
Star Trek NG
Deep Space Nine
The one with the woman commander
Enterprise

Here they show like 5 episodes of Star Trek every saturday afternoon.

Star Trek Original
Star Trek NG
Deep Space Nine
The one with the woman commander
Enterprise

Where?

Here they show like 5 episodes of Star Trek every saturday afternoon.

Star Trek Original
Star Trek NG
Deep Space Nine
The one with the woman commander
Enterprise

Voyager......and yeah, where? I wanna live there!

Voyager......and yeah, where? I wanna live there!

Me too but only if there's a Law & Order channel, too.

And Voyager had the best theme music, I think.

Me too but only if there's a Law & Order channel, too.

And Voyager had the best theme music, I think.

Nah. DS9 had a very haunting theme. But none of them have matched the original (even if it has dated somewhat).

Guys, be thankful. We can't GET Sci-fi Channel.

They are promoting Stargate: SG-1 so much because it has been cancelled and the last ten episodes as yet to be shown on American television(but always available thanks to the British showing them so much sooner and uploading them to the interwebtubes) are the final, last episodes. Thing is, the cancellation is based on Neilson ratings, which are outdated, because most viewers tend to record it and watch it later rather than live. It's stupid, but then again, Sci-Fi has shown itself to be stupid time and again. They cancelled MST3K, didn't they?

Where?

Voyager......and yeah, where? I wanna live there!

what you dont have SPIKE on your cable or satellite?

thats where it is. mon-thurs. noon to 4 MDT.

what you dont have SPIKE on your cable or satellite?

thats where it is. mon-thurs. noon to 4 MDT.

I have Spike, but they don't show Enterprise or TOS and they certainly don't show it on Saturday afternoons. (not that I don't have all of the series of Trek on DVD now, except for Enterprise....so I can watch it whenever I want)

They are promoting Stargate: SG-1 so much because it has been cancelled and the last ten episodes as yet to be shown on American television(but always available thanks to the British showing them so much sooner and uploading them to the interwebtubes) are the final, last episodes. Thing is, the cancellation is based on Neilson ratings, which are outdated, because most viewers tend to record it and watch it later rather than live. It's stupid, but then again, Sci-Fi has shown itself to be stupid time and again. They cancelled MST3K, didn't they?

MST3K became undoable more than it was cancelled, and they couldn't afford to renew the liscences from some of the movies to continue to show old episodes. Nielsons still work on Nielson families, not on reading what your box is hooked up to, and they report thier viewing as well. Though taping to watch later isn't as big a draw, because the ratings are for the number of eyes not on the show, but its ads because that's how the rates are set.

I haven't read anything about SG1 so I don't know why neccisarily it was cancelled, or even if it was really cancelled or that they just decided to stop. I thought I had heard a rumor about an SG-1 movie, which of course would be surreal...would you put Kurt Russel and whatshisname back in it? Anyway...

Channels on the butt end of the basic cable spectrum have to struggle and claw for viewers with not a whole lot of money, so if they can syndicate a show like Law & Order and that will draw in daytime viewers then hell yeah, they're going to stack that show as much as they can to build revenue to fund their own original programing, which unfortunately for A & E has meant a string of observational reality shows like Dog the Bounty Hunter, Sons of Hollywood, and that Gene Simmons one. I got caught up in a Dog marathon (that dude is such a fucking cheese ball) and was stunned at the number of reality show ads there where for that channel. Not so much arts anymore, more heavy on the entertainment...

If a channel already has a 10 year library of a show that has for a while at least held them afloat, then it's even easier to bouy their schedule with it since it would be cheaper even than running a showing of the movie The Car and likely to get more viewers (though I totally watch everytime they run that movie...).

They do slot reruns of things a lot. On Mondays they run 3 episodes of Enterprise, on Fridays where their original programing used to be they run Special Unit 2, a failed supernatural cop show. Mondays are usually a marathon of something (I used it to catch up on BSG when I gotz my cable back). They use that easy money to aquire 'SciFi Original Movies' (I don't know, but I suspect that they scour around and find undistributed or under distributed cheap movies and put them up as their own) and pay for new episodes of BSG, The Dresden Files, and Stargate Atlantis.

Could be worse, they could still be trying to make Tremors a series...

As long as they've burned their copy of Hathor (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hathor_%28Stargate_SG-1%29) I don't object.

I like Stargate, though Atlantis less than the original. There's over 200 episodes and very few I wouldn't watch again. Hathor is one of them, what the hell they were on when that seemed like a good script is beyond me.

Sssh! You're using logic on me!

But you are correct about the new Stargate movies. They're more like huge one-shot episodes than real movies, as they are direct to DVD stuff. Take a look at www.gateworld.net if you want to know more, and as for SG-1's cancellation, you can check out http://www.savestargatesg1.com/

MST3K became undoable more than it was cancelled, and they couldn't afford to renew the liscences from some of the movies to continue to show old episodes. Nielsons still work on Nielson families, not on reading what your box is hooked up to, and they report thier viewing as well. Though taping to watch later isn't as big a draw, because the ratings are for the number of eyes not on the show, but its ads because that's how the rates are set.

I haven't read anything about SG1 so I don't know why neccisarily it was cancelled, or even if it was really cancelled or that they just decided to stop. I thought I had heard a rumor about an SG-1 movie, which of course would be surreal...would you put Kurt Russel and whatshisname back in it? Anyway...

Channels on the butt end of the basic cable spectrum have to struggle and claw for viewers with not a whole lot of money, so if they can syndicate a show like Law & Order and that will draw in daytime viewers then hell yeah, they're going to stack that show as much as they can to build revenue to fund their own original programing, which unfortunately for A & E has meant a string of observational reality shows like Dog the Bounty Hunter, Sons of Hollywood, and that Gene Simmons one. I got caught up in a Dog marathon (that dude is such a fucking cheese ball) and was stunned at the number of reality show ads there where for that channel. Not so much arts anymore, more heavy on the entertainment...

If a channel already has a 10 year library of a show that has for a while at least held them afloat, then it's even easier to bouy their schedule with it since it would be cheaper even than running a showing of the movie The Car and likely to get more viewers (though I totally watch everytime they run that movie...).

They do slot reruns of things a lot. On Mondays they run 3 episodes of Enterprise, on Fridays where their original programing used to be they run Special Unit 2, a failed supernatural cop show. Mondays are usually a marathon of something (I used it to catch up on BSG when I gotz my cable back). They use that easy money to aquire 'SciFi Original Movies' (I don't know, but I suspect that they scour around and find undistributed or under distributed cheap movies and put them up as their own) and pay for new episodes of BSG, The Dresden Files, and Stargate Atlantis.

Could be worse, they could still be trying to make Tremors a series...

Tremors ftw. Also, is Dresden any good? It looks interesting.

I watch the Twilight Zone marathons, as well as whenever they have a random episode of Heroes on. Oh, and Ghost Hunters, but they haven't been showing that lately. Not sure if it got cancelled.

I have Spike, but they don't show Enterprise or TOS and they certainly don't show it on Saturday afternoons. (not that I don't have all of the series of Trek on DVD now, except for Enterprise....so I can watch it whenever I want)

oh

yeah

my mistake

i guess i blocked out the first and the last because...well, you know... the horror.

enterprise is on scifi now and someone is still showing the original...G4 maybe?

oh

yeah

my mistake

i guess i blocked out the first and the last because...well, you know... the horror.

enterprise is on scifi now and someone is still showing the original...G4 maybe?

I think TBS shows the original series early morning. Like 5-6AM central.

(what we need is more BATTLESTAR GALACTICA)

Nah. What we need is more Firefly.

I think TBS shows the original series early morning. Like 5-6AM central.

TV-Land shows TOS somewhat often, I think.

Tremors ftw. Also, is Dresden any good? It looks interesting.


dresden is OK. its not great but its on sunday evening right before battlestar galactica. that makes it a win for me.

Nah. What we need is more Firefly.

No we don't. Firefly was not exactly that great. It was simply different from what has become typical of science fiction so people got into it, but I never liked it, because it really just wasn't that good.

Nah. What we need is more Firefly.

I'd take both in a hot minute. Sadly, it doesn't even sound like Joss Whedon is interested in doing more.

No we don't. Firefly was not exactly that great. It was simply different from what has become typical of science fiction so people got into it, but I never liked it, because it really just wasn't that good.

Shun the nonbeliever! Shun! Shunnnnnnnn!!!

I'd take both in a hot minute. Sadly, it doesn't even sound like Joss Whedon is interested in doing more.

Really? I heard he was putting out a comic about the time between the last episode of Firefly and the beginning of Serenity. Explaining where Mr. Universe came from, etc.

Really? I heard he was putting out a comic about the time between the last episode of Firefly and the beginning of Serenity. Explaining where Mr. Universe came from, etc.

I believe that came out before the movie.

I did some poking and it turns out that this comes from the fees that MGM charges SciFi for the show. SciFi wants them lower, MGM doesn't think so. There was a theory posed on that whatzit that was linked that SciFi purposely tanked the ratings of SG-1 to artificially lower the rate and I suspect that to some degree that's not far off the mark.

It looks like they had a staring contest and MGM decided it could continue the cash cow with direct-to-DVD movies and syndicating the 215 episodes they already have without having to lower thier initial rate to SciFi (traditionally, new shows sell to the channels for around 90% of what it costs to make them and then those shows make that 10%+ back in syndication. When a show starts to be very popular and an anchor show, the world flips, the show has its neccisary syndication water mark (100 episodes used to be it) and the channel needs the show more than the show needs the channel and can charge fees that are in excess of the shows cost. If Stargate was still in the initial formula, I can see how it might be easy for MGM to walk away from this.)

Wait, this has nothing to do with the topic per se and the fans probably already know this...

Umm...yeah...moving on...

I did some poking and it turns out that this comes from the fees that MGM charges SciFi for the show. SciFi wants them lower, MGM doesn't think so. There was a theory posed on that whatzit that was linked that SciFi purposely tanked the ratings of SG-1 to artificially lower the rate and I suspect that to some degree that's not far off the mark.

It looks like they had a staring contest and MGM decided it could continue the cash cow with direct-to-DVD movies and syndicating the 215 episodes they already have without having to lower thier initial rate to SciFi (traditionally, new shows sell to the channels for around 90% of what it costs to make them and then those shows make that 10%+ back in syndication. When a show starts to be very popular and an anchor show, the world flips, the show has its neccisary syndication water mark (100 episodes used to be it) and the channel needs the show more than the show needs the channel and can charge fees that are in excess of the shows cost. If Stargate was still in the initial formula, I can see how it might be easy for MGM to walk away from this.)

Wait, this has nothing to do with the topic per se and the fans probably already know this...

Umm...yeah...moving on...
I'd say it has everything to do with the topic. Thanks for the research...I'd not known this...in many ways it makes me feel a little happier because it means MGM will continue it...just not as a normal series. I just hope they keep Atlantis going for at least as long as they let SG-1 go...

No we don't. Firefly was not exactly that great. It was simply different from what has become typical of science fiction so people got into it, but I never liked it, because it really just wasn't that good.

Them's fightin' words, boy...

Shun the nonbeliever! Shun! Shunnnnnnnn!!!

:p

I'd take both in a hot minute. Sadly, it doesn't even sound like Joss Whedon is interested in doing more.

Yeah. :(

Where?

Sci-Fi channel/South America.

I live in Brazil, but AFAIK, its the same channel in all South America.

Yes, a LOT of Star Trek series. But what I crave a lot is Babylon 5 stuff, which after its run on the Warner Channel, didnt show again :(