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Is there too much cult/sci fi programming?
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With the news of Dollhouse's cancellation by the network in mind, it kicked off a random thought..
There have been quite a few cult/sci fi cancellations recently. If we accept Sci fi and Cult television is a 'limited appeal market', is there too much product out there for the niche audience watching?
Discuss?
There have been quite a few cult/sci fi cancellations recently. If we accept Sci fi and Cult television is a 'limited appeal market', is there too much product out there for the niche audience watching?
Discuss?
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In my ideal world it would be back-to-back Doctor Who, Torchwood,NCIS,Fringe and Heroes!
For starters, I don't fully accept that it has a limited appeal - e.g. Doctor Who is one of the top-rated shows on telly, no?
Also, good TV is good TV, whether it's a soap, police show, sci-fi, whatever. I don't watch shows just because there's some element of the fantastic to them.
My OH quite happily watches Lost, Defying Gravity, True Blood, Flash Forward, etc. with me (she's a HUGE fans of Lost), but outside of telly, she'd never read a sci-fi or fantasy book.
So in answer to your question: no, there is not too much sci-fi and cult product out there, and I'd be surprised if anyone said there was (mind you, this is Digital Spy, there's every flavour of opinion under the sun here!).
The market is saturated with product and only the very best will survive.
Dollhouse didn't seem to hit the target with mass appeal and consequently fell by the wayside.
Doesn't seem fair when mindless dross like X Factor, ** got Talent, Strictly Come Dancing get huge audiences and limp along for years....:(
Yes and no.
If I see any programme with a period costume or "jolly ye olde English" banter (i.e Cranford, Lark Rise to Candleford, etc), I switch over even if they get great reviews. I just can't stand them.
It shouldn't matter which genre the programme is, but for a large part of the audience it does.
Why do you think the networks spend so much on targeted advertising, focus groups and schedule analysis?
This is true for my OH, although anything too sci-fi or space-based and she'll refuse to watch (i.e. Star Trek, Stargate, Firefly, Terminator:TSCC, etc.)
I get your point and agree. I remember back in the cult TV starved 80's we all watched A-Team, V, Knight Rider and STar Trek Next Generation as there was not alot around to watch. Now there is soooo many to choose from. Choice is great but maybe this is where it all went wrong. I'd rather have 4 quality cult programmes that all 'geek's watched rather then 20 where the same audience is spread across several shows.
I have not yet even seen Dollhouse as I have not got the time to invest in another show so maybe people like me are to blame for its axing?
You could have a point here.
What happens is that one network will have a hit with a particular format, and the others follow. It's happened since TV and films began tho.
Over the last few years thanks to Lost, Heroes, etc. there has been a large increase in Sci-Fi programmes due to these successes and everyone else wanting a piece of the action. It seems now that the (American) public's appetite for sci-fi is diminishing and the ratings are reflecting this. Only the few truely good programmes, and those with a dedicated following, will survive now. (Eg. Much as I love it, Lost ending this year is probably wise).
More recently, there has been a fascination with vampires (even before the whole Twilight phenomenon kicked off) in TV and movies, and determination to make it the "next big thing".
Where Blood Ties and Moonlight failed, Twilight then True Blood succeeded massively, and the Vampire Diaries, plus others are to follow. Blood Ties and Moonlight were very similar shows and, although both were enjoyable, their timing was off. In a years' time we'll probably be all Vamp'd out and be switching off in droves and the networks will move on to the next thing.
I am a woman and I hate all this reality rubbish, give me a good sci-fi show anyday
There is nothing recent about the fascination with vampires. We could go back further, but let's say from the 80's, there have been plenty vampire movies - and they have been very successful with devoted fandoms. Lost Boys, Vamp, Fright Night, From Dust till Dawn, Blade, Bram Stroker's Dracula, Intverview with the vampire, Cronos, Underwold...to name a few. The only difference between those movies (and the reason reason people think there has been some kind of re-awakening of interest in vampire movies) is because the current target audience happens to be the annoying-hormonal-screaming-teens age group.
As for TV. Blood Ties and Moonlight failed because on the whole they were poor. Nothing to do with timing. Buffy (and Angel) were massively successful in the late 90's/early 00s.
Your other half is spot on. Shows seem to be either sci-fi-lite like Doctor Who or fantasy-lite like Merlin or Legend of the Seeker. There's very few out and out proper sci-fi shows out there at the moment. The only ones I can think of are Fringe and Lost.
It's all the fault of Harry Potter. Since those films (and books) cult TV has gone more and more fantasy and less sci-fi.
As has been commented by others, ST:ToS is still one of the most popular scifi shows on, what with FX being the latest channel to show Babylon 5, the challenge would be to write something better than these and I can't see the current crop of scifi writers being up to the job.