Friday, December 01, 2006
SciFi Friday
It's easy to see others mistakes when sitting on the outside. In January the SciFi channel is moving Battlestar Galatica to Sunday night. In my opinion this is a mistake. A mistake to repair the original mistake which itself led to one more mistake. The original mistake was starting the season in October instead of July or August. With every critic loving this show, they should have run it when not much else was going on. Many more people would have come on board. This lead to another mistake which was the cancellation of Stargate: SG1.
If I was running the SciFi channel or Universal entertainment, this is what I would have done. BSG would have started over the summer with Stargate: Atlantis. After ten weeks both would have gone on hiatus and would have been replaced by Stargate: SG1 and Doctor Who. In January BSG and SG:A would finish their season. Also, over the summer, NBC would replay episodes of BSG on Saturday night. This would have lead to the most successful ratings of all shows.
The move to Sunday night is not all the surprising. SciFi has a long historical standing on Friday night. X-Files had four seasons on Friday night before moving to Sunday and much better ratings. This may actually solve the unexpected low ratings they have been having this season. I think the low ratings are due to the October starting and the incredibly dark storylines.
If I was running the SciFi channel or Universal entertainment, this is what I would have done. BSG would have started over the summer with Stargate: Atlantis. After ten weeks both would have gone on hiatus and would have been replaced by Stargate: SG1 and Doctor Who. In January BSG and SG:A would finish their season. Also, over the summer, NBC would replay episodes of BSG on Saturday night. This would have lead to the most successful ratings of all shows.
The move to Sunday night is not all the surprising. SciFi has a long historical standing on Friday night. X-Files had four seasons on Friday night before moving to Sunday and much better ratings. This may actually solve the unexpected low ratings they have been having this season. I think the low ratings are due to the October starting and the incredibly dark storylines.