Sci Fi Channel (United States)

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See Sci Fi Channel for a list of other Sci Fi channels.

SCI FI (sometimes rendered Sci-Fi when part of a longer phrase) is an American cable television channel, launched on September 24 1992, specializing in science fiction, fantasy, horror, and paranormal programming. It is part of the entertainment conglomerate NBC Universal.

[edit] History

The channel was launched on September 24 1992 as a sister cable channel to USA Network by then-owners Paramount Pictures (which was later acquired by Viacom in 1994) and MCA (then part of Japanese electronic giant Matsushita), the owner of Universal Studios, each with a 50% stake in the venture.

The channel was seen as a natural fit with classic film and television series that both studios had in their vaults, including Rod Serling's Night Gallery and Paramount's Star Trek and classic Universal horror films such as Dracula and Frankenstein. Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry and author Isaac Asimov were among those on the advisory board.<ref name="omni">Omni (Oct. 1992): "A Channel for Science Fiction"</ref>

In 1997, Seagram, which bought MCA in 1995, purchased Viacom's interest in USA and Sci Fi, and sold the networks to Barry Diller in 1998 to form USA Networks, Inc. Diller later sold USA's non-shopping (film and TV) assets, including Sci-Fi, to Universal's then-parent Vivendi Universal in 2002. Vivendi's film, television, and cable TV assets were then merged with General Electric's NBC to form NBC Universal in 2004.

In some of Sci Fi Channel's modern-day bumpers, people and animals are fascinated by fantastic science-fiction-related changes. The bumpers end with its "slogan," "if," which are two of the letters found in Sci Fi.

[edit] Sci Fi original programming

See Sci Fi original programming for the full list.

Sci Fi's programming includes original television movies, miniseries, and series.

[edit] Series

The channel's most prominent series include Battlestar Galactica, Stargate SG-1 (picked up from the cable network Showtime after five seasons, and eventually becoming American television's longest running science-fiction series), and its spin-off Stargate Atlantis. Its 2006 series Eureka was the channel's highest-rated series premiere. In addition to Stargate SG-1, Sci Fi also picked up the cancelled Comedy Central series Mystery Science Theater 3000, running three additional seasons of that show. There has been recent disapproval from Sci Fi viewers however due to the decision to cancel Stargate SG-1, considered by many to be one of the shows that put Sci Fi on the map.

In 2006, Sci Fi began to air World Wrestling Entertainment's third brand, Extreme Championship Wrestling. Despite very intense criticism of a wrestling show on a science-fiction network, ECW received consistently high ratings. Sci Fi additionally aired the WWE flagship show, Monday Night RAW on 28 August 2006, when the program's usual home, USA Network, broadcast US Open Tennis on that date.<ref name="mondaynightraw">PWInsider (Aug. 16, 2006): "Formally Pre-Empted RAW to Air Live in the US, but not on USA..."</ref>

[edit] Sci-Fi Friday

One of the channel's most successful nights is a two- to three-hour lineup of series on Friday nights, under the banner Sci Fi Friday. These have included various combinations of Heroes, Farscape, Sliders, The Invisible Man, First Wave, Doctor Who, Stargate SG-1, Stargate Atlantis and Battlestar Galactica.

[edit] Second run programming

The channel runs many cult classic science fiction TV shows that have been cancelled in recent years such as Surface, John Doe, Firefly, Dark Angel and the dark comedy Dead Like Me. It also shows reruns of popular shows such as The X-Files. For a very long time, the channel was the home of reruns of the 1960s gothic soap opera Dark Shadows. The series aired on Sci-Fi from 1992-1997, and 1999-2003.

[edit] Anime

Briefly in the early 1990s, Sci Fi showed anime movies, although they were often edited in order to fit the market pressures often placed on basic cable. It was the first to show the movies Robot Carnival and Akira in thair original Streamline Pictures English dubs, as well as showing Dominion Tank Police, Gall Force, and Project A-ko.

Anime shown most frequently aired on Saturday mornings in a roughly two-hour block entitled "Saturday Anime". Each week, the network would air a different anime feature in this timeslot. During the late summer, Sci Fi used one week of its weeknight primetime slots to feature an anime theme week.

On August 26 1996, Sci Fi aired the heavily promoted U.S. television premiere of Tenchi Muyo in Love, the first movie of a popular anime series.<ref>"Tenchi Muyo in Love to Make U.S. TV Premiere".</ref>

Although most of Sci Fi's anime programming was composed of feature-length films, a few, such as Dominion Tank Police, were OVAs cut together to fit into the feature timeslot. One regular feature of the Saturday Anime rotation was composed of the first three episodes of the 1990 fantasy OVA Record of Lodoss War; however, the third episode ends on a cliffhanger and Sci Fi never aired further episodes.

[edit] Miniseries

Sci-Fi original programming gained national prominence in 2003 with the airing of Steven Spielberg Presents: Taken, which won the Emmy Award that year for best miniseries. A two-night updating of the 1970s series Battlestar Galactica ran later that year. Sci Fi miniseries for the 2006-2007 season included The Triangle and Dark Kingdom: The Dragon King.

In 2005, the channel aired the fantasy miniseries Earthsea, based on Ursula K. Le Guin's series of young-reader novels. Le Guin wrote in the webzine Slate that despite promises by the production company Hallmark Entertainment and the office of executive producer Robert Halmi, Sr., that "the producers had no understanding of what the books are about and no interest in finding out. All they intended was to use the name Earthsea, and some of the scenes from the books, in a generic McMagic movie with a meaningless plot based on sex and violence." Le Guin noted in particular how her people of color protagonists, who were a dusky skin tone evocative of Native Americans and a conscious alternative to the almost universally white heroes of much fantasy fiction, were cast with white actors except for one, the African-American Danny Glover.<ref>Slate (Dec. 16, 2004): "A Whitewashed Earthsea: How the Sci Fi Channel Wrecked my Books", by Ursula K. Le Guin</ref>

[edit] Sci Fi Pictures original films

Since 2002 the channel has earned strong ratings from television movies it commissions. Typically independently-made B movie-quality movies with total budgets of $1 to 2 million, they usually air on Saturday nights.<ref name="originalmovies">Wolf, Gary. "We've Created a Monster!," Wired, October 2004</ref> In April 2005 the network announced that it would air 28 original movies on Saturday nights through 2006.<ref name="28moviesin0506">SCI FI Announces Films for '06." press release, 14 April 2005.</ref>

[edit] Non-science-fiction programming

In 2006, Sci Fi began showing some non-sci fi programming. These have included:

• Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, shown on May 4 2006<ref>Schedulebot. SCIFI.COM (2006-05-04). Retrieved on 2006-06-02.</ref>
• WWE's Extreme Championship Wrestling, started June 13 2006.<ref>Schedulebot. SCIFI.COM (2006-06-15). Retrieved on 2006-06-02.</ref>

In the past, the network also aired films like the Mel Gibson classic "Braveheart", as well as films like "Cape Fear" & "Dante's Peak" which have nothing do with the medium of science fiction or fantasy which had many viewers asking why are these movies on the channel. Also, during a weekly morning cartoon block, the animated series Rambo, based on the Sylvester Stallone action series about a Vietnam War veteran, aired.

[edit] M. Night Shyamalan hoax

In 2004, filmmaker M. Night Shyamalan was involved in a media hoax with the Sci Fi Channel, which when eventually uncovered by the press prompted Sci Fi's parent company, NBC-Universal, to denounce the undertaking as "not consistent with our policy at NBC. We would never intend to offend the public or the press and value our relationship with both". <ref>Associated Press story on CBS News site (July 20, 2004): " Sci-Fi Channel Admits Hoax, 'Documentary' On Reclusive Filmaker is Bogus"</ref>

Sci Fi claimed in its "documentary" special — The Buried Secret of M. Night Shyamalan, shot on the set of The Village — that Shyamalan was legally dead for nearly a half-hour while drowned in a frozen pond in a childhood accident, and that upon being rescued he had experiences of communicating with spirits, fueling an obsession with the supernatural. The Sci Fi Channel also claimed that Shyamalan had grown "sour" when the "documentary" filmmakers' questions got too personal, and had therefore withdrawn from participating and threatened to sue the filmmakers.

In truth, Shyamalan developed the hoax with Sci Fi, going so far as having Sci Fi staffers sign non-disclosure agreements with a $5 million fine attached, and required Shyamalan's office to formally approve each step. Neither the childhood accident nor the supposed rift with the filmmakers ever occurred. The hoax included a non-existent Sci Fi publicist, "David Westover", whose name appeared on press releases regarding the special. Sci Fi also fed false news stories to the Associated Press <ref>Associated Press (June 16 2004): "Profile of M. Night Shyamalan Goes Sour: Sci Fi Channel is Still Planning to Air the Documentary"</ref> and Zap2It.com <ref>Zap2It.com (June 17 2004): "Sci Fi Schedules Controversial Shyamalan Doc"</ref>, among others. A New York Post news item, based on a Sci Fi press release, referred to Shyamalan's attorneys threatening to sue the filmmakers; the attorneys named were non-existent.

After an AP reporter confronted Sci Fi Channel president Bonnie Hammer at a press conference, Hammer admitted the hoax, saying it was part of a guerrilla marketing campaign to generate pre-release publicity for The Village. Despite his office's disclosure-agreement requirement and approvals of each marketing step, Shymalan claimed to the AP that he "had nothing to do with the marketing of it."<ref>Associated Press (June 20 2004), Ibid.</ref>

[edit] John Edward controversy

In Spring 2000, Sci Fi began airing the reality series Crossing Over with John Edward, an audience participation show starring a self-professed psychic who claims he can communicate with the dead. Though the act was a familiar mentalist trick from carnival sideshows and vaudeville, Edward assured audiences he was genuine and developed a large following of fans and believers.

In November 2000, a story on the TV news magazine Dateline NBC caught him in the act of faking his dead communications. The program depicted Edward zeroing in on the Dateline cameraman in a convincing display of personal information about that individual. Later, however, the Dateline staff uncovered footage of Edward talking to the same cameraman at other events the crew was filming. The cameraman admitted it was likely Edward obtained the information at those events. Approximately four years later, the ABC TV magazine 20/20 aired its investigation of an Edwards TV-studio taping, concluding fraudulence. Edward has also been denounced by investigator and debunker James Randi.

Edward's most controversial show went unaired. Shortly after the 2001 World Trade Center and Pentagon attacks, Edward began filming at least one special in which he met with some relatives of the victims, with the intention of "communicating" with those who were killed. The trade magazine Broadcasting & Cable sent a story, "'Psychic' Plans WTC Victims Show", on the daily subscription-fax sent to news media and TV-station executives on 25 October 2001. Steve Rosenberg, president of domestic television for Edwards' production company, Studios USA, had tentatively scheduled the program(s) to air during the November sweeps period, but news of the taping sparked a national outcry. Both Sci Fi and the Crossing Over with John Edward production office were flooded with phone calls and e-mail, some expressing outrage at the exploitation of the national tragedy, others at what they perceived at extreme tastelessness in search of ratings. Rosenberg initially ignored the criticism, insisting the programming would go on scheduled, but within hours terminated plans.<ref>The Washington Post (Oct. 26, 2001): "Medium Crosses The Line: WTC Segment Canned", by Lisa de Moraes</ref> <ref>Skeptical Inquirer (Jan.-Feb. 2002): "John Edward's Televised Tragedy Seance Scrapped", by Benjamin Radford</ref>

[edit] Farscape and cancellation controversy

In September, 2002 the Sci Fi Channel decided to cancel their highly acclaimed series Farscape while the production studio was finishing the 4th season. Many Sci Fi viewers were upset about the sudden cancellation, and mounted a major protest. It caught the attention of the major media such as CNN. Many TV critics felt that the decision to cancel the series was shortsighted. Sci Fi tried to tout Tremors: The Series as a Farscape replacement which failed to work.

In January, 2003 at the TV News Press Tour in Los Angeles where TV networks would be showing off their new mid-season TV shows many TV critics wanted to ask Sci Fi President, Bonnie Hammer, about her decision to cancel Farscape. According to press sources of many nation's TV critics that attended the event, she kept ducking the issue with one critic or another saying she was there to promote the upcoming series Tremors.

When Bonnie Hammer was showing clips of Tremors, one newspaper TV critic asked her about her decision to cancel Farscape. Bonnie Hammer's answer went something like this: "I would be delighted to talk with you after this, however this will be taking up too much time with our Tremors: The Series panel. If you wait after this I will discuss with you in private about Farscape cancellation....".^{[citation needed]} At which point, almost all the TV critics, who on the second day of the tour were already being denied or ignored about their questions/requests on Farscape, screamed almost in unison, "No, we want answers now!".^{[citation needed]}

A visibly shaken Hammer was apparently stunned by the many nation's TV news critics/reviewers action who were not interested in her upcoming Tremors:The Series and only in her decision of Farscape cancellation. Unfortunately, Tremors: The Series failed to catch on and was dropped after only a few months.

[edit] SciFi.com

SciFi.com is the channel's website, launched in 1995 under the name "The Dominion" (which it dropped in 2000, and which was one of the first large-scale, publicly-available, well-advertised, and non-portal based Web sites).<ref>SCIFI.COM - SCIFIPEDIA.</ref> In addition to information on the channel's programming, it covers science fiction in general, primarily through its semi-autonomous Science Fiction Weekly webzine, edited by Scott Edelman, and SciFi Wire newswire.

The site has won a Webby Award and a Flash Forward Award. From 2000 to 2005, it published original science fiction short stories in a section called SciFiction, edited by Ellen Datlow, who won a 2005 Hugo Award for her work there. The stories themselves won a World Fantasy Award; the first Theodore Sturgeon Award for online fiction (for Lucius Shepard's novella "Over Yonder"), and four of the Science Fiction Writers of America's Nebula Awards, including the first for original online fiction (for Linda Nagata's novella "Goddesses").

[edit] Trivia

• As a placeholder for those who were about to receive the Sci Fi channel on cable, a loop of a fly through space in first-person perspective was shown, with a countdown clock in the corner that told viewers exactly when Sci Fi would begin programming. This went on for at least two months before the channel's inception.
• The first broadcast of the Sci Fi Channel on September 24 1992, was an installment of FTL Newsfeed, a fictitious, serialized news program reporting current events from the year 2142. The 30-second episodes would continue to run for the channel's first four years, with new episodes on every weekday. The initial installment reported on the recovery of the original Star Wars movie, which the Sci Fi channel then proceeded to air at 8pm as its first feature-length program. The film was said to have been refurbished and was now able to be viewed "in the privacy of your own head."
• In 1992, there was a block of animated television shows called "Cartoon Quest" which in 1995 was renamed The Animation Station. Among these were Star Wars: Droids, Star Wars: Ewoks, Star Trek: The Animated Series, and Galaxy High, as well as marionette shows like Stingray and Captain Scarlet.
• This channel was the first American basic cable network to air Doctor Who.
• This channel was also the first to air both Star Trek: The Original Series and Star Trek: The Animated Series on cable. It will again air another Star Trek series in 2006 when Star Trek: Enterprise will arrive to cable.<ref>SCI FI Gets "Enterprise", Other Shows. SCIFI.COM (2006-08-03). Retrieved on 2006-08-11.</ref>

[edit] References

[edit] See also

• List of DirecTV channels
• List of Dish Network channels

[edit] External links

• Official Site
• The Sci-Fi Channel at the Internet Movie Database

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