What's Up Sci-Fi?

I know, I'm up at 6am, so what of it. I'm fighting a sinus headache, didn't seem likely I'd be sleeping.

So I turn on the box and scroll around the guide. It's Sunday morning so there's a lot of shows from a church and a lot of programming staring Chuck Norris. I check past the networks to the cable channels and something struck me.

A few weeks ago, a member on Penciljack wrote an open letter to the Sci-Fi channel. It was a fun lark and not entirely off mark. Especially when I scrolled through the shows this morning.

Sci-Fi 3-5:30am - Paid Programming
AMC 3-5:30am - Poseidon Adventure

Sci-Fi 5:30-8am - Paid Programming
AMC 5:30-8am - Enemy Mine

Sci-Fi 8am - Dark Seas: Chupacabra
AMC 8am - The Day the Earth Stood still

The rest of the day on Sci-Fi is a reality show marathon called Desination Truth that looks into urban legends and monster myths. Later today Sci-Fi is showing a bunch of made for TV movies like Abominable, Sasquatch Mountain, Reign of the Gargoyles and Pterodactyl.

AMC will play the Matrix. History channel is playing The Right Stuff, which isn't science fiction, but I'd rather watch that then Sasquatch Mountain. We're talking quality people.

This is the reason science fiction and sci-fi get such a bad rap. There's quality programming to be had, but Sci-Fi insists on playing these shit movies and questionable reality shows and...wrestling. For the love of God, wrestling? I know it's a big deal, but it's not Science Fiction. I don't expect to find an engineering show on the Food Network. Let's see the Dune miniseries run a few times. And if you're going to play bad movies, play cult bad movies from the 70's and 80's. Let's see some Flight of the Navigator, Last Starfighter, Tron, even Goonies. Let's see some crappy old sci-fi movies from the 50's and 60's. How about running more old series shows like Sliders or Quantum Leap or even Buck Rogers, old Doctor Who or the Hitchhiker's Guide series?

I know there's licensing involved and you get what you can buy from studios and syndication, but man, Sci-Fi channel is really becoming a trailer park of niche programming. Science Fiction already has it bad, but this channel isn't doing anything to right that. They're spending all their money on Battlestar Galactica so don't expect anything better in the line up until after that show ends later this year. I'm glad they're running Doctor Who, but I have a feeling that'll be dropped. It was in Germany, no reason it won't here. Most people don't know what Doctor Who is. I feel sad for them as they tell me they've never seen a Doctor Who episode but then ask if I've seen the latest Two and a Half Men.

Well, that made my head feel better. Carry on.