On Wed, 13 Aug 2008 01:58:52 -0400, Sabrina Kilian wrote:

> It's happened before, it'll happen again. How many old radio shows were
> sponsored by certain products, and found creative ways to work those
> into the show? It went away for a while, because people pay for cable,
> but it's come back because there is money to be made there.

Sure, but that doesn't mean I have to *like* it....or watch shows that do 
that, for that matter.

> Geez, Eureka, though . . . I should be surprised about it but I'm not.
> The adverts for it, over the summer, were funny. Until they switched
> from 'buy this product that is actually impossible' to 'buy this actual
> product that we claim is impossible.' I just can't imagine how a top
> secret government facility can explain having such mundane sponsors who
> most likely lack proper clearance.

Actually, they did sorta work it into the story.  That bit could be 
interesting.

> But, it's SciFi channel. They hate funding good shows, and would
> obviously rather throw money away on weekly B movies. As evidence, see
> every show they've only ever shown just one season of, showing Eureka
> out of order, canning FarScape, canceling SG-1 at the episode 200 wrap
> party, and showing last season's Heroes and Lost.

Well, some of those decisions made some sense; SG-1 was partly writer's 
fatigue, partly the cast's fatigue (esp. Michael Shanks, I think), and 
they'd done a lot farther beyond it; my wife and I used to say "remember 
when this show was about the *STAR* *GATE*?" - never a good sign.  
Atlantis isn't bad, but I liked the first seasons of SG-1 best.

Eureka out of order was definitely a problem - I know Colin Ferguson 
wasn't happy about it, because he wrote about that.

BSG is the one show there that I think has done *really* well.

But also don't forget that part of the recent problems with the shows in 
the US in general was the writer's strike.  That's why some things had 
earlier seasons shown this year.

One of the writers for Eureka cited the writer's strike as one reason why 
they needed corporate sponsorship; they had to cut the number of episodes 
down, but still had to pay the cast & crew the contracted wages.  They 
had to do something, but at least that writer does know - and understands 
why - some fans are going to be VERY upset about it.  So at least they're 
aware of it, and I'm hoping they can keep it pretty light (and poke fun 
at themselves for it) and do it just the one season and then get back to 
"business as usual" next season.

Jim

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