There was an article on MSNBC bemoaning the demise of the once smart SciFi Channel. The article mentioned the slate of new ventures coming from the network, which paraphrasing their words sounds like rejects from other networks. It’s a bit of a surprise reading the negative article since SciFi is a part of the NBC entertainment juggernaut just like MSNBC.

What got me to laugh at the article was it assumed SciFi, or as it is known now as SyFy, was a great network station. I know its sacrilege to bring this up but the SciFi Channel was the place where science fiction shows went to die, always has been. There’s nothing wrong with that, because from a nostalgic point of view it was great to see some semi-classic shows like The Night Stalker, The Twilight Zone and Outer Limits. The problem is science fiction, as a television product, only recently has become a hot item and much like comic book inspired movies, saying that science fiction is hot is a matter of taste.

For every original Battlestar: Galactica series you could have five or ten Battlestar: Galactica 1980. The SciFi Channel would churn out such questionable fair such as Buck Rodgers, Land of the Lost and the Powers of Matthew Star. Hey, I’m a nostalgia buff and seeing one of those shows can bring back interesting memories, but to devote days and weeks to shows that had a low following in their heyday, and to show them in the modern light, well, you can see the warts that confirmed why many of those shows were canceled. When the channel was obtained by NBC was when the station really jumped the shark. Tuesday night is wrestling night. Wrestling on a SF station? Well I guess if you stretch it you can make an argument for it, but how do you explain Law and Order: SVU? Believe it or not, as a way of cross promotion the SciFi Channel had episodes of SVU airing just before wrestling a few years ago.

The SciFi Channel got lucky when Battlestar: Galactica was dusted off and given a relevant face. It was daring, bold and it was a ratings success. The cold sobering fact was Galactica was the only thing, well arguably the Dr. Who revival could be put into the mix that was selling the station. None of their scripted shows really could hold a candle to the Galactica ratings and the media attention, and as that fact become clear to the suits, just like any other cable channel they went from expensive scripted shows to reality fare. Even before the infusion of attention after Galactica the SciFi channel was experimenting with reality shows. Can anyone forget the superhero reality show with Stan Lee?

So the article bemoaning the jumping of the shark with SyFy is a few years off, since the jump happened years ago. It was only because of the luck of Galactica that the station hasn’t been an odd curiosity years ago.