Whilst I've left this blog to the wasteland for quite a while now, I did always use to gush a little about the TV series I happened to be watching. Two of the most promising of those were Stargate Universe and Caprica.
As of a few days ago, both of those have been canceled.
Now with Caprica, this was to be expected. A prequel to the award-winning Battlestar Galactica, the show had an awkward start. Eventually it began to establish itself as a story that was going to push the boundaries of television Sci-Fi. It took faith, the afterlife, dependence on technology, terrorism, and stuck them all into a boiling pot.
It was fucked.
Honestly, it's a great shame to see it canceled. Caprica was an intelligent show and it could have been a game changer. What's worse is the wonderful SyFy (vomit) channel decided not even to broadcast the rest of the series, replacing it with Star Trek: The Next Generation re-runs. Canada stepped in and saved the day, continuing with the series until its end, giving it a small measure of closure. I've seen it, and if you were watching Caprica and are wondering whether it's worth it, or even just really enjoyed Battlestar Galactica, I'd give it a shot. If anything, it'll be unlike anything else you've ever seen.
Anyway, that was a while ago. On Friday (I believe. Not sure about the time difference...) SyFy announced that they were also going to cancel Stargate Universe. Now, this was a troubled show that had just found its feet. The rest of its second series will be shown, but after that the Stargate franchise comes to an end. That's quite a big deal. The franchise has covered three films and seventeen(!!) TV series. That indeed, is a pretty good run.
But there are a few things that make me angry. Firstly, the announcement itself was done through twitter. Executives apparently decided it wasn't even worth the courtesy of giving the cast and crew advanced warning on this. Very classy.
Secondly, that's it for big budget Sci-Fi shows... on America's SCI-FI channel! (Sorry, SyFy) Coming up to replace these are an American remake of the British Being Human and another Battlestar prequel, basically showing Admiral Adama fighting in the first cylon war. Hmm. Of course we'll judge these when they actually come out, but it's a worrying practice. These two shows didn't do great in the ratings, but the problem is that if a show isn't an instant hit, the network seems to remove all support. Executives are looking for the next LOST or Heroes. Most of the best television shows of the past years needed time to nurture, get a roll going. The lesson now is to not get invested in any American show - it might not be around for long.
Ah well, we can hope that the Stargate franchise will be given a chance to wrap up its loose ends. Until then, everything is peachy this side of the pond. The Dirk Gently pilot was on BBC4 on Thursday, and is still on the iplayer. Go have a look now, it's rather brilliant. And come Christmas Day, we get Doctor Who! It's not all doom and gloom.
Tell you what though, they cancel that and I'll give up on television.
