Sci Fi pulls Tremors (1 Viewer)

[Mikel_Cooperman]

For anyone who is a Farscape fan, this is good news. They gambled and lost with this horrible show.



Thursday, May 1, 2003 - 4:58 PM
Sci Fi Pulls 'Tremors,' 'Cleopatra'
By Brian Ford Sullivan


CHICAGO (thefutoncritic.com) -- Sci Fi's hot streak could be coming to an end as the cable channel announced today it has pulled its original drama "Tremors: The Series" and repeats of former syndicated series "Cleopatra 2525" from its Friday schedule. Encores from "Stargate SG-1's" sixth season will take over both hours (8:00/7:00c and 9:00/8:00c) beginning this week. Fellow Friday series "Scare Tactics" however will continue to run fresh installments at 10:00/9:00c.

No reason was given for the move however based on "Tremors'" 35% drop in audience between its first and second weeks, low ratings are likely the culprit. Such news could mean the end of Sci Fi's 11-month streak of building on year-to-year averages, the longest by any network, broadcast or cable. Final numbers for April however will not be available for several weeks.

Currently, "Tremors" is set to return on Friday, June 20 at 8:00/7:00c for the remainder of its 13 episode order. The drama will undoubtedly be helped by the return of "Stargate SG-1" to the schedule when its two-hour seventh season premiere hits June 13 at 9:00/8:00c.

As for "Cleopatra 2525," no return date has been set.

 

[Patrick_S]

Why exactly is this good news for Farscape? Is there talk that they will bring it back for an additional season since Tremors is doing so poorly?

 

[Jason Seaver]

I guess Mikel might figure that not ordering a second season of Tremors would free money up to be spent on Farscape. I doubt there's much linkage between the shows in Sci-Fi's plans, though.

Or it might just be spite. Which is just sad, because the guys making Tremors didn't have anything to do with Farscape being cancelled. Tremors has really exceeded expectations, for me at least. Hopefully re-launching it with Stargate as a lead-in - which, IIRC, was the original plan; it wound up pushed to March to improve the effects.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

For anyone who is a Farscape fan, this is good news.

And for everyone else, it's horrible news. All these numbers mean to Scifi is that reality crap is an easier grab than scripted television. It's a scary prospect indeed.

 

[Dan Rudolph]

Crap, I just found out about this show. And I didn't realize they were showing Cleopatra 2525 until I read it here.

 

[Jeff Kleist]

Was Tremors shown last night or was it yanked as of yesterday?

Damnit, it really was much better than expected, I hope that SG-1 can build the audience back up.

 

[SpenceJT]

This doesn't surprise me one bit. SCI-FI channel pulled the same scheduling crap with Farscape (as well as StarGate and probably other shows).

By pulling it off of the schedule, even temporarily, it is giving viewers the chance to find alternative shows to watch. They also don't make much of a point in marketing the shows, to explain that a given show will return in "x" weeks.

On the other hand, they may be working at counter programming. Given the number of season finales running on other networks over the May Sweeps period, perhaps it is safer for them to throw up re-runs until a time that they can re-capture a larger share of viewers.

Either way, the method in which SCI-FI channel is pulling and shuffling confuses those who tune in regularly.

As for Scare Tactics, I give it one season tops. They can only have so many scenarios, and the stock group of actors is in too tight of a rotation. After a time, any potential victim who has seen the show would easily recognize the older guy that is in nearly every show.

Scare Tactics will soon have gone the way of that stupid dream analysis show.

This is all pretty typical of a channel with a desperate programming department.

 

[Jordan_E]

Man, I can't take more Stargate! And Scare Tactics already fell off my schedule, rather watch reruns of Seinfeld at that time. Not saying Tremors was great, but better (at least to me) than the somewhat cheesy Stargate SG-1. Don't flame me too much, Stargate fans, I just never could get into that series.

 

[Jason Seaver]

Was Tremors shown last night or was it yanked as of yesterday?

Yanked. Or, at least, the 11pm one was (got a Stargate SG-1 rerun).

It's still kind of surprising, though - the show's premiere was Sci-Fi's highest-rated premiere for a weekly series ever, and since Universal owns the show outright, they've got good reason to try and make a go of it. I did find it kind of odd that Sci-Fi has been running original programming straight through both February and May sweeps, though - before, they've always given those months a pass, since cable stations aren't as dependant on advertising money as broadcast networks and aren't as interested in local ratings.

 

[CaptDS9E]

Isnt all sci-fi somewhat cheesy?

capt

 

[Jason Seaver]

Isnt all sci-fi somewhat cheesy?

No more than all westerns, all mysteries, all mob stories, all generational epics, all relationship dramas...

It's a genre. You can do good and bad things with it. It's just unfortunate that there's been very little filmed science fiction that comes close to meeting its potential.

 

[TheLongshot]

For anyone who is a Farscape fan, this is good news.

Not really, since this doesn't get Farscape back on the screen, which is what most Farscape fans would want.

Course, I don't understand this behavior by Sci-Fi. Pull it for what? They can't fill out a schedule right now anyways. Just run the darn thing and build an audience. Give me a reason why I should trust Sci-Fi to actually buy into a TV show again? It is this type of behavior that causes me to not watch Sci-Fi anymore.

Jason

 

[Jason Seaver]

Give me a reason why I should trust Sci-Fi to actually buy into a TV show again?

I don't see where "trust" enters into it. Most of the time, you can only get a show from one place, so if Tremors looks interesting, you get it from Sci-Fi and hope for the best.

And, what you say about Sci-Fi can go for any TV station/network. They have all, at one point or another, rescinded an order or cancelled a show early.

 

[Matt Hamand]

This is not unusual for the Sci-Fi Channel. They often stop running new episodes during the Sweeps months. With the broadcast networks pulling out the big guns for Sweeps there's going to be even less audience for the cable nets than usual.

They did this with with Farscape every year I think. Then they ran new episodes all summer until the broadcast networks started up with new episodes in the fall.

This is not good news for Farscape fans. There is not much in the way of good news for Farscape fans now that most of the sets have been destroyed and the actors are getting new work.

Matt

 

[Mikel_Cooperman]

What I meant is that Sci Fi cancelled Farscape and put this crap on thinking they could just plug in another show and get Higher ratings.
They gambled and lost.

Farscape was a great show in comparison and had a loyal audience and they trashed it so know it doesnt bring it back (yet) but I think it prooves a point to them.

 

[Andres Munoz]

I liked this show! I was starting to really get into it and now Sci-Fi pulls this crap!

Let's hope it does better with Stargate as a lead-in.

 

[Jason Seaver]

but I think it prooves a point to them.

Unfortunately, that point may be "there's no profit in original series", at least compared to mini-series, cheap unscripted programs, and X-Files reruns.

 

[Matt Hamand]

Jason Seaver touched on most of the points I would have made about the cancellation of Farscape. I would also add that the ratings for Farscape had plateaued which was just one more nail in the coffin.

I would also like to second Jason's somewhat depressing last comment that the failure of original series may mean that they think that there's no profit in them. Viewers may believe that Tremors failed (if it does end up failing) because it sucked, but executives at Vivendi may not be so insightfull.

Matt . . . was a big Farscape fan. Check out my poor attepmts at Lego representations of John's module and Aeryn's Prowler.

http://brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?f=5050
http://brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?f=5049

 

[Michael St. Clair]

I don't think Bonnie Hammer is a 'big meanie'. And I understand financial issues behind Farscape's cancellation, but the network explicity promised us a season 5 before season 4 even started.

Don't make commitments if you aren't sure you can live up to them. It is bad business in general, and terrible marketing in particular.

Now, who here can honestly tell me that the current Sci-Fi lineup is stronger (for Sci-Fi fans) than it was 2-3 years ago?

Hey, it's just business. I'm a capitalist. I can understand that. But the network has jumped the shark as far as I am concerned. It has an identity crisis, and I'd love to see a competing network launch. That just might happen.

Would that 'save Farscape'? I doubt it. But given their current direction, I'm certainly not going to root for them to succeed. I have little interest in a network based on Stargate, a couple of miniseries each year, and bad reality programming. And I won't watch open-ended episodic shows on their network because their commitment level to at least giving the fans a decent resolution is one of the worst in the industry (as far as episodic genre shows go).

I'll watch Galactica. It's a miniseries, and it's not like the original. (evil grin)

 

[Jason Seaver]

because their commitment level to at least giving the fans a decent resolution is one of the worst in the industry (as far as episodic genre shows go).

Whose is better? It's not like any of the major networks go out of their way to make sure that there's closure - it pretty much seems to be considered the job of the production companies.