The Inquisitr » tv

An Open Letter to the SyFy Network

Kyle Brady — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 07:00:44 +0000

Not many people will publicly admit this, but I will: there’s a soft spot in my heart for the SyFy Network (formerly “SciFi”), and always has been. But just because I’m sympathetic to the cause doesn’t mean I unilaterally support your decisions, which is why this is being written.

Over the years, you’ve produced alot of great content that’s sadly balanced by a similar amount of trash: Stargate: SG-1 vs. Eureka, Battlestar Galactica vs. Scare Tactics, Warehouse 13 vs. all non-Stargate “original movies”. There are a few mini-series that managed to be decent, but your best content has always been TV shows – not movies, not mini-series.

The main problem lies in potentially good ideas that lack sufficient funding – “Android Apocalypse”, a movie based on a Terminator-like premise, with poor acting, shoddy special effects, and lackluster camera work. But this is not limited to your movies alone; the first season of Stargate: Atlantis, especially the first few episodes, suffered the same fate.

In the Hollywood world, larger budgets generally equate to a better overall product, something you should have realized over the course of your sixteen year history. While this isn’t always true (*cough* NBC *cough*), it does bring more talented actors, more believable special effects, and higher quality camera work – all essential pieces to a successful science fiction release.

You do occasionally get it right though: Battlestar Galactica was all-around amazing from the start, and its already-significant financing obviously increased as the show progressed to its natural conclusion this past Spring. Stargate: Universe looks to be a mix of the different Stargate styles (SG-1 vs. Atlantis) and BSG, with enough money to do it properly – I’m waiting with bated, but excited, breath.

Maybe you should focus on what you’re good at, and ignore the rest: produce quality science fiction television, ignore reality shows, and release only a fraction of the “original movies” you currently do. If you follow this simple equation, you’ll have enough money to fund what people actually want to watch, rather than attracting small, loyal audiences. This flies in the face of the recent name change, something else I can’t agree with, since you seem to be intent on producing more fantasy (read: medieval magic) and paranormal (read: vampires) content, but you should consider it all the same.

Hopefully your dedication to the Stargate, BSG, and other worlds will continue: their shelf-life shouldn’t be dragged out further than necessary, but rather reinvigorated with new chapters in the continuing saga. Just stick with what works, ignore what doesn’t, and keep an eye out for ways to expand your audience without ruining your already precarious reputation – the TV adaptation of Terry Goodkind’s “The Sword of Truth” series would have been perfect for your network, and may have actually been worth watching, as opposed to its current incarnation.

If you learn anything in your new incarnation and quest for ratings, it should be this: a large audience is not necessarily a great audience. Don’t let Battlestar Galactica be the pinnacle of your success, because scifi nerds worldwide are secretly rooting for you.

Sincerely,

Kyle Brady, sympathetic to the cause

p.s. I actually liked “Cube 2: Hypercube”.

Kyle Brady is a contributing columnist for the Inquisitr, an entrepreneur, and has a future in science fiction. He can be found at his blog, via email, or on Twitter.Until then, he can be found at his blog.

The Triumphant Return of Sarah Connor

Kyle Brady — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 05:00:14 +0000

the following is reposted with permission from “Kyle Brady: A Blog”

…maybe.

Potentially legitimate rumors have surfaced that Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles will be returning to television, presumably with cries of joy from around the world, starting with a direct-to-DVD release prior to the next chapter in the Terminator movie saga, and a TV show potentially following – all starting some time in 2010 or 2011. The network sponsoring the direct-to-DVD process isn’t clear, although the WB was mentioned several times, not to mention the total silence on whether the TV show would appear on FOX. Either way, it seems that the important people in this dance listened to both the praise and wails of fans.

This news, if true, could prove to be a gamechanger for the future of television – TV networks that actually produce intelligent, thought-provoking, and deep shows that fans want, even if they don’t achieve the hyper-success of idiotic nonsense like American Idol. If the WB is the network for the future of Sarah Connor and her band of rebels, which includes one humanoid robot, FOX will be highly embarrassed should the show do well, but if FOX somehow manages to hold on to the baby they threw out the window, they will still have dirt on their face at the end of the day, and be subject to the emotionality of a rabid fanbase.

Even if the show continues thematically mostly on its own, despite rumors of being intertwined with the upcoming movies, TV as a whole will be all the better for it, and so will the Terminatorverse – Terminator: Salvation was a good action movie, and a halfway decent Terminator film, but it fell flat on the expectations of a smart and highly complex film that many hoped would have more in common with TTSCC than T3. The cast itself is critical component of the show’s brilliance: Lena Headey is a much better Sarah than Linda Hamilton ever was, and Thomas Dekker has evolved from a whiny “emo” teenager into a very believable and intensely brilliant John – not to mention the characters played by Summer Glau, Brian Austin Greene, Richard T. Jones, and Garret Dillahunt that make a beautiful small-screen ensemble and help set the tone of the show.

Regardless of the acting prowess of Christian Bale, the simple fact is that barring an extreme change of pace and tone in the upcoming T5 movie, the Terminatorverse is likely to have a longer, smarter, and better future on television. All of that changes if the network behind the TTSCC decides to place demands on the writers, restrict the show’s budget, or act in other stereotypically ignorant behavior that is so often seen at FOX. However, if the show returns in “same or better” form than when it was canceled, fans will flock in droves to any network that cares to finance the triumphant return of Sarah Connor.

— — —

Update (8/15/2009 11:15am PST): Another source confirms this, unrelated to the original.

Kyle Brady is a contributing columnist for the Inquisitr, an entrepreneur, and has a future in science fiction. He can be found at his blog, via email, or on Twitter.

WiiMote Meet The Remotion. Controlling Your TV Has Never Been More Tiring

James Allen Johnson — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 18:57:34 +0000

After the success of the Nintento Wii and it’s ultra popular WiiMote gaming controller we knew it was only a matter of time before other companies jumped on the motion controlled bandwagon.

While only a concept, the Remotion TV remote from Ryan Sorrell promises to deliver TV surfing like never before. According to recently announced plans the device can surf channels by flipping the remote from left to right and right to left, while also adjusting the TV’s volume by shaking the controller in up and down motions.

We don’t know if the gadget will ever come to market, either way it proves the far reaching effect the Wii is having on everyday objects. [thanks to SlipperyBrick]

Hulu for PS3: Denied

Kim LaCapria — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 14:59:12 +0000

“Unfortunately, this video is not available on your platform. We apologize for any inconvenience.” Burn.

Sometime this weekend, Playstation 3 owners began reporting inability to access Hulu through the device, and receiving the above message. Hulu was kind of all huhwha? about the whole thing, but Engadget reports that Hulu terms of service were updated on June 26th. While it was initially speculated the issues could be connected to a recent firmware update, altering a browser’s user-string that way indicates the PS3 was specifically blocked by Hulu.

But why, Hulu? Why you gotta be like that?

Way back in March, Hulu blocked the hell out of Boxee, citing consumer convenience bitching content providers. Since then, it’s been an on/off thing, spawning this Twitter feed:

While Hulu can’t bite the content-providing hand that feeds it, it’s extremely counterintuitive to provide such a service just to add arbitrary blocks making it inconvenient to use. And as Hulu hasn’t given a reason for the new lockdown, we can only speculate as to why the PS3 was selected for this round of “no content for you!”

IT World presents two theories on the matter. Theory #1- quit bringing the content to your TVs, damnit! If you’re gonna watch Hulu, it’s gonna be on your smudgy little laptop screen or not at all! (Because no one can hook computers up to TVs, that’s just crazytalk?) Theory #2- Hulu’s coming to the XBox 360, and Microsoft paid Hulu to cut off competition.

Whatever the reason is behind this latest round of early-adopter jerking-around, it’s just another example of short-sightedness regarding a changing marketplace. The same consumers that use services like Hulu are likely the ones who are already aware of how to implement a work around, like PlayOn. So they’re not really stopping anything, just pissing everyone off.

Sweet: YouTube coming to your TV!

Kim LaCapria — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 21:20:40 +0000

In a small gathering of press this morning, YouTube unveiled YouTube XL- a new service that brings your favorite cat falling off stuff and shoddy folk cover videos straight to your TV!

While online computer-to-tv streaming services and Hulu and Boxee offer content optimized for TV, YouTube videos often didn’t even really do well in monitor full-screen mode. But YouTube XL changes that, optimizing content for viewing even on huge-screen TVs.

Although YouTube XL lacks some features of regular YouTube, (most notably the comments, yay!) YouTube XL supports playlists, HD video and even has an application called Gmote for Android phones. (Where’s the iPhone love at, YouTube?) And unlike Hulu Desktop, which needs a computer to rock and roll, you can use YouTube XL on devices with a browser such as the Wii, XBox and PS3- making the interface friendly for a larger group of users.

Wanna take it for a spin? Go on!

TV viewing and Internet use go hand in hand

Dominic Rivera — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 22:25:17 +0000

The Nielsen Company’s new TV/Internet Convergence Panel, which electronically measures both television and Internet usage in the same homes, has found that television viewing and online video streaming are complementary activities.

According to the convergence panel, the heaviest users of the Internet are also among the heaviest viewers of television: the top fifth of Internet users spend more than 250 minutes per day watching television, compared to 220 minutes of television viewing by people who do not use the Internet at all.

Nielsen found that the reverse is true as well– the lowest consumers of television have the lowest usage levels for the Internet.

Nielsen also found that nearly 31 percent of in-home Internet activity takes place while the user is watching television, demonstrating that there is a significant amount of simultaneous Internet and television usage. Conversely, about 4 percent of television viewing occurs when the consumer is also using the Internet.

Now In understand why my daughter and son are not shutting off their computers even when watching TV… including me.

Intel & Yahoo Team Up for “TV Widget” System

JR — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 18:08:16 +0000

Intel and Yahoo have just announced plans to create an interactive, Internet-based widget system for the TV.

The Widget Channel will use Intel’s new Media Processor CE 3100 along with Yahoo’s Widget Engine to bring Web content to a television platform. The technology will essentially deliver a degree of Web 2.0-type service to the TV, letting you interact with content and share information with friends. It’ll also offer news headlines, photo access, and video-on-demand-style services.

Much of the content will be powered by established Internet services, including Flickr, Yahoo Sports, Yahoo Finance, eBay, and Blockbuster. A slew of other companies is working on new widgets, too — everyone from CBS Interactive to Disney, MTV, Samsung, and even Twitter.

Here’s the other interesting part: The whole platform is designed on open standards, so smaller developers will be able to get in on the action as well. Javascript, XML, HTML, and Adobe Flash will all be supported. As of now, the SDK is still in its early stages and is only being released on a limited basis.

Intel

Yahoo