Sci Fi top 10 for week ending Nov. 30

[CosmicTheorist]

SHOW HHR
Epoch: Evolution 1.7
Epoch 1.6
Dante's Peak 1.4
Bermuda Triangle 1.3
Waterworld 1.2
Stargate SG-1 1.2
Apollo 13 1.1
Taken, Part 10 1.1
Lake Placid 1.0
Escape From Atlantis 0.9
Source: Nielsen Galaxy Report, 11/24/03 - 11/30/03.

This was Thanksgiving week which meant a holiday movie marathon for Skiffy, ie no Friday Tremors or SG1 or Scare Tactics. Most of these movies were on Saturday and Sunday; Apollo 13 was on Friday and Lake Placid was on Thursday. This was the highest number for Taken since Part 1.

;)

[Scaper989]

I wasn't aware any of these were on. With a little advertising,
they might have brought those numbers up. Of course, since
they spent their entire year's advertising budget on Battlestar
(a mini they don't plan to make into a series), there's nothing
left.

Sometimes I wonder how they develop their strategy. Magic 8-
ball?

[Digger]

Originally posted by Scaper989
I wasn't aware any of these were on. With a little advertising,
they might have brought those numbers up. Of course, since
they spent their entire year's advertising budget on Battlestar
(a mini they don't plan to make into a series), there's nothing
left.

Sometimes I wonder how they develop their strategy. Magic 8-
ball?

Actually, rumors are starting to circulate (at SyFy Portal for example) that a BSG series has or will be greenlit by skiffy. I think I heard that they only have until the end of 2003 to make that decision because there was a clause in most of the actors' contracts that kept them on "hold" and obligate to do a series only until the end of the year.

[Scaper989]

But Digger, that would be the SMART thing to do!

I think I've figured out who's running their programming
strategy.

Step 1 ?
Step 2 Attract a lot of viewers with a special event
Step 3 get rich

Sound familiar? It's the Underpants Gnomes! (from SouthPark)

By the way, step 1 is to develop a stable of original, quality
science fiction programs. By my count, they have exactly one
hour/week (not counting reruns). In all seriousness, I hope
they do develop a Battlestar series. In spite of the horrible
changes for Starbuck, that would give them two hours/week.
I still ain't watching, but when NBC officially takes over, I
have hope skiffy will focus more on science fiction again.

[MediaSavant]

I think it comes down to "cost". If an original show costs twice as much to produce, but gets the same rating as an acquired movie, it's not going to pay-out and will get canceled.

From what I can tell, original scripted shows on SciFi have to maintain ratings in the "mid 1" level to pay out. If they drop to "low 1's", they are in trouble. Every scripted show SciFi ever canceled was getting low 1's or below.

Unscripted shows like Scare Tactics and John Edward are a different story. They cost less, so the pressure to have higher ratings to pay for themselves is different.

Unfortunately, it's not just about quality. It's about accounting.

TNT has been surviving for several years now with a movie and rerun strategy. Their key show "Law & Order" gets huge ratings. It pays out.

Special events like BSG are sold to advertisers against higher ratings guarantees and at a higher cost per spot. That's why they get the advertising budgets to make sure that the ratings are there. The Thanksgiving weekend stuff probably was sold at ordinary rates.

[Ammit]

Originally posted by MediaSavant
Special events like BSG are sold to advertisers against higher ratings guarantees and at a higher cost per spot. That's why they get the advertising budgets to make sure that the ratings are there. The Thanksgiving weekend stuff probably was sold at ordinary rates.

So, if they sold Show X at a higher ratings guarantee, they'd charge more, ergo get a higher advertising budget, to advertise more, which would raise the ratings? Or does the chicken have to come first?

[Scaper989]

It seems like every other press release I read from Bonnie she's
talking about growth. That's normal, most businesses want to
grow. skiffy has a couple of events every year to attract new
viewers - and it works! Sort of. They do get substantially greater
raitings for these events. The problem is, the new viewers don't
stick around. There's nothing to KEEP them after the event is
over.

Sure TNT does movies, but they're movies that have already
been a success at the box office. skiffy shows crappy monster-
of-the-week movies. They're cheap, but nothing to highlight in
your TV Guide or program your VCR/Tivo for. Just something to
watch if there's nothing else on (and you're really drunk). If
they want better raitings, they have to spend the bucks.
Smaller proffit margin, but more revenue and HIGHER RAITINGS.

Someone posted an article here recently that mentioned "tier 1"
and "second tier" cable networks. If skiffy wants to be a tier 1
network, they need to seriously re-tool. It'll cost them some
bucks to develop, but it will be worth it in the long run to become
a tier 1 network, not to mention gaining some self respect.
If you keep doing what you've been doing, you'll keep getting
what you've been getting.

Would they be happy to keep most of the new viewers they
attract from a mini series event? Then they need a better plan, and they've got to commit a year to make it work. Be willing to
ask NBC for some bucks, be willing to go into the red for a year.
Invest in themselves. In just a year they could be a tier 1. Here's
how:

1) Develop 8 new scripted series. That would give them 3 nights
of original programming (figuring on 3 hours/night, and counting
on Stargate). Say Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. Yep, that's
expensive. In fact they'd probably need to try 12 new series to
find 8 keepers. Alternately, run 2 hours/night of original scripted
series, and "rebroadcast" them right after giving them 4
hours/night. That's only 6 new shows. Develop 10 and cull 4.

2) Buy the rights to some highly successful movies like
BladeRunner, the Batman series, The Matrix trillogy, etc. for
Saturday and Sunday nights, but hold these until RIGHT AFTER
the next "event".

3) Reruns Monday and Tuesday nights. Stargate seems to be
working well enough in this, but they need another. Perhaps
Farscape? Invisable Man? Chronicle?

4) Now their next event they can promote their original series
(not coming in four months from the event, but ALREADY ON).
They can promote SUCCESSFUL, blockbuster movies they have
lined up for THAT weekend.

Oh yeah, get rid of the underpants gnomes.