Pre-Cancellation Bonnie News in New Light

[TenDeuChen]

Even though this is an old article...it sheds some light on why Ms. Hammer should not be running sci-fi...

The full article is here:
http://www.adage.com/news.cms?newsId=35515

but I think the most important paragraphs are these:


"You have to continually re-evaluate three things: Who is, was and can be your audience," Ms. Hammer answered. "We have fans out there like you, whom we admire and serve. But I know we need to serve people who aren't geeks -- the huge audience who say they don't like sci-fi but loved Sixth Sense; who don't see a connective tissue between science fiction and their lives but
who loved The Matrix. We are always asking: How do we get ourselves out of doing only space opera -- without giving up on space opera?"


Over lunch, Ms. Hammer sketched out an answer to the balance question, emphasizing teamwork, research and creativity. A child of the late '50s, early '60s, she never considered herself a fan of science fiction. But when contemplating the Sci-Fi Channel job in early 2001, she realized she'd read Heinlein and Hesse in high school, and had been moved by the "hopeful, future-looking world beyond what you know."

she also goes on to say:

"I know TiVo is out there because I talk to people who've seen our shows, yet I know the numbers aren't showing up in our ratings."

[waltersgirl]

that's pretty funny, her not considering herself a fan of scifi, because that contradicts other interviews, one recent, where she said the exact opposite.

[TenDeuChen]

hmm... waltersgirl...that's funny, considering this article is from July 22, 2002...

but, where there's bonnie, there's a con...[nie]?

okay, that was really bad...anyway...

[shaith]

She really, really needs to go into politics. She's got this lying business and the spin doctoring that goes with it down.

[Dominar of Action]

Name one other network president who flat out calls their existing viewerbase a derogatory name. This is really insulting...
"We have fans out there like you, whom we admire and serve. But I know we need to serve people who aren't geeks [like you].... We are always asking: How do we get ourselves out of doing only space opera -- without giving up on space opera?" Jumpin' jehozaphat! The answer is, you don't! :headbang: Sci Fi is a #@%& niche network! You don't "get out of doing only space opera" unless you no longer want to be a niche network. Decide woman.

You don't change the product--you change the public's impression of that product. For example, by a long-term generic "I am Sci Fi" campaign directed at the general public, not at the current viewers of your own @#%*@ network!

Sheesh.

[StephX]

Is she smoking crack?! :finger:
How is insulting the scifi fan base going to help the SCIFI channel? Is she trying to run the channel like a high school - only wanting the "cool" kids (like football players and cheerleaders) to watch?

What the frell?! :eek:

[AnnieBW]

Bonnie read Heinlein in high school? How did she ever get past the big words? :D I guess she was reading his Young Adult fiction, and not taking on the heavy hitters like SISL and The Cat Who Could Walk Through Walls.

- Annie, who read "Dune" in high school - for fun!

[jadeshand]

Isn't Stranger in a Strange Land required reading in high school? That probably where Bonnie ran into it.

Anyone want to bet a nickel to a fried donut that Bonnie was a cheerleader in high school? Thus, the total and complete disdain for 'geeks' and 'sci-fi freaks'. You can almost feel that attitude in her interviews.

[Xothas]

This woman just makes me sick....I'm so upset with skiffy right now, I don't know what to do with myself.

1) The cancellation of Farscape was a well designed plan, and was clearly in the works from the beginning. I cite the following support:
a) The new programming "team" began early trying to frell
with the serie's artistic vision
b) The lack of advertising, the moving around in timeslots,
in general, the incompetent handling of show promotion
by skiffy
c) The attempts to get DK to renegotiate pricings, etc...
where this type of attempt at the levels skiffy was
suggesting are unheard of.
d) The lack of response from skiffy re: Farscape, and the
burying of the show in a midnight and 5 am timeslots
(not making it easy to gain new viewers, are they?)
e) The pattern of systematic cancellation by the idiot skiffy
staff of unique shows that were excellant
representations of the genre
f) Lastly, the comments made by skiffy execs. are quite
revealing

2) Does anyone know who proposed a 2.0 rating in order to save the show? If it was skiffy, that type of goal was completely unresonable as such a rating is practically unheard of for cable shows in general. You can't compare ratings for Skiffy with those of networks like NBC, CBS, and ABC....talk to anyone who buys TV time, and if they really know what they are doing, they will tell you as much.

I for one, will be spending much more time focusing on other networks. A good start is the thread "Courting Viacom". I think perhaps what we need now is to rally other science fiction fans (Like Lexx, Invisible Man, Battlestar Galactica; as suggested by Jadehand's thread) together to develop an concerted strategy to support the genre in general, while making it clear that we want our shows back.

Sorry to rant, but I just feel that skiffy has adopted the policy that sci-fi fans don't matter, and should just frell off. I don't like what they have done to my favorite show of all time, and I don't like what they are doing to science fiction in general. Let's face it, science fiction isn't for everyone - it never has been. It has always been a unique artistic vision, attracting intellegent viewers who don't mind taking the time to consider what is being presented to them, especially regarding obtaining understanding and appreciation of the complex storylines (albeit some shows have been simplistic and have stayed true to the genre).

I don't want dumbed-down shows. The comments regarding "make it more like South Park" is the stuff of nightmares. What skiffy is doing, their systematic erradication of true science fiction, and the replacement of quality shows with crap that reeks of stupidity and stale reality shows, is a total insult to us. Oh, and by the way Bonnie, I don't mind being called a geek....it's nice to know that you are at least intelligent enough to realize the limitations of your own mental capabilities.

Ok, I've gone on enough, and gotten it off my chest. All that's left to say is that skiffy should rename their network "Another crap cable channel #1579", and get it over with. At least that would be the truth.

[Veauger]

Originally posted by shaith
She really, really needs to go into politics. She's got this lying business and the spin doctoring that goes with it down.

I disagree. If she had it down, we wouldn't know she did. :)

[AnnieBW]

Geeze, I WISH SISL had been required reading in my high school! We didn't even get it in my Honors English classes. I guess people had problems with their little darlings learning about sex in hot tubs. ;) (Yes, I know that SISL was much more than that. But people tend to narrowly focus on the parts that offend their morality.)

[blue]

Xothas-Getting a 2 rating was suggested by DK, not SciFi.
And while I agree that MJ seems to be an idiot who didn't "get" Farscape (wonder if he even watched more than the one episode he said was crap), I don't think Southpark is crap at all. It is brilliant satire, and it is on the comedy network, where it belongs. (It is inappropriate to want Farscape to be more like it--it is not right to mess with the creative vision of Farscape at all--but why attack an amazing show of a totally different genre just because MJ had a stupid idea for meddling with Farscape?)

[farscapefan4eva]

lordy (yes blastphomy im not religious!) what the hell is she on? She doeasnt like sci-fi yet she works for a sci-fi channel, what crazy logic is that woman working on. Give your head a shake misses cos dissing viewers by calling us geeks (okay im a geek and proud to be!) is really a good way to alianate your entire viewers and people who pay good money to subscribe to your chanel. (would mutter americans at this point but then i realised that she is only one person and american folks are really very great peaple!)

[Xothas]

Blue- I agree. I like Southpark, and didn't mean to imply that it was crap....rather that mixing Southpark with Farscape would be crap....LOL

Additionally, thanks for the info. regarding DK suggesting 2.0; I wonder if that is a number that popped up during negotiations with skiffy, or his own invention. If purely his suggestion, I'm shocked.....it's frelling hard, I mean really really frelling hard to get that on a cable network....

[StephX]

Maybe we all aught to send a picture of the Southpark kids (inclucing kenny lol) with the caption, "You kill Farscape!!! You BASTARDS!!"

:finger:

[Dominar of Action]

Xothas-Getting a 2 rating was suggested by DK, not SciFi.Yes, but I believe it was in response to requirements set forth by Sci Fi. They wanted a 2.0 and Ben said, "then let's give them their 2.0!" and thus, a campaign was born :)

Wouldn't it be cool to get that 2.0 ... but for the repeats! :cool:

[Xothas]

Somebody needs to get a contact at Nielson! LOL

Just to fantasize a moment; if we only knew who were set up with them, we could convince, argue, and wine and dine to the point of conversion!

[Kerlin]

Except then the ratings would be tossed out the window because of tampering. Nielsen is extremely strict about that.

I think the 2.0 was simply the number which would stun the networks enough to renew Farscape almost immediately. The ratings recently haven't been bad. They've been almost exactly the same as previous seasons, and that is almost entirely *our* promotion.

And yeah, Bonnie needs to be fired in the worst way. Woman hasn't got a clue.

[uisceboo]

Women like Bonnie Hammer are the reason the glass ceiling still exists.

[jadeshand]

The 2.0 came about because Stargate SG-1 had just received one and the Sci-Fi Channel was raving about it, saying it had raised the bar for all their series. That's why DK and Ben said it was the benchmark we had to shoot for.

[CosmicTheorist]

And refocus all that aggression on Michael, he is the NEW GUY in the Skiffy equation. Bonnie Hammer has been in charge of Skiffy's programming since 1998. Farscape was put on Skiffy BECAUSE of Bonnie. Michael Jackson was brought in as the president and CEO of USA Entertainment in November of 2001. He has been Bonnie's boss since that time. Any public statements she makes CANNOT contradict or embarass Jackson, or previously Diller. I would not be surprised to learn that some of her more imflammatory statements are direct quotes from those two.

There is no reason to believe she EVER had it IN for Farscape. Farscape happened because she let it happen. We know from the chat back in September that DK DOES NOT blame Bonnie. We know from the SFX article that DK DOES blame the new team (unnamed) that came in and didn't get Farscape and he blamed politics at Skiffy. We also know that in the middle of all the politics at Skiffy (ie tension between the old Skiffy hands and the new guys?) Vivendi was careening towards bankruptcy. Vivendi's money problems combined with Skiffy politics to kill Farscape. But there is no evidence that Bonnie did the deed or supported it. And Juliet Blake's BBC interview sort of pointed to Michael Jackson; he's the only one mentioned by name. And he is the NEW GUY.

This is a link to Vivendi Universal Entertainment's executive bios. You can read all about Barry, Michael and Bonnie:

http://www.universalstudios.com/homepage/html/about_us/

Use this link in Internet Explorer; it doesn't seem to work for my Netscape. Then click on the Executive Bios link in the menu. That's where you'll find them.

Bonnie has been working in science fiction television programming since 1989. Me thinks the lady doth protest too much about not being a science fiction fan, like a lot of women who are secretly fans. It's very much like the way some women of her (and my) generation hid their interests in math and science so they could "remain attractive to men". Sad but true.

;)

[Quaisior]

Originally posted by TenDeuChen
But I know we need to serve people who aren't geeks -- the huge audience who say they don't like sci-fi but loved Sixth Sense;

I see now that this line is a favorite of hers. And I can't help but feel offended by her geeks comment. Yeah, I embrace my geekiness, but when a non-SF fan calls me that, it's derogatory!


"I know TiVo is out there because I talk to people who've seen our shows, yet I know the numbers aren't showing up in our ratings."

Looks like someone needs to learn how TV ratings work! If you don't have the little black box or the little book, what you watch does not frelling matter! Maybe those other 'Scapers with a TiVo are like me and don't have a Neilsen box!

[Harveylives]

The moment I knew something was wrong with scifi channel was when they showed BRAVEHEART. I loved the movie, but is it scifi? No. After the promo I was sort of annoyed. If I wanted to watch BRAVEHEART I would watch it on another channel. At that time I wanted scifi, not a partially true story that resembles some scifi movies.