March 19, 2009
About the scifi rebranding Comments Off
I am perched atop the bandwagon of not liking the sci-fi network’s new name. I do think it’s silly (really, *really* silly in fact); but the frothing rage, angst, and snark I’ve been reading about it strikes me as equally silly. (One cute example here) If you’ve been paying attention to this channel at all for the last however many years, it should have been painfully obvious that it’s run by people who know little about and want even less to do with sf/f fandom.
Having one of the network execs coming out and say it baldly might sting, but if you’re actually surprised I’d like to know what network you’ve been watching. Yes, they gave us BSG and the ‘gateverse. They are not producing those shows out of the goodness of their fen-loving hearts, they’re doing it because it makes money, which is why they showed up in the first place. They’re also running wrestling and those god-awful original movies, among other things, because they figure there’s a market in it. (And fannish disapproval does not mean there’s no money to be made.)
Traditionally, sf/f fandom reacts to change poorly, and to the specter of that negative “dork living in basement” even worse. Combine the two, add a pinch of entitlement, and you’ve got yourselves a wankfest, which is what’s going on now. As the man said, all this has happened before, and will happen again. (And again, and again…)