http://www.cliqueclack.com/tv/2009/03/16/s...ks-are-inhuman/
http://www.tvweek.com/news/2009/03/sci_fi_..._to_shed_ge.php
WOO HOOOO! A chance to RANT!! But it's NOT about STXI! Thank you Wil Wheaton! Thank you Michael Hinman! I've been going through rant withdrawal and your recent posts have opened the floodgates once again!
Wil Wheaton Tweeted the first link above and it lead to the source material listed in the second link that the blog was beefing about.
It's about SciFi Channel. Oops! I should say SyFy.
Over a month ago I, along with everyone else who tries to keep up with the world of science fiction entertainment raised a collective Vulcan eyebrow when Michael Hinman changed the name of his successful website of blogs and articles from SyFy Portal to Airlock Alpha. Along with the name change came a sleek new look and logo.
I understand branding changes and I was happy for Michael and gang. The articles are just as timely and interesting regardless of the name. Personally, I like Airlock Alpha better.
So imagine my surprise yesterday when Michael posts a link to an article on his Facebook page that gave me the REAL reason why the name was changed.
NBC/Universal wanted it and they bought the rights to the name SyFy from Michael. Great for him! Wonderful!
Why did they want the name you ask? So they could change the name of their subsidiary network SciFi Channel to SyFy.
And why is that change required? Because apparently the term "SciFi" is too geeky…too nerdish…to INHUMAN. Well, according to Tim Brooks "television historian" anyway. He thinks geeks aren't human enough. Oh! And get a load of this quote!
QUOTE
"The name Sci Fi has been associated with geeks and dysfunctional, antisocial boys in their basements with video games and stuff like that, as opposed to the general public and the female audience in particular," said TV historian Tim Brooks, who helped launch Sci Fi Channel when he worked at USA Network. ENDQUOTE
Emphasis added.
Oh boy. Can you find another way to insult me Mr. Brooks?
First, I am a woman. Second, I am a geek. Third, last time I checked, I am a human being. Fourth, I'm not offended by the term "SciFi." I use it all the time. I am however, insulted that Brooks and clan think I need to have terms dumbed down to think they're cute enough to warrant my attention.
So what Mr. Brooks and NBC/Universal is saying is that if you're remotely intelligent, you don't deserve to be entertained intelligently. You don't make NBC/Universal enough money – but stupid people bring in gobs of cash.
Oh yeah…don't forget – apparently WOMEN fall into that stupid category! Well – isn't that what you're saying Mr. Brooks? Because I'm still trying to figure out why you think you have to alter your programming and cuten up the name to lure more female viewers. Why not just produce science fiction programming that appeals to we HUMANS that enjoy intelligent programming!
Well – have at it! Misspell the network's name to make it more appealing to the stupid people! Dumb down your fare and mass market it to those who can't fathom being associated with science fiction!
This is one intelligent, female geek who will be here to rail on the new shows and cliché dreck that I know you're gearing up to pump out.
On second thought, maybe I'll just buy more videogames and interact with my family across the country using that technology you just can't seem to fathom that any woman would use and ignore this shiny-new, dumbed-down version of what was once a channel dedicated to some pretty great shows.
Oh and Mr. Brooks? Go phlox yourself.
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Phew, looks like I'm falling a little behind on your trek.
ReplyDeleteFirst off, I'm also rather offended by this. Somehow it reminds me of the golden days of my youth, where all my free time was spent in the library. And even though I was waaaay beyond 'youth reading' as they so 'diplomatically' called it, I still spent most of my time in the youth section, because that's where they had put everything fantasy. Thanks to people like Isaac Asimov and his peers, SciFi had been fortunate enough to have a 'real' section to itself. But fantasy was labelled 'kiddie stuff' and stuffed away between the pimply tales of teenage girls having crushes on the bad boy in class. And I'm not talking just any fantasy here. I'm talking Lord of the Rings, The Never Ending Story and anything with pictures in it. (The Watchmen comics spring to mind.) I was slightly insulted by it already back then, and now I find myself insulted in exactly the same way over this whole SyFy crap. And just because I'm a real pessimist, I predict that in less than 5 years, SyFy will be added to the dictionaries as a legitimate way of spelling Science Fiction. I weep for the English Language. Much as I weep for my own poor Danish, which I see dying a little more every day.
Just goes to show... stupid people rule the world. And I'm not talking about the poor 'new viewers' of this SyFy channel. No I'm talking about the twatwaffles who actually believe that nerds, geeks or 'intellectuals' (Lord forbid) are all sitting in their parents' basement behind their inch-thick glasses, clutching their asthma inhalers and have given up all hope of ever finding a date, much less a spouse.
I'm offended. On so many levels.
And I have to agree with your end statement: Mr Brooks, go stick your tongue in a flux converter.
Best wishes, Lady Drace. 26 years old. Woman. Married. Pregnant. Geek.