What we need is Baen TV!
Submitted by Doc Travis on Wed, 2006-06-14 05:25.
Baen | science fact | science fiction | tv
I just can't freakin' believe that Sci-fi is now showing ECW...wrestling for god's sake!
It is bad enough that there is horror and fantasy about 75% of the time on there. I mean, Friday nights are about the only night they show decent sci-fi!
And the made for Sci-fi movies are usually very bad. Other than the Dune series they've had problems. Even Taken ended extremely stupid and poorly written.
If I knew how to get the money I'd put together a new network that shows ONLY sci-fi. I'm serious no Fantasy, no horror, no F'n wrastlin'. Wrastlin is ok but not on sci-fi channel...crap!
I'd propose Baen TV! Sure we license other programs to run regular like rerunning Robotech remastered, Star Treks, The Six Million Dollar Man, Old Sci-fi classics like Earth vs. the Flying Saucers, Space 1999, Dark Skies...ok maybe not that one, any of the sci-fi action B/C movies, and a weekly anime' late night uncensored double feature. Real movies, uncut, etc.
Then, the SHOWCASE! Once a week would be BAEN hour. 2 30 minute episodes written by or adapted from Baen author stories. We would also do a serialization of other successful Baen stories...author's willing of course.
And once a month a Baen Movie. On Saturday and Sunday mornings Baen author written/inspired animated programming at PG-13 or lower. Other cartoons could be licensed as well, like the old Star Trek animated series. Reruns of some of the better animated sci-fi from syndication.
With computer animation the way it is, we could put together real cool stuff!
We could have a regular 1 hour Baen Sci-fi News show in the evenings...rerun later also.
A 1 hours Con show where the host and hot co-host goes to cons all over the country interview and partying with folks. To boost ratings we can throw in the occasional NC-17 cosplay con folk like at DragonCon and other anime' cons.
And there could be a 30 min to 1 hour talk show about Science vs. Science Fiction and Where they Meet. Of course, I would host that one.
But the point is that it would be a channel with classic, modern, animated, CGI, news, and partying all sci-fi flavored 24/7/365.
Think of the self promotion it would do for the genre, for Baen, for the authors, for the fan, etc.!!!
We need Baen TV. Get DishNetwork or DirectTV or both to pick it up cheap and BOOM you got audience...BIG audience.
Damn, wish I had money or investors interested. Oh, and the other cool thing would be that it wouldn't be filmed in Canada.
There are a lot of small towns setting up shop for movies and television that don't allow the actors guild unions to come in. Huntsville is trying it and I know there is a place in South Carolina doing it. Hell, use fans, what I say.
Ok, so there.
Now that would be a dream come true! Well, that and warp drive, longevity, and my wife not bitchin at me for leaving my sweaty running shoes in the living room floor.
Regards,
Doc
Doc- I agree, the SciFi
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Sat, 2008-02-23 04:36.
Doc- I agree, the SciFi channel needs to kick off the stupid wrestling and bring some other show like "Space: Above and Beyond". I wouldn't mind having a full channel dedicated to only Science Fiction.
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Baen tv ? maybe we need a larger concept
Submitted by Robert (not verified) on Mon, 2008-02-11 14:36.
Sci fi tv channel has a place in larger context, how can you innovate when you do not dream about future. And when you dream about global future you get projects like OLPC , open source OS, MIT projects for Africa etc.
But we can dream further .
Einstein said that problems can not be solved with same thinking that caused the problem in the first place, you need a new perspective and new plateau of thinking.
An tv channel that presents a future view is part of such plane.
People, children are being inspired.
Science now only has to convert reality of fiction in SCIFI into todays reality.
So we need to have something that is not commercialized , something that can push will and imagination of an average kid into reality of science and future.
scifi series,movies,books, animations, then questioning of problems exposed in them, a good dose of popular science that should give a push to the global community.
why not talk about planetary defense, why not about global politics, impact of science, scifi view of global warming etc.
BAEN TV , I am definitively for it.
Off course with more content.
And maybe with something more of series of type "Primeval" of ITV and less of Hollywood shit.
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wcw
Submitted by jamescc (not verified) on Sat, 2007-07-21 13:15.
ECW...wrestling is fantasy
The horror.TTTHHEE HORRORRR!!!
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Wrestling is here to stay
Submitted by Andreas (not verified) on Sat, 2007-12-08 12:34.
I am reminded of the line in The Right Stuff about funding. Wrestling->profit->actual good shows being aired every now and then.
Unless you can figure out a way to make TV production an order of magnitude cheaper, you're stuck with the awful wrestling. This topic has been debated to death in the SciFi Weekly letter column as well.
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Sci Fi TV...
Submitted by susiemac (not verified) on Mon, 2007-05-21 21:03.
Hey Doc,
Great idea, but can we PLEASEEEEEE have SOME fantasy? Baen's got some great fantasy writers and maybe it could just be a few hours weekly for the fantasy stuff?
Now, anonymous, I trained as a scab. Yep and proud of it. Non union family on both sides. We ran a non-union window cleaning and floor care business for 14 yrs. I go out of my way to find non-union shops when I need certain work done. They were a good idea once upon a time, but they have outlived their usefulness. Unions have destroyed the automotive mfr business in this country (goodbye Chrysler again). In the process they managed to ruin the city of Detroit and do a lot of damage to MI. The demands make it obscenely expensive to do business in this nation, so it is no wonder that so much is outsourced and moved overseas. Unions have become economically impractical and this nanny state first job to the grave business is unrealistic, especially if we are to continue and thriving and viable economy. I know people who have been out of work for several years (as electricians) as they are waiting on the union to find work and he is so far down the list that he'll probably retire while waiting.
Sorry to hijack that Doc...unions are a sore point with me. Can't wait for your next book, managed to get through Warp and Quantum and plan to read them again this summer in a further effort to understand more about the science. One thing I love about Baen, I continue to learn from the writers, get interested in new things and expand my horizons. Thanks!
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Okay, boys - now for the truth.
Submitted by Jeff Edwards on Fri, 2007-01-19 22:14.
JW Edwards sez: Scifi TV is possible, but highly unlikely. Why? It has to pass the Heinlein feasibility check, and although it's politically feasible, and it's becoming increasingly technically feasible (with CGI and all the other attached high-tech furbelows), the fact is that it's not economically feasible. There isn't enough broad-based support in the programming sectors of our beloved demographic (15 to 34 year old males) to warrant more of the effort by networks. What is changing is that scifi has moved out of the shadows during the last 30 years and into the mainstream, broadening its appeal. Shows like "Heros", "Dr. Who", "Smallville" and others are now being written by some of the most talented new writers in the industry, and that's because they were lured away from the film industry by the increasing societal swing towards acceptable scifi and the related fantasy fields. (More money didn't hurt, either.) As shows like these extend their runs and get into syndication, they prove the viability of the market segment, and ram the wedge of this segment of programming ever deeper into the available hours. We just need to keep supporting it and keep the buzz going. Be patient! Don't ever give up - just think how far we've come since Lost in Space and the original phenomenon that was Jim Kirk, and NCC 1701!
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Don't need cable
Submitted by Brian (not verified) on Sun, 2007-01-07 01:32.
SF is a niche audience. Good SF is going to be a sub-niche. You probably can't get Dish Network interested.
This seems like a ripe idea for the internets. Push it to iTunes as a paid download and you're set. Global audience if it's good.
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sci-fi channel and scab labor
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Mon, 2006-10-16 15:53.
doc ,i know you are a smart guy.not all of us can earn 5 advanced degrees and go on to make a good living.the only way someone who works with his hands can make a decent living(35k-65k/year)is to work union jobs.your attitude reminds me of the contractors who pay their carpenters 10.00/hr to frame houses that they will then sell for 300k(sure....a 900% profit margin is fair to everyone involved....except the consumer....and the labor).your views(the snapshot your post gave us)on unions BLOW.
but your books are a lot of fun to read
i guess youre a scab writer then eh?
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From the bottom of a bottle of Maker's Mark
Submitted by highwayman953 on Sun, 2006-10-01 14:25.
Yes, I agree that Sci-fi channel needs some fine tuning. First, get rid of ECW (whatever that is), next trash the D grade movies on the weekends!! I agree that SG-1, SG Altlantis, and Eureka are Sci-fi's best progragms. I also think that sci-fi needs to run episodes of Robotech, and StarBlazers. The channel also could use an hour show with George Noory at Coast to Coast!!
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The Sci-fi is losing it's sci-if
Submitted by HERB on Thu, 2006-09-14 22:18.
Well I watch the sci if channel a lot and I think that it is losing it's sci if becuase ECW is taking a lot of time on sci if and there are a lot of crap on it. plus the only good shows going on that are actually good are Stargate SG-1,Stargate Atlantis,Battlestar Galactica, and Eureka.
P.S excuse my spelling Iam still new to the english language.
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Yes , not in Canada, but get
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Sat, 2006-08-26 04:20.
Yes , not in Canada, but get the hot actresses from SciFi channel to host most of the shows
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ECW - Eh, Couldn't be Worse...
Submitted by Jae Rune on Sat, 2006-06-17 03:47.
Fantastic idea. So far, the only things on SciFi I can tolerate is StarGate SG-1, Atlantis and Doctor Who. Sorry, but Battlestar Galactica didn't appeal to my inner frakker. It seems a lot like SciFi had devolved into the channel for people who like kitch in an ironic way. I sort of suspect that they claim to like it for the badness, but they secretly just like it because they like it. And they have every right. But did we have to lose our one and only channel to retreat to fanastic geekery? I'm with you on this one. A new season of Stargate is coming up, so I won't call for a boycott... but I will call for people only to watch what's worthwhile. Maybe they'll get the idea. Or maybe they'll just decide it was a bad idea all along and dump the channel entirely. Who knows? If they do, I'll take up a collection to keep filming Stargate...
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Pity they haven't. . .
Submitted by salgak on Fri, 2006-06-23 00:01.
. . . . . picked up Season 2 of the new Doctor Who yet.
Of course, *I* get it within hours of broadcast from the Net, and have DVD's of all the new Doctor, BETTER than the BBC DVDs (more stuff, like the weekly "Doctor Who Confidential" and such. . .
Who SAYS USENET is totally useless
Keith
Curmudgeon at Large
28 miles South-Southeast of Grantsville
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Oy?
Submitted by Jae Rune on Sat, 2006-06-24 05:09.
If I were you, and I'm not, I wouldn't run around admitting to that sort of thing... The MPAA and RIAA are getting really twitchy, lately, and as soon as there's American versions of all of that stuff, they're going to start going crazy and hunting people down. I wonder if there's a way to use quantum mechanics to save the freedoms of American citizens...
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I sound like a half
Submitted by Jae Rune on Sat, 2006-06-17 03:52.
I sound like a half brain-dead monkey up there. S'what I get for trying to be coherent after a long day at work and then a two hour writing crunch. I hate non-fiction.
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Baen-TV
Would be cool. Heck I hope EvE-TV (speaking of semi-homemade sci-fi tv) makes a come back. Watching KIAEdz having kittens over the performance of his fleet commander during the fifth alliance tournament was hilarious. Much better than 95% of network programming.