MovieChat Forums > Battlestar Galactica: Blood & Chrome (2012) Discussion > Set up to Fail

Set up to Fail

posted 11 years ago by mrstephenpike
5 replies | jump to latest

I wish that Syfy hadn't set 'Battlestar Galactica: Blood and Chrome' up to fail . That is my major gripe.

I loved the show.
I chose to watch it instead of 'The Grammys' or 'The Walking Dead'.
but that it just my point.

SyFy, in their infinite wisdom, chose to air 'BSG:B&C' against two of the biggest television events of the year so far.
Any chance it had of getting a decent rating went right out the window the moment it was placed head to head with 'The Walking Dead'.
In many ways the two shows share an audience, or at least a demo.

So, I'm left with one of two choices; Either the programming directors at SyFy are complete and utter morons OR they did it on purpose.

Seeing as I doubt they are COMPLETE idiots (not that they aren't idiots, just not completely.) they must have decided to "kill it" by airing it when they did. This pretty much guaranteed they would get a crap rating.
now, I'm not saying that, had it aired another night, it would've gotten massive numbers. But it's more than resonible to assume that, had it not had that sort of competition it would've done much better.
Now, looking at the numbers, they can justify killing the project off and putting BSG to bed. (just in time for Syfy to continue moving away from real sci-fi and into whatever it is they do these days. Basically they do what the CW channel does and then play a cheesy "Monster of the Week" movie on in a tongue and cheek manner. As if they are embarassed by being the science fiction channel. Hence the name change.)
Now, we could try to figure out WHY they chose to kill it, bu perhaps we will never know. As David Eick.

[–] President_Ackbar_Impeached 11 years ago

I think you have it all backwards.

Let's look at the facts:

1 ) Syfy had already decided not to pursue a series, due to budget issues.

2 ) The final season of BSG averaged only 1.3 million viewers, as did B&C.

( thus confirming my suspicion that there are only 1.3 million hardcore BSG fans / viewers in the US )

3 ) If Syfy can be certain that only 1.3 million people are going to watch a broadcast, then they know that it really doesn't matter when they air it, or what it is up against.

So, you are correct that it was a throw away airing, but your reasoning is backwards.

It was because they KNEW it was going to get low ratings... not because they WANTED it to.

President of the BSG Boards

[–] mrstephenpike 11 years ago

I don't think so.

What rating did it get?
Does it matter?

You can't necessarily take the rating from the final season of BSG into account here.
They are different entities.
One need not be a "hardcore BSG fan" to watch or enjoy this B&C.
Also, I think your estiation of how many "hardcore BSG fans" there are. I don't think the majority of those in that rating would consider themselves to be "hardcore BSG fans". That rating, a 1.3, isn't terrible. It's obviously not gangbusters, but it isn't bad. There are shows that stay on the air with worse ratings.
Another issue is that the rating a CABLE show gets and what a network show would get are completely different.
Comparing the two would be like basing all you ratings for, say, Star Trek DS9 strictly on those of TNG.
Of course those things are taken into account though. There was obviously a baseline number they were shooting for.

As for you bit about Syfy (still a stupid name) deciding not to pick B&C up as a series, they still produced it and DID air it. They must've done that for a reason. They aren't going to just air something for the hell of it.

What plays into my "theory" is your bit about "hardcore BSG fans".
Blood and Chroome has been available for quite some time. If one happens to be a BSG fan they more than likely had already seen it. That alone is going to erode the rating.
and, like I said, putting it up against the premiere of The Walking Dead and The Grammys was, still, one of two things: One purpose or stupid.
they could've left it well enough alone as a web-series.
I do see that they may have just been trying to make SOME money back on the production by airing it and then releasing the BR/DVD.
what it comes down to is this: Syfy aired it when they did to kill any potential for it to become a series.
They can hold up their end of the deal by airing and selling it, while ensuring it doesn't get a rating and thereby saving them from having to commit to it and spend the money.
I don't believe they KNEW it was going to get a bad rating... I think they were scared it would actually get a GOOD rating and force them into producing it as a series.

[–] Wagnon1680 11 years ago

I just wish they'd sell it off to another network.

[–] dtatz 11 years ago

Completely agree. SyFy, now more than ever, is a garbage channel that airs nearly all garbage and appeals to people with garbage tastes. battlestar galactica is completely out of place on the channel. Heck, Fox has more Sci-fi shows than SyFy does. And while their marketing tends to be garbage, it's a right bit better than SyFy's.

To add to someone else's post, I already watched it online, and I don't watch the SyFy channel anymore, ever if I can avoid it. I have no desire to adds to for their other shows - "Crack head losers with nightvision Cameras" (Ghosthunters) or "Sweaty shiny shirtless men grabbing each other" (Fake Wrestling)

I am tired of the horrid garbage on TV. MAYBE if you'd actually air a half way decent show more than once in a blue moon, you'd have viewers on your channel to advertise to who would take an interest in it. And they wonder why they can't get the ratings to justify a bigger budget show?

Me, I might actually think about getting cable and watching. Instead I go watch all the now dead real Science Fiction shows on netflix and the like. Most networks seemed to be obsessed with the fact that reality TV shows don't cost anything. Too bad 99.9% of them SUCK NUTS!!!! Good job appealing to the lowest common denominator!! Garbage in, garbage out.

[–] Xaeden 11 years ago

Seeing as I doubt they are COMPLETE idiots

Oh no, they're complete idiots all right. Remember when BSG was part of a Friday night summer programming block and the ratings for it and its Stargate lead-ins were really good? Considering it was pretty much the only worthwhile bit of programming on their channel, you'd think they'd be happy with their success and not rock the boat. But, instead, they got the idea for a year round programming scheme and so they split up those three shows to launch it. That meant airing BSG all by itself against network TV in the fall. Shockingly, its ratings quickly began to nosedive as did the ratings of the two Stargate shows which had a six month break between the first and second halves of their seasons so BSG had time to air in its entirety (meanwhile, people were downloading those latter episodes early since they aired Canada on a normal schedule).

How they resolve this? Not by realizing the horrible mistake they made and moving everything back to the way it was. No, instead they started canceling their previous hits - Sg-1 got the boot first since it was the oldest and most expensive, BSG was clearly not going to last for too long so it was given a fourth season to wrap things up, and Atlantis was given BSG's fall time slot where it died after two poorly rated seasons.

Naturally, you'd think they'd have learned that, A) When you have to air shows by themselves it means you don't have enough content to pull off year round programming, which is something you should consider only if you can create a strong block, and B) Even with a proper block, these types of shows probably aren't going to do well in the fall against network competition. However, they didn't learn their lesson at all as their big comeback involved combing Stargate's concept with BSG's theme and launching it... in the fall, all by itself... against network competition. It briefly was paired with Sanctuary and Caprica. But it aired alone for most of its run and then, toward the end, they used old Star Trek: The Next Generation episodes as its lead-in. Plus, they moved it to an even more competitive night to make room for wrestling. So, yeah, don't give them any credit by assuming they're only quasi-morons.