You're not on IM so I'll have to resort to LJ comment. Woe.
The thing is that in the television industry, something like ninety percent of what's conceptualized is never greenlit, of the ten percent that is 9/10ths of it will never be pitched/be picked up by a network, and of that ten percent I think it's like 75% of it will be cancelled within two years/seasons. That's an incredibly small margin of success and, more importantly, while it's not truly random it's based on so many fluid and rapidly changing factors that it's nearly impossible to predict what will succeed and what won't. Television studios capitalize on what they feel is the current tide by, if one show becomes a hit, producing more like it. In some cases, like with the crime (lab) procedural trend, it works. In others, like immortal detectives, it doesn't.
But what this basically boils down to is that if SciFi keeps throwing enough (easier, more cheaply produced) shows at the audience they will, eventually, find something that sticks and becomes the next Stargate. If history holds to itself then they'll probably do that by taking a liked, but not successful enough for a more major network show and parent company NBC will buy it out, thus ensuring at least some viewer retention/built in audience. It's not a bad way to play the odds because not only does it retain audiences but it significantly reduces the amount of development time that usually limits what a network can produce. I wouldn't be surprised if, next summer or fall, we see some continued version of a show that got axed from NBC proper or even another network this fall. Maybe if T:SCC falls from Fox, for example.
(And speaking of Fox, it has a bad rep for preemptively cancelling shows but the actual statistics don't really put it at any disadvantage from other networks. The difference, for fandom and especially the sort of fandom into things like Stargate, is that it's the only major network, up until practically the last year or two with the success of things like Heroes, that's willing to take a chance on sci-fi productions. Another crime or law show, statistically, has a much better chance of pulling in acceptable viewerage, even if a scifi or paranormal show has a better chance of, if it pulls in an audience of all, becoming a hit.)
no subject
The thing is that in the television industry, something like ninety percent of what's conceptualized is never greenlit, of the ten percent that is 9/10ths of it will never be pitched/be picked up by a network, and of that ten percent I think it's like 75% of it will be cancelled within two years/seasons. That's an incredibly small margin of success and, more importantly, while it's not truly random it's based on so many fluid and rapidly changing factors that it's nearly impossible to predict what will succeed and what won't. Television studios capitalize on what they feel is the current tide by, if one show becomes a hit, producing more like it. In some cases, like with the crime (lab) procedural trend, it works. In others, like immortal detectives, it doesn't.
But what this basically boils down to is that if SciFi keeps throwing enough (easier, more cheaply produced) shows at the audience they will, eventually, find something that sticks and becomes the next Stargate. If history holds to itself then they'll probably do that by taking a liked, but not successful enough for a more major network show and parent company NBC will buy it out, thus ensuring at least some viewer retention/built in audience. It's not a bad way to play the odds because not only does it retain audiences but it significantly reduces the amount of development time that usually limits what a network can produce. I wouldn't be surprised if, next summer or fall, we see some continued version of a show that got axed from NBC proper or even another network this fall. Maybe if T:SCC falls from Fox, for example.
(And speaking of Fox, it has a bad rep for preemptively cancelling shows but the actual statistics don't really put it at any disadvantage from other networks. The difference, for fandom and especially the sort of fandom into things like Stargate, is that it's the only major network, up until practically the last year or two with the success of things like Heroes, that's willing to take a chance on sci-fi productions. Another crime or law show, statistically, has a much better chance of pulling in acceptable viewerage, even if a scifi or paranormal show has a better chance of, if it pulls in an audience of all, becoming a hit.)