Let the mocking continue. 
via press release:
NEW SERIES WAREHOUSE 13 DEBUTS WITH TWO-HOUR PREMIERE AT 9PM (ET/PT)
INNOVATIVE BRAND FILM “HOUSE OF IMAGINATION” SHOWCASES NETWORK TALENT
NEW YORK – July 1, 2009 – Pop the champagne. Light the fireworks. And imagine greater achievements ahead when the powerhouse global brand SCI FI officially becomes Syfy on-air and online (Syfy.com) on Tuesday, July 7.
The imagination celebration kicks off with the two-hour premiere of Warehouse 13 at 9PM (ET/PT). Starring Eddie McClintock and Joanne Kelly, Warehouse 13 joins Syfy’s stable of water cooler programming led by Eureka (the network’s most-watched scripted series) and Ghost Hunters (cable’s #1 Wednesday program among P25-54).
That evening, Syfy will unveil an innovative brand film, “House of Imagination,” showcasing the network’s top talent, which will be the centerpiece of a new brand campaign inviting consumers to Imagine Greater, which also includes new ID ’s, interstitials, and teasers. “House of Imagination” was produced and directed by the award-winning 4Creative (UK-based) team led by director Brett Foraker, who was joined, specifically for this project, by Larry Fong (Director of Photography, Watchmen, 300) and Tino Schaedler (Production Designer, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, V For Vendetta, The Golden Compass) with visual effects by MPC (Watchmen, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix).
On Syfy.com beginning on July 7, a new design will give the channel’s official home a bright new look and make accessing the latest digital content easier than ever. Visitors will be able to watch “House of Imagination” online at Syfy.com/ImagineGreater, take an interactive trip through America’s Attic with Warehouse 13, and get behind-the-scenes updates from Stargate Universe consulting producer Joseph Mallozzi’s blog. In addition, the site’s network will deliver non-stop coverage of the hottest in entertainment (SCIFIWIRE.COM), consumer electronics (DVICE.COM) and gaming (FIDGIT.COM). Syfy.com’s Game Center will also be offering up a wide variety of titles, including puzzle games like Warehouse 13: Clean Up America’s Attic and Planet 9 Prospector, as well as full massively-multiplayer universes like Dark Orbit.
Said Dave Howe, President, Syfy: “While continuing to embrace our sci-fi fantasy legacy, we wanted to cultivate a distinct point of view with a trade-markable brand name that reflects our broader range of imagination-based entertainment. With the new tagline, Imagine Greater, Syfy allows us to build on our 17-year track record of success with a brand built on the power that fuels our genre, the imagination. Coming off our most-watched year in history, Syfy launches a new era of unlimited imagination, exceptional experiences and greater entertainment that paves the way for us to truly become a global lifestyle brand.”
Backed by an aggressive marketing campaign, Syfy embraces a more diverse range of imagination-based entertainment including fantasy, paranormal, reality, mystery, action and adventure, as well as science fiction. Syfy — unlike the generic entertainment category “sci-fi” — firmly establishes a uniquely ownable trademark that is portable across all non-linear digital platforms and beyond, from Hulu to iTunes.
Syfy also extends the brand into new adjacent businesses under the Syfy Ventures banner, such as Syfy Games, Syfy Films and Syfy Kids, as well as facilitating the Channel’s international expansion, scheduled to reach more than 50 global channels by the end of 2010.
Syfy is a media destination for imagination-based entertainment. With year round acclaimed original series, events, blockbuster movies, classic science fiction and fantasy programming, a dynamic Web site (www.Syfy.com), and a portfolio of adjacent business (Syfy Ventures), Syfy is a passport to limitless possibilities. Originally launched in 1992 as SCI FI Channel, and currently in 95 million homes, Syfy is a network of NBC Universal, one of the world’s leading media and entertainment companies. (Syfy. Imagine greater.)
If the new version of Alien Nation turns out to be decent I suppose I can overlook how monumentally stupid the change to “Syfy” is.
Big woop…. a names a name.
Considering they only have 2 original scripted series, how can they even claim to HAVE imagination??!
Their “more diverse range of imagination-based entertainment” is overwhelmingly comprised of so-called ‘reality’ TV. Popular series that weren’t good fits on other channels and networks but that would fit perfectly in the science-fiction/fantasy based programming for which the Channel was created (Moonlight is a great example), were never picked up. A better question: why didn’t Sci-Fi have these shows in the first place?? The shows that the fans LOVED – and were quite vocal in their support of – have been cancelled (BSG, Dresden Files, etc.).
Howe is just continuing the previous regime’s policy of ignoring their fan base and diluting the programming content to practically non-existence in favor of cheap programming. This isn’t imagination. It’s a total LACK of imagination! Plus, from the description of their showcase movie “House of Imagination,” their limited budget will be blown and the rest of the year will be filled with nothing but more B monster-of-the-week movies.
Somebody PLEASE rescue this Channel!!! They can’t even spell Science Fiction!!!
This is a big waste of money.
BUT… at least it’s given some people some jobs in this economy.
Seems like a retarded move. I’dve been happier if they’d have used the money to create an all new, original,hard science fiction series.
Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE Eureka, and I’m sure I’ll love Warehouse 13… but I was young in the glory years of star trek and babylon 5 and all that, I’ve watched all of Stargate, but it too is done. I’d like a new successful space drama, and the only channel that will ever happen on will be “syfy”.
i keep thinking “see-fee” when i see it
I’m just glad you didn’t post the release from earlier in the week noting some of the celebrations that would occur in conjuction, including a “Free WyFy from SyFy” event in in NYC. That release did have rather descriptive boilerplate outlining reasons for the name change though.
Oh! The Syphilis Channel!
Oops. I meant Syfylis Channel.
I mentally read the new name as “siffy” (as in short for “syphilis”) whenever I see it. Not a great thought, but it’s stuck in my head now.
i think i’ll watch warehouse 13
i’ve never seen eureka but i want to
lame name
IT’S OFFICIAL. NBC (WHICH OWNS SYFY) IS NOW THE LAUGHING STOCK OF THE TV INDUSTRY. LOL! THIS HAS TO BE THE WORST IDEA SINCE NEW COKE WAS INVENTED. THIS WHOLE IDEA IS SO STUPID THAT IT DESERVES ALL CAPS.
i dunno Fringefan, Crystal Pepsi was pretty stupid too…
I’m wondering if Sci Fi UK will also change it’s name to Syfy. Or is that channel not changing its name?
Serious question (I’ll mock after it’s answered): How’s Sci-Fi been doing the past few years? I know USA is the #1 Cable net, has Sci-Fi’s viewership gone up or down overall in the past 3-4 years? Just a general estimate.
Godfather, we didn’t used to get any historical data on cable networks until this season, and what we get now is just vs. last season. However, I have the June 08 vs. June 09 numbers and Sci Fi is down 22% in prime time for adults 18-49 (although I’m not sure that’s their target demo) in that comparison.
The only shows that are Sci Fi on the Syfy channel are noew Eureka, the X Files and Lost. Everything else except the Twilight Zone Even the Twilight Zone was never really science fiction. it was always more scifi mixed in with fantasy. It was one of the best tv shows ever.
Anyone remember when Sci-Fi channel ran things like “Space: 1999″?
Not that “Space” was a great show, but the channel has been pretty distant from its glorious past since the early 2000s (IMH0.)
However, I do catch GH from time to time.
Just about the stupidest name I could imagine them choosing, next they will start showing wrestling on the channel devoted to science fiction television……oh wait.
When I first saw the Sci-Fi Channel in 1993 I was in Heaven. They were showing Series that I hadn’t seen in ages, including many Short-Lived Series such as THE IMMORTAL, THE INVISIBLE MAN, FANTASTIC JOURNEY, ect. In the morning they would show many animated Sci-Fi Series such as Filmations’s JOURNEY TO THE CENTER OF THE EARTH and many of the Gerry Anderson “Supermarionation” Series such as CAPTAIN SCARLETT. Alas, these were not to last. Classic Series were taken off and replaced with Shoddily-Produced “Origionals” and the Animated Series were replaced with “Paid Programming”.
Also Variety went out the door as what I call “Marathon Fever” infested this network. During the day they run nonstop episodes of only ONE Series. If you like this particular series, knock yourself out. otherwise, you’re out of luck. I have long since given up on watching this channel (All of Cable TV for that manner). I have much better things to do that watch this Channel.
Honestly I have never watched SciFi and the new name will no change that . Most of its shows and movies are crap…I loved Moonlight , but Where was the point in watching it at SciFi?? They made it clear they would not make new chapters , so, I prefer to watch my DVDs whenever I want. Most of SciFi shows are really bad or canceled shows. So even if now is SyFy…I am not interested in canceled shows or bad shows.
I think changing the name is good so they can show fantasy shows. The network needs to be able to show something like legend of the seeker if they want to and this will help with that. But I’m not wild about the choice of Syfy, it sounds dumb.
‘See-Fee’, ‘Sigh-Fee’, ‘Syeh-fay’, ‘Seey-Feey’…
Nobody is going to watch Dragon Storm 3: The Snake Ghosts of Waverly Hills Sanatorium no matter what the channel is called.
I am not a fan of the SyFy moniker, but it makes complete sense from a business standpoint. They can’t trademark Scifi, so they used funky spelling to get the same sound on something they can trademark. Makes sense even if it looks weird.
“Nobody is going to watch Dragon Storm 3: The Snake Ghosts of Waverly Hills Sanatorium no matter what the channel is called.”
Lolol. I’m tempted to ask if this is a made up name.
But is sounds so real, considering past Saturday Night Original Movies…
I didn’t know NBC owned SciFi until this thread.
I blame Jay Leno for the horrible direction change of this channel.
I don’t give a rat’s a— about the name, I’m just disappointed they rarely show anything watchable save for the odd repeat of Dark Angel or The Twighlight Zone.
I hope Warehouse 13 is better, though I think the X-File’s “claim” to be sci-fi (which W13 follows in the steps of) is immensely dubious. And Fringe is doing its best to lower that bar.
Ooo, did I misspell “Twilight” that badly? Ouch. Sorry about that, I’ll go stand in the corner.
A long overdue change!! I am tired of having to correct everyone I talk to about how “Sci Fi” is not pronounced “Skee Fee”.
I suspect that this change will immediately make everyone realize what the station focus truly is. And can there be any doubt that this name change will instantly improve the creative minds at Sci Fi. . .uh, SyFy.
I don’t think there has been so significant a name change since the Anaheim Angels became the much more easy on the senses “Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim”
Robert, Bill
Do I get at least a B- for my mocking skills?
SyFy = ByeBye
Pure spin and puffery from Dave Howe. He knows that everyone think his renaming is the stupidest thing since New Coke. He doesn’t care– because he doesn’t want to run a “sci-fi” channel. He wants to run a “young people are shiny and sexy” channel. Just look at the supposed “beautiful brand film” Syfy just released: not a single science fiction element among its two minutes of paper unicorns, toy dinosaurs and ghosts. But there is a whirling carousel, which perhaps unintentionally references Logan’s Run: death to 30+ year olds.
Syfy is all surface, smoke and mirrors– with no depth or substance.
I really miss the old days of the network, when it had Farscape, Lexx, Mystery Science Theatre 3000, the awesomely redone version of Dune, and later on Children of Dune. Now they show the horrible movies of the week which suck. They have wrestling, which doesn’t make any sense. WHAT happened to this channel?
I really wish the channel would do more inventive programming, like it did in the old days. Stop spending money on campy C rate movies and spend it on new original programming.
Go to http://www.scifiwire.com and search for the comments on the change over to Syfy and the attempt to spin it as good. “Sci Fi sounds like outer space…syfy is open to anything…it sounds like the cool thing you want to be associated with.”
They claimed that was from an actual focus group. Of course, if you pronounce “Syfy” they way they want you to, it sounds the same as “Sci Fi” so their own points don’t even make sense. It was quite a read.
They glossed over the Three Rs that form the bulk of their network (Reruns, Reality, and ‘Rasslin) and made a big deal of the fact that they have about 5 dramas a year. They didn’t make a big deal of the small episode orders that reduce the network to The Three Rs plus one new hour of drama a week and a teen monster flick.
Does anyone remember when they had a Law and Order SVU marathon due to the INCREDIBLE PSYCHOLOGICAL PARANORMAL HORROR of the crimes? Now that’s science fiction!
Then again, they also ran Braveheart as the sci fi movie of the week. Beats a teen monster flick, but how does that fit into the brand?
It’s been a long time since MST3K, one of the funniest shows ever. Couldn’t they resurrect Firefly? After all, they did buy the rights to make Serenity. I really miss those shows.
It would be great if they would bring back MST3K. That would make me watch something else on that channel besides Ghost Hunters.
The name is ridiculous. The fact that they couldn’t come up with a better name contradicts their tag line. (Syfy. Same old shit. Different letters.)
Yeah, they could bring back MST3K and have them watch all the stupid new ‘movies’ that SciFi currently shows. That would at least make them watchable…
Squiggleslash wrote, “And Fringe is doing its best to lower that bar.” You’re way off on that. In fact, Fringe just got some new writers. Fringe and True Blood and Mad Men are some of the best shows on tv right now.
And X Files has every right to be considered Science Fiction considering it deals with aliens.
Tha name change is stupid, branding only works if you HAVE something that brings value to the brand.
This is another network run by suits that have no clue. Sounds like they want to emulate Dawn Ostroff and go after a demographic that will never make them any money.
OTOH, apparently science fiction is incapable of making a buck no matter where it’s shown, cable, broadcast or film, so perhaps they’re right to abandon it.
One of the fondest memories I have of the Sci Fi Channel was when I moved in to my current address in 1996. The 1st program I saw on Sci Fi was the 1990 “The Ray Bradbury Theater” episode “Mars is Heaven”. The episode starred Hal Linden as Captain Black who while visiting sees a replica of his 1930s hometown. Now, those were the days of Sci Fi, which is a far cry from what the network has become under the NBC ownership. Now, the only shows worth watching are the Twilight Zone, Outer Limits (1995), X Files and Eureka. I don’t like Lost. I do like Fringe however!
Richard Steven Hack said: “OTOH, apparently science fiction is incapable of making a buck no matter where it’s shown, cable, broadcast or film, so perhaps they’re right to abandon it.”
With all the superheroes, Transformers, and the recent Star Trek, film sci fi is BIG and successful. The question is whether it can break even with its big expense. I’M LOOKING AT YOU, TERMINATOR 4!
On cable and broadcast though, I agree with you. The current “hits” are few, far between, and usually $1 million an episode filmed in Canada. Lost has time travel so *that* TV Sci Fi seems to be doing all right. Nothing else comes close today.
Your point is most dramatic when looking at TV budgets: How can Heroes go on with $4 million episodes?
They only have two scripted shows? Eureka, Warehouse 13, Stargate Whatever, Caprica… that’s at least 4.
Bitey said, “On cable and broadcast though, I agree with you. The current “hits” are few, far between, and usually $1 million an episode filmed in Canada. Lost has time travel so *that* TV Sci Fi seems to be doing all right. Nothing else comes close today.”
Fringe has about 10 million viewers. You don’t call that a hit nowadays?
Its not SyFy….its Syfy.
The_GodfatherSJP says:
“How’s Sci-Fi been doing the past few years? I know USA is the #1 Cable net, has Sci-Fi’s viewership gone up or down overall in the past 3-4 years? Just a general estimate.”
You can check out the ratings at TVbythenumbers.com. Sci-Fi hasn’t been doing well – they weren’t even in the Top 20 Cable Channels for the end of June.
Are any of us surprised??!
Oh, and David4, I was referring to currently airing series – of which there are 2: Eureka & Warehouse 13.
Fringefan – I didn’t say Fringe was bad, I said it was lowering the bar as to what the “science fiction” label is popularly applied to. Like The X-Files, it’s essentially a paranormal/pseudo-science show. And yeah, the X-Files had aliens, but even the part that dealt with aliens was more of a political conspiracy thing.
Fringe incidentally is getting Ashley Edward Miller on the writing team. You may remember him from Terminator…
(Actually he, like Friedman, appears to be extremely talented outside of T:SCC, and adds to the mystery of how such talented people could have created such an awful television series.)
Miller is on Fringe now? That’s not good.
And I don’t know where anybody gets the notion Friedman is good outside TSCC, since he HASN’T DONE ANYTHING outside of TSCC!
This is his filmography:
Filmography
* Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles (2007) (developer)
* The Black Dahlia (2006) (screenplay)
* War of the Worlds (2005) (screenplay)
* Return to Paradise (1998) (uncredited)[citation needed]
* Chain Reaction (1996) (screenplay)
The War of the Worlds credit is for a screenplay that was NEVER USED!
He’s done four things, two of which went no where, in 13 years! How the hell did he even get the TSCC job?
As for the X-Files or Fringe not being science fiction, please. ALL science fiction is “pseudo-science” by definition, except the most hard of hard science fiction which uses plausible science to support a fictional story.
Look, faster than light travel is by all conventional physics PURE PSEUDO-SCIENCE. Nobody has ANY clue how to do FTL, let alone time travel. So ANY story involving spaceships using FTL is by definition pseudo-science and not science fiction – by your definition.
And saying the aliens on X-Files was more political conspiracy is hair-splitting to a degree. If it’s got aliens in it (treated seriously, not as comedy), it’s science fiction. X-Files was science fiction, Star Trek was science fiction, Star Wars is science fiction, by any commonsense definition.
So are shows dealing with the paranormal as long as it isn’t treated as fantasy (such as Hellboy or Constantine). Just because science doesn’t regard the paranormal as fact doesn’t mean such topics can’t be treated “scientifically”.
Fringe in particular is almost entirely about such “fringe science” – it’s inherent in the name of the show. “Fringe science” and “pseudo-science” are just as much “science fiction” as hard science fiction. There may be “hard science fiction” purists who disagree but they are a tiny, tiny minority of science fiction readers and as such their opinion isn’t worth considering.
Oops, I can’t count. That should be “five things” Friedman has done, one of which is uncredited with no citation, one is for a screenplay never used. That leaves two screenplays and TSCC.
And this is what IMDB says about the “Black Dahlia” project:
Screenwriter Josh Friedman, years ago, had completed drafts of “The Black Dahlia” for director David Fincher and “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy” for director Jay Roach. But both drafts have been stuck in development and rewritten by other writers.
So that’s yet ANOTHER screenplay that went no where. So where does he get this rep for being a great screenwriter?
If asked to name a genre for The X-Files, I’d probably say it was a police procedural in which the culprit most often ended up being of a paranormal origin. And occasionally, maybe 5 times a year, there would be a plot about shadow governments and aliens. It’s defiantly not pure SciFi and it’s not even in the same league as Star Trek.
RSH – Friedman writes a hilarious blog. Perhaps I should have said “outside of show running and script writing.”
Honestly, I’m baffled by both AEM and JF, it remains an utter mystery to me how they were unable to make something good out of something so easy to make good with apparently a fair amount of talent behind them.
As for X-Files being science fiction “because it has aliens”, I guess we have to agree to disagree. Aliens were pretty much a MacGuffin, they never interacted with the story, the story that involved them was about the “conspiracy”. Am I being pedantic? Perhaps, but honestly it all boils down to “What do you expect to see on something called “The Sci-fi” channel”, to which the answer is not paranormal shows that might have something involving an alien, but not actually centered around the alien, once in a blue-moon.
And no, pseudo-science (or “fringe” science) is not science, by definition. There is a specific thing science fiction is or was, and “stuff that isn’t science” isn’t one of them. The problem with stretching the definition of science fiction to “anything that has the letters s, c, i, e, n, c, e in that order in the plot” is that you’re not generally attracting the same audience or interesting the same people. In particular, the basic “What if” question posed by science fiction is hollow if the technologies that form the base are just ludicrous.
Anyway, I see I’m fighting a losing battle here, but understand this: the deliberate redefining of the term and application to shows like Fringe does not help anyone, it doesn’t ensure more science fiction is made (quite the reverse) and it reduces the probability of anything intelligent in that genre appearing on TV. The X-Files appears to have opened the crack, and Fringe appears to be widening it. It’s not good.
this is disappointing, this used to be the science fiction channel, now it’s the imagination channel