August: Month in review (BEDA #31)

Well, this is the last day of BEDA, I thought I’d have a look back at the month of August.

It started off with a bang with my friend and roommate S’s birthday. We celebrated by decorating the house with balloons, streamers, and post it notes; what better way to wake up? We acknowledged Esther day by buying These Star Won’t Go Out bracelets and by telling our family and other loved ones how we feel. We experienced the elation of finding out that the Internet rumours of Eureka’s cancellation were fake, only to have the knife turned and Syfy revoke their decision just days later.

I invited you into my life and home and told you things.  I went to a male review show and took you along with me to experience the hilarity of the event and opened the doors to my bathroom with a look at my DIY disaster. You danced with me when I celebrated my coffee win and we all laughed when the Rumplestiltskin Once Upon A Time poser was revealed.

August also heralded the introduction of my Favourite Female Character on TV series. There is still my top five to go, as well as some guest posts and special mentions.

In August my ‘Is James really Harry’s father?’ post was still the most popular, followed by Linkin Park quotes Battlestar: Galactica, Book Time! The Night Creatures: Burn Bright, and Sad day for Science Fiction fans (BEDA #9). Most of you still found me through Google searching for Harry Potter references, but Twitter and Gateworld also brought a few more of you over.

So all in all August was a pretty good month. My baby sister turned 20 and my big bro 27. Times are changing and people are growing up. Hugs and kisses all around.

But don’t think because I’m not posting every day that I will forget about you. There are still movies to watch, books to read, and TV shows to talk about. I’ll still be here a while longer yet, if you’ll let me.

So, for my last day I’d like to ask you all a favour. How did you get here? Are you a FaceBook friend, did you find me on Twitter, or were you searching for something and decided to stick around? Leave a comment and let me know!

Kathy

Sad day for Science Fiction fans (BEDA #9)

I was gonna start off my new series today, but with the news that Eureka has indeed been cancelled, I thought I would do my blog about that. If you read my blogs, then you'll know that five days ago a rumour spread around the Internet that Eureka had been cancelled. Then it turned out that Syfy had actually renewed the show for another six episodes, and the fan world set about rejoicing. Today, news was leaked that Syfy rescinded that order and is not only cancelling the series but stopping them from having a proper finish.

I want to be angry with Syfy about this, I really do, and I was very mad at the beginning. The way the story spread was just irresponsible of them, and instead of coming out and addressing the rumours right away they waiting hours before making a proper confirmation. Worst of all, it seems that most of the cast found out from each other before they were told from the network or their agents. That I am mad about, and mostly sad.

I'm sad and angry that Eureka got cancelled, but I get it. A lot of people seem to forget that television networks, every television network around the world, run shows for the advertisers; just like book publishers sell to book stores and not readers. This might sound off but bear with me:

See, advertisers are the ones who give the networks the bulk of their income. Let's say that 10% of people who watch a show will buy what is advertised during the breaks. Show A has 100 people watching it and therefore ten people buy what is advertised. Show B has 1,000 people watching, therefore 100 people buy what is advertised. If you had a product that you wanted to sell would you advertise it knowing only ten people would buy it, or one hundred people would buy it? This doesn't take into account DVD sales and plus seven ratings, but that's not what the advertisers are taking into account, either. What is the point of a network saying "in total 1,000 people watch the show" when the item is only on sale for that one week? By the time the other 90 people go to buy the item it is not on sale anymore. Also, some TiVo and television recorders allow people to fast forward past the ads, so that doesn't help the advertisers, either.

Now, the Syfy network maybe possibly could do more to advertise themselves, thus getting more viewers to the network and the show. I don't know how it's run in the US but in Australia the SciFi network isn't advertised at all unless you already have subscription TV or they're sponsoring an event. But that costs money, too, and that might only get them another 100 or so viewers (in the above scenario). Basically, Eureka was costing more than it was getting back. Advertisers were only being $X because that's all it was worth, but the show costs, for example) $X+10.

Hopefully Eureka will find a home somewhere else, like international iTunes or direct to DVD. A lot of the fan outcry is coming from overseas just as much as it's coming from the US, so there might be a future for the show beyond season five. If you want to see what the show's all about check it out at http://www.syfy.com/eureka/. The Save Eureka FaceBook page is here http://www.facebook.com/SaveEureka, and you can follow pretty much all of the crew and most of the cast on Twitter.

Kathy

Don't listen to the Internet (BEDA #5)

This is a lesson I thought that I learnt a long time ago, but it seems that it wasn't the case. In fact, it seems that many people were guilty of that crime; reading something something online and believing it without further investigation.

As I think is quite obvious by now, that I am a science fiction fan. I love anything that's quirky or odd or science fiction-y related, and I love the SyFy original series 'Eureka'. I woke up to a nice and mildly cold day today thinking that it was gonna be awesome because I have plans tonight*, but I was soon greeted with a horrible message from one of my best friends "Eureka has been cancelled" :'(. I followed the link he was given and it led to a website called "ING TV" (one that I had never heard of) and the article said that Eureka had been given only six episodes to finish the series then it would be over. I went to the SyFy website, but there was nothing there (should have been my first clue that something was wrong). There was much anger towards the network, especially since Eureka has been getting steady ratings and fans have already been messed around with the episodes**.

When the main star of the series Colin Ferguson tweeted "This is gonna be a great ending to a show that changed my life. I'm grateful, humbled and appreciative and will never forget it. Luv u guys" I began to tear up.

And then, things got weird. Turns out, Colin*** got his information from the same place as everyone else; the Internet. Colin: "Apparently the news story I read isn't necessarily true.... We live in a weird digital age... Checking with Syfy as we speak".

Apparently, the rumor started from awesome news that Eureka has been given six episodes for a new season! Instead of taking this as a positive, a site got the impression that Eureka had been only six episodes and then it would be over: http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/syfy-commits-sixth-season-eureka-219524

The original site was quick to change their story:  http://au.tv.ign.com/articles/118/1186186p1.html


So all in all, this is a great news for science fiction fans; we have Eureka for the foreseeable future! yay!!


Just don't listen to the Internet until you double check ;)


Have you read or overheard anything that you instantly believed and then it turned out not to be true? Let me know in the comments.


Theme: Eureka, Colin Ferguson, rumours, Internet

* I have plans! Tonight! Me!!
** Having the season and then waiting a year to show the second half
*** We're on a first name basis now. Oh yeah