# Has SyFy gone the way of History Channel, TLC and the rest in terms of science fiction? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 7, 2013, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-syfy-gone-the-way-of-history-channel-tlc-and-the-rest-in-terms-of-science-fiction/673362 "2013-11-07T21:47:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Rhythmdvl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/85f322/32.png) [@Rhythmdvl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhythmdvl)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2013, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-syfy-gone-the-way-of-history-channel-tlc-and-the-rest-in-terms-of-science-fiction/673362/1 "2013-11-07T21:47:55Z")
I don’t trust the impression from their web site, and I long ago gave up directly watching TV (i.e. all Netflix or other streaming). I remember a long time ago they started airing wrestling and Jonathan Edwards. Was that the beginning of a slow shift away from science fiction and towards reality body painting (thread on that show inspired the question), culminating in a change in their name? Or are there a few oddball programmes on an otherwise science fictiony channel? ---
**Author:** ![Justin\_Bailey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justin_bailey/32/8792_2.png) [@Justin\_Bailey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Bailey)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2013, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-syfy-gone-the-way-of-history-channel-tlc-and-the-rest-in-terms-of-science-fiction/673362/2 "2013-11-07T22:15:12Z")
The name change was never to mask some drift away from science fiction. You can trademark “SyFy” and you can’t trademark “Sci-Fi.” It’s as simple as that. ---
**Author:** ![Rhythmdvl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/85f322/32.png) [@Rhythmdvl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhythmdvl)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2013, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-syfy-gone-the-way-of-history-channel-tlc-and-the-rest-in-terms-of-science-fiction/673362/3 "2013-11-07T22:46:29Z")
Cool. So they’re still predominantly a science fiction channel. I have no idea why that makes me happy. ---
**Author:** ![dracoi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/90db22/32.png) [@dracoi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dracoi)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2013, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-syfy-gone-the-way-of-history-channel-tlc-and-the-rest-in-terms-of-science-fiction/673362/4 "2013-11-07T23:55:31Z")
> [@Rhythmdvl](#): > > Cool. So they’re still predominantly a science fiction channel. I have no idea why that makes me happy. Well hold on here… Just because the SyFy name change was not inspired by a departure from Science Fiction doesn’t mean that the departure hasn’t occured. The wrestling thing is apparently an odd issue with the conglomerates that own all of these stations rather than a big choice by SyFy itself (or so I’ve read) but SyFy’s current line-up is a lot of reality TV, a lot of horror and a lot of fake paranormal investigator crap. Any movie with a monster in it is within the scope for SyFy, even if the monster is a shark or a piranha in the current day. I haven’t done an extensive analysis on this, but I’d say their viewing hours are perhaps: 40% horror/paranormal 30% sci-fi/fantasy\*, 15% kinda-sci-fi fandom reality shows (FaceOff, the cosplay and nerdgasm shows) 15% WTF?! (wrestling, body painting and the filmed-in-the-dark game show) \*And this only if you include “genetic mutant eats people” as science fiction. If you think that’s horror, move another 5% to the horror category. ---
**Author:** ![TBG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c89c15/32.png) [@TBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TBG)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2013, 12:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-syfy-gone-the-way-of-history-channel-tlc-and-the-rest-in-terms-of-science-fiction/673362/5 "2013-11-08T00:10:07Z")
Wrestling is also their highest rated show, so it probably pays for some of the little of what remains of actual scifi. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2013, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-syfy-gone-the-way-of-history-channel-tlc-and-the-rest-in-terms-of-science-fiction/673362/6 "2013-11-08T01:39:44Z")
They sort of drifted into body painting. It started with SF conventions and then cosplay and then SF costumes and then body painting. There’s still a tenuous connection - they’re painting models to look like aliens or zombies. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2013, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-syfy-gone-the-way-of-history-channel-tlc-and-the-rest-in-terms-of-science-fiction/673362/7 "2013-11-08T02:47:30Z")
> [@Justin\_Bailey](#): > > The name change was never to mask some drift away from science fiction. You can trademark “SyFy” and you can’t trademark “Sci-Fi.” It’s as simple as that. At the time of the name change, the head of the channel also indicated that it let them expand beyond traditional science fiction, into a broader scope of “fantasy entertainment”: > [@New York Times](#): > > Ms. Hammer and her successor as Sci Fi president, Dave Howe, said they had sat through many meetings over the years at which a name change was debated. > > The principal reason the idea kept coming up, Mr. Howe said, was a belief “the Sci Fi name is limiting.” > > “If you ask people their default perceptions of Sci Fi, they list space, aliens and the future,” he added. “That didn’t capture the full landscape of fantasy entertainment: the paranormal, the supernatural, action and adventure, superheroes.” > > That became more important as Sci Fi expanded its program offerings into those realms, Mr. Howe said, with series like “Destination Truth” and “Ghost Hunters.” Source: [http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/16/business/media/16adcol.html?pagewanted=all&\_r=0](http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/16/business/media/16adcol.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0) Beyond that, I agree with the earlier posters – the channel started drifting away from traditional sci-fi for most of their programming a long time ago. ---
**Author:** ![Justin\_Bailey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justin_bailey/32/8792_2.png) [@Justin\_Bailey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Bailey)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2013, 5:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-syfy-gone-the-way-of-history-channel-tlc-and-the-rest-in-terms-of-science-fiction/673362/8 "2013-11-08T05:17:23Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > At the time of the name change, the head of the channel also indicated that it let them expand beyond traditional science fiction, into a broader scope of “fantasy entertainment” Meh, I think I just have a wider view of sci-fi than most. Everything that Hammer mentions as “drift” happily fits under the “speculative fiction” banner.