SyFy demotees Blood & Chrome back to webisode series

[V]

When SyFy Channel abruptly cancelled "Caprica", they advanced "Blood & Chrome" from being a webisode series to a backdoor pilot TV movie (they were apparently never confident enough in it to make a 4 hour pilot miniseries like with BSG, just another pilot movie like "Caprica"

SyFy Channel executives have just seen the rough-cut pilot of "Blood & Chrome"....and apparently what they saw was so disappointing that they are now planning to demote it back to being a webisode series.

While this doesn't 100% destroy the chances of another full BSG franchise series, it means they're not really treating it as a backdoor pilot anymore; they're just going to cut up the "pilot movie" and release it online as a multi-part webisode series....without the dignity of a TV airing or straight-to-DVD release. It would be unprecedented if a webisode series did well enough to warrant a future pickup as a full series.

I was hoping that with different writers in charge than those that muddled "Caprica", it might have been handled better....but if the rought-cut pilot truly was that much of a disappointment, I'm left with the feeling it honestly didn't deserve a full pickup.

http://io9.com/5834264/battlestar-ga...g-a-webseries?

[Pingfah]

Sanctuary was a Sci-Fi web series that was picked up as a full show, so it is not unprecedented. Highly unlikely though.

[V]

Pingfah wrote:

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Sanctuary was a Sci-Fi web series that was picked up as a full show, so it is not unprecedented. Highly unlikely though.

Quite right, I'm sorry.

Still, Sanctuary started out as a webisode series intended as a backdoor pilot...it wasn't demoted from an hour TV pilot.

...Blood & Chrome *had* a rough-cut pilot, and it didn't instill confidence in the network.

For the record, non-reality based scripted original programming SyFy Channel still produces are now:

• Alphas
• Being Human (USA version)
• Eureka (final season)
• Haven
• Sanctuary
• Warehouse 13

.

[SG-17]

If the show was about Adama wrestling Cylon ghosts, Syfy would have jumped on it.

[Pingfah]

V wrote:

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Quite right, I'm sorry.

Still, Sanctuary started out as a webisode series intended as a backdoor pilot...it wasn't demoted from an hour TV pilot.

...Blood & Chrome *had* a rough-cut pilot, and it didn't instill confidence in the network.

For the record, non-reality based scripted original programming SyFy Channel still produces are now:

• Alphas
• Being Human (USA version)
• Eureka (final season)
• Haven
• Sanctuary
• Warehouse 13

.

Still, given how fluffy their line-up is, it's hard to say what particularly was disappointing to them. It could have been too gritty, rather than shitty.

[46379.1]

Pingfah wrote:

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Still, given how fluffy their line-up is, it's hard to say what particularly was disappointing to them. It could have been too gritty, rather than shitty.

And it is set in space, which seems to be a big no-no on SyFy nowadays.

[Robert Maxwell]

46379.1 wrote:

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And it is set in space, which seems to be a big no-no on SyFy nowadays.

To be fair, shooting in outer space is kind of expensive.

[V]

Pingfah wrote:

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Still, given how fluffy their line-up is, it's hard to say what particularly was disappointing to them. It could have been too gritty, rather than shitty.

Yeah that's a big point: in the past year, they've cancelled most of their mainstay franchises: Caprica/BSG, Stargate (Universe), and Eureka. Warehouse 13 is a Eureka spinoff of sorts, and is doing pretty strong with ratings, but still.

The point is that you'd think they'd be more eager than usual to try to sign on new shows to air. They can't afford to be picky....which leads me to believe that "Blood & Chrome" was pretty bad.

From what I've heard...there was this crazy David Eick interview where he said "BSG was a mix of politics and action....and I think Caprica failed because it was mostly politics and no action" -- I'd disagree on that, I think the writing in general had problems, but some of the complaints (not the only ones) were that we walked in thinking it was "BSG prequel = Cylon War One" and this sadly wasn't the case.

HOWEVER, Eick went on to say that "....therefore, we're going to make Blood & Chrome swing in the opposite direction, and be mostly action"

....dude. That's the kind of thinking that led to Star Trek Voyager, pendulum-swing thinking: "DS9 was too dark, so lets make Voyager very light and fluffy"....just knee-jerk reactionary choices which you'd think people as intelligent as TV writers would know better than to do.


I mean he *just said*, "BSG succeeded because it was a good mix of two things, politics/plot/character development and action", and that he's rationalized to himself that Caprica failed for having too much of Thing A (Politics)....so does he try to make another prequel with an equal balance? Heck no, he just focuses on Thing B (action).

The rough-cut pilot didn't have any special effects added in yet....and keep in mind, the *entire* Galactica set would just be a CGI stand-in, like on Sanctuary. I think the network new that when they were watching it; they've seen dozens of pilot episodes before with unfinished SFX.

But this show is *relying* on special effects....which by their very nature are VERY EXPENSIVE.

I suspect the plot and acting in the pilot they saw was laughably bad, because the writers said they were outright focusing on the "action";

--->You know, the writers openly said in the BSG days that Scifi Channel was openly making BSG *at a loss* -- special effects of that quality were way too expensive. It was a "prestige show"; many networks do this.

To convince everyone that you're more than the "Wrestling and Ghost Reality Show Network", you run a few well-written shows, at a loss, to get an Emmy or convince yourselves that a basic cable channel can go head to head with other shows from HBO.

But people flocked to BSG for its good writing, more than just the eye candy alone.

I mean, Eick's entire...philosophy, to approach Blood & Chrome with, all but declared that it would be a show heavily reliant on expensive SFX, which would never be capable of competing for Emmy Award level writing.

[The Stig]

Holy crap.

For those that actually read the source article (AOL TV) you'd know that no decision on the format of B&C has been made yet. But hey, don't let that stop the wall-of-text hand-wringing.

http://www.aoltv.com/2011/08/22/batt...od-and-chrome/

Given the amount of work still being done on 'Blood and Chrome' (which was written by 'BSG' scribe Michael Taylor and will act as a possible pilot for a TV series), it sounds as though 'Blood and Chrome' is still something of a work in progress and an announcement about a release date is not particularly imminent. Stern said Syfy is still weighing whether to release this combat-oriented 'BSG' prequel as an online series (which was the original plan back when the project was first commissioned) or to bring it to air as a backdoor pilot, which is still a possibility.

[Robert Maxwell]

V's thread title was certainly premature. Could it be he's invested in the failure of all things BSG?

[doubleohfive]

^
THE HELL YOU SAY!

[Temis the Vorta]

Quel suprise. Skiffy doesn't give a spit about space opera - look at how well they're doing with their sci-fi-fluff and bullshit ghost hunting "reality shows" (I'm sick of even mentioning wrestling ). Plus they probably got a look at how awful that kid was that they cast as Bill Adama, but who knows, even with good casting, the odds are still stacked against space opera.

Robert Maxwell wrote:

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V's thread title was certainly premature. Could it be he's invested in the failure of all things BSG?

Maybe he's got it in for BSG - I'd love to see a B&C spinoff, assuming they're not frakking things up via the casting or anything else - but I've been predicting that Skiffy would kick B&C to the curb, based largely on the ratings they're getting for other shows. From a heartless bean-counter perspective, space opera is an unappealing genre and there are easier ways to make a buck. I don't have anything against good BSG in the least, but I can read the signs and they ain't good.

If you want a space opera show, don't wait for Skiffy to do one. My sights are set elsewhere - TNT, FX, AMC or the Cartoon Network. Maybe HBO or Showtime in my dreams.

But at least as a webisode series, we'll get a chance to see why it was such a catastrophe. I wish broadcast would do that with failed pilots. I'm very curious about shows like Locke & Key and Reconstruction.

[V]

...I'm sorry Temis, but I believe they also didn't pick up "Locke & Key"

[The Wormhole]

Sadly, I can't say I'm surprised. Disappointed, yes, but not surprised. I knew the months of silence in regards to B&C couldn't have been good, and now that's confirmed. *Sigh* Oh well, I guess that's it for space opera on TV for the forseeable future.

[Sindatur]

The Wormhole wrote:

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Sadly, I can't say I'm surprised. Disappointed, yes, but not surprised. I knew the months of silence in regards to B&C couldn't have been good, and now that's confirmed. *Sigh* Oh well, I guess that's it for space opera on TV for the forseeable future.

Nothing's confirmed. They've got alot left to do, not surprising seeing as how almost all the sets are CGI.

They are still considering making it a Web Series, and they are still considering putting it on TV a "Back Door Pilot"

Anything else anyone reads into it, is conjecture. Sure, there's to be concerned, but, nothing is confirmed, and the conjecture could be totally wrong.