Has the Blood & Chrome miniseries aired yet?

[Relayer1]

I loved new BSG but Caprica was poor on so many levels.

Much as Blood and Chrome interests me, it's probably for the best if it slips quietly away rather than further sullying the franchise.

[Temis the Vorta]

They may not look like fools to the majority of the audience, who aren't aware that a series was even under development because people mostly don't care about that stuff.

But don't discount internal corporate politics in all this. Maybe the people who pushed for it just want it quietly to go away and not be further embarrassed by their failure. When you've got people constantly angling for your job like I'm sure they all do, it's never a good thing to advertise failure.

This isn't just an isolated case specific to SyFy. Every year the networks fund a slew of pilots that don't get picked up, and nobody ever shows them, even in some obscure summer timeslot to fill airtime. Network viewers wouldn't know that they were failed pilots anymore than SyFy viewers would. Why do they never see the light of day?

Corporate politics seems like the most likely explanation. If everyone were being rational, they'd show the pilots because a little money is better than no money. There's something other than money at stake that's driving this decision.

Another issue could be advertisers. Maybe it's not worth the trouble to try to sell the airtime for failed pilots. Would the advertisers think, "I don't want my products associated with failure"? Would it distract from the main business of selling series time? Would the sales department balk at having "crap" dumped on them to sell? That's a different type of corporate politics but it probably has real influence. In any ad supported business, the sales department would be powerful, they are the ones bringing in everyone's paycheck after all.

[Sindatur]

The thing is, all buzz has been positive. The Trailer they showed at ComicCon was well received. The folks who saw it to for Toy development were impressed, there hasn't been any insider who had any hesitation in praising it, and what's been released was well received, and Action Packed.

If I was to guess, I would have to say it's related to the Man Hours required to produce more of the same.

It's really hard to imagine, that they wouldn't make at least their $5 Million Investment back with the release of a DVD and then the advertizing revenues from airing it on SyFy. I think A group of Jr. Execs are afraid it will be enough of a hit that they'd be expected by their Seniors to produce more for cheaper and on a schedule, and they can't do it, because they misjudged the Man hours to do the CGI sets.

[archeryguy1701]

Robert Maxwell wrote:

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I'd like to know how SyFy is "stringing people along," anyway. They aren't even advertising this. It's most likely dead. They may burn it off on TV or online at some point, but that depends on whether they think it's polished enough to see the light of day. If not, it will just be embarrassing.

Have you seen any of their "sy-fy original movies"? Whether or not it's embarrasing doesn't seem to be a major concern for them.

[Robert Maxwell]

archeryguy1701 wrote:

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Have you seen any of their "sy-fy original movies"? Whether or not it's embarrasing doesn't seem to be a major concern for them.

By "embarrassing" I mean the ratings. Those "original movies" get better ratings than BSG did in its original airing. Think about that.

(To be fair, the miniseries was their highest-rated movie at the time it aired, too.)

[Jimi_James]

It's slightly annoying to think that on a shelf somewhere, is the master copy of the completed Blood & Chrome pilot, having never been seen by anyone that didn't work on it. It's just sitting there, completed, and waiting while the executives make up their minds what to do with it.

At the very least, they could release it on DVD like they did with the Caprica pilot and make some money off it. They could even forgo a DVD and release it directly online through Itunes or some other VOD service and make money on it.

All that being said, I have little faith in the series, not it's quality because I know talented people were involved in creating it. I have no faith in those that will eventually decide its fate, mainly TPTB at SYFY who are calling the shots. They've proven thier ability to make bad decisions, so why should this be any different.

[roliver]

Jimi_James wrote:

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It's slightly annoying to think that on a shelf somewhere, is the master copy of the completed Blood & Chrome pilot.

And next to it is the master copy to Bear McCreary's score, which needs to get released no matter what.

[Delsaber]

SyFy doesn't know what it has, and therefore keeps killing its own children. It's almost as if they're afraid of success as much as failure, so they'll just continue to rely on the cheap stuff they know works - Mansquito-level TV movies and the WWE - and avoid taking any real risks.

They are the Sega of basic cable.

[DarKush]

^
I agree with you to some extent. I do think that SyFy is a little risk averse, but at the same time I wonder if they are worried about the potential budget for another Battlestar show. But while they dither, Battlestar gets dimmer in the memory of people. Blood and Chrome really should have followed BSG, but since that didn't happen, it should've come out a year after Caprica.

At the very least it would be great if they put the webseries out since I'm guessing the pilot is already done.

[Robert Maxwell]

Delsaber wrote:

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SyFy doesn't know what it has, and therefore keeps killing its own children. It's almost as if they're afraid of success as much as failure, so they'll just continue to rely on the cheap stuff they know works - Mansquito-level TV movies and the WWE - and avoid taking any real risks.

They are the Sega of basic cable.

BSG was a success--for a while. Then its ratings tapered off and it became a money loser. And it was an expensive show, so they needed those good ratings to sustain it.

SyFy isn't afraid of success. They are afraid of expensive failures. Cheap failures are easier to recover from. Cheap successes are easier to achieve.

[Mars]

Robert Maxwell wrote:

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BSG was a success--for a while. Then its ratings tapered off and it became a money loser. And it was an expensive show, so they needed those good ratings to sustain it.

SyFy isn't afraid of success. They are afraid of expensive failures. Cheap failures are easier to recover from. Cheap successes are easier to achieve.

Vampire shows are cheap, "blah blah blah, I vant to suck your blood!"

Battlestar Galactica was a greater success than the original, and they actually ended the show proper rather than just go into a rerun loop as the original did in the 1970s.

You don't get to see many space operas these days, mostly its shows about modern time investigators running into weird stuff, or some demons or vampires. SyFy is living in the shadow of its former self, if it goes with the cheap and the safe people wonder why it doesn't do shows like Battlestar Galactica anymore.

[Robert Maxwell]

Mars wrote:

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Vampire shows are cheap, "blah blah blah, I vant to suck your blood!"

Battlestar Galactica was a greater success than the original, and they actually ended the show proper rather than just go into a rerun loop as the original did in the 1970s.

You don't get to see many space operas these days, mostly its shows about modern time investigators running into weird stuff, or some demons or vampires. SyFy is living in the shadow of its former self, if it goes with the cheap and the safe people wonder why it doesn't do shows like Battlestar Galactica anymore.

SyFy is a business that wants to make money. They do not exist to provide a public service of high quality space opera at a net loss.

[Sindatur]

Mars wrote:

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Vampire shows are cheap, "blah blah blah, I vant to suck your blood!"

Battlestar Galactica was a greater success than the original, and they actually ended the show proper rather than just go into a rerun loop as the original did in the 1970s.

You don't get to see many space operas these days, mostly its shows about modern time investigators running into weird stuff, or some demons or vampires. SyFy is living in the shadow of its former self, if it goes with the cheap and the safe people wonder why it doesn't do shows like Battlestar Galactica anymore.

NuBSG wasn't really more successful than the original. The original got decent ratings, but, was too expensive, so it was cancelled. SyFy kept renewing NuBSG at a loss, for the prestige, because it was a critic darling. If not for the Prestige of Critical praise, NuBSG wouldn't have lasted any longer than TOS BSG, because it was too expensive for the ratings it brought in.

I am definitely happy that NuBSG was allowed to finish it's story, but, that's to SyFy's credit for sticking with it so long, despite it being a loser financially

[Mars]

Sindatur wrote:

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NuBSG wasn't really more successful than the original. The original got decent ratings, but, was too expensive, so it was cancelled. SyFy kept renewing NuBSG at a loss, for the prestige, because it was a critic darling. If not for the Prestige of Critical praise, NuBSG wouldn't have lasted any longer than TOS BSG, because it was too expensive for the ratings it brought in.

I am definitely happy that NuBSG was allowed to finish it's story, but, that's to SyFy's credit for sticking with it so long, despite it being a loser financially

Cause it didn't have "planet of the week" episodes with humanoid aliens with bumps on their heads? BSG was more intelligent with less rubber science than most typical space operas.

[Mars]

Robert Maxwell wrote:

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SyFy is a business that wants to make money. They do not exist to provide a public service of high quality space opera at a net loss.

Well then tell me, how many sci fi shows has PBS offered? Dr Who? I happen to be a fan of hard science fiction and there are precious few examples of that, one in particular was "Defying Gravity", it is interesting seeing how they write science fiction shows that don't have planet of the week episodes. Mostly Defying Gravity was a soap opera set aboard a spaceship, and only had one planetary landing episode and lots of flashbacks. the walk on Venus was very believable.