SyFy picks up WWE Smackdown

[AviTrek]

Source

I wonder where they will move the Friday night block now? As much as I've supported SyFy stretching the brand in the past, I think this is going too far. They are destroying the one night of original science fiction programming they are known for to fill it with wrestling.

 

[Lindley]

I'd care more if I still watched anything in real time. DVRs care not about the day or the hour.

 

[firehawk12]

Makes sense, really. WWE has been slowly moving everything to NBC Universal, so that was expected.

It's also possible they'll just dump the show on Thursday, since the Friday block is so established.

 

[FreezeC77]

I care somewhat because unless they try to make another night with original programming (and even then it's likely to be less rating than their already established friday night) it means less original genre shows on the network.

I can see why they'd do it from their perspective. If they did indeed pay $30mil, that's $30mil for 52 episodes which comes in a little under $570k an episode. That's a lot cheaper than the original dramas on the network.

 

[cylkoth]

Friday scripted shows will be moved to Tuesdays.

World Wrestling Entertainment® (NYSE: WWE) and Syfy announced today a multi-year agreement that brings Friday Night SmackDown® to the “Imagine Greater” network beginning in October 2010. Friday Night SmackDown will premiere on its new home October 1st at 8:00 PM ET. The program, which debuted more than 10 years ago, is one of the longest-running, weekly episodic shows on television.

Syfy’s original Friday night drama series will move to Tuesday night, where hit series such as Warehouse 13 and Eureka have yielded unprecedented ratings success. WWE NXT™ will leave Syfy in October as Friday Night SmackDown joins the schedule.

Smackdown Goes To Syfy

Imagine Greater.

 

[Othello]

Looks like my DVR will get a lot of work on tuesday's and the SyFy shows will be recorded during the repeats.

BTW_ this makes sense for a biz standpoint and I still enjoy wrestling so am not too bothered by the switch.

 

[Hermiod]

Since NXT is being dumped (probably) all this really does is add an extra hour's wrestling to the schedule.

Maybe SGU, Caprica etc will flourish on Tuesdays.

 

[OmahaStar]

"imagine greater"

Don't the scifi-less network realize we DO imagine greater than they are giving us? What the hell happened to them? Obviously the network is run by the same idiots who thought Jay Leno at 10 pm was a great idea. Sigh.

 

[Mistral]

Never understood why they had wrestling on ScyFy.
Imagine pathetic.

 

[Hermiod]

^Largely because it makes money which is more than I can say for a lot of their programming.

Some people will be complaining that they advertise non-Sci-Fi products next.

 

[BolianAuthor]

If it were not for Caprica, I would never watch that pathetic excuse for a network.

 

[Jax]

I have doubts that Stargate can survive on a non friday night. SYFY Wrestling is not SyFy

 

[clint g]

Well I guess it is fiction of a sort

 

[Hermiod]

I know, let's just go back and find the thread where it was announced that ECW would be on Sci-Fi, do a search and replace and not bother having the same old arguments and complaints over again.

 

[Stone_Cold_Sisko]

Well.... uh........ some of wackier Undertaker storylines from a few years ago could be considered..... horror/fantasy........... I guess.

Yeah, that's all I got.

 

[23skidoo]

I thought this already happened years ago.

What's the big deal? I remember WWE being announced as being moved to Syfy (or Sci-Fi) back around the time Enterprise was cancelled. Why is it news now? Or did Sci-Fi not bother doing it in the first place and are just now trying it again?

Alex

 

[Mistral]

^Largely because it makes money which is more than I can say for a lot of their programming.

Some people will be complaining that they advertise non-Sci-Fi products next.

Don't care what they advertise-but it would be nice if a channel named after a specific genre actually catered to that genre. I dvr Eureka, Caprica and ST:U so I can FF thru the ads for the wretched "movies" they air. Since they(the series) aren't all aired in the same part of the year a channel that's s'posed to be about scifi fails to hold the attention of a life-long scifi fan for more than 2 hours a week. Sad.

If it were not for Caprica, I would never watch that pathetic excuse for a network.

I hear ya, brother! Shout it out loud!

 

[Hermiod]

I thought this already happened years ago.

What's the big deal? I remember WWE being announced as being moved to Syfy (or Sci-Fi) back around the time Enterprise was cancelled. Why is it news now? Or did Sci-Fi not bother doing it in the first place and are just now trying it again?

Alex

SyFy aired ECW from 2006 until its recent cancellation and now fills the slot with NXT. They have now successfully bid to bring WWE Smackdown over from MyNetwork TV.

Smackdown is a 2 hour show and is one of two WWE brands, the other being Raw which airs on USA. ECW was a third brand but had considerably less top name stars compared to Raw or Smackdown.

NXT is a show featuring 8 younger wrestlers trying to earn a spot on one of the main rosters.

SyFy is paying a lot more for the show than MyNetwork TV do now.

 

[doubleohfive]

I know, let's just go back and find the thread where it was announced that ECW would be on Sci-Fi, do a search and replace and not bother having the same old arguments and complaints over again.

Or, keep scrolling.

As for me, Caprica is about the only thing I watch on Syfy so having it on Tuesday works out quite well for me. No more of the waiting-till-Saturday-or-Sunday-to-watch-on-Hulu for me!

 

[Sheep]

^Largely because it makes money which is more than I can say for a lot of their programming.

http://www.spacecast.com/ShowsPage.aspx

Canada's SPACE channel doesn't seem to have any problems airing honest-to-goodness current and classic sci-fi and fantasy TV. This is the model SyFy should be following, not the wrestling and reality network with crappy made-for-TV movies thrown in for good measure.