SyFy, the name change (merged with previous thread)

[Mike Scott]

The "Sci Fi Channel" is changing it's name to "Syfy". Lame!

http://www.tvweek.com/news/2009/03/sci_fi_channel_aims_to_shed_ge.php

[Anton Phibes]

First monsters HD bites the dust, now Sci-Fi becomes Scy Fy? What the heck does that even mean, lol!  :-\To quote the drunk guy from "The Birds"..."It's the end of the World." Maybe the want to trademark themselves or something and the realized Forry coined the term, and thought they couldn't?

[Josh]

That is lame as hell, so I guess they will now be showing crappy, made for cable Scyence Fyctyon movies.  Maybe better programming would draw more viewers not a seemingly hipper variation on an abreviation that actually made sense before.  This is clearly the product of the worst and stupidest kind of ad agency committee thinking. 

[Mike Scott]

Maybe the want to trademark themselves or something

I was thinkin' that might by a part of the reason. They could only claim a limited ownership of "Sci-Fi" (since it was in common usage, long before the SFC started), whereas "Syfy" would be all theirs. (And they can have it!)

[Cinemacabre]

Makes me want to cri

[preyer]

myh favourite part was how they'll be launching a tv show whose plot will change along with those people playing the game. or some such nonsense. yeah, that's how you get a great tv show, don'tcha know ~ let the players dictate the plot! syfy players at that. my guess is there's going to be a lot of alien sex on the show.

syfy sounds like 'siffee.' sounds like a cute name for an STD. 'hey, i've got siffee.' 'really? me, too!'

they said it themselves, they changed the name to be more in line with blogspeakers, i.e. idiots. hellooo, sci-fi'ers may be 'geeky,' but they're not stupid. i for one take pride in being intelligent (well, as far as outward appearances go), and i'd just as soon not be lumped into the same mouth-breathing crowd as my niece.

'"We spent a lot of time in the '90s trying to distance the network from science fiction, which is largely why it's called Sci Fi," Mr. Brooks said.' okay, lemme wrap my head around this: you call your network the sci-fi channel, which is shorthand for the science fiction channel, and you've actually spent a minute trying to distance yourselves from science fiction? that tears it ~ i'm going to start up the 'free porn channel' and show nothing but programmes about sewing.

amazingly, these people make a helluva lot more money than i do....

doesn't matter what they call themselves, they'll still always produce crappy movies and be the home of 'stargate: whatever.' maybe they can do a special series, 'stargate: CSI.'

[mike c]

I have been an avowed anti-Sci-Fi Channel ogre for years now, so this not only doesn't surprise me but puts a smile on my face because it means the end of the Sci-Fi Channel very soon.
They've been 'Snakes on a Plane' bad, 24/7, for years now (alright, the obligatory 'Battlestar Galactica's good though' argument notwithstanding).
Why are they even bothering to change the name to something remotely like that? If you don't want to be Sci-Fi, call it what you DO want to be.
Name it 'The Crap Channel', it'll be a lot less irritating and far closer to the mark.
As I've known for many years, the up-tops* at that channel are complete morons.


Mike C.

*I'd say 'bozos' but I don't want Larry Harmon spinning in his grave either.

[preyer]

but if you called it 'the crappy channel,' you'd probably get a lot of angry letters from fishermen.

what's amazing is they had 300 alternatives, according to the article, and 'syfy' was the best of the lot. wow. it took them 300 tries to come up with *that*?

good point about calling it what you want it to be. once you try to be all things to all people, how can you have an identity? and, what, 'catering' to the sci-fi set isn't good enough? funny they should mention 'star wars' in the article, as you know exactly how many times i've watched SW on there? if there's a number between 0 and nil, that'd be it. crap, man, the cartoon network shows the SW cartoon, and Spike shows the actual movies practically every two weeks it seems. AMC shows old sci-fi movies all the time (just watched 'the brain eaters' a few daze ago, not to mention all the old universal flicks). you'd think that with all the movies available and all the specials you could possibly do on sci-fi, fantasy and horror, programming wouldn't be a question.

it boggles my mind about how super-hero/sci-fi movies are perennially the summer's best box office and this crapfest of a channel can't even muster up a special about any of them. none that i've noticed, anyway, and here i continually see the freakin' tvguide (?!) running watchmen specials around the clock.

ya know, mike c., the more i think about it, the more i'm with you on this one.

[dlhenderson]

Siffee was a lost cause long ago. They used to run some old classics in the wee hours (Science Fiction Theater from the '50's) but for longer than I care to decipher, they've had "paid programming" and ENDLESS commercials for their upcoming programs. 
That channel is nowhere near the favorites list on my TV.

[poseablemonster]

I don't watch the channel, but as I was flipping through the stations last night, I caught a moment of this horrible program where they were shooting a dinosaur; and the CG effects were so bad; I couldn't believe that they actually put it on the air.  Every time a round hit the raptor, there was this reddish colored starburst on it and then it disappeared.  I mean, it was so bad that I was embarrased for anyone involved in the thing.  Terrible.

[Gasport]

They can call it whatever they like, but crap is crap and i gave up on that station a LONG time ago.

[Getter_1]

Anybody see that Cyclops movie on Sci Fi?  After seeing that, they can call it anything BUT Sci Fi, as far as I'm concerned.

[Grape]

The "Sci Fi Channel" is changing it's name to "Syfy". Lame!

http://www.tvweek.com/news/2009/03/sci_fi_channel_aims_to_shed_ge.php

HILARIOUS! I seriously laughed out loud reading that. The comments below the story are worth reading too. The marketing firm came up with 300 possible new names, and "Syfy" was the best! This executive, David Howe, is excited about the fact that "syfy" is the way young peoplel would TEXT "SciFi", so that makes him feel cool, hip and cutting edge! What a freakin' maroon!! THIS IS FUNNY, FUNNY STUFF!

[Mike Scott]

This executive, David Howe, is excited about the fact that "syfy" is the way young peoplel would TEXT "SciFi"

'Cause it's so much faster typing 4 letters than it is, um, 5.

[raycastile]

A condescending, insulting move by clueless executives.  As some of the comments noted after that article, the people running "syfy" hate their core audience.  That's ok, because the feeling is mutual.  I only watch psy-phie a few seconds at a time, as I am flipping channels.  I'll catch a glimpse of some horrid TV movie, shake my head, then flip on by.