Top 10 Sci Fi Syndicated Shows

[Ravenseye]

1. Stargate SG-1 2.5
2. Andromeda 1.7
3. The X-Files 1.6
4. Mutant X 1.5
5. The Twilight Zone 1.4
6. Angel 1.3
7. Buffy 1.3
8. She Spies 1.3
9. The Outer Limits 1.2
10. Sabrina 0.9

Source: Nielsen Galaxy Report, 1/17/05 - 1/23/05

Battlestar Galactica is the high point right now. I love SG-1 but it's definately trending downwards. Not sure when it jumped the shark but I think it was jumped. SG Atlantis is good, but isn't really grabbing me the same way SG-1 did for it's first 5 seasons.

Other than that the best current Sci-Fi out there is Andromeda and Mutant X....It upsets me. I want more Sci-Fi on television.

[DrWeird]

1. Yeah, SG1 totally jumped.

I think about the time they started supporting the Atlantis storyline.

What a horrible idea that was.

[Ravenseye]

2. When Daniel was replaced by Parker Lewis?

I'm thinking When Daniel 'ascended' and was replaced by Parker Lewis...Season 6....That's when they jumped the shark. Either that or what you say with the Atlantis stuff and making MacGyver the General.

Now they're doing more cast changes for the next season. Adding Morgan Freeman to Atlantis, and Skinner from X-Files to SG-1 and adding what's his name from Farscape.

So incestuous this Sci-Fi casting.

[DrWeird]

3. Naw, I thought there were still some pretty good story lines

in season six.

The first episode that made me go "wtf?" was when they had a big spaceship race with some aliens we'd never met before, and for something we didn't care about, and star trekky fixes to star trekky problems, and a race course that was ridiculously two dimensional.

That was a bad episode.

But the writers were able to pull themselves up by their bootstraps.

Now it's just a space opera show. Flying around in space ships shooting enemies with new miracle ray guns that fail to work in the next episode, so they have to find a new ray gun. Plots that bring nothing to the series. Dumb jokes.

Take the new episode from two weeks ago. They take off in their new ship to rescue the people on Atlantis. They find a stricken ship, General Hammond, in complete disregard to all the previous years of the character, goes on a highly dangerous mission to rescue people, there's a goofy new character that has problems with hiccups and it's supposed to be funny, the ship gets stolen by the horrible new bad guy "super soldier" and steals the ship with only Daniel Jackson remaining. The super soldier turns out to be some sex kitten guest star from a cancelled sci-fi show. She and Jackson have a big fight/sex scene that's basically stolen right out of the cancelled series, replete with numerous unlikely escape attemts. They land the stolen ship on some new world with some new species of aliens we've never met before, have a pointless and silly battle with somehow nothing getting damaged, the crew show up to reclaim the stolen ship, the woman escapes, sure to make another guest appearence in some other episode, and the ship heads back for earth without having rescued the guys on Atlantis and ending up in the exact same place we were when we started the episode.

SG-1 has always had it's share of stinker episodes. What made the series great is that the writers could recover bad plot devices from old forgotten episodes, and turn them into something new and interesting and creative. That doesn't happen anymore.

Clearly, all the good writers have left the episode, and if the producers have any decency they'll stop beating a dead horse.

[Hong Kong Cavalier]

4. The episode was THAT bad?

I was going to watch it because Claudia Black (the sex kitten guest star from Farscape) was on, but now that I've read your review, I can only think "ugh".
And to make matters worse, Ben Browder (Ms. Black's character's love interst on Farscape) is joining the cast next season. No guest star appearances: he's going to be a regular.
I totally see your point about SG1. I watched last week's episode, and most of the actors were delivering their lines with so little enthusiasm, I was extremely bored. Once, SG1 was a fine show to watch. But it's showing it's age, and it seems like many of the cast are bored with their roles now.

[DrWeird]

7. Oh, it's worse.

I was going easy on it.

But check it out next time it comes on. It's worth it simply for watching the shark actually being jumped.

[Hong Kong Cavalier]

5. Half the shows on that list are not even in production anymore!

There's...what?...six sci-fi series in production right now?
Stargate SG1
Stargate Atlantis
Battlestar Galactica
Enterprise (even though it's been canceled, they're still filming)
Andromeda
Mutant X

The only one I really want to watch is BG. What a sad state of affairs for science fiction on televising.

[Ravenseye]

6. Very Sad

I agree. Enterprise though apparently is either done filming now or very close to it. Not that many new episodes left.

As far as Andromeda and Mutant X. I've repeatedly tried to watch them, but they're not so much good sci-fi as they are low budget sci-fi shows that seem to have been written by studio heads or people who really don't give a shit about sci-fi.

Andromeda feels like Hercules in space. Mutant X feels like a low grade copy of the x-men (which it is).

SG-1 is really starting to lag behind, Atlantis...well maybe it'll get me eventually. It's the Stargate DS9, maybe it'll get better after the first season.

Battlestar Galactica is the only good sci-fi on tv right now that will continue till next season (I think enterprise is good but it's gone soon).

Very disheartening.