Syfy Renews ‘Sanctuary’ For Fourth Season

COMMENTS (9)

• Somewhere in the world, an SGU fangeek is crying in their cereal.

  Comment by Cyn — Tuesday January 18, 2011 @ 12:05pm PST  Reply to this post

• Well if SGU had cost a little less and rated a little more…

  Comment by PT Ryan — Tuesday January 18, 2011 @ 12:23pm PST  Reply to this post

• Cost wasn’t the problem, wrasslin’ was. When the network purchased wrasslin’, it came in a 2 hour block and was contractually required to air on Friday night. As primetime is only 3 hours long, that left enough space for only one other show, so they had to decide between Sanctuary and SGU. SGU was moved to Tuesday night because they thought it would have a better chance, as it was a stronger show and had a much deeper fan base. Apparently, they were wrong. Long story short, the network made the wrong choice, and the weaker of the two shows got the renewal.

  The moral of the story here is while SyFy’s new reality shows might get the brunt of the blame for ruining the network in the eyes of it’s long time viewers, wrasslin’ is the real culprit. Basically, USA was doing too well with it’s original series’, and wrasslin’ had to find a new home. Allowing it to ruin the Friday night block, which has been a mainstay for the network since it’s inception, was as stupid a programming move as one could make, however. While the immediate numbers may seem good, this move, as well as many other stylistic choices the network has made in the last two years, has only succeeded in pushing away it’s rabidly loyal viewers, who feel that SyFy is no longer the network they once loved. One can only guess what effect that will have on ratings in the long run, and wrasslin’ viewers don’t stick around after the wrasslin’ is over, and they certainly aren’t tuning in for Sanctuary.

  Comment by Cash — Tuesday January 18, 2011 @ 1:01pm PST  Reply to this post

  • Hello friend’s I am a big SyFy fan .I do not understand why SyFy put [Wrasslin]on in the first place. IT’s not got eny thing to do with science ficton .Haven & Sanctuary are two very fine shows.Worthy to be on SyFy, Very inovative & ground break’ing so much more than S.G.U. Was rideing the wave of S.G.1.No backbone!Not too good,slow running .Going off in no good direction. Not easy to follow,Just whatever seem’s right at the time. Kind of disaponting.I know i was.[My precious]

    Comment by Louis Pearson SR. — Wednesday March 2, 2011 @ 8:30pm PST  Reply to this post

• indeed given the SGU decision this is just insane. “Cash” nails this issue here (and extra points for consistent use of “wrasslin”)

  I am done attempting to understand why junk like Haven and Sanctuary survive and well-crafted shows like SGU are dumped.

  Comment by JW — Wednesday January 19, 2011 @ 4:52am PST  Reply to this post

  • Sanctuary and Haven are awesome shows. Every episode of Haven has gotten an emotional reaction from me and it allows the characters to grow realistically rather than use shoddy characterisation or willful disregard of established canon to advance a plot (I’m looking at you, Merlin and Glee). Sanctuary reminds me of Farscape in that there are long-standing consequences. Character deaths matter for more than an episode and the characters (even if they are over a century old) can make huge mistakes and still be people we can respect and love.
    I watched SGU and will probably re-watch a few episodes but the only real reason I even looked at it was Stargate Atlantis and SG-1. I feel they spent too much time, money and energy on flash and too little on substance. I would choose a return of Farscape over SGU in a heartbeat, and my major regret over the demise of SGU is that it contributed to the decisions to not make the 3rd Stargate follow-up movie and the Atlantis movie. Even though the news about those movies made me so mad – no Vala? Crushing our hopes of ever seeing the real Elizabeth Weir ever again (that means ‘played by Torri Higginson’)? What were they thinking?!?!?!

    Comment by Lenandrea — Wednesday December 21, 2011 @ 4:07pm PST  Reply to this post

• Sanctuary is definitely better than SGU, which constantly repeated itself; had too many characters who behaved too similarly and looked too similar; had too many soap opera-like elements including flashback which undercut the movement of the show towards a climax; failed to have a strong female lead (both female characters are too weak and really only differ significantly by hair colour, both are angst-ridden victims); had too many young characters who didn’t have enough life experience to be interesting; and didn’t seem to know where it was going. On the plus side, Rush was an interesting character played by a good actor, but at times the script was so weak and repetitive it seemed like the actors were ad-libbing a drama exercise. It is also shot in the dark so much with people running up and down dark corridors with nothing new to say to each other being followed by a handheld camera that it feels like constant reruns of the Blair Witch Project shot indoors. In the dark, three of the male leads are easy to mistake for each other. And another two ressemble one and other as well.

  Sanctuary, on the other hand, has strong characters (by this I don’t mean heroic characters) – a woman who barely ages so that nearly everyone she has ever met has long died; a man wrestling with an internal demon who was made him Jack the Ripper; an intelligent ordinary guy type to provide a contrast to the abnormals(Will); a camp vamp who has made some people aware that there was once a scientist called Nicola Tesla. Sanctuary combines humour and suspense and has a different grand narrative from most other shows.

  SGU on the other hand tried to make Stargate into Battlestar Gallactica by using the plot of Voyager, except, instead of trying to get home, the Captain (and don’t doubt for a minute that Rush isn’t in charge) is heading out into the great black yonder with a bunch of whining cowards from the military. And perhaps this show says something about what real soldiers facing real danger are like – scared out of their minds that even though they are armed to the teeth someone is about to kill them, but if this what you are trying to show turn the lights on. Something that is travelling faster than light (which requires an infinite amount of energy) can’t save power by turning out the lights.

  Comment by J — Saturday March 5, 2011 @ 3:36am PST  Reply to this post

• I can’t figure how wrestling got on to the Syfi channel. It’s a big money maker and generally I love the programming but wrestling? Come on now. Keep Sanctuary, full fall schedule going and drop the juvenile wrestlers. If Syfi wants to get beyond the pre adolescent demographic then dump the pseudo-sport. Love Eureka, Warehouse 13, Sanctuary and the new show about haunted objects looks like fun but don’t waste our time with clods in leotards.

  Comment by DocJohnM — Sunday May 29, 2011 @ 9:50pm PDT  Reply to this post

  • This wrestling thing reminds me of how producers were supposedly uneasy over women responding to Firefly more positively than they thought. Pandering to dated stereotypes of fandom, excluding people who don’t fit into their preconcieved notions of what genre fans are, how they behave and what they like – this is not the way to succeed. I am a horror/SF/fantasy fan, a woman, and I have diverse interests. Portraying interesting characters that I don’t want to dig my eyeballs out when I see them makes me happy. If I wanted Jersey Shore, then I’d watch it. Even for people who like Jersey Shore, they don’t want it all the time, usually. Trying to clone Jersey Shore just pisses people off.
    I don’t know if channels are trying to be Wal-Mart or what, but when you want a watch repaired (and some people do), you don’t go to Wal-Mart. Occasionally at Wal-Mart you do find things you weren’t looking for but ended up wanting (I found Stonehenge Apocalypse there – horrible movie, but awesome cast! Torri Higginson, Misha Collins and Peter Wingfield!) but please don’t claim to be a specialty channel (the name is SyFy) and show wrestling. You can show boxing… if it’s in a marathon of Battlestar Galactica.

    Comment by Leandrea — Wednesday December 21, 2011 @ 4:23pm PST  Reply to this post