Alot of people, myself included, were a bit baffled when Sci Fi Channel first started showing wrestling programs. After all, that was OUR network. It was where my late great father first exposed me to MST3K and Quantum Leap and Captain Scarlet! How dare they, right?
But then I started watching. And it turns out I really like wrestling. I'm actually a mega wrestling nerd and an aspiring wrestler myself now, ala Travis Touchdown.
But enough about that, let's talk about Smackdown...
I know what it looks like.
"The Network is diluted! It's lost touch with the fans! Now it's showing garbage TV! I don't like wrestling! Why do they keep showing reality TV!?"
I get these reactions, but honestly, this isn't an attempt to force wrestling on anyone. This is just the bi-product of network politics and good business decisions.
Smackdown started life on the Paramount owned UPN channel, where it usually had the best ratings on the station. Then in 2006 came the American Broadcast Realignment, when the Warner owned WB merged with UPN to create the CW Network. Smackdown then had to jump ship to the Fox owned MyNetwork TV, a WB competitor, where it started getting the best ratings on the channel. In late 2009, MyNetwork TV announced the cancellation of all it's original programming, save for the wrestling, to become a syndication only network. Seeing the writing on the walls, NBC Universal extended an offer to the WWE.
You see, RAW was the WWE's flagship cable program, often doing the best ratings for USA Network. Whereas Smackdown was the flagship terrestrial program. Because Smackdown was on a Fox owned network, it had limits on how much it could co-promote with RAW. If Vince was to move Smackdown to an NBC Universal station, he could do a lot more with the two shows, even though he'd be greatly reducing his terrestrial presence. (They have a 1 hour B show on WGN called Superstars. It never does better than a 1.5 in the ratings)
Since SyFy was the only NBC network with a slot open + shared demographics, Smackdown was put where it was. And now it draws the best ratings on SyFy.
Now he has two flagships with a single company that actually supports the WWE, and promotes them right. Other networks treat wrestling like a cheap filler program. NBC is smart, and knows that they can increase the ratings of other shows by having wrestling on next to it.
That and Vince got 30 Million dollars out of it.
I know what people have been saying. They're worried that their fave shows are less popular than what they view to be low culture. This isn't a matter of culture, nor is this any form of culture war. This isn't some kind of cockamamie Jocks vs Nerds thing, like The Today Show website tries to frame it as.
The WWF has had some form or another of National television exposure or another since the 50's, when their stars were occasionally shown on the DuMont network. Even then, it was the second wrestling promotion to get cable, on the MSG network back in the 70's.
(Georgia Championship Wrestling was first on satellite thanks to TBS in 1971)
Sci Fi started life as a niche cable channel in the early 90's.
This isn't anything like the movie Idiocracy or the March of the Morons (Hey, Mike Judge. Try finishing your scripts before you film them next time, ok?), like many internet commentators would like to think, this is just a matter of history and demographics.
No one's being undermined, no one's being pushed aside, nothing is going to happen to your favorite shows, no one is encroaching on anyone.
Why waste time hating wrestling? Why not be a little open minded and try it out once?
Nobody has to like anything if they don't want to, and you can still enjoy your favorite things unhindered. If you don't agree with SyFy's change in direction, there's plenty of good Science Fiction on the internet. Has anyone here seen Quatermass? It's pretty good.
Whatever you decide to do, don't hate wrestling for it. It never did anything to you, and you have no reason deride anyone for enjoying it.
Bashing wrestling fans, calling them F4g$, morons, comparing them to the straw men in Idiocracy, retarded, rednecks, stupid, gullible, or ignorant is both insulting and needlessly mean spirited. It's actually a little bit homophobic, if you use gay as an insult.
It's no better than bashing people for reading Fantasy novels, or listening to a specific kind of music, or for dressing different, or for playing video games.
Let's try to be civil, ok?
But then I started watching. And it turns out I really like wrestling. I'm actually a mega wrestling nerd and an aspiring wrestler myself now, ala Travis Touchdown.
But enough about that, let's talk about Smackdown...
I know what it looks like.
"The Network is diluted! It's lost touch with the fans! Now it's showing garbage TV! I don't like wrestling! Why do they keep showing reality TV!?"
I get these reactions, but honestly, this isn't an attempt to force wrestling on anyone. This is just the bi-product of network politics and good business decisions.
Smackdown started life on the Paramount owned UPN channel, where it usually had the best ratings on the station. Then in 2006 came the American Broadcast Realignment, when the Warner owned WB merged with UPN to create the CW Network. Smackdown then had to jump ship to the Fox owned MyNetwork TV, a WB competitor, where it started getting the best ratings on the channel. In late 2009, MyNetwork TV announced the cancellation of all it's original programming, save for the wrestling, to become a syndication only network. Seeing the writing on the walls, NBC Universal extended an offer to the WWE.
You see, RAW was the WWE's flagship cable program, often doing the best ratings for USA Network. Whereas Smackdown was the flagship terrestrial program. Because Smackdown was on a Fox owned network, it had limits on how much it could co-promote with RAW. If Vince was to move Smackdown to an NBC Universal station, he could do a lot more with the two shows, even though he'd be greatly reducing his terrestrial presence. (They have a 1 hour B show on WGN called Superstars. It never does better than a 1.5 in the ratings)
Since SyFy was the only NBC network with a slot open + shared demographics, Smackdown was put where it was. And now it draws the best ratings on SyFy.
Now he has two flagships with a single company that actually supports the WWE, and promotes them right. Other networks treat wrestling like a cheap filler program. NBC is smart, and knows that they can increase the ratings of other shows by having wrestling on next to it.
That and Vince got 30 Million dollars out of it.
I know what people have been saying. They're worried that their fave shows are less popular than what they view to be low culture. This isn't a matter of culture, nor is this any form of culture war. This isn't some kind of cockamamie Jocks vs Nerds thing, like The Today Show website tries to frame it as.
The WWF has had some form or another of National television exposure or another since the 50's, when their stars were occasionally shown on the DuMont network. Even then, it was the second wrestling promotion to get cable, on the MSG network back in the 70's.
(Georgia Championship Wrestling was first on satellite thanks to TBS in 1971)
Sci Fi started life as a niche cable channel in the early 90's.
This isn't anything like the movie Idiocracy or the March of the Morons (Hey, Mike Judge. Try finishing your scripts before you film them next time, ok?), like many internet commentators would like to think, this is just a matter of history and demographics.
No one's being undermined, no one's being pushed aside, nothing is going to happen to your favorite shows, no one is encroaching on anyone.
Why waste time hating wrestling? Why not be a little open minded and try it out once?
Nobody has to like anything if they don't want to, and you can still enjoy your favorite things unhindered. If you don't agree with SyFy's change in direction, there's plenty of good Science Fiction on the internet. Has anyone here seen Quatermass? It's pretty good.
Whatever you decide to do, don't hate wrestling for it. It never did anything to you, and you have no reason deride anyone for enjoying it.
Bashing wrestling fans, calling them F4g$, morons, comparing them to the straw men in Idiocracy, retarded, rednecks, stupid, gullible, or ignorant is both insulting and needlessly mean spirited. It's actually a little bit homophobic, if you use gay as an insult.
It's no better than bashing people for reading Fantasy novels, or listening to a specific kind of music, or for dressing different, or for playing video games.
Let's try to be civil, ok?
