May
21
2008

An Open Letter to Sci-Fi -or- How Sci-Fi Took Two Steps Back

posted by Chris Fairfield at 2:37 am.

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Angry Adama

“Where are my Online Episodes?!”

Dear Sci-Fi Channel,

I would love to tell you that I have seen the most recent Episode of Battlestar Galactica. You know, the one that I keep hearing is fantastically awesome. I would love to share with you my new theories about who the fifth cylon could be. However, I can’t. You can blame(/thank) yourself for that.

You see,you used to have this great, forward-thinking feature on your website. You called it Rewind, your term for what is basically time-shifted content. Whenever you would air a New Episode of Battlestar Galactica you would also post it on your website later that evening at 1am. You see, I work days and nights, and am thus not home when BSG is on TV. So for the first six weeks of new episode bliss, I would excitedly pop over to your website at some point after 1am and excitedly watch the weeks new episode. Last Friday, I excitedly popped over and found nothing. You had the four previous episodes, but not the newest one. I searched and searched and could find no announcement of when it would be posted.

So I ran over to Hulu, which puts their episodes up at the same time as you do (you know, since you’re both owned by the same company). They had nothing either. I hoped that it would be a simple technical problem, and that the show would be up by Monday. Wrong.

I popped on Sci-Fi.com Monday, confident that my beloved BSG would be there waiting for me with a warm embrace that only two lovers can share. Nothing. No announcement, nothing. So I checked out Hulu. This time, they did have an announcement:

Upcoming Episodes:
Guess What’s Coming to Dinner: Pt. 1; Airdate: May 16, Avaiilable on Hulu: May 24
Guess What’s Coming to Dinner: Pt. 2; Airdate: May 30, Avaiilable on Hulu: June 7
Sine Quan Non; Airdate: June 6, Avaiilable on Hulu: June 14
The Hub; Airdate: June 13, Avaiilable on Hulu: June 21

Being that you get the episodes the same time Hulu does, this is essentially rewind’s schedule also. So I angrily ask, I have to wait a week and a day to watch the Episodes online?? That’s a week of dodging co-workers out of fear of spoilers, instead of spending time talking with them about and building up buzz and goodwill for your damn show. That’s a week of avoiding enthusiast forums and blogs, instead of discussing and dissecting.

So guess what happens now? I stop playing your game. You were at one point getting advertising revenue and hard viewing statistics from me watching your show online. GONE! I will now go back to far more convenient BitTorrent approach to watching your show. I got rid of Comcast a few months ago, so I’m still able to download those Peer-enabled wonders.

The tragedy here, Sci-Fi, is I actually like the show enough, that I was willing to jump through your flash-driven, advertising-enabled hoops. I don’t do that for just anything or anyone. But, hey, if you change your mind and decide to embrace the 21st century, give me a call. You’ve got my number.

Love,
~Chris

Chris Fairfield: is an avid gamer and web surfer who happens to be hellbent on World Domination. But who isn't these days?

Comments

Nikki (Nikki) says:
(Posted May 21st, 2008 at 8:25 am)

Does no one on the planet besides me own something as simple (and ridiculously cheap these days) as a VCR anymore?

Chris P. (Chris P.) says:
(Posted May 26th, 2008 at 8:03 pm)

Bit. Torrent.

Chris Fairfield (Chris Fairfield) says:
(Posted May 27th, 2008 at 2:01 am)

@Chris P.: Type. O.

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