With the loss of rasslin, the Syfy network seems likely to find itself in a bit of financial trouble. They have a few ways to dealign with that:
1) More irrelevant but cheap crap (ghosts hunters and the like).
2) Relevant but cheap crap (Sharknado)
3) Relevant but cheap less-crap (cosplayers and the like)
4) Relevant but not-cheap not-crap (Battlestar, Stargate, Eureka and such)
Of course, there’s always “relevant but not-cheap crap” which will tank and cause further financial ruination. So, let’s not do *that* again (“I’m lookin’ at *YOU, “Ascension”)
Options 1 through 3 are fairly safe ways of producing programming that’ll keep the lights on. But unless they strike some unlikely gold, these options will never amount to much. If Syfy wants to strike it rich, they need to take the big risks. And it looks like they might be making a few stabs at that with “The Expanse.” They’re also working on “3001” and “Childhoods End” which might be good, but being mini-series will necessarily be short-lived blips. They need series that will last and build followings and, of course, make money hand over fist.
There are all kinds of existing properties out there that could be adapted, and they should be pursued. But they should also develop their own all-new stuff. And here I have some general ideas.
1) “The High Frontier:” Set (handwave) fifty years down the line dealing with the construction of vast solar power satellites, O’Neill colonies in L-4 and L-5, a large base on the moon and the beginning of colonization of Mars. *All* the science is vetted and realistic. No antigravity, warp drive or any such. but also… no grimdark. No Evil Corporations out to enslave mankind. No scary alien invaders. Have this be, for the first time since I don’t know when, a purely *optimistic* science fiction series. Sure, have crap going wrong on Earth. Wars, poverty, environmental disaster, socialists, all the horrible evils that plague mankind. But the *space* efforts… show them *not* as “we must do this or we’ll all die,” but instead “we must do this because IT’S FRIGGEN AWESOME.” Get in cahoots with NASA and SpaceX and XCOR and anyone else who’s working to make space exciting. Show people outgettign blindingly wealthy, having fun, raising families and starting new societies. Basically… “Wanderers” with a plot.
In a world like “High Frontier” there’d be no particular need to follow one small crew. You could have a number of different sets of casts… an episode set on an O’Neill, another on the Moon, one set at the launch loop construction site in Texas, another on Ceres, Mars, Callisto, etc. With occasional crossovers. Hell, make it an “open universe,” where writers can dream up entirely new characters and situations for each episode, just so’s the stick to the show-bible.
Heck, if it works, make *several* series. Maybe there’ll turn out to be some particular cast of characters who are really popular; give them their own show. “Better Call Han & Mal,” say.
2) “Beyond the Horizon:” Set a *long* way in the future. Perhaps in the distant future of “High Frontier.” Here you can include techno-magic… warp drive and such. But again, rather than the usual grimdark of humans fighting scary aliens, have the show be about the long-range possibilities of This Is What Men Can Do. Imagine a series that goes from the supra-mundane terraformed world of Saturn to the Dyson Swarm around Epsilon Eridani to the stacked-ringworld-Dyson-Sphere around who knows where. Humans, our allies (aliens), our descendents (transhumanists), our children (AI and other synthetic beings) and our cousins (uplifted chimps and dolphins and dogs and such) out rebuilding the universe.
3) “Galaxy Quest.” Not exactly that but, some sort of space opera with *bad* special effects. Not necessarily *cheap* as such, but… why not make a show that looks like it was made in the early 1970s? Claim it was a series that was made and recorded, but somehow never broadcast? Done right, it could be funny as hell.
Of course the special effects would all be done with computers. But make the spaceships look like they are actually plastic models. You can even see the strings.
I’d watch those shows.