Stay up-to-date via RSS!

By Erika Blake

With industry insider rumors flying that Fox might be ready to renew TSCC for season 2, I have a few reminders to pass along to the powers that be over at our favorite network that would most certainly help them to hang in there with TERMINATOR.

Remember your own past – Back in September 1993 when FOX was still a young and edgy network they took a chance on bringing on a unique, new sci-fi show into their lineup. The show’s first season had a lot of ups and downs, it’s ratings could make even a Naval Officer seasick. However, the show performed ok it’s first year….well 2 years actually…with it averaging 7.0 million viewers in season 1 and then it received a steady pickup in the ratings by season 2 when it averaged 9.7 million. After season 2, the show went from being a “cult fan favorite” to becoming a bona-fide hit. What show was it?

The X-Files.

THE X-FILES wasn’t an overnight success (you can examine their ratings history HERE,) it only became a huge hit for FOX once they allowed the expensive, smart, original show to grow and to find an audience. Sci-Fi fans are fickle and we bristle with annoyance at networks who only see the immediate bottom dollar when they dangle new sci-fi programming our way. We’ve been burned time after time again with one great show after another getting canceled way too soon because the network panicked over ratings.

Oftentimes we sci-fi fans find ourselves immersed in other shows and don’t have time for trying out new programs. We do, however, read about the other shows and will mentally check them off in our brains as ones “to check out later.”

The future is ripe for picking up new viewers for SARAH CONNOR, since a couple of fan favorite sci-fi shows will soon be coming to their end. BATTLESTAR GALACTICA only has 1 season left to it. When that happens there will be a million plus fans who will be lost and will be longing for something new to watch. They’ve used the shows drama, brilliant writing, kickass action, and awesome FX as a drug for 4 years. They’ll need another fix…STAT! All they will have to do is hear is the unmistakably magnificent opening score for TSCC, written by their beloved composer Bear McCreary, and they’ll be hooked.

The end of next year will bring us (FINALLY) to the end of SMALLVILLE. Fans who are weary of the endless soap opera on the aging series are already sniffing out TSCC to see if it’s got anything going on to capture their attention. On our boards alone we have a large number of SV fans in our midst…and they’re chatting up the show everywhere that they go. When SMALLVILLE is over, expect 4+ million viewers to be seeking another show about heroes battling against great odds.

Most viewers of TERMINATOR: THE SARAH CONNOR CHRONICLES tend to agree that the first few episodes seemed choppy with their writing – the writers seemed to jackhammering the show story-arc and filling it with blaring plot-holes. By episode 5 the tone from the fans changed – they moved from mildly curious to rabidly addicted to the show. The plot-holes started to get filled in at an alarmingly fast rate and with the arrival of Brian Austin Green’s mysterious character Derek Reese into the cast, a wayward trio of heroes on the run seemed to form into a real resistance group that was capable of taking on Skynet.

As the show wound down to its grand 2 hour finale the complaints were far outweighed by frantic cries from fans demanding for a season 2 of the show to be allowed onto the air next Fall. The writers and finale director did the unthinkable, they created for us 2 highly memorable scenes that had nothing to do with your usual TERMINATOR franchise action. The first the Derek/John Birthday “gift” was without a doubt one of the most brilliantly played out scenes I’ve ever seen on TV, it was filled with wonder and had an amazing purity to the scene that could’ve been cheesy if put in the hands of less than capable actors, instead it brought tears to many people’s eyes. Finally the final showdown w/the FBI and Cromartie was stylish, fresh, and unique. If the scene had been shot in a major motion picture – the directors would be up for Oscars, it was that poignant and spellbinding to watch. TSCC is on the verge of becoming something truly remarkable and special and it’s a damned shame that the writer’s strike prevented us from getting our last 4 episodes, because the fans are starving for more…NOW!

Something that FOX needs to remember, many people simply didn’t watch TV this winter to support the writers. Those who missed out on season 1 are now kicking themselves, like my co-worker who went home this week and had to endure his family going on and on and on about how much they LOVED TERMINATOR. (Me of course being the constant cheerleader for the show reminded him that he could buy the entire season on iTunes or Amazon Unboxed.)

Fox doesn’t have SARAH CONNOR on their summer rotation schedule. If they want to see the shows ratings to increase next season they need to perform some guerrilla war tactics. Fox owns FX, they need to do what NBC does with HEROES and put aside 9 hour programming blocks on their cable channel FX and run marathons of TSCC. Or put it on late night on Friday, Saturday, or Sunday night on FX. During the second season, re-run the episode on the weekend on FX. The hits that they get on cable can get added into their overall Nielsen ratings…and it’ll allow for folks who maybe don’t watch FOX anymore a chance to catch the show on their cable channel.

As a final parting thought – at WonderCon last month there were only TWO panels that had wall to wall filled capacity…one was THE X-FILES panel and the other was TERMINATOR: THE SARAH CONNOR CHRONICLES. Sounds rather like one Fox classic was passing the torch, don’t you think? Fox, do just like the wall mural says “Hang in there, baby” TSCC has a GREAT foundation to grow from…if you play your cards right, it will be your next X-FILES. To many of us who grew up loving Chris Carters show and grew up watching your network, TSCC already HAS done that.