WB Negotiating with SciFi
I have heard from two separate sources, one from WB and the other over at NBC Universal the parent company of SciFi that for the past couple of months that Halcyon and Warner Brothers have been quietly shopping TSCC around since FOX decided not to renew the show sometime late last year after the first part of the split second season tanked in the ratings.
They also said the lack of interest in TSCC caught everyone off guard, especially since it was part of a billion dollar 25 year old franchise and in fact was "outright embarrassing".
The sticking point in the negotiation is that Scfi wants some creative control on the direction of The Chronicles. SciFi as well as many inside WB believe that TSCC is aimed at too specialized an audience and is highly serialized to the point of hurting the show. Basically the way things are now you have to see every episode to follow it and it plays to a select audience. Josh Freidman the show runner has fought WB and FOX on this very point several times through the life of TSCC.
SciFi wants to develop the show into a more episodic series therefore potentially opening up the show to a desperately needed larger audience. One good thing about the episodic style of writing is that it lends itself well to an action packed show, which is what we all love about The Terminator Franchise anyway, right?
As it is now the show is way too expensive to produce and the returns too few for another broadcast network to pick it up. FOX is done with it and it isn't coming back. A cable channel can survive on the ratings produced by TSCC especially since WB is reportedly giving this series away just to keep it in the public eye.
I wonder what a Ronald D. Moore or a David Eick version of TSCC would be like? Would Terminators find the one true god, so say we all? Josh Friedman and crew may not have a job if it winds up over at Scifi, but I could live with that, How about you?
