Remember a few days ago when the Sci-Fi Channel announced it was re-branding itself as SyFy so as not to scare off girls in pink pony print pyjamas and others with the dreaded ‘Sci-Fi’ term (surely fit only for unsocialised boys who like robots more than girls)? ICV2 reports that the channel’s co-founder Mitch Rubinstein loathes the new name. He recalls the original meeting before the channel was launched, where they were arguing over what to call it, until the mighty Isaac Asimov broke in: “Then Isaac started to speak and said that the name had to be Sci Fi Channel and not the SF Channel in order to draw a wide, diverse audience and be successful. To be in a financial position to acquire and produce the best programming.” Rubinstein really doesn’t think Asimov would approve of the new name. Sci-Fi/SyFy said the change was to reflect more diverse, broader programming and reach a wider audience and not just traditional SF fans. Although to be honest I have noticed that the UK version at least often now includes programming such as films that have absolutely no SF&F qualities whatsoever which already had me scratching my head and wondering what they were doing…As far as I am aware though we have no plans for anything similar and rumours that we’d be changing names to the EffPeaEye Righteous Word Thang were completely false and made up. By me.
Tue, Mar 24, 2009
Film, TV and radio