It's no secret that Sci-Fi (can't bring myself to call it SyFy) hasn't been too kind to its former key demographic lately. Swapping out.... well, sci-fi with WWE SmackDown! might not have been the best choice, I'll give you that. But suddenly I'm not on the side of the angry nerds now; in fact, I'm getting a little sick of them. I'm not going to break out Ye Olde Moar Important Issues!!!1! Troupe ("Omg, there's an oil spill and a war") but I still think that yesterday's Fourth of July Uproar was pretty unwarranted.
Said uproar was over the decision to swap out the annual July 4th Twilight Zone marathon with the Greatest American Hero. At first I was torn. Goodness knows I love me some Twilight Zone; it might be one of the biggest influences on my screenwriting. But from what I could remember, GAH was a decent show, right?
After yesterday, mind made up. Greatest American Hero is a fucking awesome underrated show that for some inexplicable reason hasn't been seen on national TV for 15+ years. It has the right balance of camp and unironic goodness that I dig, it's a better "superhero origin story" than a lot of what's being produced even today, William Katt was a decent looking man in that 70s/80s sitcom way, and it has the arguably best TV theme song ever* (though I'd really have to tie it with Hawaii 5-0).
And here's the thing. It's the 4th of fucking July. Why not, say, spend it with family, go on a cookout, see some fireworks? Or if that's not your thing, do some protest/political work/performance art about cultural imperialism or First Nations rights or hell, pick a cause. But chances are the people who are complaining the most planned to sit their duffs on the couch for 18 hours watching TV and/or playing Tom Clancy.
Now if Sci-Fi had suddenly decided, "You know what? Fuck this shit, no more Twilight Zone EVAR," then I'd see a reason to be pissed. They've explicitly said they're keeping the New Years Day marathon, which does my heart good. It seems like as much of a tradition as the New Years Eve champagne toast (and whiskey and beer and vodka and more champagne and sweet bejeebus I'm too old to do jello shots) to wake up hung over at noon and watch Rod Sterling for a few hours before mustering up the courage to venture to Waffle House.
I'm not seeing a whole lot of pro-GAH arguments out there, which is why I felt the need to even respond to the collective voice of the internet's butthurt. So you know what nerds? STFU. If you have enough of an internet connection to display said butthurt to the world, you have enough of one to torrent that shit if it's so damn important.
*My grandmother told me that she once attended a wedding that used the GAH theme. Wow. "It should've been somebody else" indeed!
4 comments:
My dad was really excited that GAH was on. I'd never seen it & didn't even watch it last night, but that brings me to my next point.
I'm all for getting up & doing something on the Fourth rather than watching TV & complaining when it's not the show you were expecting, but I somehow managed to come down with the worst cold I've ever had in my life in July. Just sympathizing with a small portion of nerds that may have been in the same boat.
Uh GAH isn't really syfy though..its more nick at nite or tvland fare
That's why they changed the name to SyFy instead of Sci-Fi, so they can play whatever the hell instead of straight up space sci-fi.
Yeah that sucks...however Eureka is coming back in a few weeks so that's a plus. I'm still pissed at them for never picking up more of the Sarah Jane Adventures. I need more Who shows!!!
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