While I'm griping: What happened to scIFi?

While I'm griping, I'll move on to my other big gripe this week, or month, or season.

What in the world has happened to Syfy (once Scifi) channel? They once had some of the most interesting programming anywhere. They did a lot of their own movies (Earthsea). They picked up discontinued network shows (Firefly/Serenity) Their regular programming was a mix of reality programming (Destination Truth, Fact or Faked) and odd fiction (Eureka, Haven).

Since before Thanksgiving, they've been a faint echo of Chiller network, rehashing and rerunning, over and over again, horror movies. Did someone in their office forget to change the calendar from October?

Some of it has been fine -- nothing wrong with horror on "Friday the Thirteenth", for example. But most of it -- there's nothing original in the movies they've been constantly replaying. How many times can we watch the three versions/chapters of the Halloween series? How many times is anyone going to sit through Troy? And disasters are fine for 2012 The End of The World. Creatures are coming out of all the cracks this old world is showing as it falls apart and blows away, but can't someone please -- pleasepleaseplease -- get rid of that damned Dinocroc for once and for all?

The only original syfy programming has been Ghost Hunters and Face-Off. Ghost Hunters I watch, Face-Off I don't. Doesn't appeal to me, but it belongs in the line-up.

That is, it did, back in the day when they actually had a line-up.

The network teased us a bit back at Christmas, advertising widely that Haven, Eureka, and Warehouse 13 were all coming back brand new,

They did.

For ONE Christmas themed episode each, that was rebroadcast extensively until the aforementioned Friday the Thirteenth.

I feel cheated. I feel that Syfy has turned its back on the fans that made the network such a great place to watch original programming. Maybe they ran out of ideas. Maybe they've made enough money and just don't care anymore. Maybe they fired all the writers and no one has told them how many unemployed writers there are out there. Maybe the adventurers and skeptics all went home for very long holidays

Because I don't care any more. I'll watch my horror movies on the horror movie channel, and instead of watching TV I'll read a book.
 Or write one.

 Original ideas are out there. Someone just has to look.
It could be an adventure.