Syfy answers GW's bogus "open letter"

[Mr. A]

The producers have run two shows simultaneously before. If Syfy really wanted to keep both running at the same time, MGM could have made that happen. Money talks, brother, and MGM writes the checks. If Syfy was willing to pay for both series, MGM would have obliged.

Robert Cooper and Brad wright admitted twice that THEY didn't want to run two series. So I assume they aren't "lying" about it when that statement only gets them into trouble.
Moreover, I believe Brad got a higher budget for SGU (1 million / episode) by not running two shows and promising double the viewership with a single one. He also promised to continue making TV movies for SGA - even though he knew the sets were being dismantled - to appease the studio, the network and more importantly the fans.
Besides, money does talk, but MGM can't force Brad Wright to do SGA - he isn't a payed employee of theirs, he took Mallozzi and Mullie away to SGU so they weren't available either, and when SGU started tanking MGM was bankrupt and in no position to start reinvesting in SGA.

Bluce, I'm surprised you're still doubting this: Brad Wight duped both MGM and Syfy to get SGA cancelled for SGU. It's the only option that makes any sense.

 

[Bluce Ree]

Another thing we have been insisting on for a very long time and this article has confirmed:

"When MGM decided to bring Stargate Atlantis to an end after five seasons, they did so knowing they’d transition to a new show in the franchise, Stargate Universe. SGU was a bold new take on Stargate that Brad Wright and Robert Cooper had had in mind for a long time, and one that we’d discussed with them off and on."

So, it wasn't Syfy that cancelled SGA like Brad Wright still likes to claim in his interviews and pseudo-apologies. Syfy is clearly staing that the decision came from MGM, and they probably just aren't distinguishing between "MGM the studio" and "MGM the producers". So yes, once again we have it here. And I want to see Brad Wright try to claim Craig Engler is lying here or Darren do the same to protect his buddies.

You're right in that Syfy did not directly cancel the series. However, Syfy did nothing to keep both series on air, which is obviously due to cost. If they're claiming and pretending Syfy just said, "cancel SGA", it's misleading but Syfy may have been presented with the option to continue buying both series, which they obviously didn't deem viable due to cost. So, Syfy may have indirectly contributed to its demise.

If we look at it from that perspective, the decision came from MGM because Syfy was not willing to pay for both series. It's just spinning. If you offer me a product and I don't want to pay you for it, then you stop making it and I can claim, "they discontinued it".

MGM was in financial trouble. If Syfy was willing to pay full pop for episodes of both series, there is no reason whatsoever MGM would have flat out refused.

 

[Mr. A]

You're right in that Syfy did not directly cancel the series. However, Syfy did nothing to keep both series on air, which is obviously due to cost. If they're claiming and pretending Syfy just said, "cancel SGA", it's misleading but Syfy may have been presented with the option to continue buying both series, which they obviously didn't deem viable due to cost. So, Syfy may have indirectly contributed to its demise.

If we look at it from that perspective, the decision came from MGM because Syfy was not willing to pay for both series. It's just spinning. If you offer me a product and I don't want to pay you for it, then you stop making it and I can claim, "they discontinued it".

MGM was in financial trouble. If Syfy was willing to pay full pop for episodes of both series, there is no reason whatsoever MGM would have flat out refused.

You are wrong because of false assumptions. I have answered those in my post above.

 

[Bluce Ree]

Robert Cooper and Brad wright admitted twice that THEY didn't want to run two series. So I assume they aren't "lying" about it when that statement only gets them into trouble.
Moreover, I believe Brad got a higher budget for SGU (1 million / episode) by not running two shows and promising double the viewership with a single one.
[...]

Bingo.

He also promised to continue making TV movies for SGA - even though he knew the sets were being dismantled - to appease the studio, the network and more importantly the fans.
Besides, money does talk, but MGM can't force Brad Wright to do SGA - he isn't a payed employee of theirs, he took Mallozzi and Mullie away to SGU so they weren't available either, and when SGU started tanking MGM was bankrupt and in no position to start reinvesting in SGA.

Bluce, I'm surprised you're still doubting this: Brad Wight duped both MGM and Syfy to get SGA cancelled for SGU. It's the only option that makes any sense.

I'm not doubting anything. I'm saying if Syfy would have put down the money for it, MGM would have done whatever it takes to oblige. MGM was in financial trouble. They did not have the luxury of playing the artistic snob in this case. Syfy did not want to pay for two SG shows and Brad convinced everyone that SGU was to be a better show and they all ate it up because it made financial sense in Brad's fairy-dust world.

 

[Bluce Ree]

You are wrong because of false assumptions. I have answered those in my post above.

You're assuming you know the whole story and what happened during negotiations behind closed doors. Hollywood don't work that way and it's naive to think things are so clean-cut. I have friends in the entertainment and media biz and I hear stories like this all the time.

 

[Briangate78]

Another thing we have been insisting on for a very long time and this article has confirmed:

"When MGM decided to bring Stargate Atlantis to an end after five seasons, they did so knowing they’d transition to a new show in the franchise, Stargate Universe. SGU was a bold new take on Stargate that Brad Wright and Robert Cooper had had in mind for a long time, and one that we’d discussed with them off and on."

So, it wasn't Syfy that cancelled SGA like Brad Wright still likes to claim in his interviews and pseudo-apologies. Syfy is clearly staing that the decision came from MGM, and they probably just aren't distinguishing between "MGM the studio" and "MGM the producers". So yes, once again we have it here. And I want to see Brad Wright try to claim Craig Engler is lying here or Darren do the same to protect his buddies.

People on GW like KEK are naive and don't understand. Syfy agreed to move onto SGU because they saw an opportunity because of the success of SG-1 and SGA as Craig mentioned. SGA was doing well enough for a renewal.

It was MGM who pulled the plug on SGA not Syfy.

 

[Bluce Ree]

People on GW like KEK are naive and don't understand. Syfy agreed to move onto SGU because they saw an opportunity because of the success of SG-1 and SGA as Craig mentioned. SGA was doing well enough for a renewal.

It was MGM who pulled the plug on SGA not Syfy.

So, if Syfy would have wanted to continue paying for both series, in your opinion, MGM would have just shrugged them off and stuck them with SGU regardless?

 

[Mr. A]

People on GW like KEK are naive and don't understand. Syfy agreed to move onto SGU because they saw an opportunity because of the success of SG-1 and SGA as Craig mentioned. SGA was doing well enough for a renewal.

It was MGM who pulled the plug on SGA not Syfy.

Oops!

Who are you?

 

[Briangate78]

So, if Syfy would have wanted to continue paying for both series, in your opinion, MGM would have just shrugged them off and stuck them with SGU regardless?

Probably. To Syfy, they are two seperate fees. If SGA is making them a profit, then they would renew it. Sorta how SG-1 and SGA ran together. SG-1 in the end just became too expensive. SGA also would have 100 eps under the belt and the reruns would also make some money for the network as well. Like I said in the ratings thread. 2nd and 3rd runs of SGA were pulling in almost 800,000 viewers.

 

[Rac80]

The producers have run two shows simultaneously before. If Syfy really wanted to keep both running at the same time, MGM could have made that happen. Money talks, brother, and MGM writes the checks. If Syfy was willing to pay for both series, MGM would have obliged.

Nope brad and rcc said they didn't want to do two series at once. they could have offered to pass sga to M & M but they didn't want the show on the air...it embarassed them! now they ahve neither...karma stinks doesn't it?

 

[Gatefan1976]

Nope brad and rcc said they didn't want to do two series at once. they could have offered to pass sga to M & M but they didn't want the show on the air...it embarassed them! now they ahve neither...karma stinks doesn't it?

Rac80 is a Shill

I wonder how many employees and shills from SyFy are being asked to flood the fan boards to support SyFy now that a lot of Stargate fans have shown outrage? I feel as if I am reading the Fox News forums.
scifi75 | May

 

[shavedape]

Let's not lose focus here folks. (Can you believe I'm the one to say that???) We can go back and forth all day about who cancelled what, blah blah blah, but the issue here is about GW unfairly dissing SyFy.

Engler is no dummy. He has to know that JM and Darren got together and had a cyber 'girls day at the spa'/'you jerk my chain/I'll jerk yours' type of thing. It's pathetically obvious. Darren's laughably juvenile open letter to SyFy followed wayyyyyyyy too closely on the heels of JM's shilling for GW in his blog. JM clearly has an axe to grind in regards to SyFy and is smart enough to get someone of Darren's low IQ to play the part of "cat's paw". (Look it up) Engler knows someone riled up the herd and he simply responded very diplomatically. (I still contend that he really didn't need to. Drama queens don't deserve attention and their threats of leaving SyFy forever are about as believable as the tooth fairy.)

SGA is gone. SG-1 is gone. SGU is gone (thankfully). There is no Stargate in the pipeline. Blatant lies have been told from TPTB. They have a track record of it. They were instrumental in killing off the Stargate TV concept. This can't be denied. Case closed. If we're going to look back in anger it should be at the ones responsible for killing Stargate, not at the lesser players like SyFy.

It's good that Engler is willing to engage in communication with SyFy viewers. Our goal of getting quality sci-fi programming would be better served if we concentrated on conveying that to people like Craig Engler instead of just analyzing the laughable crap that comes out of GW, fun as that may be at times.

SyFy is still our best bet for sci-fi programming. Anyone who says they're never watching it again because of the demise of SGU is nothing more than a petulant child. Humans are drawn to their interests. If one is interested in sci-fi or supernatural genre programming they will be drawn to the SyFy channel. It's as simple as that. Boycotting generally doesn't work, even less so for threats of boycotting. Just like the way certain people claimed they wouldn't join this very site at its inception yet ended up here anyway it's the same thing that's going to happen to all those single-digit IQ "kids" over at GW who claim they'll never watch SyFy again, boo hoo. They're full of crap. Drama queens never have the courage of their publicly stated convictions so let's stop feeding their overinflated egos. They're hardly deserving of our attention.

 

[Mr. A]

Stargate Fans???

Another thing I find ironic about Syfy's letter:

It was addressed to "Stargate fans". So it seems Syfy sent the letter to the wrong address! True fans of the Stargate franchise aren't the ones who are putting out the kind of crazy arguments Syfy has to go through the trouble of refuting. Those are mostly newcomers, kids who knew nothing about the franchise before SGU came along and don't know any better than to have emotional fits and question even Statistics and common sense (I'm not saying ALL kids are like that - we have some very smart young fans of SGU over here!).

But then again, had they sent the letter to the fans of the Stargate franchise over here on GateFans, we wouldn't know what to do with the content of it either and would probably have forwarded it anyway to GW. So maybe Craig Engler should have written something like: "Open letter to GW admins and the loud kids throwing tantrums over there".

 

[Gatefan1976]

Let's not lose focus here folks. (Can you believe I'm the one to say that???) We can go back and forth all day about who cancelled what, blah blah blah, but the issue here is about GW unfairly dissing SyFy.

Engler is no dummy. He has to know that JM and Darren got together and had a cyber 'girls day at the spa'/'you jerk my chain/I'll jerk yours' type of thing. It's pathetically obvious. Darren's laughably juvenile open letter to SyFy followed wayyyyyyyy too closely on the heels of JM's shilling for GW in his blog. JM clearly has an axe to grind in regards to SyFy and is smart enough to get someone of Darren's low IQ to play the part of "cat's paw". (Look it up) Engler knows someone riled up the herd and he simply responded very diplomatically. (I still contend that he really didn't need to. Drama queens don't deserve attention and their threats of leaving SyFy forever are about as believable as the tooth fairy.)

SGA is gone. SG-1 is gone. SGU is gone (thankfully). There is no Stargate in the pipeline. Blatant lies have been told from TPTB. They have a track record of it. They were instrumental in killing off the Stargate TV concept. This can't be denied. Case closed. If we're going to look back in anger it should be at the ones responsible for killing Stargate, not at the lesser players like SyFy.

It's good that Engler is willing to engage in communication with SyFy viewers. Our goal of getting quality sci-fi programming would be better served if we concentrated on conveying that to people like Craig Engler instead of just analyzing the laughable crap that comes out of GW, fun as that may be at times.

SyFy is still our best bet for sci-fi programming. Anyone who says they're never watching it again because of the demise of SGU is nothing more than a petulant child. Humans are drawn to their interests. If one is interested in sci-fi or supernatural genre programming they will be drawn to the SyFy channel. It's as simple as that. Boycotting generally doesn't work, even less so for threats of boycotting. Just like the way certain people claimed they wouldn't join this very site at its inception yet ended up here anyway it's the same thing that's going to happen to all those single-digit IQ "kids" over at GW who claim they'll never watch SyFy again, boo hoo. They're full of crap. Drama queens never have the courage of their publicly stated convictions so let's stop feeding their overinflated egos. They're hardly deserving of our attention.

Oh my god!!!!

GET OUT OF MY MIND!!!!!



PS: I wouldn't call Darren a cats paw, I wouldn't even go so far as a Stoolie .

 

[Graybrew1]

Let's not lose focus here folks. (Can you believe I'm the one to say that???) We can go back and forth all day about who cancelled what, blah blah blah, but the issue here is about GW unfairly dissing SyFy.

Engler is no dummy. He has to know that JM and Darren got together and had a cyber 'girls day at the spa'/'you jerk my chain/I'll jerk yours' type of thing. It's pathetically obvious. Darren's laughably juvenile open letter to SyFy followed wayyyyyyyy too closely on the heels of JM's shilling for GW in his blog. JM clearly has an axe to grind in regards to SyFy and is smart enough to get someone of Darren's low IQ to play the part of "cat's paw". (Look it up) Engler knows someone riled up the herd and he simply responded very diplomatically. (I still contend that he really didn't need to. Drama queens don't deserve attention and their threats of leaving SyFy forever are about as believable as the tooth fairy.)

SGA is gone. SG-1 is gone. SGU is gone (thankfully). There is no Stargate in the pipeline. Blatant lies have been told from TPTB. They have a track record of it. They were instrumental in killing off the Stargate TV concept. This can't be denied. Case closed. If we're going to look back in anger it should be at the ones responsible for killing Stargate, not at the lesser players like SyFy.

It's good that Engler is willing to engage in communication with SyFy viewers. Our goal of getting quality sci-fi programming would be better served if we concentrated on conveying that to people like Craig Engler instead of just analyzing the laughable crap that comes out of GW, fun as that may be at times.

SyFy is still our best bet for sci-fi programming. Anyone who says they're never watching it again because of the demise of SGU is nothing more than a petulant child. Humans are drawn to their interests. If one is interested in sci-fi or supernatural genre programming they will be drawn to the SyFy channel. It's as simple as that. Boycotting generally doesn't work, even less so for threats of boycotting. Just like the way certain people claimed they wouldn't join this very site at its inception yet ended up here anyway it's the same thing that's going to happen to all those single-digit IQ "kids" over at GW who claim they'll never watch SyFy again, boo hoo. They're full of crap. Drama queens never have the courage of their publicly stated convictions so let's stop feeding their overinflated egos. They're hardly deserving of our attention.

That is indeed an excellent point. I agree.

 

[Mr. A]

Let's not lose focus here folks. (Can you believe I'm the one to say that???) We can go back and forth all day about who cancelled what, blah blah blah, but the issue here is about GW unfairly dissing SyFy.

Engler is no dummy. He has to know that JM and Darren got together and had a cyber 'girls day at the spa'/'you jerk my chain/I'll jerk yours' type of thing. It's pathetically obvious. Darren's laughably juvenile open letter to SyFy followed wayyyyyyyy too closely on the heels of JM's shilling for GW in his blog. JM clearly has an axe to grind in regards to SyFy and is smart enough to get someone of Darren's low IQ to play the part of "cat's paw". (Look it up) Engler knows someone riled up the herd and he simply responded very diplomatically. (I still contend that he really didn't need to. Drama queens don't deserve attention and their threats of leaving SyFy forever are about as believable as the tooth fairy.)

SGA is gone. SG-1 is gone. SGU is gone (thankfully). There is no Stargate in the pipeline. Blatant lies have been told from TPTB. They have a track record of it. They were instrumental in killing off the Stargate TV concept. This can't be denied. Case closed. If we're going to look back in anger it should be at the ones responsible for killing Stargate, not at the lesser players like SyFy.

It's good that Engler is willing to engage in communication with SyFy viewers. Our goal of getting quality sci-fi programming would be better served if we concentrated on conveying that to people like Craig Engler instead of just analyzing the laughable crap that comes out of GW, fun as that may be at times.

SyFy is still our best bet for sci-fi programming. Anyone who says they're never watching it again because of the demise of SGU is nothing more than a petulant child. Humans are drawn to their interests. If one is interested in sci-fi or supernatural genre programming they will be drawn to the SyFy channel. It's as simple as that. Boycotting generally doesn't work, even less so for threats of boycotting. Just like the way certain people claimed they wouldn't join this very site at its inception yet ended up here anyway it's the same thing that's going to happen to all those single-digit IQ "kids" over at GW who claim they'll never watch SyFy again, boo hoo. They're full of crap. Drama queens never have the courage of their publicly stated convictions so let's stop feeding their overinflated egos. They're hardly deserving of our attention.

:tealc_new049:

 

[Bluce Ree]

Probably. To Syfy, they are two seperate fees. If SGA is making them a profit, then they would renew it. Sorta how SG-1 and SGA ran together. SG-1 in the end just became too expensive. SGA also would have 100 eps under the belt and the reruns would also make some money for the network as well. Like I said in the ratings thread. 2nd and 3rd runs of SGA were pulling in almost 800,000 viewers.

Ok, so I wasn't wrong. Had Syfy wished to keep both series going, MGM would have obliged.

 

[Bluce Ree]

Another thing I find ironic about Syfy's letter:

It was addressed to "Stargate fans". So it seems Syfy sent the letter to the wrong address! [...]

 

[Gatefan1976]

Ok, so I wasn't wrong. Had Syfy wished to keep both series going, MGM would have obliged.

I think what everyone is getting to is Bluce, MGM as an entity could not afford to foot the bill for both, even with Syfy's contributions. Brad, as a person who, lets face it, produced results for 12 years no matter what anyone thinks of the guy, was left with the option of what direction to take. he chose with his heart and not with his head.

 

[Bluce Ree]

I think what everyone is getting to is Bluce, MGM as an entity could not afford to foot the bill for both, even with Syfy's contributions. Brad, as a person who, lets face it, produced results for 12 years no matter what anyone thinks of the guy, was left with the option of what direction to take. he chose with his heart and not with his head.

There's no bill to foot if Syfy is paying full pop per episode. The cost is borne by the network purchasing the series, not the production house. MGM is out to make profits, not produce free public access programming. If Syfy had wished to keep paying for both series, MGM wouldn't have been forced to dump one for the other.