Enjoy it while it lasts

It won't last. You know it, I know it, Sci-Fi nuts know it. There is absolutely, positively, no friggin' way that Battlestar Galactica TV series will stay in the primetime slots the mini-series is currently enjoying. No way. Primetime is, afterall, reserved only for major sporting events, crappy US sitcoms, bland and interchangeable lifestyle programs, and specials hosted by Eddie Maguire.

Now, please don't take me as some sort of Sci-Fi fanatic. Aside from Star Wars and the Alien films (Alien vs Predator doesn't count), I generally don't follow science fiction. Sci-Fi TV shows, in particular, have never really maintained my interest for too long a period. But I appreciate that there is an audience out there for these types of programs, populated by both hardcore sci-fi fans and casual fans such as myself.

The fact remains, however, that mainstream Australian TV stations rarely give these shows the chance to build an audience (Foxtel is excluded, though sci-fi on cable is usually placed at inappropriate times). The history is not good:

• The X-Files: Initially given a chance to thrive, the X-Files definitely built a following in Australia that was maintained for a number of years. However, Channel 10 eventually moved the show away from the slot in which it was best performing (Wednesday 8.30, right after The Simpsons), confusing the audience. Though the audience numbers probably would eventually dwindle due to the fact that episodes were getting further and further away from the original premise, the show was still, for the most part, better than most of the crap on television at the time (when was the last time anyone ever had a water cooler conversation over Suddenly Susan anyway?). In the show's final years, Channel 10 really just gave up, showing the program in two hour blocks on a Saturday night (y'know, when no one is friggin' home?), and then cutting it halfway through the season. They eventually showed the series finale in prime time but everyone had missed so many episodes that it was hardly worth watching.
  
  
• Star Trek: Now, this show, to me, is as boring as batshit. Ok, I find batshit a bit more exciting because it comes from a bat, and bats are cool. Nevertheless, Trek is a popular series and a cultural phenomenon in its own right. What respect is this show and any of its offspring given in mainstream TV? 12.30 on a Tuesday night. To put this in perspective, Channel 9's karoake crapfest, Starstruck (the show where Doug Mulray continues his slide into unfunny blandness, and Vanessa Amarosi, who hasn't had a hit since before the Sydney Olympics, dispenses career advice), is put on in primetime a full FIVE hours beforehand on the same Channel. And Rove[Die] is on THREE hours before it on another Channel. Now neither Rove nor Doug Mulray are cultural phenomenons nor more exciting than the more-boring-than-batshit Trek, yet they are treated with some measure of respect. Why is this?
  
  
• Farscape: Now, in my opinion, this show was pretty ordinary. Everything looked like it was filmed on a Fox Studios set (which, funnily enough, it was), and the special effects still had a long way to go. But I was still willing to give it a chance since it was rather popular in the US and it was different to everything else screening in primetime. True to form, however, Channel 9 didn't give it a chance and it was dumped (in non-ratings period too, if I remember correctly... an even bigger insult, since ratings aren't as important and the program was most likely replaced by King of Queens).
  

With these in mind, I have little faith that Battlestar will be given a fair go. To be fair, Channel 10 has a better track record when it comes to these kinds of show (afterall, it did give X-Files a chance for a while). Heck, it even continues to play shows in primetime no matter how badly they are performing (take The Hothouse for example: a show whose ratings made Echo Point look like a sensation). However, despite the fact that, from all reports, the show is actually pretty damn good and improves as the season develops, do not be surprised when Channel 10 begins slotting the show into progressively later and later timeslots before it disappears completely.