Without having given it much critical thought, my current thinking is that shows are rated and positioned based on "pilot impact" to such a over weighted priority that any type of show with a story that requires development gets abandoned because no one wants to take a risk on an expensive time slot, and no one will see the show enough to get into it if it just gets dumped into the cheap seats.

So either they back it in the beginning and get cold feet about developing the viewership (because, if it doesn't grow enough over time it's money lost and they'll look dumb) or they require "that people get it right away" and you end up with something like the aberration that was the "V" remake.

 

That's if you're lucky - more likely, the pilot will never get made because a new reality TV show will convey every last thing it's about in the first 20 seconds (10 if it involves Snookie) and be an "instant hit" or flop.

 

On the bright side, shows are trending towards re-run value, and it's a lot easier to catch up on old seasons and get into a current show - which defies the conventional thinking on viewership growth. As a trend, it can only help shows that require some time to develop, which could help quality scifi make a comeback.

I vote for " CONTACT ". It is not only a place but a exciting presentation of a intelligent entity sending a message in a mathematical form set to the beat of a human heart.

 

zorro

.............................................

Contact Film (Wiki)

 

......... Contact often suggests that cultural conflicts between religion and science would be brought to the fore by the apparent contact with aliens that occurs in the film. A point of discussion is the existence of God, with several different positions being portrayed.^[8] A description of an emotionally intense experience by Palmer Joss, which he describes as seeing God, is met by Arroway's suggestion that "some part of [him] needed to have it"—that it was a significant personal experience but indicative of nothing greater. Joss compares his certainty that God exists to Arroway's certainty that she loved her deceased father, despite her being unable to prove it.^[8]

 

Contact depicts intense debate occurring as a result of the apparent contact with aliens. Many clips of well-known debate shows such as Crossfire and Larry King Live are shown, with participants discussing the implications of the message, asking whether it is proof of the existence of alien life or of God, and whether science is encroaching upon religious ground by, as one believer puts it, "talking to your god for you."^[24] The head of a religious organization casts doubt on the morality of building the machine, noting: "We don't even know whether [the aliens] believe in God." The first machine is ultimately destroyed by a religious extremist, in the belief that building it was detrimental to humankind.^[8]

Edited September 8, 201213 yr by zorro

I keep waiting for the next really great science fiction show, a few years ago it looked liked we were about to enter a new age of science fiction but then quite suddenly most of the science fiction was cancelled, often in mid season hanging. I have been told is was due to the high costs of producing good science fiction but it seems to have been replaced with fantasy horror shows that hardly seem less expensive to make... possibly the days of good science fiction TV has passed and fantasy horror has taken it's place but shows like Grimm or other such fantasy shows hardly hardly satisfy my craving for good TV...

Have you tried Fringe?