A FLASH in the Pan!

Source: MICHAEL HINMAN of SyFy Portal
Submitted by: Tim J. Mapes (SyFy Portal & SoSF Fan)

Finally, it looks like everyone can say goodbye to what some critics have called one of the worst SF television shows to come along in quite so time. SCI FI Channel’s “Flash Gordon” is history, according to Variety.

While no formal announcement has come from the NBC Universal owned cable franchise, Flash is nowhere to be found on the network’s upcoming schedule now or in the distant future.

SCI FI Channel president David Howe told trade publication Variety back on March 21 that the network didn’t treat the character of “Flash Gordon” the way he should’ve been treated, and the network may try to do it again sometime … just not right now,”…. which reading between the lines means that “Flash Gordon” is no longer on the schedule.

Even with the introduction of Howe to SCI FI Channel viewers, who reports to longtime chief Bonnie Hammer, it appears that the network still doesn’t seem to think it’s worth giving the official announcement on different shows in its program lineup.

Exactly the same kind if dismissal occured with fan favorite “The Dresden Files.” One minute fans get the official announcement that the show is changing shooting locations in Canada to help defer production costs, and the next thing they know, the show is gone from SCI FI’s schedule. Even after month’s of a letter and drumstick campaign no progress has been made on getting that show back, and it was a good one….so for the few fans of the “Flash Gordon” series? Fo-getta-bout-it! Since SCIFI’s abrupt and rude decision to cancel “Dresden,” Paul Blackthorne, the star of the series, has moved on to other projects.

SyFy Portal reported through sources last September that “Flash Gordon” was on the chopping block. However, the SCI FI Channel responded officially to the online site that the series was not in trouble, and that while ratings were below expectations, the show’s production was a lot cheaper than many of its other scripted series and that it didn’t need to generate as much advertising revenue as shows like “Battlestar Galactica,” “Eureka” and “Stargate: Atlantis” needed.

A month later, SCI FI Channel offered a conference call to reporters, with executive producer Peter Hume, who admitted that some storyline changes were taking place, including more action on Mongo instead of Earth, but that the cast and crew were confident that the SCI FI Channel was standing behind the series.

“You can’t compare us to ‘Battlestar Galactica.’ That’s not fair,” Hume said at the time. “It’s not fair because you’re going to judge a show on the show. And so you could compare us to ‘Chuck’ [on NBC], but what we’re doing is with so much less than they have. I’m not asking for that as an excuse. I’m just saying that there’s a reality of what we have to operate in and there’s only so much visual effects we can do.”

“Flash Gordon” starred Eric Johnson as the title character, John Ralston, Gina Holden, Jody Racicot and fan favorite Karen Cliche. It was filmed in Aldergrove, British Columbia, just south of Vancouver where the SCI FI Channel films many of its other series including “Battlestar Galactica” and “Stargate: Atlantis,” and where its new backdoor pilot “Caprica” will be filmed this summer.