In her positive review for the series premiere of “V” last week, Chicago Tribune TV columnist and blogger Muareen Ryan took a moment to praise the re-imagined version of the 80’s classic and to criticize several other current genre shows, including “Flash Forward” and “Stargate: Universe.”
“(And let’s face it, we sci-fi fans are a frequently disappointed lot. ABC hasn’t quite managed to quite recapture the magic of “Lost” with any of its subsequent genre-flavored offerings. “FlashForward” still seems like a show that is more about its concept than its characters. And the other notable fall genre offering, Syfy’s “Stargate Universe,” is a boring, poorly plotted, lamentably sexist mess.),” Ryan wrote in her review.
The review caught the attention of “Universe” producer Brad Wright, who responded in the comments section.
“Maureen, I find people who write “I have no axe to grind” are often the ones most likely to grind axes. Taking the time to slam SGU in your review for “V” is not politically tinged, it’s just petty,” Wright commented. “I really wish you hadn’t given up on our show so quickly. I was surprised, considering your past (occasional) support of the franchise. You can’t have seen a finished version of “Darkness” or “Light” because the weren’t even closed to being finished at the time of your review. I don’t know what the network sent you. SGU seems to be a love it or hate it sort of show. You obviously fall in the latter camp, but fortunately there are enough viewers and reviewers who think SGU is neither boring, poorly plotted, or sexist to keep us on the air long after “V” is just a letter in the alphabet again.”
The comment lead to Ryan responding in a separate post on her blog to Wright about the new show, saying that she was “predisposed” to like the new entry in the “Stargate” franchise as a fan of the first two shows.
“If I seem passionate in my disappointment in “Stargate Universe,” that’s only because, in my experience, people are more intensely disappointed by things they had high hopes for. I’m not demanding that “SGU” to be a clone of past “Stargate” shows nor am I secretly expecting it to be another “Battlestar.” I just wanted “SGU’s” characters and stories to emotionally or intellectually engage me. That’s all I ask of any show. That hasn’t happened,” Ryan responded.
Ryan’s comments echo what a vocal minority of “Stargate” fans are saying about the new series. (Many of them have commented along those lines on our review of the pilot here at Slice of SciFi).
And the producers and stars of the show have also taken to commenting back to some of the criticisms leveled at the show.
Both “V” and “SGU” have been the subject of a lot of debate both on this site and in our voice mail show. Reaction to both seems to be fairly polarized with some fans liking what they see and others not caring for the new series.
K9 says
Who decides based on reviewers as to what they watch? I mean I use them as a guide but in the end I make up my own mind as to what I like. SGU needs a chance without being killed off as does V. Once it is on for awhile let it have it.
Michel Daw says
hmmm. I am really liking both of them. I must be a mutant.
Jayson says
I’m not quite blown away by “V” yet but I’m willing to give it a chance and SGU is fantastic.
Andrew McDonald says
My only complaint with V is that I thought the pilot should have been two hours instead of one. Cramming it into 1 hour made it feel forced. I will be tuning in tomorrow night (at least my DVR will be) and will give it a chance. Now that it’s all laid out on the table I want to see what they do with it.
SGU is fantastic but I do hope they work there way off the survival thing even if it’s just moving it to a back burner as they get on with doing something else.
Elyse says
I’m curious how you know for a fact that Maureen Ryan’s comments “echo what a vocal minority of Stargate” fans? For every fan that posts on the net, there are probably hundreds of thousands of viewers who don’t bother and do their ‘voting’ by simply changing the TV channel.
Mitch from Omaha says
She’s not wrong. SGU sucks the little one. I loved V, and I’m still unsure about Flashforward. Funny how the producers of SGU keep trying to shut down anyone who has a negative opinion, whether in blog form, articles such as MR’s, or on fan forums. If they’d only spend that much energy writing their scripts instead of using paint-by-numbers bullpucky, they wouldn’t have so many disappointed former fans on their hands, now, would they?
K9 says
The point is these are the same type of people that bad mouthed SG1 and Atlantis and now they love these 2 shows. I know almost everyone will hate me but I think Atlantis was a very weak second to SG1. I am hopefult that SGU will become second after it gets it legs and people open themselves to the format. After all SGU is not suburbia in space. Even SG1 with save the earth every week was getting old and I liked it.
Chris W says
I like SGU so far, more than Atlantis and BSG in its last season. I think a lot of fans are just taking the show way too seriously with claims that the show is racist and sexist.
Thrillho777 says
V is one episode in…nothing stellar about that first episode either. Let’s see where the ratings go on V over the next 3-4 weeks. My guess is week 2 sees a giant drop. The 1st episode moved far to fast and although it had some great ideas…I felt it could have been done better.
FlashForward is a great “Lost” ripoff. Maybe I am a sucker for the format…but I really enjoy seeing a “Lost” type show while “Lost” is off the air. I also feel like the actors in Flashforward are much better than in V.
SG:U is exactly what its been stated as…Love It. Or Hate. – Being on Syfy actually gives it a chance to really turn into something for the Love It fans.
Shouldn’t we all just say what we really want to…CHUCK dominates all of these shows! HAHA!
TC says
Once again the producers of Stargate demonstrate why they should never be allowed to speak publicly, seriously guys get a PR person and save yourselves from your chronic foot in mouth disease.
Brad you counter perceived pettiness with pettiness??? Not very professional, you have every right to voice your disagreement with a review however you might want to work on your wording and lose the unprofessional attitude.
Michael I don’t suppose you have any actual research to prove that it is a vocal minority do you? Or are you just trying to trivialise anyone’s opinion who doesn’t agree with yours, an attitude very similar to the producers at Stargate BTW.
Michael Hickerson says
TC–I’m not trying to trivialize the opinion of anyone who does or does not like SG:U.
I do think the numbers for the show wouldn’t be good if it was as bad as the vocal detractors say it is. The numbers have stayed fairly steady for the show…
Mich67 says
I love SGU. Until V aired it was the only program I watched every week. I watched the first eppy of V and while I found the resistance part exciting…the actual aliens were more than a little boring never the less it was enough for me to give it a second change and I will watch again this Tuesday night. That’s more than I gave Flash Forward(yawn). As for SGU…serious drama and high quality SciFi…the best new show this season IMHO.
TC says
Actually the numbers for SGU have been going steadily down in little plateaus, which could be backing up the idea that people are giving it a chance for a while and then giving up. Personally I think it is too early to tell.
Live +SD ratings 1.5, 1.5, 1.3, 1.3, 1.3, 1.1
Viewers 2,346,000 2,447,000 2,099,000 2,015,000 1,974,000 1,626,000
rorschachalive says
SGU does have potential the ship is large even though not all of it is available to them but they need time to figure out what they can do. I just hope it doesn’t turn into another baddie of the week show.
JayW says
The second episode of V was better than the pilot. However, right now, it seems more like a police show with a sci-fi setting, rather than a Sci-Fi show.
This is the problem in my opinion people. The networks/producers are really trying to mainstream these shows to take the geeky sci-fi stuff completely out. The “vocal minority” are probably the people who really like REAL science fiction. Think about the light years between “Encounter at Farpoint” and SGU. That Trek stuff was geeky sci-fi. (I love it). I love Lost and BSG, but I think these incredible shows have the ironic role of killing the genre. Not by what they actually did (they enhanced the genre), but what they are apparently spawning.
JayW says
“…but what they are apparently spawning.”
Let me further clarify — Because of shows like BSG/Lost, the networks or producers seem unwilling/afraid/bored?/who knows to produce traditional sci-fi. The Carter’s, Rodney’s, Gordie/Data’s of the genre, are largely disappearing. Yes-they are geeky. Yes-they are cheesy. I loved the way Carter and Rodney characters sort of ‘knew’ their geeky role in a sci-fi show and poked fun of themselves.
In V – there is nothing close to this kind of character. I’m still giving this show a chance though.
In SGU – Rush is a unlikeable jerk, not like Rodney, like Hitler. Rodney’s narcissism was excusable because he had a likability to him. Rush is just a jerk. Eli is a slacker with no confidence. Yippie.
Here’s an idea – The ship comes to life and manifests itself in a new Cyborg character in the tradition of Data… This character kills Rush and becomes Hell bent on getting the humans home, because that is it’s Prime Directive. NOW YOU HAVE A SCI FI SHOW. By the way, make sure the Cyborg character has a twinge of humor to him and knows how to make fun of himself because he is a GEEKY, NON REALISTIC, character in a NON-SERIOUS sci-fi show.