Sci Fi TV Week in Review: Johnny Jay’s irreverent, snarky, and caffeine-fueled look back at the past week in sci fi TV in five minutes or less.
There was not much in the way of sci fi TV news this past week, but the Lord of the Rings prequel series The Rings of Power had its debut on Thursday and immediately started getting review-bombed, so I thought I would comment on that. The negative reaction has nothing to do with the quality of the show itself which has received plenty of praise leading up to this premiere. Instead, the review-bombing is yet another expression of the toxic politics that have gripped the U.S. and much of the world as people are bashing the show for diversity in the casting (reviews have been temporarily turned off by the service).
Sure, the traditional view of races of Middle Earth is that they are white in color and Tolkien himself often refers to his characters as fair-skinned. But it was a very different world at the time he wrote his books, and Middle Earth is based on Europe which was dominated by white races. Things have changed since then and we live in a world where many cultures and races have learned to live together and we should be proud of that. The fact that the producers brought in non-white actors is neither an example of “woke” politics nor is it an affront on the source material. It is just acknowledging the diversity of our world and trying to give some representation of that in the cast. And it is not necessarily retconning Middle Earth because Tolkien did not specify that there were no non-white races in his world.
For those wasting their time review-bombing the show for its inclusion of other races, I have only this to say: grow up and find something better to do. We are a world of many people, many races, many cultures, and many beliefs, and that is our future. We will continue to live together as a diverse population, and despite setbacks such as the recent increase in racism, xenophobia, and intolerance, our future is a world of inclusion. Face the future and help our country and world grow to a place where all people can live together peacefully and in freedom. Don’t be part of the problem that is taking us in the wrong direction, be part of the solution building for the future.
Okay, off my soap box for now and back to sci fi TV news.
HBO Max has been going through shakeups with the merger of Warner Bros. and Discovery, but that has not worked against the animated Harley Quinn TV series. That show, which just kicked off its third season, has been renewed for a fourth year that will stream at some point in 2023.
In ratings news, HBO’s House of the Dragon improved on its premiere ratings and pulled in over ten million viewers for its second episode across all platforms and with encore viewing. Not surprisingly, it has been renewed for a second season. The Sandman held at Number 1 in the Netflix Top 10 for English Language shows for its third week, but overall viewing dropped. Neil Gaiman has warned that if viewership does not meet up to the expectations of Netflix execs, the show may not get a second season because it is quite expensive to produce. More on the streaming and linear ratings for sci fi TV shows at CancelledSciFi.com.
Next week brings only one genre premiere as the sci fi/horror/superhero series The Imperfects has its bow on Thursday (you can see the trailer at this link). All episodes will be available for viewing that day. You can see all the premieres for September and beyond at this link plus you can see the Weekly Listings here.
Did I miss anything? Probably because I am still counting up my pennies to come up with enough money to pay the subscription fees to watch all the streaming sci fi and fantasy shows this Fall, so let me know in the comments below.
Be sure to keep up with the news during the week with This Week in Sci Fi TV and r/SciFiTV.
SciFiTVSite.com: Follow our Sci Fi TV Schedule for all the currently airing and upcoming sci fi and fantasy television shows, and keep up with what is airing/streaming each week with our Weekly Listings.
CancelledSciFi.com: Keep up with the status updates of all the currently airing sci fi and fantasy shows with our Cancellation Watch posts. And be sure to follow the Cancelled Sci Fi Twitter Site for breaking news and updates.
