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’s not much in the way of sci fi TV news this past week so I am going to take this opportunity to look back at some of the biggest stories involving genre television from this past year.
1. Henry Cavill in Flux: Mr. Cavill has had a rocky few months to wrap up 2022 and that began with the announcement that he would be departing from Netflix’s fantasy series The Witcher after its upcoming third season. (Liam Hemsworth will then be stepping in as Geralt of Rivia. Maybe Netflix was hoping nobody would notice the change in actors?) Cavill then announced that he would be returning to the DCEU as Superman and appeared in an after-credits scene for Black Adam. But no need to stick around for that anymore because James Gunn and Peter Safran were announced as co-CEOs of DC Studios and became the kryptonite to Cavill’s Superman when they announced that they are going in a different direction with the character. But it didn’t take Cavill long to land back on his feet as Amazon announced that he will be starring in and executive producing a Warhammer 40,000 series that will expand into a franchise. So fret not for the chiseled one because the big paycheck is still coming and he will be back on the small screen before you know it.
2. Stargate Rising: Here’s a story that has not received a lot of media attention but that should definitely be of interest to sci fi fans. With Amazon buying MGM studios, they are moving forward with a new Stargate series as expected. It will not be based on the pilot script penned by Brad Wright, though, and they are currently soliciting pitches for new series ideas. The Expanse creators Mark Fergus and Hawk Ostby have shown an interest in working on the franchise as well as the producers of The Boys and of course J.J. Abrams has to throw his hat in the ring. (He has touched almost every other major sci fi franchise, why let this one pass by?) Whether they are looking to do a complete reboot for Prime Video or carry on from the existing live-action franchise remains to be seen.
3. The CW Purge: It was announced early in the year that The CW might be up for sale with new ownership taking a majority stake in the network and prior owners Warner Bros. and CBS Entertainment Group holding a minority share. Nexstar Media Group ended up coming onboard as the new majority owner and the network started purging shows prior to the change in leadership. Cancellations of The Legends of Tomorrow, Batwoman, Legacies, Naomi, Charmed, and Roswell New Mexico were announced last Spring. That was followed by cancellations of Tom Swift and Stargirl, and The Flash, Nancy Drew, and Riverdale will all end this season. The status of Superman & Lois, Kung Fu, The Winchesters, and upcoming series Gotham Knights is uncertain, but it seems more likely than not that most if not all of those will not continue beyond the current season. The new ownership is targeting an older demographic and plans to fill up the schedule with inexpensive acquisitions which may leave little room for genre entries. Say what you want about the old CW, but at least it supported sci fi and fantasy television and brought us the Arrow-verse and other notable genre shows. There was some hope that HBO Max might save some of the DC Comics-based series, especially fan-favorite Legends of Tomorrow. But read on . . .
4. Warner Bros. Discovery Purge: Speaking of purges, the merger of Warner Bros. and Discovery has brought some shakeup at the networks owned by those companies, particularly HBO and HBO Max. The cancellations have included shows like Westworld, Raised by Wolves, The Nevers, and could even impact some of the Game of Thrones spin-offs. They have also erased from existence shows like Final Space. And HBO Max is pulling originals from streaming with the plans that they will move to an ad-supported space at some point in the future. It certainly seems like the right time to re-evaluate whether it makes sense to keep your HBO/HBO Max subscription going. And fans hoping that the Arrow-verse could continue on HBO Max will have to look elsewhere.
5. The Netflix Churn Continues: Despite all the cancellations on The CW and HBO/HBO Max, these networks have nothing on Netflix. That streamer has had the Netflix Red Queen working overtime with her “Off With Their Heads!” verdicts and shows getting chopped down on a regular basis. Warrior Nun, The Midnight Club, Fate: The Winx Saga, and The Imperfects were all cancelled over the past few months despite each having a three-week run in the Netflix Top 10. And plenty more shows have been sent to the Network Executioner as the streamer keeps churning through originals to draw in new subscribers while failing to support those shows beyond a season or two. Netflix experienced a drop in subscribers at the beginning of the year which put the streamer in panic mode, but they don’t seem to understand that indiscriminate cancelling of originals is not the way to build back the subscriber base. And that may just help facilitate what may be coming next . . .
6. Peak TV May Have Peaked: With all this cancellation activity and purging of content, it is worth asking if Peak TV has made it past the peak and the if the bubble is on the verge of bursting. Other entertainment companies are having behind-the-scenes shakeups like AMC Networks and even Disney, and there has to be a point where this glut of programming (and all the money being spent) takes its toll. Who can possibly keep up with all of the new shows coming out, even if you are just watching the sci fi and fantasy entries? (I have enough trouble just keeping the schedule of genre entries straight each week.) I am currently tracking well over a hundred active genre shows and new development announcements are coming all the time. But over the past few months, the cancellations have escalated and it looks like this might be the trend going into next year. There is an iron economic law that is quickly ignored by economists and business leaders that should know better when the money is rolling in: the numbers can’t keep going up. Production of television shows dipped during COVID, but increased this past year. But that may very well be the last burst from Peak TV. Enjoy the selection of shows you have now because it could start declining rapidly in the years to come.
7. Westworld Goes South: I have already mentioned the Westworld cancellation, but it is worth taking a closer look at that one because it could be a leading indicator of what is to come. HBO poured a lot of money into that high-profile show, and that sustained it across four seasons with the assumption that it would get a fifth and final year to wrap up its storylines. But as the series headed into murky territory in its third and fourth year, the audience started to decline, especially this past season. Still, it seemed like HBO would at least give the show the chance to wrap up all its storylines–convoluted as they are–so that this mega-budget series would end with some sense of resolution. But the network pulled the plugged and it was quickly booted from streaming on HBO Max with plans to move the show to an ad-supported platform for encore runs. This puts other high-dollar originals on notice and could be a sign of what is to come as the Peak TV bubble starts to burst:
8. Daredevil Will Be Born Again: It was not all bad news last year as Disney+ announced that a new Daredevil series is in the works. The return of Charlie Cox as Daredevil had already been teased in Spider-Man: No Way Home, and Disney+ officially announced the new series earlier in 2022 with the character also making an appearance in She-Hulk: Attorney at Law. Fans of the Netflix Daredevil series had been fighting for a fourth season of the show since it was cancelled due to infighting between that streamer and the House of Mouse. But it is unclear if they will be getting the fourth season they hoped for. The Disney+ series is being referred to as a “soft reboot”, and so far only Charlie Cox and Vincent D’Onofrio are set to return. If the new show ignores the highly-regarded three seasons that came before it, the backlash could be swift, and Disney may wish it went a different direction with the property.
9. Fantasy Rising: One trend that was definitely evident the last half of the year was audience interest in epic fantasy. We already had shows like The Witcher (Netflix), The Wheel of Time (Prime Video), and Shadow and Bone (Netflix) that have drawn in large audiences, and more have arrived on the streaming services. Prime Video and HBO battled it out in late Summer with the mega-dollar productions The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power and House of the Dragon, both of which pulled in massive viewership. The early buzz on Disney+’s Willow looks good as well. Whether these shows will be able to sustain themselves as Peak TV waivers remains to be seen. But now is certainly a good time to be a fan of epic fantasy.
10. Mystery Science Theater 3000 Returns (Again): You can’t keep a good show down. Well . . . that is if it can be made on a budget raised from crowdfunding. MST3K creator Joel Hodgson revived the show a few years back with a crowd-funding campaign which led to two new seasons that streamed on Netflix. After that service lost interest in the property, Hodgson went back to the fanbase and raised money again for yet another season. And this time, he created an exclusive platform for the show. The new episodes of the show are available for streaming at Gizmoplex, and I am guessing this one will stick around as long as Hodgson can keep it funded and has an interest in producing new episodes.
The Sched: Next week kicks off Mid-Season with Quantum Leap (NBC) and Ghosts (CBS) returning from hiatus along with premieres for Fantasy Island Season 2 (FOX), Star Wars: The Bad Batch Season 2 (Disney+), and Mayfair Witches (AMC/AMC+). You can see all the premieres for January and beyond at this link.
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 you can see the premieres for all the upcoming genre entries at this link.
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.
