Battlestar Returns to Raves

Channel's 'cutting-edge' new name ripped to shreds

(NEWSER) - The Sci Fi channel's decision to change its name to "Syfy" is a blunder of galactic proportions, Linda Holmes reports for NPR. The channel says it wants to show that it's about more than just traditional science fiction, notes Holmes, and has evidently chosen to do so by picking a name that sounds just like the old one but "makes absolutely no sense whatsoever and has nothing to do with anything." More»

Ratings up since 'Sci-Fi Channel' name was dropped

(NEWSER) - The Sci-Fi Channel's bizarre name change to "SyFy" attracted near-universal mockery earlier this year, but it looks like the network's execs are having the last laugh. Ratings are up in double-digits across all key demographics since the name change, boosted by hit new series Warehouse 13 and the continued success of Stargate Universe and Sanctuary, both of which have been picked up for new seasons More»

Wired picks the year's best

(NEWSER) - This has been a vintage year for pop culture, say Wired writers listing their year's best in fields from film to video games to microsculpture.

• Stephen Colbert's "hyper-real genius" made the year for Scott Thill, who believes "Earth’s most relevant living cultural critic" is long overdue for an Emmy for The Colbert Report.

Joss Whedon, Judd Apatow, HBO prominently featured

(NEWSER) - From the standard (No. 16, Friday Night Lights) to the quirky (No. 29, Wonder Showzen), the long-running (No. 8, Lost) to the canceled-too-soon (No. 4, Freaks and Geeks), The Onion runs down the 30 best shows of the '00s:

• No. 1, The Wire: This drama “unfolded like a great American novel.”
• No. 2, The Sopranos: A brilliant cast served up “soap opera, mob intrigue, and surrealist digressions.”
• No. 3, Arrested Development: The cult sensation “not only makes viewers laugh, it makes them feel smart.”

Obama parallels and standard plot bother some critics

(NEWSER) - Most critics agree that ABC’s much-hyped alien drama V is a well-made show with good acting. But does this remake of the 1983 miniseries feel original? Is it a conservative screed? Here’s what they’re saying:

• Who cares if V is believable (it’s not)? All Heather Havrilesky wants is for “these aliens to be a little bit different than the last imaginary aliens.” But as she writes for Salon, V swiftly gets to the business of “building a resistance,” and “suddenly this might as well be Fringe or The X-Files or any one of hundreds of shows” with conspiracies and aliens.