Part of me is very glad the bi-decadial Star Trek spin-off serieseses have stopped because it was getting rediculous; ditto, to a lesser extent, Stargate. Stop beating the dead pony.

We all know the loss of Firefly was a tragedy that generated (in my opinion) the best Sci-Fi Feature Film for at least 2 decades, so I’m calling that a silverlining to the Fox-blackened cloud.

I argue that Fringe is not a X-CSI, CSI is like Chicken, its so bland and procedural that everything looks like CSI.

Fringe is almost exactly what I imagine the X-Files would have been like had it been produced today and if Mulder hadnt been an ET-o-phile. *Shout out to the Observer*

As for the Dollhouse comments, it is to sci-fi what Buffy was to horror-drama; watered down but entertaining. Although in saying that, it is getting better with every episode.

The problems you highlight with regards to US TV networks is just that; its a problem with the networks, not the shows.

We’ve already seen a surge in IPTV for the other forms of “Geek”, take for instance the G4 resurrected production house Revision3, producing wildly successful technology and geek-tainment shows. Given the amount of time and energy put into them, combined with the ease of special effects design, and a wealth of aspiring actors looking for their start (which networks hate doing, as its a risk to both actors, and everyone else on the show) mean that i recon in 5 to 10 years, a la Trent Reznor, *somebody* is going to produce a good quality IPTV series on their own, release it for “free” with the existing format of ad-breaks, and be wildly successful, which will be the beginning of the true end to TV networks.

(The only thing having a huge network is good for is “tie-ins”, as with the Observer from Fringe appearing at NASCAR races and at the SuperBowl among other places)

*LAST RANT POINT*
Doctor Who isn’t a genre defining show, its a generation definining show with no directly comparable peers in any field of entertainment, other than “The Archers” (mirrored age group, DrW 0-60, TA 50+), that, as long as they keep mixing it up with as few back references as possible, could in theory go on forever, then loop back, retcon its own timeline (a la timewar), and start all over again some in the mid 2290′s produced by the New, NewNewNewNew, NewNew, British Broadcasting Corp (NNNNNNNBBC)

I also don’t know how you can have this discussion without acknowledging the upcoming Star Wars live-action TV series, which is being financed by Lucasfilm directly for sale to some lucky network. That will be inescapable — it’ll be a seismic success or failure.

Both have one thing in common: clout. Science fiction programming is still expensive, but the audience is more and more fragmented. (People aren’t watching as much television any more. They’re on Facebook.) It requires uncommonly deep pockets for science fiction to be recognized among the din — money more readily spent on television genres that today’s mainstream audiences care more about.

I think that Terminator: Salvation, along with the new Star Trek movie, will be another test of the genre. The survival of Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles (a show that I love) may hang in the balance. The Sarah Connor Chronicles tends to lean more toward the BSG end of sci-fi than anything light-hearted and escapist but the writing is excellent and it deserves to execute all the plans that the writers have set in motion. Yet a third season on FOX seems unlikely.

Sorry for rambling; your post was very thought-provoking. Thank you for posing the questions