Sci-Fi switches monikers and even the Aliens don't Care

Don't be alarmed if you're channel surfing and you find yourself on a mysterious new network called "Syfy." It's just Sci-Fi with fewer vowels. Also, it's pronounced just like the old network name, not Siffy or Sigh-fy as I imagined it could be.

Remember when Spike was TNN (The Nashville Network)? Well, neither do I, but that change made sense because the content of the station actually changed. Here, there's nothing remotely different about this network.

SyFy is still showing the same made-for-TV movies with bizarre one-word titles like "Terror" and "Flu Bird Horror" (Pop quiz, can you guess which one of those titles I made up and which one is real?). They're still passing off slasher films as science fiction and, as much as I enjoy the occasional "Star Trek" marathon, even a geek like me shuns the channel.

So, what's in a name? Nothing if the content remains the same. Maybe Lifetime, the other channel notoriously known for poor programming, and SyFy can create a hybrid channel where battered women fight alien vipers. Just a thought. I've already got a couple of titles in mind for this new venture: "Mother May I Sleep With The Dangerous Man-Thing?" and "Fifteen and Pregnant with a Mega Snake."

--Malavika Jagannathan, mjaganna@greenbaypressgazette.com