Why is there a stigma attached to space sci fi TV shows?

[CmdrShepN7]

I love space adventures like "Mass Effect", "Babylon 5", "Battlestar Galactica", "Farscape", "Firefly", etc. People are dismissive of sci fi like that but have no problem watching stuff with superheroes, zombies, and dragons in them.

Why is there a stigma?

The Expanse came out in 2015 but didn't make much of a splash with mainstream audiences.

How would people in 2014-15 react if ABC or CBS made something with space travel to appeal to a mainstream audience?

Did Game of Thrones, superheroes, and The Walking Dead suck all the hot air out of the room?

Or is it societal? Did the retirement of the Space Shuttle make people lose interest in space?

 

[stephen g parks]

I'm not sure I agree with your premise but let's explore some of the reasons why it may be true.

You noted one possible reason, that the retirement of the space shuttle made people lose interest. If that were the case, then the arrival of Space X and others should be re-igniting that passion. (And I think it is, I think that's why Apple felt that For All Mankind was pretty safe bet)

Also worth noting that a quick google shows that in the context of US politics, NASA has consistently been one of the most popular government agencies no matter party affiliation (link here)

Another possible reason, if your premise is true, is a variation on the "uncanny valley." Perhaps a mainstream audiences can accept superheroes and zombies because they're NOT us, while finding it harder to imagine ordinary people like us living and working in interplanetary or galactic societies.

There may be other reasons.

Alternatively, there may be no stigma attached to watching space scifi tv shows. They may just not have the cross-audience appeal of ideas like Transformers (it's robots and it's cars! Ooh, things go boom!).

The Expanse, as far as I know, wasn't on a major network, so wouldn't have had immediate exposure to a mainstream audience. You had to be in the know to find out about it. (I know that was true for Game of Thrones also, and GoT did somehow catch mainstream attention in a way that I don't think was dissimilar to BSG at the beginning of its run).

A Caveat:
Throughout the run of the shows we're discussing, I was living in either Asia or Africa. I don't know what the cultural presence of each was in the US or UK for these shows. Obviously my friends and I talked about them, but they're my friends because we share interests like these.

 

[paranoid marvin]

Prior to the last 30 years or so, (in the UK) it seems like sci-fi and fantasy tv programmes were normally reserved for children's tv programmes and the odd one-off dramas. It's hard to think on any sci-fi tv show from the 60s/70s/80s that was shown after the watershed (9pm). The thing is that many of them were quite serious/adult in nature, yet were only seen as suitable for family/children's entertainment slots. This is largely the fault of tv people who thought that as an adult you should be watching violent/sweary cop shows or adult drama productions.

Thankfully as those of us who grew up with Doctor Who/Blakes 7/The Survivors/Chocky/The Tripods/Star Trek/Logans Run and movies like Star Wars, Labyrinth etc continued to love them into adulthood, the pre-conceived idea that more mature scii-fi wouldn't be popular got kicked into touch.

So in answer to the original post, I think that there was more of a stigma to watching scifi/fantasy in the past, but not so much in the last 20 years.

 

[MrH]

I think there is more of a problem with the production trying to make the shows "realistic", expanse I think is one. Trek and the like, had less real space travel and science to go on, making for a more interesting show. These days your shoehorned into the, cool as it is, shuttle program and now space X stuff. No more mega cannons shooting people into space, or antigravity paint, or such like. Alas.

 

[Wayne Mack]

I have not experienced any stigma associated with science fiction based TV shows. The challenge I see is that it is difficult, if not impossible, to sustain a sense of wonder based on speculative science aspects throughout even a single series season. The result is that a space ship or perhaps time travel is only a backdrop for some other type of story to be told. Explore a social issue by dropping the protagonists into a unique culture for a show. Have the protagonists investigate a mystery, perhaps for an entire season. The result is that story lines do not require a uniquely science fiction setting and may instead be done with whatever the popular setting of the day might be.

 

[tinkerdan]

The problem is not stigma, but it's a problem of how TV works. The shows that get maximum viewing are favorable to advertisers; so audience numbers and demographics are key.

That means that the executives want to create something modeled after their most successful shows.

The producers seem to think that such shows need a long story and I think that that is partially what is killing them. So many long story series that only have one season and no resolution of the long story make the meek viewer reevaluate new shows and deciding to wait and see if they make a second season.

For some reason it seems that it is very difficult to create a Sci-Fi series that doesn't have a strong long story. refer to @Wayne Mack .

I was really happy when Orphan Black made it through 4 years.

 

[JohnM]

In the US, there are few Sci-Fi shows worth watching. The Watch contains non-heroic heroes. A bland show. A dud.

But stigma? No. Maybe a few loud people on the internet. I watch what I like and there's not much to like.

I know how Hollywood works. No one wants to produce a bad TV show. The people backing the show financially have to believe it's worth the risk. The problem is simple: The "I'll make the TV show I want with very little consideration regarding its marketability." That may sound contradictory but I'm seeing similar in other media. People with a lot of money have taken control of various entertainment media. They are not creatives - most of them. They just have a lot of money and are willing to lose some to see their pet idea get made.

 

[paranoid marvin]

In recent years , although there are far more sci-fi shows on tv, there are really none that interest me. The last really decent one I remember (other than Black Mirror) was Caprica , and that was canned after 1 season. At least they were kind enough to bring some kind of closure.