When Syfy announced the development of Battlestar Galactica prequel Blood & Chrome last week, fans expected the worst for the existing spin-off Caprica. These fears have proven well-founded; Syfy have cancelled the low-rated sci-fi drama, which will be unceremoniously removed from their schedule next week.
Syfy's statement:
"The remaining first run episodes of Caprica -- airing Tuesdays at 10/9c -- will be removed from the schedule as of next Tuesday, November 2. These final five episodes of the season will be re-scheduled to air at a time to be announced time in the first quarter of 2011, and will conclude the run of the series."Mark Stern, Syfy's EVP of Original Programming:
"We appreciate all the support that fans have shown for Caprica and are very proud of the producers, cast, writers and the rest of the amazing team that has been committed to this fine series. Unfortunately, despite its obvious quality, Caprica has not been able to build the audience necessary to justify a second season."What do you make of this unsurprising news? I can't say I'm too upset, but it's a shame Caprica didn't find its feet. I wasn't so dismissive of the series compared to some (many people actively hated it), but I definitely agree it totally lost momentum after returning from hiatus. They had the chance to take stock of what was going wrong and fix it, but they didn't manage to.
Caprica's soap-opera elements just didn't appeal to BSG's audience, who preferred the epic adventuring, politics, philosophy, and thrilling action that BSG brought to the smallscreen. It also had more dynamic and appealing characters than Caprica's mix of gangsters, billionaires, teenagers, and terrorists.
Why do you think Caprica failed? And will next year's Blood & Chrome, set during the First Cylon War, have more success?
