You may have Syfy if you are…

I’ve got Syfy on my fingahs!!! (I keep going around saying that… if you listen to The Beatles you’ll know the reference). Supposedly the main reason for the Sci-Fi Channel to change to Syfy is that it can be trademarked, while Sci-Fi is a genre description so it couldn’t be. It’s just freaking me out, like, I feel as if I have a reading disorder as I know the word should be “sci-fi” but it’s spelled all weird now and somehow my brain is confused, like learning a new language. And their tagline is “Imagine Greater”, which is like a rip-off of the old Apple “Think Different” (both have adverb troubles, too…)

I think the problem with “syfy” is that it reads as “siffy” and not “sci-fi just spelled differently”. I think if they were a brand new channel/site it wouldn’t be a big deal, but to just re-brand an established channel that does well within its niche is weird. And if they are looking to expand beyond sci-fi content, then why not come up with some completely new name to reflect that? Weird…

– Nigel Matrix

Jeff Albertson Weighs In

Just when you thought it couldn’t get worse than “Windows Mojave”, the ultimate rebrand FAIL arrives: Syfy.  No, it’s not a disease you get from an unsanitized telephone, it’s the new name for the “Channel Formerly Known As The Sci-Fi Network” (CFKATSN–Kiff Katson to you and me).  Maybe it would have been better if they had changed their name to an unpronounceable symbol.  That worked for Prince.  For a while. 

It just seems as if at the height of their popularity–everyone was talking about Battlestar Galactica Nuevo just a few short months ago…they are just giving up the concept that made them important.  If they don’t want to be Sci-Fi anymore, what’s the point?  (Kinda like when MTV stopped playing videos, right?)  Well, I’m sure they do, but they just want to do other stuff, too.  Like when Happy Days made Fonzie jump the shark because hanging out at Pat Morita’s Grill and learning Kara-te was not enough.  (“Fonzie…first paint fence, then jump shark.”)  Or when DragonTales added Enrique to the mix.  Or when Dora the Explorer became a Princess instead of a Scientist.  Or when KITT got “Super Pursuit Mode” on Knight Rider.  If it works and people like it, they depend on it…don’t change it because you think they’re bored…you’ll alienate them.  But no one ever learns this.  It just happens all the time.    Well, we can only shake our heads sadly and move on.  To paraphrase Jeff Albertson, better known as “Comic Book Guy” on The Simpsons…Worst.  Rebrand.  Ever.

–Raven