I'm sick of it. On every channel. They're on every channel every day and night and I'm sick of them all.

Marathons.

Nick@Nite and TVLand show nothing but marathons overnight now. They have a different marathon each night of the week, and usually a weekend-long marathon of one show or another. Bravo shows one marathon after another, then Bridget Jones' Diary. They've been showing that movie for over two years straight now, at least once a week!

So, I decided to pick on one of my favorite channels, Sci-Fi -- another one known for its day-long marathons -- and actually put together what we old folks grew up with: a TV schedule...

It's well-known that I dig the Sci-Fi Network. In fact, I am about to post an index to all the Sci-Fi Channel shows I've reviewed and talked about, since they span both blogs. Sci-Fi has a bad habit of showing marathons all day weekdays, as well as "mini-marathons" at night (two or three shows shown back-to-back two or three times in succession), and there's absolutely no need for it.

Sci-Fi has literally tons of shows from which to choose, and if someone there took the time to actually sit down and develop a schedule, they would have an actual network instead of a FOX sort of model (FOX affiliates generally show syndicated programs, except in primetime, when it shows network shows). So, I decided to give it a shot on my own, just to see what I came up with. And I'd love to hear any and all suggestions anyone else might have!

Weekdays (All times Central Standard)
4-6 AM - Paid Programming
6-7 AM - Knight Rider
7-8 AM - Wonder Woman
8-9 AM - Incredible Hulk
9-10 AM - Quantum Leap
10-12 - Morning Movie
12-1 PM - Twilight Zone
1-2 PM - Dark Angel
2-3 PM - Roswell
3-4 PM - X-Files
4-5 PM - Stargate Whatever
5-6 PM - Battlestar Galactica
6-7 PM - Dead LIke Me
PRIMETIME

Now, that's just something I sat down here and came up with off the top of my head. As you can see, the early morning and mid-afternoon scheduling is geared toward school-aged kids, while the early- and late-afternoon is targeted at older folks and parents.

And this little tidbit doesn't even include half of Sci-Fi's catalog of programming. There's Buck Rogers, the old Battlestar, Stargate Atlantis, that Serenity show, Proof Positive and all the other paranormal-type shows. Ghost Hunters will be up for syndication either at the end of this season or next, then Eureka is always around. There's Threshold and both versions of Night Stalker, Outer Limits, Heroes, where is Lois & Clark, by the way? The list goes on and on!

I really can't imagine that ratings alone are behind all these marathons, because there are only so many episodes of the shows that are constantly marathoned, so if you watch more than one marathon a week, you literally see the entire series twice in about a month.

I just don't know what the problem is, to be honest. And while I'm not exactly pleased with my impromptu schedule, I like it a damn sight better than three shows all day long.