I suppose it kinda makes sense that if you sign something called Friday Night SmackDown, you’re going to have to run it on Fridays – which Syfy has done, and will do. Beginning October 1, 2010, the network will run WWE®’s Friday Night SmackDown on, well, Fridays – making it necessary to relocate their current Friday night line-up.
Apparently, Friday Night SmackDown works for Syfy because – and I quote Syfy President, Dave Howe: “WWE® is the ultimate in imagination-based sports entertainment. The fantastical thrills of Friday Night SmackDown provide an ideal addition to the Syfy slate, as it targets the younger male and female demographics, which are the fastest growing categories for WWE.” And by “imagination-based sports entertainment,” he means comic book storytelling in which every bout is plotted in advance. It’s like a superhero TV series – only live and a lot less complex.
WWE NXT™ will leave Syfy in October as Friday Night SmackDown joins the schedule.
Since Syfy’s most watched series [Eureka, Warehouse 13] have achieved their success on Tuesdays, it makes sense to slot the current Friday night shows into those timeslots. Syfy expects shows like Sanctuary, Stargate Universe and Caprica to benefit from Tuesdays because, as Howe pits it, “there is a significantly larger number of viewers available to watch live.”
And now, fellow skiffy fans, there’s even more reason to check out the next big blockbusters on Friday nights – at least, come October.