[Please, excuse what is babbling on my part, I've had about a 3-4 hr nap in the last 24 hrs, yesterday evening actually, so I'm a bit tired]

I found out that Syfy has a bit of a weird programming issue. Originally I thought the new series Haven was gonna end its freshman season with a 2 parter on Sept 24 (starting at 9pm, against the premiere of the CW’s Supernatural.) I had already made my mind to watch the one true best TV show ever, Supernatural, and catch Syfy’s Haven in a late night encore. Turns out, Haven will be new through Oct. 8 and will remain in the 10PM timeslot. So, yay, I can still watch the CW (Smallville returns for a final season starting the 24th of September, leading into Supernatural‘s 6th season return), then flip and watch Haven. Then after Oct. 8th, I only have 2 shows to watch on Fridays. But the issue is, Smackdown starts on Oct. 1 and will be a new lead-in for Haven, with only 2 eps to go at that point. And the 2 eps before those will be on after, I believe, Warehouse 13 repeats, because its current lead-in, Eureka (another fantastic series), has its summer finale on Sept. 10th. This leaves a freshman series on its own for 2wks and then with a new lead-in (which, based on the wrestling show Syfy stupidly still airs, WWE NXT, which sees a little over a million viewers, it makes sense that Smackdown will be a poor lead-in). This means, the last 4 eps of Haven in the series will see a major ratings drop. I hope Syfy understands that enough that they’ll still renew it and consider keeping it paired with Eureka in some way. What I don’t get, is if Warehouse 13 only got a 13 episode renewal, why not have had it paired so they would’ve been new together and there wouldn’t have been some lead-in change up toward the end of Haven and Eureka could’ve been on Tuesdays before WWE NXT, but I’m just a viewer, what do I really know about programming.

So, really, this post is my way of advertising a pretty good series Syfy has now, Haven, that now looks to stand a possible cancellation if that ratings drop occurs b/c of their great programming. I like it better than Warehouse 13, Stargate Universe, and Caprica.

Speaking of Caprica, remember it debut its 1st season back in January of this year, ran through, I think, March for its spring finale. Well, it was supposed to have returned in the fall, but Syfy felt it necessary to damage its ratings more by not airing the 2nd half of its still 1st season until, well, January. 9 months between episodes is a LONG time. Only premiums can really get away with that. I still stand by that the 9-10 month hiatus ABC had for Pushing Daisies b/c they failed to order post-strike episodes to keep some episode flowing in April and May of that 2007-2008 season, is what killed its ratings enough to cancel it. As well as NBC doing the same thing to Chuck which caused what was a no-brainer renewal for it in its 1st season to on-the-bubble status since. Luckily, NBC had ratings fails with Heroes and others that Chuck managed to make it to a 4th season.

And Syfy isn’t the only cable net doing weird things with a freshman series. Because White Collar has a 16 episode 2nd season, it’ll be split, so it’s summer finale airs on Sept. 7th, while Covert Affairs will still be on for another week, with a 2-hr finale (it had an 11 episode order, apparently) on Sept 14 (so it’ll be on at 9PM). Now, Covert Affairs has the luxury to have built on its White Collar lead-in, seeing about a million more viewers actually. So, it’s not in trouble, but it could still see a hit if a good portion of those viewers watched because it was on after White Collar. Another thing, this 2-episodes on the 14th puts it in the 9pm hour where CW will premiere Life Unexpected (yes, I do like watching that, shut up). Not to mention the fact that Warehouse 13 will also still be new. Not that those two shows could dent Affairs, its just, it makes my TV schedule crazier than it already is.

But probably the one that annoys me, and this affects Eureka and True Blood (I know, completely different shows). Labor Day Weekend. Syfy and HBO aren’t showing new episodes, so that makes 1 week between the penultimate episode and the finale (in Eureka‘s case, a midseason finale, but the rule still applies). I don’t like a week in between the last two eps of a season (or midseason, whatever). It’s ANNOYING. And it was exactly the same last year on HBO, so start True Blood a week earlier next year, so the finale occurs before Labor Day Weekend (then you can have a marathon of the whole season or something, during). Also, it would make there be 4 new episodes in the beginning of the season before the 4th of July Weekend (another weekend without new eps), instead of just 3.

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EDIT 9/14/10 – it’s getting weirder, Syfy has decided to bring Caprica back a little sooner (Oct 5 at 10pm) pushing the return of Sanctuary to Friday Oct 15 at 10pm. So those of us looking forward to a new season of Sanctuary have to wait a little longer, while Caprica fans who were already aware of a January premiere, get it sooner? (wouldn’t it have made sense for Caprica to take the Friday 10pm spot. Afterward, Syfy tweeted that it’s a good thing for Sanctuary fans, then they can promote it longer. They barely promote it now, but it didn’t take long to promote the quick return of Caprica, just a note.