SyFy has cancelled super-powered tv series Alphas after two seasons according to TVLine. This was a very realistic take on the super-power genre where people weren’t mutants, they were basically humans whose natural abilities were just ‘more advanced’ than normal.
Basically Alphas was a low budget Heroes without the mystique. Heroes was a high budget Mutant X without the B-Film style. Mutant X was a television version of the X-Men without the licensing.
All three of these tv shows did really well, Mutant X had three seasons and high ratings but its production company folded not through fault of the show. Heroes went four seasons, gained lots of awards, but was ultimately done in by its own convoluted writing. SyFy didn’t say exactly why Alphas was cancelled though don’t think it was ratings as it seems to be pulling the same numbers as Warehouse 13 during their season finales. But then Warehouse 13 is more marketable and has a smaller cast, not sure about their FX budget as well.
The audience has spoken though, they like their superheroes… especially when they are the more fanciful/magical kind even if they have a ‘reason’ for being super, like being government experiments in Mutant X. Alphas was the most ‘realistic’ and had the worst ratings. This just seems to prove that an X-Men tv series is a no brainer.
You have characters and a style people already love in X-Men that will bring people back, the Animated shows have already proven that X-Men in a serialized capacity sells! In fact, serialized is a much better fit for X-Men than movies simply because you have a huge cast and built in long-arc stories.
Simply make sure you don’t go completely off the reservation like X3 and X:O:W and you have a built in audience who will tune in. Then go a little on the realistic side to save on the FX budget but keep that mystique of super-powers and you’re golden. This can work people!
A girl can dream right?
X-Men: The (fan fic) Series 