Networks return to sci-fi shows

Newsday

A channel doesn't have to be named Sci Fi to spotlight the mushrooming genre. Showtime attracts premium-cable subscribers with two long-running original series on its "Sci-Friday" weekly slate: "Stargate SG-1" (10 p.m.), a spin-off of the effects-heavy feature film, with Richard Dean Anderson ("MacGyver"), and the revival of "The Outer Limits" anthology (10:45 p.m.).

TNT has produced the space series "Babylon 5" (in repeats Saturday at 7 a.m.), and in October it will air the movie/series pilot "Witchblade," from the comics series about a woman New York City detective who uses an ancient, intelligent weapon to battle dark forces. Even the DirecTV satellite service recently ran the pay-per-view series "The Lost World," now in broadcast syndication.

That's where many sci-fi and fantasy series have found a home since Paramount sold "Star Trek: The Next Generation" directly to local stations in the late '80s. Another Gene Roddenberry creation, "Earth: Final Conflict," is in its third syndication season, with the late auteur's "And romeda" arriving this fall with ex-Hercules Kevin Sorbo as a starship captain.