Syfy execs have said before that they want the channel to feature more grown-up storytelling — but new executive VP Bill McGoldrick sounds especially motivated. McGoldrick joined Syfy after Mark Stern's departure in November, and he's been beating the bushes in search of "good adult stories."


According to Adweek's interview with McGoldrick, Syfy is in need of some radical changes — the channel's prime-time "demographic deliveries" dropped 11 percent in 2013, and Defiance was moderately successful but not the major hit Syfy hoped for. McGoldrick says he's been trying to recruit more high-profile talent, along the lines of Ron Moore, who signed on to Helix as one of the show's producers:

I'm definitely out there pounding on everybody's door who has a name in the genre... And we're open to people who aren't necessarily associated with the genre but have a great idea.


And McGoldrick is making all the right noises about wanting to find the next Sopranos, Walking Dead or Game of Thrones for Syfy. "You can tell good adult stories in the genre," he tells Adweek. "The pitches I'm hearing … people are approaching [us] as seriously as they would HBO."

The good news? Syfy's ad rates would apparently go up if it were being perceived as the home of more intense drama, rather than its current focus on what Adweek calls "a mixed bag of WWE (Friday Night Smackdown), reality (FaceOff, Ghost Hunters) and its signature original films (Sharknado)." So there's a financial incentive to make stuff happen. Fingers crossed! [Adweek]