LOS ANGELES

TAKE two former pop princesses  Debbie Gibson and Tiffany  and cast them in a television movie involving illegally imported snakes and alligators on steroids. Stir in gobs of gooey cheese  a “Dynasty”-style cat fight here, a trio of fisherman eaten alive there. Most important, make liberal use of computer-generated creatures and effects. Pythons blown up with dynamite! Thousands of hatching reptile eggs! Alligators the size of skyscrapers!

Then send out a news release promising “down and dirty” action, focusing in particular on Ms. Gibson and Tiffany, who had dueling singing careers, and hairstyles, more than two decades ago. “We settle our old ’80s music rivalry by putting on short skirts and throwing snakes and ’gators at each other,” Ms. Gibson said.

A rare, colossal alignment of camp and corn? Not really. For the channel known as Syfy, “Mega Python vs. Gatoroid” is just another Saturday night.

Getting noticed on television increasingly takes something over the top. “Glee” on Fox is a big gay comedy-drama-musical hybrid. “Jersey Shore” on MTV needed drunken girl brawls and wall-to-wall profanity to stand out in the reality show cesspool. Syfy has its messy B movies, guilty pleasure titles that chew into the absurd like tanker-sized sharks.