

I really do my best to try and not blame a network or cable channel for the demise of a show.

But sometimes, it’s really hard to do.

The fact is, “Caprica” was struggling to attract an audience, even before Syfy moved it to Tuesdays (which ended up being the final nail in that show’s coffin). I think the episodes were just getting better and better, but bringing in new viewers to something you absolutely have to watch from the beginning is hard. And keeping the viewers that have already tuned in? Even harder.

As we continue to look at the post-mortem of “Caprica,” one thought does come to mind, however. Did Syfy apply a scheduling strategy to the “Battlestar Galactica” spinoff that killed “Caprica” before it even had a chance to take off?

Earlier this week, I appeared on the TV Deathray Podcast with Mike Moody and Jason Hughes, and one of the topics we talked about was what really killed “Caprica.”

It seems almost too late to talk about what killed a show, when a show is already dead (and sorry, “Caprica” fans — all the apples in the world won’t save this show). But it’s worth mentioning now, because if we don’t convince Syfy that it is doing the wrong thing when it comes to serialized dramas, “Stargate: Universe” might be following “Caprica” out the airlock (and not the good kind that you find here).

So what’s hurting these shows? Syfy’s belief that splitting up a season is a good thing.

OK, it can be a good thing, as long as you’re doing it for shows like “Warehouse 13” and “Eureka,” filled with mostly standalone episodes, that a casual viewer can pick up in the middle of a season and keep watching because the story is self-contained.

Yet, when it comes to “Warehouse 13” and “Eureka,” Syfy doesn’t split their seasons. No, you get all their episodes — a lot fewer than the 20-episode seasons “Caprica” and SGU get — all at once.

Sorry, it should be the other way around. When you have a serialized drama that you are expecting people to keep up with the stories, you have to keep it moving. You can’t just end it halfway through, and say, “OK, see you in a few months for more!”

At the same time, you have to be ready to bring in more viewers, too. The one thing that serialized dramas don’t do typically is grow audiences. Why? Because you typically have to watch shows like this from the beginning, and if you come in halfway through, you might as well forget it. You won’t have a clue what’s going on.

All shows erode viewers. It’s just that many times, new viewers step in to replace the old ones. However, if you don’t have new ones stepping in — like what would happen with a heavily serialized show — then all you get is erosion, and that’s not good.

So how do you bring in new viewers? That’s easy.

1. Time DVD releases to give audiences enough time to buy them, watch them, and demand more (like a Season 2).

2. Run marathons. A lot of marathons.

3. Stop splitting seasons of shows dependent on its continuing story.

That second point is key. One of the things I mentioned on Mike Moody’s podcast is that back in 2000, no one really knew what this “Survivor” series was that CBS had aired during the summer. However, after the first two or three episodes, the show started getting a huge amount of buzz, and people wanted to check it out. But because coming in midway through in a concept they may not understand at first was bad, CBS did the smart thing: Before airing the next episode, it did a mini-marathon of the first few episodes so that you could catch up.

Would it kill Syfy to marathon a little bit more … especially the mythology episodes that would pull in new viewers very quickly?

We’ve already lost “Caprica” to boneheaded scheduling moves. And now we could lose SGU for the same thing.

I only have room in my heart to lose one good show at a time. So Syfy, let’s get our act together on this, and treat SGU right. If you do, and treat this like the character drama it is, I think fans can expect to see a long life for a show they enjoy.

And casualties like “Caprica” will be kept to a minimum.