There is hope for those saddened to hear Dave McClure’s new reality show Bazillion Dollar Club was yanked just one week after airing its first episode on SyFy. We hear Zero Point Zero, the production company behind the show, is looking for a new home.
SyFy made the decision to pull the new Silicon Valley reality show last week after airing the pilot episode.
“It just didn’t gel with the SyFy audience,” Highway 1 vice president Brady Forrest, who is a featured personality on the show, told TechCrunch. “Syfy was on board for the pilot episode, but as often happens with new series, they did not pick up the option for the remaining episodes.”
One thing I’ve learned is startups are hard and so is show business. Brady Forrest
ZPZ co-founder Lydia Tenaglia reiterated that the show could still go on. “We are disappointed and believe strongly in the series, which received tremendous support and praise from the tech community,” she told TechCrunch. “We’re optimistic the show will find the right home on another platform.”
NBC Universal, SyFy and show producers are now in discussions on where best to place Bazillion Dollar Club. “Who knows, it might even get a better name – fingers crossed,” quipped Forrest.
Show producers approached McClure and Forrest about a possible show in 2013. Talks resumed a full year later and then production began sometime after that. “Even up to the last minute before it aired I was 99.9 percent sure it would air but you never know,” Forrest told TechCrunch.
Billboard advertising Vango, the first startup featured in the six-part reality show Bazillion Dollar Club.
The first episode apparently didn’t do well with the SyFy audience. Forrest chalks that up to the first show’s focus on an art marketplace startup called Vango. The content possibly didn’t resonate well with a science-fiction leaning viewership. “But there are five more episodes so rather than airing a few more and seeing how it goes, SyFy thought it best to find it a new home instead of shutting it down permanently,” Forrest said.
The most likely scenario now – given the five remaining episodes and the support from NBC – is that the show will be placed on a channel deemed more suitable within the NBC portfolio. Failing that, it could face permanent cancellation.
“One thing I’ve learned is startups are hard and so is show business,” Forrest said.
We’ve reached out to SyFy for further comment and will be sure to update if we hear back.