SCI FI Channel confirmed that it will not renew its record-breaking original series Stargate SG-1 for another season, but will pick up its spinoff series Stargate Atlantis for a fourth year. SG-1 aired its 200th episode on Aug. 18, and the SF series is the longest-running SF show on American television.

This makes me a bit sad, but I pretty much figured the show was over 2 seasons or so ago, before the additions of Ben Browder and Claudia Black to the cast. Practically all of the show's accumulated loose ends from the past 10 years had been tied up, the major enemies defeated, most of the mysteries solved, and a number of central characters retired or gone. The new seasons were pretty much a reboot, with even bigger baddies - but we've been through all this before. And that, in turn makes me doubly sad, because I was a hardcore Farscape fan as well.

At any rate, I'll miss the show terribly - and Stargate Atlantis is a pitiful replacement in my opinion. But, you can't say that this show wasn't given a full opportunity to explore every facet of its universe and round out almost every story that could told within its bounds. Very few scifi shows have gotten this opportunity.

But, alas, after this season, I'll have one less reason to have cable TV. And that's really not a small thing, since I can count the remaining reasons on less than one hand. Like Brad Choate, we might soon be pulling the cable plug.