FireFly deserved to be cancelled

POSTED BY: fredrickbanting
UPDATED: Thursday, February 3, 2005 20:26
VIEWED: 12829
PAGE 3 of 3

PREV PAGE 1 2 3

REEQUEEN

Sunday, January 23, 2005 10:52 PM

Quote:
No idea anywhere ever is wholly original.

I think I read somewhere that there are only, like, two stories, it's the permutations that constitute originality.

....still grumbling....I'll give it some more thought....grumble, grumble....I mean, really, making me stop and really think about it? The nerve!

Of course, you are rubbing me the right way, so that helps. /ego inflation

Riding off, grumbling into the sunset (however briefly, nobody get their hopes up). E-mail me at reequeen@comcast.net if you must.

Three smiley post! You've kind of put me off my game, there, OldFan45....I don't think I've been so flustered since I got toilet paper and my skirt tucked into the back of my pantyhose at a highschool a capella competition and walked cluelessly out of the bathroom, down the hall, out of the building, and onto the bus before somebody thought to mention it. (But this time I'm not flustered in the bad way!)

"He has a gorm horizon. All gorm that falls past it is lost forever." UserFriendly http://ars.userfriendly.org/cartoons/?id=20050114

FULLCAPACITY

Sunday, January 23, 2005 11:09 PM

Firefly was cancelled for lots of reasons. The first and foremost was probably money, the cost of the show versus the risk of potential reward. That probably includes things like the type of show (sci fi isn't cheap), the people in charge (Whedon doesn't exactly strike me as conflict free) and the relative state of the network.

When Fox was starting out, they had the Simpsons and Married with Children and alot of junk. They started out much like UPN and the WB are now, trying to hit a younger demographic. The XFiles survived partly because it drew audiences on the wasteland of friday night, but because this was before Fox has the lucrative NFL broadcast rights and a more powerful lineup of shows. If Firefly was created much much earlier, it might have had a better chance. Because a fledgling network has to show more crap than it probably wants to. If the XFiles came out now instead of back in the early 90s, who knows if it would have survived?

On the WB or UPN, Firefly probably would have gotten a lower budget and had to dumb it down for a younger demographic, but I think those networks would be more forgiving to poor ratings than Fox. Not saying they'd absolve bad ratings, but they'd probably give a show a season more than Fox would.

Whats suprising of course is the FX channel which Fox owns. The Shield, NipTuck and Rescue Me all have gotten critical acclaim. However those shows are stocked with solid B actors in dialogue driven dramas. Obviously more care is given to cable shows in terms of investing for the long haul as even the subpar The Wire still survives on HBO.

The problem with Firefly isn't stupid fans or even stupid Fox execs, though those things might have been huge factors. The problem is that Firefly is realistically a cable show that was miscast as a network television show. And it would have had a better chance on the Sci Fi channel ( more lined up with the target demographic) or UPN/WB - places that would give Firefly a little room to grow if it showed potential despite some less than stellar ratings. ( like UPN is coddling that Veronica Mars show)

To Fox's defense, they've done some cutting edge stuff. XFiles was the first show that was truly movie quality in its production for its time. 21JumpStreet was fairly edgy, aimed at older teens and arguably opened up the path for UPN/WB to see a market for that kind of prime time television, The Simpsons, Futurama, Family Guy, King of the Hill all showed a prime time cartoon could make it, the first since the Flintstones. And 24, which is as good as any cable show out there.

I think you might see more TV created the way CBS does it. They get low end movie actors and use movie directors and writers to guide their shows. CBS really makes it look like they invest more time and money and effort in their shows, but that investment is paying off for them. Ridley and Tony Scott's Numbers might be a flop, but I bet it gets enough ratings to last a few season like the subpar Cold Case, Navy NCIS and CSI Miami.

Full Capacity

OLDFAN45

Sunday, January 23, 2005 11:20 PM

Cogent and well-argued. Fox was, in the early days, Dross TV as my father wittily called it. I liked Against the Law, a lawyer series with some testicles, and Alien Nation was a hit with me too.

And I agree that Firefly is a natural for cable, and even for SciFi, since they're owned by NBC which also includes Universal in its empire.

>crosses all crossable parts< Make it happen, make it happen, make it happen....

SIGHREN

Monday, January 24, 2005 1:34 AM

Curious...did you respond this way because you diagree with my opinion or because I'm new and not terribly adept at net posting? Perhaps both?

"It's my very favorite gun."

MONTANAGIRL

Monday, January 24, 2005 2:16 AM

I don't think he was responding to you in particular, but the thread itself. A lot of times it's just easier to click reply on the last post in the thread when you want to add your two cents.

Don't let it scare you off. Keep posting

Packer fans welcome.
All others tolerated.

GUNRUNNER

Monday, January 24, 2005 3:35 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by sighren:
Curious...did you respond this way because you diagree with my opinion or because I'm new and not terribly adept at net posting? Perhaps both?

"It's my very favorite gun."

No what I said wasn't directed at you. As Montanagirl said I was directing that post at these “FF sux” threads in general and it’s easier to click the latest post to reply (one of my only gripes about this forum... that and all posts are in one big thread with no pages.)

ADFCOLONEL

Thursday, February 3, 2005 3:39 PM

Hey,

Well living in Australia we have only just gotten Firefly here. It's on at 1am in the morning but I always stay up to watch it. I have the DVD's on order ... it is a real shame to see a show as good as this one be axed. The sci fi fans cop it again. I don't enjoy any of the startreks ... i get sick of how "perfect" the humans always are ... firefly shows that people still have faults. The only other half decent sci fi show on is Stargate ... Bad move Fox...

Oh and Firefly did not deserve to be cancelled.

CHANNAIN

Thursday, February 3, 2005 7:53 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by fredrickbanting:
yes, it deserved to be canned, because fox said so. They are the masterminds that cancelled Family Guy and Futurama for King of the Hill. Thats right King of the god damn hill. But if Fox said so then they must be right, and another thing Simpsons has sucked since like season 5. While FireFly was the best thing to happen to Tv since Alias.

Fred, you're my kinda cynical...

Fans come and fans go...but zealots are with you until the bitter black end.
I draw...therefore I am. http://www.mnartists.org/artistHome.do?rid=7922
Minnesota Meetup - join us! http://firefly.meetup.com/45/

MOONFIRE

Thursday, February 3, 2005 8:26 PM

they are wrong!!!

PREV PAGE 1 2 3