Firefly in the Timeslot of death
POSTED BY: Swatter
UPDATED: Wednesday, June 26, 2002 16:45
VIEWED: 15654
PAGE 3 of 5
This is what Tim Minear said at this site in the thread titled "Original Pilot? New Pilot?"
Quote:
TIMMINEAR
Wednesday, May 29, 2002 - 11:06
To clear up a few things: the so-called "new pilot" is in fact the first episode. The original pilot -- which, by the way, is awesome -- will likely air as a two hour "event," as has been stated here. A kind of "origins" piece. When Joss and I broke the story for the first episode, we kept this in mind. I got to co-write the new script with Joss, and it's the same show. There has not been some major "retooling."
The new script also works as a good introduction to the show, in my opinion.
The pilot, "Serenity," was a big part of why I wanted to do "Firefly." It does a thing... a thing that I adore (but the very thing that I think makes the network nervous to air it as the public's first exposure to a new series on their airwaves...) What I mean is, it works on you. It gets under your skin. At least, it did to me. It unfolds. Reveals itself to you. That's a thing Joss is great at. It stayed with me the day I saw it, and I woke up the next day thinking about it. I got a little obsessed with it.
Then, maybe a week or so after I saw it, Joss visited me on the set of "Angel" and asked me to come and make more "Firefly" stories with him. Uh... yeah. Ready for the ride.
Tim Minear
And I have to say, I love quotes straight from the source... no editing by some journalist. Plus Tim is the only non-Fox honcho that I've heard has seen the pilot, or atleast the only one talking.
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Quote:
Originally posted by Shuggie:
sucked is profanity?
That's a new one for me...
I use "sucked" in front of my grandmother (of course, my grandmother has flipped me off, but I digress 
)--Dylan Palmer, aka NoVaGrAsS--
"Blood just kept pouring out of them, you'd slip in it half the time, find out bloodbath is not just a figure of speech."
-Zoe; Firefly, "Serenity" Shooting Script.
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Don't think of it as the timeslot of death.
Think of Friday evening as the New York of television. If a show can make it there, it can make it anywhere.
(Because I am new here, I will refrain from bursting into song at this point.)
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Firefly in the timeslot of death.
Well, yes. I agree that Friday night is a timeslot of death for any show whose target audience is mainly that of young men between the ages of 15 and 34. I think that being put in the Friday time slot is a huge part of why Dark Angel ultimately bit the dust.
However, I'd also like to contend that Firefly has a lot more going for it than DA on a broad-scale-appeal level.
Firstly, though James Cameron may be a popular filmmaker, especially in the action genre, I don't think that his involvement in DA was nearly as great as Joss' seems to be on his shows. That being the case, DA mostly had his name and not much else, from what I can tell. (Also, I personally think that the things that Joss has done have been far more interesting than those Cameron has, with the exception of T2, but that's really neither here nor there).
Secondly, DA was very focused on Jessica Alba's character, which didn't seem to work in its favor. Sci-fi shows with ensemble casts (with a few notable exceptions) seem generally to do better than those that don't, if only because it offers the audience more opportunity to connect with a character that will be featured prominently on the show.
Thirdly, my strong hope is that Firefly will build a strong following, and that stupid, stupid, STUPID Fox will wake up and put the show in a better time slot (perhaps replacing Ally Mc-I-Need-A-Donut on Mondays).
Just my opinion.
Pandora
"Logic is a wonderful thing, but it doesn't beat actual thought." -Terry Pratchett, the Last Continent
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Quote:
Originally posted by malcolm:
FF was never programmed for either a Sunday night timeslot or a midseason release. There was alot of speculation that it would go into the X-Files slot, but that predated the pilot being written. Fox chose to counterprogram a successful comedy (Malcolm)
Hold on... first they put Angel after Seventh Poopin' on Monday night... now they're putting it up against the Sopranos and Alias?
Sweet Jebus, just let UPN pick it up and have done already...
Pandora
"Logic is a wonderful thing, but it doesn't beat actual thought." -Terry Pratchett, the Last Continent
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Quote:
Originally posted by Pandora:
Firefly in the timeslot of death.
Firstly, though James Cameron may be a popular filmmaker, especially in the action genre, I don't think that his involvement in DA was nearly as great as Joss' seems to be on his shows. That being the case, DA mostly had his name and not much else, from what I can tell.
And, either deliberately or by delegating it to the wrong person, Cameron didn't a very good job of casting Dark Angel. I mean, damnit, the heroine is a post-apocolypse genetically enhanced superwomen obsessed with her own mysterious past. Jessica Alba seems to think it's all a minor variation on BH90210!
By contrast, Whedon has always been really good at casting. Sometimes I'm astonished at the people he digs up. That lady who plays Hallie is typical. I mean, WTF ever heard of her? But she's perfect. And to top it off, her first name is Kali!
http://www.siamese-dream.com/reference/kali.html
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firefly IS in the timeslot of death.
DA had 17 million ppl watching the pilot on tuesday; and then fox moved it.
and DA had the best ratings on a friday since a loong time
if firefly doesn't top that, it's gone ;
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Quote:
Originally posted by Zicsoft:Quote:
Originally posted by Pandora:
Firefly in the timeslot of death.
Cameron didn't a very good job of casting Dark Angel. I mean, damnit, the heroine is a post-apocolypse genetically enhanced superwomen obsessed with her own mysterious past. Jessica Alba seems to think it's all a minor variation on BH90210!
By contrast, Whedon has always been really good at casting. Sometimes I'm astonished at the people he digs up. That lady who plays Hallie is typical. I mean, WTF ever heard of her? But she's perfect. And to top it off, her first name is Kali!
http://www.siamese-dream.com/reference/kali.html
if U were not a DA watcher U can't know if JA was fit for the role or not.Just ask one of the millions of DA fans btw
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Quote:I did watch it. I'm a sucker for post-apocolypse stories. I turned it off midway through one episode because I couldn't take that vacant smile one more second. That's not acting, that's strutting and saying your lines
Originally posted by fireflyslayer493:
if U were not a DA watcher U can't know if JA was fit for the role or not.Just ask one of the millions of DA fans btw
Millions of people do lots of stupid things. Seig Heil!
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Quote:
Originally posted by Zicsoft:
I did watch it. I'm a sucker for post-apocolypse stories. I turned it off midway through one episode because I couldn't take that vacant smile one more second. That's not acting, that's strutting and saying your lines
Millions of people do lots of stupid things. Seig Heil!
Alba was ok. And Dark Angel was great....for one season.
They were stupid, damn stupid to fire Nana Visitor's amazing X character and they they give John Savege's baddie an off screen death.
Frankly those two great actor's gave the show so much credability and without them the show just fell apart as more and more the show looked like Max the Mutant Slayer.
I was sorry that Cameron a director who i do admire could not save his show with what WAS a amazing finale but i'm sorry, he waited far to long to step in and try to fix his show. It was to little to late.
INT
One evil at a time, that's the best i can do - Farscape
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