BRING BACK FIREFLY!
POSTED BY: humble
UPDATED: Thursday, March 15, 2007 16:43
VIEWED: 39561
PAGE 6 of 10
Come on NBC... you've got a few quality shows... pick up Firefly (no matter how much it costs you to buy out the rights from Fox) and get this great series back on the air in 2006 (I don't think we can survive another "BDM"!).
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I think that Sci Fi channel is a better location than a big network. Genre (sci-fi in particular) programs tend to do poorly on the network. Sci-Fi works better in the movies because people tend to pay money for special effects. Of course, I can see a day coming up where sci-fi wears out its welcome in the movies as people become jaded about eye dropping special effects.
Even if Serenity had been a box office blockbuster, I don't think the networks believe that Sci-Fi is an exact fit with their audience. There audience tends to like paranormal shows and hates genres that offer either past (think Nero Wolfe on A&E which was described by many as the best show on television yet only survived two seasons on a minor channel) or future (Star Trek, Firefly, etc). They think their audience likes sci-fi only if it is a separate world, like a movie theatre and there is no good way to lead into a sci-fi series. One of the most common ways to build viewership is to have stars from other programs guest star in another program in either their same character or in a slightly different one. This doesn't work as well with historical genre programs, as the stars look weird in a different timeline
Just imagine this promo if Firefly was on ABC:
"On this weeks's Firefly, Desparate Housewives' Tori Hatcher guest tries to kick Inara off Firefly as a companion with something extra..."
I think what will happen to Firefly is very dependent upon what happens with Joss and Wonder Woman. If it is a big success, I don't think Firefly will get much of his attention. Less than bog success Firefly will get some of his attention IF Universal want's it done as either a TV series or movies. But don't be surprised if his role becomes more like an executive producer role and he turns it over to someone else. I think that Joss is now a big time director and would probably want to turn part of the project over to someone else.
I don't know if many people say this but I think there is a real difference between Joss Fans whose who believe is ultimate creation is Firefly and Firefly fans who may (or may not) like Buffy and Angel. I think the general public really has never seen an episode of either Buffy or Angel hearing that they were teenage supernatural programs on Fox. One of the dichatomies of Firefly that its insistence of realism in its depiction of the future makes it quite different than Buffy or Angel in which you have to get past the premise that vampires exist. and that its as much a western as it is sci-fi.
Firefly with its very western appeal (the government is evil) and southern agrarian (corporations are out to get you) message might very well play with southern and western conservatives that wouldn't be caught dead watching a show about a teenage vampire slayer. I'm beginning to think that this may be a slight problem with some of the marketing was that it didn't quite appeal a broad section of the public. One of the wallpaper's for Serenity stated:
From the makers of 'Buffy' and 'Angel'
when that might mean nothing and might actually turn some people off.
What I'd like to see is a demographic breakdown of Firefly fans to see where we need to market this to others. I suspect that we'll find that the bulk of the fans of Firefly are sci-fi or edgy TV fans. But I think the real explosion will be when we expose this show to a broader segment of the public. And I don't mean by TV. Many of those won't watch Sci-Fi channel or wouldn't watch it on broadcast TV either. Instead of reaching out to your neighboor who is a geek, look to that neighbor who likes country music or hunting. Ask them if they've ever seen a sci-fi series with country music ballad as its theme song.
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Good comments Hartmeister.
I'm favoring NBC since apparently the are part of Universal's corporate network and thus closer to Firefly than ABC or CBS.
"Lost" is considered "Sci-Fi" and it is extremely popular and does great on ABC. Much of what you state reflects what I think the network corporate view of viewers is not the actual viewership themselves.
If NBC put Firefly back on the air I think it would be a smash hit because NBC would bring a large audience (even in today's world of cable TV the three big networks still pull the largest audience shares by a large margin). Once a decent amount of people actually see Firefly it will become very successful (assuming it is made with the same quality as the original series.
I do think marketing Serenity as "by the maker of Buffy and Angel" was a bad move. I know there are a lot of "Joss Fans" that love Buffy and Angel, but seriously I love Firefly and knowing that Joss is responsible / involved with Angel and Buffy turns me away a little. If I'd never seen Firefly and read that I probably would dismiss and ignore Firefly.
From the five times I've seen Serenity the demographic audience seems to be extremely "old" (not the typical "male 16-35" audience!). Serenity seems to be pulling the 50+ crowd (Star Trek fans?). Firefly draws a lot of female viewers. So if I had to sum up the Firefly demographic in super simple terms: "mature, intelligent females". (not to imply at all that there aren't a lot of us "mature, intelligent males" also watching)
Release some action figures (ignore the crappy ones they did release), cool models, a Lego set, some guns, make a PS2 video game and bingo you've got the young male audience. What the networks seem to fail to realize is that Firefly has appeal to every age range and gender! Firefly well marketed on NBC could be one of the top series of all time.
The only negative working against Firefly being phenomenally popular is virtually zero marketing!
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There were a couple of news items on IMDB yesterday (2005 November 9) that relate to a couple of recent posts in this thread. One is that Blockbuster may be on the verge of bankruptcy. So, you can either say 'Never mind that they won't carry Firefly', or you can write Blockbuster corporate & tell 'em you'd like to patronize their local store, but they don't have Firefly.
The other (Death of Primetime) is that the big three broadcast networks have announced plans to make their content available on demand (VOD / PpV / subscription). This is great news for us. While I don't suggest anyone give up current efforts to save Firefly all on its lonesome, lets look for ways to show our support for this concept. It makes Neilsen ratings obsolete.
Keep the Shiny Side Up . . .
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your petition inteags me greatly what has happend to quality programing these days there are more reality tv shows then the allience can shake a stick at bring back FIREFLY.
loyal Browncoat
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I agree that SciFi would be the ideal place to bring back Firefly if Fox won't.
www.cafepress.com/malcolmreynolds
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I believe the FOX network has shown the Firefly/Serenity fans that they don't understand the show/movie like the fans,cast and crew understood them. therefor, FOX will never be the loving home for either a series return or funding a sequel ever again. the SciFi Channel IS a perfect fit for Firefly's return!
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do they own the rights to firefly? they messed up the order of the first series etc etc..
maybe it could go straight to dvd...
nah, that's a crap idea.
last night i dreamt i fucked kaylee in the ass with a strap on. i woke up and the bed was soaked with cum.
just thought i'd let you know...
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Yup! FOX owns "Firefly's" Rights, but NOT "Serenity's"
FOX messed up the order of the original airing because they had no real cares about STORY/PLOT, they just wanted something to fill the friday night line up!
Also, just a thought, you might want to rethink your 
dream sequence, in case an under 14 year old stumbles onto this post.
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Quote:
Originally posted by humble:
i haven't read too many waves from other browncoats writing about letters they've sent to networks and tv studios about bringing firefly back to the airwaves. are we pinning all our hopes to an iffy movie coming out of universal studios? what if this falls through? i think we should ban together and double our efforts and innundate studios/networks with MORE correspondence than ever! is there a way for fans to petition this with the help of joss and the cast and crew of firefly? i, myself, have written to scifi,universal,upn,wb,etc. i don't think that dvd sales alone are enough to assure the hollywood money people that firefly is a good investment! i think we should continue to stand up and represent our fan interest as well, now more than ever! BROWNCOATS UNITE!!!
LETS MAKE 2004 THE YEAR FIREFLY RETURNS! (signed as always, a loyal browncoat)
Here is a petition to bring back firefly, please sign and hope.
http://www.petitionspot.com/petitions/revivefirefly
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