The Substance of Things
POSTED BY: Fedoraccoon
UPDATED: Sunday, January 29, 2006 23:08
VIEWED: 6785
PAGE 3 of 3
This is why I don't have a television in my dorm room...there's nothing intellectually stimulating. It's all stupid comedy, psychotic soap operas, reality shows, or murder mysteries. Trying to figure out who the killer is might be interesting the first few times, but after a while it just gets old.
Wash: Yeah, but psychic? That sounds like science fiction.
Zoe: You live on a spaceship, dear.
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Quote:*snicker*
Originally posted by jpstargazer:
"Firefly 2: Fly Harder"
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We applied the cortical electrodes but were unable to get a neural reaction from either patient.
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A literary Earth that was! Yup, sounds about right. The dumbing down of everything seems to be marching us all to oblivion as surely as Lemmings go to the sea. A show where action had both cause and effect, right and wrong were often circumstantial and subjective, characterization and smart dialouge took actual attention and were central to the story rather than incidental to the next action sequence, seems unlikely to stand much chance due to when and where it aired. I Think BSG, and a few other exceptions, show that the climate may have changed. Smart, inticate, charecter driven, shows seem much more in demand now. Even those usally satisfied with the usual "short attention span theatre" offerings of "reality t.v." are finding more and more mindless. As major netwprks have to vie, more and more, with other venues and media (tivo, cable, podcasts, computer, etc. ) they seem both frantic and very unadventureous. The very things that made the media free are now the things that most find the least satisfactory. This would be the need to brodcast to the lowest common denominator and to sell airtime via commercials. I can put up with commercials but find it more and more difficult to try to sit through today's equivilant of "Car 54" and "Gilligan's Island". Given the climate today MASH, Hill Street Blues, and many more, would have short half-lives also. "Instant success" is usually the culmination of long, hard, work with dues well paid. It only appears instant to some. Fox's decision to discount (throw away) what appears to have been the next step in Mr. Wheadon's creative expression in favor of what they felt was more commercial (past efforts and/or more of the same including syndication which eliminated production costs and uppped profit). Their short sightedness points to the trend of the industry being wholly in the hands of bean counters vs anyone involved in any creative process.
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Quote:
....Fox's decision to discount (throw away) what appears to have been the next step in Mr. Wheadon's creative expression in favor of what they felt was more commercial (past efforts and/or more of the same including syndication which eliminated production costs and uppped profit). Their short sightedness points to the trend of the industry being wholly in the hands of bean counters vs anyone involved in any creative process.
UsuallyContent, I have suspected this also. They're cutting out prematurely, deliberately, and then selling to the DVD market. Their bottom line looks shiny and they move on to the next artist vision, to slice and dice, and move on.
Is that what you're saying? That even though they knew Firefly was good, they planned this from the start? Is this a new trend?
"I wish my managers would remember their place is in an office, NOT the arts..."--(Phantom of the Opera)
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Novastarcloud,
I don't think it was/is planned. The result, from our perspective though, is the same. A huge loss in creativity and a lack of artistic endeavor. Writer's write, painter's paint, etc. I don't think a whole lot of "artists" (of any type) began with the idea (soley) of getting rich. An MBA, studio CEO, etc. however,(none that are here of course 
)may well have gone into that position with that in mind. This dicotomy has always been a symbiotic relationship locked in continual change. In the industry one had always needed the other and the give and take in the process helped both to flourish. The balance seems to have slid too far to the business end of things. The need for quick profit return seems to overshadow everything else. It seems that they took on the BDH to keep their primary product(s)comming. Once they had decided that the primary product no longer met their needs any commitment to Mr. Wheadon's new 'verse was probably seen as liability and a loss. He was now yesterday banquet and they wanted a new meal to nagh on. Also, they could now syndicate the primary product(s) in several markets making pure profit back for Fox. Is MASH still on in your area? It took 2-3 years to find it's audiance as I recall. Since the end of it's ten year run it is probably on somewhere every hour of the day. Had someone sharing that vision not waited for it to find it's audiance it too would have been lost way too soon. Only two American art forms (arguably) Jazz and Film. Both seem misunderstood by the PTB suits but loved by their fans. Ten years from now no one will remember survivor (except for the reminder when Mr. Hatch gets out of jail) etc. The fans of this 'verse will remember and still care!
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I believe the simple fact of the matter when it comes to TV shows is a matter of peoples attention spans (or lack thereof). People are looking for either action packed, constant suspense, never-ending humor, or reality TV.
So when you look at Firefly it didn't really stand a chance (No offnese). Firefly has action, some suspense, and some humor. But none of it is constant, there is more character development and so forth.
When you compare Firefly to other shows that are on and were on, while it was way better, you have shows nowadays like; 24 (alot of action and almost a constant curiosity factor), Fear Factor/Survivor/any other reality TV show, Friends/Seinfeld (Constant humor) Firefly didn't really have a chance for many reasons.
1) It didn't have near the same budget of the others
2) It didn't really have any one format going constantly
3) It wasn't given the ample chance for growth
4) And it wasn't advertised near the same way that any of the other shows had Ex: Survivors 2 million commercials daily
The older generations could easily like Firefly and i bet alot did, but lets face it they don't really go crazy when a great show gets cancelled. And the younger generations were watching it going "Come on blow something up already!!!!"
Putting Firefly up against these other heavy hitters which already had a reputation and a huge fanbase without proper advertising nor a long enough time to grow is like bringing back Leave It To Beaver and trying to put it up against CSI or Friends.
-Bravery is not the abscence of fear, this is a foolish notion. Bravery is the ability to work through fear toward a higher goal-
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