FARSCAPE CANCELLED!!!!!

POSTED BY: LivingImpaired
UPDATED: Sunday, September 15, 2002 12:14
VIEWED: 10614
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HAKEN

Tuesday, September 10, 2002 1:29 AM

More bits from Rockne:

Quote:
"Everybody's got to keep the pressure on hard and heavy -- and without winding down. I believe what Sci-Fi Channel is counting on is that fans will squeal for a few weeks, swear they hate the Sci-Fi Channel, but when the mini-series Taken airs in a couple of months, and the series version of Tremors premieres in January, the fans will sample them anyway, and just sort of forget about Farscape. I'd hate to see their cavalier treatment of sf fans triumph."

HAKEN

Tuesday, September 10, 2002 2:10 AM

TV Guide's Matt Roush on Farscape's cancellation:

Quote:

Moya no more? I couldn't be more disappointed to hear that Sci Fi has opted not to support a fifth season of its signature series, Farscape. Since its unexpected and unheralded arrival in March 1999, this lavishly produced (for basic cable) space adventure quickly established itself as the most irreverent, unpredictable, sexy, intelligent and exciting sci fi show on TV. By comparison, Enterprise is a lumbering dinosaur. Ben Browder and Claudia Black have incredible chemistry, and are surrounded by some of the most vivid and compelling fantasy creatures ever created. Farscape is a joy to watch, and I've always been puzzled about why its rabidly loyal audience hasn't swelled in numbers each season. The show requires attention to be paid — maybe it's too much TV for some people — but the rewards are great. (Meanwhile, an inert movie like the latest blah Star Wars epic rakes in the bucks for no discernible reason I can think of, except for genre fans' lemming-like devotion.) For Sci Fi to cite economic reasons for denying fans a final year of Farscape would seem to be at odds with the network's mission as an entertainment brand. This decision is likely to be compared years from now to NBC's short-sighted cancellation of the original Star Trek after a mere three seasons.

HAKEN

Tuesday, September 10, 2002 2:15 AM

Latest word is that the Farscape sets have been dismantled, but NOT DESTROYED.

LILOLEME

Tuesday, September 10, 2002 2:49 AM

As a longtime Farscape fan, I was amazed to come here for the first time and see people upset about this. I've been one of those people sending letters and telegrams, and this just makes me smile. =)

So that's my introduction. Hi.

Natalie

HAKEN

Tuesday, September 10, 2002 2:56 AM

Direct from Jim Henson:

Quote:

Farscape is a flagship show for The Jim Henson Company. We are proud of its achievements over the past four years, which have included international critical recognition, three Saturn Awards, and a recent Emmy nomination. As always, your show of support is a true inspiration for our company and has been integral to our success.

Although SCI FI Channel has chosen not to pick up a fifth season, The Jim Henson Company is in active development on a new Farscape film, an anime project and is currently discussing syndication of this highly acclaimed series. We are eager to move forward with the Farscape creative team in developing new projects that will resonate with our overwhelmingly loyal fan base.

HAKEN

Tuesday, September 10, 2002 5:07 AM

Here's the latest info from FARSCAPE.WDSECTION.COM:

Quote:
Hey it's me again. I tried to tell everyone on the scifi chat room what's up but too many which is ok. I spoke with my mole at Scifi in NYC and here are a couple of things that are going on:

(1) Scifi is totally to blame. They know that going into season five would be expensive and they wanted to pay less for the show, they went to EMTV and is strapped for cash they said no and SCIFI opted to get out. Scifi knew this well ahead of everyone, they employed a win-win situation, by this I mean their programming strategy. By constantly airing the show and ratings didn't go up they could claim that its core audience did not grow and vice versa. By changing time slots, the network hoped to increase ratings for SG1, a show that costs less to produce, they were implementing a preemptive strike blaming poor ratings but what happened was the opposite SG1 fans watched Farscape INCREASING its core base making the press release a lie. Numbers don't lie. Scifi did not plan to announce the cancellation of the show until mid or near the end of the season.

(2) The network execs told everyone not to say anything about this, DK,BB, & &RM all jumped the gun to try to let everyone know what was happening ASAP so that fan momentum would start.

(3) They are reading all emails, letters, faxes, and telegrams sent to the office but are throwing ones out that are vulgar and nasty. They are getting flowers, crackers and Farscape toys. My mole also told me that they don't mind calls as long as it's professional and polite. They will hang up on you if you start yelling and cussing. Everyone has a good chance to reach an exec or at least their assistant and they are more than happy to help you with any info. My source also suggested that all correspondence contain your full name not chat or BB name as well as some demographic info like your age, household income. If some fans are still in HS then use the parent's income, my source believes that Scifi is going to try to convince advertisers to pay for more advertising if it can show them the demographics thus willing to pay for a fifth season. This is very important, also to write to all of the sponsors and threaten to stop buying or using product. Mention in the letter that you bought their product after seeing a commercial aired during Farscape and if possible send the UNUSED product back to them. Don't forget a sponsor may make a variety of products that all of us can be using so look hard.

(4) start to email etc. to your local papers first. If they run a story a larger media outlet will most likely pick it up i.e. AP and call your local cable company and threaten them by telling them that you may switch to direct TV or satellite.

(5) Because of the leak Scifi knew what was coming so it was expected but not to this degree. They thought that only the BBs would be the only place to vent and did not expect such a huge backlash. However the suits think that this will fade by Wednesday so everyone has to keep the heat up at least a week or two or they won't take us seriously. My source said that you can mail, fax or email everyday and to reference the previous letter that was sent. (6) Right now no one is talking to no one, network suits, Henson people, DK etc. there is a lot of anger and shock and betrayal as to what happened so there is an informal cooling off period.

This comes from my mole at scifi and I can assure you is fact.

MOJOECA

Tuesday, September 10, 2002 5:05 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by Haken:
Here's the latest info from FARSCAPE.WDSECTION.COM:
Quote:
... but what happened was the opposite SG1 fans watched Farscape INCREASING its core base making the press release a lie. Numbers don't lie.

Well, I don't think that's quite right. This from Cinescape.com:

Quote:
Here’s an indication of how thin the margin for error is at SciFi. STARGATE SG-1, from May to August, averaged a 1.7 rating (1.32 million viewers) and it survives. FARSCAPE, in the same period, averaged a 1.2 rating (958,000 viewers) and it is now gone.

Some good news from the same article:

Quote:
According to Variety, there will be new episodes of FARSCAPE from January (which we knew) through the series conclusion in March (which is new).

The creators at The Henson Co., the producing house for the show, and co-creator Rockne O'Bannon are reportedly working on a script for a Japanese-style anime feature film incarnation of the show.

--- Joe

NOVAGRASS

Tuesday, September 10, 2002 7:40 PM

Quote:

Quote:
Here’s an indication of how thin the margin for error is at SciFi. STARGATE SG-1, from May to August, averaged a 1.7 rating (1.32 million viewers) and it survives. FARSCAPE, in the same period, averaged a 1.2 rating (958,000 viewers) and it is now gone.
Some good news from the same article:
Quote:
According to Variety, there will be new episodes of FARSCAPE from January (which we knew) through the series conclusion in March (which is new).

The creators at The Henson Co., the producing house for the show, and co-creator Rockne O'Bannon are reportedly working on a script for a Japanese-style anime feature film incarnation of the show.
--- Joe

So wait, does this mean that they're allowing the creators to wrap up the story with a few more episodes? Are they throwing us a bone? Well, I'm not biting.

I can't help but smiling at the prospect of an animated Farscape film... but a live action one would be 10x better.

--Dylan Palmer, aka NoVaGrAsS--

HAKEN

Tuesday, September 10, 2002 8:15 PM

OFFICIAL SAVE FARSCAPE PRESS RELEASE:

Quote:

SAVE FARSCAPE PRESS RELEASES
Please fell free to use any of these in your correspondence, we only as that you please keep the address of the site attached somewhere.

Sept. 10, 2002

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
CONTACT:
Save Farscape
sfmedia@wdsection.com
http://farscape.wdsection.com

SCI-FI Double Talk Angers Fans

Los Angeles, CA - September 9, 2002 - In a move that has shocked and angered fans of Farscape even further, the Sci Fi channel released an expected official statement concerning the cancellation of the award winning and critically acclaimed show. However, unexpectedly, they placed the blame squarely on the popularity of the show. In a release found today on www.scifi.com, the cable channel stated that, "It was one of SCI FI's first original series and quickly became a critical and fan favorite. Unfortunately, despite our best efforts to reach a broader audience, Farscape has been unable to grow beyond its core fan base. That, coupled with the extreme and growing cost of production, has led to the difficult decision to end the series at the conclusion of season four."

This is in direct contrast to a statement made by that very cable channel in June 2002. In their very own Sci Fi Magazine Thomas Vitale, Senior Vice President of Acquisitions, Scheduling, and Program Planning, wrote that "SCI FI has been able to continue ordering seasons of Farscape because the show performs strongly in the ratings. This is very satisfying to us at the network, as well as to Farscape's producers, since it clearly shows that the series has struck a chord with viewers. Happily, because enough viewers keep watching this terrific series, we can afford to keep making it."

It seems odd that the Sci Fi channel would complain about the size of the fan base of a show that is their most popular original series. Until this season, Farscape held a key primetime spot, the eight o'clock hour. As Juliet Blake, President of Jim Henson TV has said, moving the time to the ten o'clock hour cost Farscape some of its younger viewers. Farscape had been the number one show on the cable channel until the recent addition of Stargate: SG-1 and even then only fell to a close number two. Additionally, inside sources at Sci-Fi are reporting that the holdover audience from SG-1 has actually increased the base audience of Farscape, not decreased it, a fact that would make erroneous the information in Sci-Fi Channel's recent press release. Fans now question if the popularity of SG-1 came from placing it in the time slot formerly held by Farscape.

This new information appears to support fans' claims that Sci Fi did not give their "best effort" to broaden the fan base. With no reruns of the show airing to allow new viewers to get caught up, and no promotion of this critically acclaimed show, fans are left to wonder what exactly the channel did do to promote it. One can only speculate Sci Fi assumed that, due to its critical acclaim and number of prestigious awards, Farscape would promote itself and find its own audience without their help. Instead, fans took it upon themselves to promote the show. Farscape Fan sites proliferate across the Internet, numbering in the hundreds. The virtually unadvertised DVD, video game, books, t-shirts, soundtrack and trading cards continue to fly off the shelves, all with little or no promotional impetus from the Sci Fi Channel.

Critics are baffled and saddened by the cancellation as well. Matt Roush of TV Guide likened it to the short-sighted cancellation of Star Trek by NBC in 1969. (Which was saved from cancellation in 1968 by a massive write in campaign to the network.) He has also said "For Sci Fi to cite economic reasons for denying fans a final year of Farscape would seem to be at odds with the network's mission as an entertainment brand." Robert Bianco of USA Today states his disappointment with the decision as well. "for a network to back off from a commitment and dump the best original series it has ever had - well, that isn't the kind of thing that

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HAKEN

Tuesday, September 10, 2002 8:52 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by mojoeca:
Well, I don't think that's quite right. This from Cinescape.com:
Quote:
Here’s an indication of how thin the margin for error is at SciFi. STARGATE SG-1, from May to August, averaged a 1.7 rating (1.32 million viewers) and it survives. FARSCAPE, in the same period, averaged a 1.2 rating (958,000 viewers) and it is now gone.

What they don't tell you is that the cause of the rating drop was due to SCIFI's attempt to attract a wider audience by making the series more episodic in format, which is what viewers don't want.

Farscape is one of those series that works very well as a serial. Attempting to change that goes against what is right and good with Farscape.

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