Fox executive defends decision to cancel Firefly.

POSTED BY: InvaderPet87
UPDATED: Wednesday, March 9, 2011 00:09
VIEWED: 22009
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INVADERPET87

Thursday, March 3, 2011 7:42 PM

http://www.ology.com/screen/gail-berman-why-firefly-had-be-cancelled

I love how she puts up the usual defense and blames ratings, and thinks airing the episodes in order wouldn't have made things better.

For someone who's supposed to be a friend of Whedon's she doesn't go into any real detail about why she couldn't have pulled some strings to keep it on one more season, AND PROMOTE it just to see if numbers might increase.

I suppse she was afraid of being accused of giving Whedon special treatment. That's studio politics for you.

"She understands. She doesn't comprehend."

SPACEJANITOR

Thursday, March 3, 2011 7:57 PM

If I had a dollar for every baseball game I tuned into expecting Firefly...

GOLDBRICK

Thursday, March 3, 2011 7:58 PM

Bah, she admits it was an expensive show. Probably more expensive than they expected. So they sabotaged it by airing it out of order, preempting it constantly, moving it around, not promoting it, the whole nine yards. Create a ratings problem and then hide behind it.

Always follow the money...

WISHIMAY

Thursday, March 3, 2011 7:58 PM

ALMOST sounds like an apology...

"I was just following orders...I did what I had to do...Doesn't matter anyway..."

Mebbe they really DO realize how much they shot themselves in the foot...

Well, Fox, the only thing that will help fix this is funding a sequel, THEN we might accept your apology

I think you are right on the money, goldbrick!

STORYMARK

Thursday, March 3, 2011 8:14 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by GOLDBRICK:
Bah, she admits it was an expensive show. Probably more expensive than they expected. So they sabotaged it by airing it out of order, preempting it constantly, moving it around, not promoting it, the whole nine yards. Create a ratings problem and then hide behind it.

Always follow the money...

Well, it wasn't really moved around, it was always on Friday. The pre-emptions didn't help, but they had the contract with MLB, and had to show the games - plus, like it or not, the games get massively better ratings - it would make no sense for them to show preference to an unproven series. Waiting till the baseball season was over to premiere FF would have been better, yes, but hindsight....

And as much as people like to claim there was no advertising, I personally saw a BUNCH of ads for the show, so I can't buy that excuse. I also don't think airing it out of order made that much difference, as it wasn't a particularly serialized show.

"I thoroughly disapprove of duels. If a man should challenge me, I would take him kindly and forgivingly by the hand and lead him to a quiet place and kill him."

STORYMARK

Thursday, March 3, 2011 8:17 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by InvaderPet87:

I suppse she was afraid of being accused of giving Whedon special treatment. That's studio politics for you.

That's doing what she was hired to do. Losing money on a friend is still losing money, and she wasn't hired to give her friends sweetheart deals.

"I thoroughly disapprove of duels. If a man should challenge me, I would take him kindly and forgivingly by the hand and lead him to a quiet place and kill him."

INVADERPET87

Thursday, March 3, 2011 8:40 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by GOLDBRICK:
Bah, she admits it was an expensive show. Probably more expensive than they expected. So they sabotaged it by airing it out of order, preempting it constantly, moving it around, not promoting it, the whole nine yards. Create a ratings problem and then hide behind it.

Always follow the money...

But if a show isn't making much money for you, why sabotage it so it makes even less money for you?

"She understands. She doesn't comprehend."

STORYMARK

Thursday, March 3, 2011 8:50 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by InvaderPet87:

But if a show isn't making much money for you, why sabotage it so it makes even less money for you?

"She understands. She doesn't comprehend."

I really don't see how it was sabotaged. They did for it what they do for any new show. People here tend to look at things through the subjective lens of nearly a decade of pining for the show - but at the time, it was a new show that cost a lot to make that they pushed just as much as any of their other new shows - it just didn't catch on in time.

"I thoroughly disapprove of duels. If a man should challenge me, I would take him kindly and forgivingly by the hand and lead him to a quiet place and kill him."

TWO

Thursday, March 3, 2011 9:03 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by Wishimay:
ALMOST sounds like an apology...

"I was just following orders...I did what I had to do...Doesn't matter anyway..."

Mebbe they really DO realize how much they shot themselves in the foot...

Gail Berman is still working in TV. www.imdb.com/name/nm0075762/ Until Berman and her friend, Joss, can speak freely without fear of retribution, we won't be getting the real dirt on why Firefly was premiered during the World Series on Fox in the Friday Night Death Slot or why the first two episodes were shown last and the others in scrambled order. None of that can possibly be Berman's ideas of how to promote a show.

I know Berman was President of Fox, but I cannot believe she should get all the blame even if she is talking as if it was her fault, alone. Maybe someday Berman will write a short article about the Firefly fiasco like Bob Woodward did about the Iraq fiasco and Donald Rumfeld:
http://ricks.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2011/03/01/how_rumsfeld_misleads_
and_ducks_responsibility_in_his_new_book Hollywood should take note and make the movie.

The Joss Whedon script for "Serenity," where Wash lives, is
Serenity-190pages.pdf at www.mediafire.com/two

THESOMNAMBULIST

Thursday, March 3, 2011 10:06 PM

I'm no longer interested in why they cancelled it. But I would like someone at Fox to explain why they don't bring it back.

?

Cartoons - http://cirqusartsandmusic.blogspot.com

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