General Discussions

Fox executive defends decision to cancel Firefly.

POSTED BY: InvaderPet87
UPDATED: Wednesday, March 9, 2011 00:09
VIEWED: 22009
PAGE 3 of 4

THESOMNAMBULIST

Friday, March 4, 2011 3:17 AM

Storymark wrote:

Quote:
I'd say two very big reasons:

1) Everybody's busy.

2) Serenity still didn't make much, so it's already had one unsuccessful re-launch. Doesn't exactly make another go look like a safe bet.

Those are two reasons.

However:

The Thing. A prequel is currently under production based on John Carpenter's 1981 The Thing which was a flop. (financially speaking)

Tron Legacy. A Reboot of the 1981 Disney box office flop Tron.

Blade Runner. Currently talks are under way for either sequel or prequel or maybe both with possibility of a TV show as well.

Serenity at least made it's return in a shorter time than it took the three examples I've just mentioned. It would be prudent as you point out not to take the risk of course. Can't argue with that. However a studio must surely consider the weight of the show's leading actor. Nathan Fillion. With the success of Castle, right now he's very well known and seeminlgy a hearthrob. He does the chat show circuit, features on magazine covers and creates a buzz around much of what he does. He is not alone either. Morena and Summer are both making impacts within the industry. Granted no waves as yet but the ripples are there. Similarly Alan is always mentioned in many new up and coming shows.

So there is potential there, and certainly a great deal more than when the show was cancelled. Add to this the fact that Joss is currently in production on a summer blockbuster that is likely to unite some big-wig movie stars under the one picture, you have the necessary interest generated for you.

To not take that chance (and I concur it is a chance) would seemingly be short-sighted.

As for time constraints. Yes that's a big problem. But it can be worked round. Michael J. Fox famously continued working on Family Ties whilst working on Back To The Future.

Cartoons - http://cirqusartsandmusic.blogspot.com

PIRATENEWS

Friday, March 4, 2011 3:33 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by two:

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.

Maybe someday Berman will write a short article about the Firefly fiasco like Bob Woodward did about the Iraq fiasco and Donald Rumfeld:

That's about as likely as Bob Woodward's autobio confessing his manlove and detailing his previous job in US Naval Intelligence working every day in the Pentagon for the Joint Chiefs of Staff as liason to General Al "I'm In Charge Of Deepthroat" Haig in the Nixon White House.
www.google.com/search?sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8&q=alexander+haig+silent
+coup+bob+woodward

Point being, FF was sabotaged for Truth:

1. Govt mind control in MKULTRA Project Monarch (theme in all Joss' shows)
2. Commie China owns USA
3. Govt is EVIL and not your friend (theme in all Joss' shows)
4. There are no space aliens anywhere near Earth
5. The South held the moral high ground in the US Civil War (had nothing to do with BLACK slavery)

These topics must be sabotaged from Within...at any cost.

But yeah, a real Tell All book would be fun.

REDLAVA

Friday, March 4, 2011 3:59 AM

I guess the excuses they made are the excuses they always make....

#1 if the show was so expensive to make they maybe you should have devoted a little more time and energy to understand what you were paying for and make sure that you were doing everything in your power to make sure it reached all the audience it could. If you knew you would be showing baseball a few weeks into the season, hold it until the playoffs were done, then start the season. Listen to the creator and have the wisdom to show the fucking show IN ORDER!! If you don't understand what the show is about, then ask somebody before you start marketing it like it is a spaghetti western in space. Fuck...It's not that hard!

11THHOUR

Friday, March 4, 2011 5:11 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by Spacejanitor:
If I had a dollar for every baseball game I tuned into expecting Firefly...

Yay! A fresh new excuse to drag out my Firefly episode airing chart to show how FOX screwed with it right from the beginning:

The Firefly Episode FOX 2002 Airing Schedule:
_______________________________________________________________

09/20/02 “The Train Job”
09/27/02 ------ Pre-Empted by World Series ----- “Bushwhacked”
10/04/02 ------ Pre-Empted by World Series ----- “Our Mrs. Reynolds”
10/11/02 ------ NO FIREFLY ----------
10/18/02 “Jaynestown”
10/25/02 “Out of Gas”
11/01/02 “Shindig”
11/08/02 “Safe”
11/15/02 "Ariel"
11/22/02 ------ NO FIREFLY ----------
11/29/02 ------ NO FIREFLY ----------
12/06/02 "War Stories"
12/13/02 "Objects in Space"
12/20/02 "Serenity"
_______________________________________________________________

Starting with the SECOND episode and continuing thereafter, Firefly was often not aired in it's regular time slot. How is a new show supposed to establish itself with an audience if it keeps getting yanked?

Combine that with not airing the pilot first, lame promos ("Spaced Out Spacemen!") and episodes out of order, and that's practically a plan to hobble and poison a unique new show.

Yep, I still get real mad...

11th Hour

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Spread the word today ~ Give the gift of Firefly: http://www.apple.com/itunes

ANONYMOUS1

Friday, March 4, 2011 6:31 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by micjwelch:
Something that hasn't been mentioned yet - The fact that this article exists means that we're gaining momentum! We got someone's attention!

Go Avengers!

Go Castle!

Go Chuck!

Go Science Channel!

Go Lottery!

Nathan Fillion's Castle ABC Mondays 10 pm eastern http://abc.go.com/shows/castle/naked-heat <-read chapters of next book

ECGORDON

Friday, March 4, 2011 12:46 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by MalsDoxy:
they were always peeved at Joss for moving Buffy, plain and simple...the vermin

Why would the FOX television network be peeved that The WB canceled Buffy but Joss was able to move the show to UPN? 20th Century Fox Film Studios would have been pleased that the show was still in production, but FOX TV had nothing to do with the show.

ZEEK

Friday, March 4, 2011 2:30 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by Storymark:
Now, the effectiveness of the advertising is a decent subject of debate. People say the ads didn't do the show justice, and I can sympathize. The ads wre a bit silly.

But then, it was a tough nut to crack in terms of advertising. The things easier to market are those that fit into an easily defined box - and that aint Firefly.

The ads for Serenity took an entirely different style and approach, which to me was more representative than the ads for the show - and it still didn't turn on the masses.

Yeah I saw plenty of the ads for Serenity when it was about to hit theaters. I thought they did a good job of capturing the humor and feel of Serenity. In my experience Universal did a really good job of marketing Serenity.

Fox not so much, but Universal had more material to work with in order to figure out what they were marketing. I mean to this day I don't know how to explain what Firefly is to people who've never heard of it before. So, I don't blame Fox for that too much.

CHANNAIN

Friday, March 4, 2011 2:37 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by InvaderPet87:
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.

Order schmorder. I'd have just been happy with a regular, solid time slot.

Veteran of the 2002 Throes of Cancellation—FFF.net fan since January 7, 2003
Doing the impossible makes us mighty
Minnesota Browncoats
http://www.mnfirefly.com/portal/html/index.php

PIRATENEWS

Friday, March 4, 2011 4:38 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by 11thHour:

The Firefly Episode FOX 2002 Airing Schedule:
_______________________________________________________________

09/20/02 “The Train Job”
09/27/02 ------ Pre-Empted by World Series ----- “Bushwhacked”
10/04/02 ------ Pre-Empted by World Series ----- “Our Mrs. Reynolds”
10/11/02 ------ NO FIREFLY ----------
10/18/02 “Jaynestown”
10/25/02 “Out of Gas”
11/01/02 “Shindig”
11/08/02 “Safe”
11/15/02 "Ariel"
11/22/02 ------ NO FIREFLY ----------
11/29/02 ------ NO FIREFLY ----------
12/06/02 "War Stories"
12/13/02 "Objects in Space"
12/20/02 "Serenity" [Pilot]
_______________________________________________________________

That's an amazing act of sabotage. The best epp -- Our Mrs Reynolds -- makes no sense if you don't see her Jekyl & Hyde morph.

At what point during the schedule was FF actually cancelled?

Or was it cancelled before the first episode?

FIY, if FF is revived with the original actors, I recommend cancelling the gratuitous nudity. Older actors have more saggy bits.

STORYMARK

Friday, March 4, 2011 7:26 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by TheSomnambulist:
Storymark wrote:

Quote:
I'd say two very big reasons:

1) Everybody's busy.

2) Serenity still didn't make much, so it's already had one unsuccessful re-launch. Doesn't exactly make another go look like a safe bet.

Those are two reasons.

However:

The Thing. A prequel is currently under production based on John Carpenter's 1981 The Thing which was a flop. (financially speaking)

Tron Legacy. A Reboot of the 1981 Disney box office flop Tron.

Blade Runner. Currently talks are under way for either sequel or prequel or maybe both with possibility of a TV show as well.

True, but there's also the common thread that it's taken 20 years for all those projects to be followed up on - and two of them could still turn out to be flops (and Tron:L came in well under expectations, and is only getting a follow-up due to toy sales).

Quote:
Serenity at least made it's return in a shorter time than it took the three examples I've just mentioned. It would be prudent as you point out not to take the risk of course. Can't argue with that. However a studio must surely consider the weight of the show's leading actor. Nathan Fillion. With the success of Castle, right now he's very well known and seeminlgy a hearthrob. He does the chat show circuit, features on magazine covers and creates a buzz around much of what he does. He is not alone either. Morena and Summer are both making impacts within the industry. Granted no waves as yet but the ripples are there. Similarly Alan is always mentioned in many new up and coming shows.

Which I'd say adds to the problem. As others have pointed out, the affection for FF stems mostly from the characters, not the concept, as is more the case with Tron/Thing/Blade Runner examples.

Making something with them - difficult because they're busy. Making something without them - risk loosing a big chunk of your existing fanbase.

Quote:
As for time constraints. Yes that's a big problem. But it can be worked round. Michael J. Fox famously continued working on Family Ties whilst working on Back To The Future.

Actually, they initially didn't cast him because of Family Ties, and ended up shooting a large chunk of the movie with Eric Stoltz. Only after the studio was unhappy with him, did they go back and re-work the schedule to accommodate the series. Pierce Bronsnan originally lost out on Bond due to Remington Steele, Tom Selleck lost Indiana Jones due to Magnum. Those scheduling issues can really screw a project up.