Ratings News!
POSTED BY: Novagrass
UPDATED: Wednesday, September 25, 2002 22:21
VIEWED: 13789
PAGE 5 of 5
The real test of whether Firefly has any staying power at all is this Friday.
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Does the ratings include only TV viewing?
Oh well, I guess internet "viewing" probably doesn't count, eh?
Quote:
Originally posted by Haken:
The real test of whether Firefly has any staying power at all is this Friday.
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Firefly won't be picked up by a cable network, because it's too expensive. And it won't get picked up by anyone if it gets dropped after the initial 13 episode commitment. If it makes it through a full season and doesn't make the grade for Fox, I suppose it could appeal to the WB or, more likely, UPN. But that's not really relevant at the moment.
Joss's other shows generate a lot of revenue for Fox in ways not directly related to US broadcast rights - DVD's, merchandising, and unusually high popularity overseas. All that stuff will help this show if it's on the bubble. But first it needs to get onto the bubble, and it probably has about four episodes to get there.
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I wonder if FIREFLY would have much overseas appeal. Westerns are a distinctly American genre. The "Myth of the Frontier" is something that is engrained in American conciousness. I don't know the foreigners "get" that. Do Europeans watch Westerns?
And also the science fiction element. FARSCAPE's creator, explaining why Australia wasn't broadcasting his show even though it was bloody filmed there, said that sci-fi, while a niche in the U.S., is a staple because of our space program. Aussies didn't experience that on the same level that Americans did, and thus aren't too "into" aliens and spaceships and the whatnot. NASA (along with Cold War paranoia) inspired Sci-Fi and its fans as much as the American frontier inspired Westerns and its fans.
Of course, I could be wrong.
--- Joe
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You may be right about Europe, although I would think Australia would go for the Western. It's more or less a frontier culture as much as America is, and it's hard to find a SF film that's as Western-themed as "The Road Warrior".
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Hey Haken what's up. Well, I don't work for Fox as of yet but I do check out the ratings every week to see how shows are doing. Since Firefly airs on Fridays I will say that every new episode that airs at 8pm needs to get an average of at least 5.0/8 or higher to be brought for another season or even a midseason show. Because since Fox moved the X-Files the ratings have not been great. Most people stopped watching Fox on Fridays ever since they put Millennium on the air which had very poor ratings. I now think that Fox will air the show until the end of the year if it does continues to do bad and air the last of the episodes in the summer like they did with Freakylinks. Lets hope that this Fridays episode does over a 5.0/8 and builds from it.
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By chance, is there another timeslot during the week, where the goals aren't so ambitious?
Quote:
Originally posted by Dean:
Hey Haken what's up. Well, I don't work for Fox as of yet but I do check out the ratings every week to see how shows are doing. Since Firefly airs on Fridays I will say that every new episode that airs at 8pm needs to get an average of at least 5.0/8 or higher to be brought for another season or even a midseason show. Because since Fox moved the X-Files the ratings have not been great. Most people stopped watching Fox on Fridays ever since they put Millennium on the air which had very poor ratings. I now think that Fox will air the show until the end of the year if it does continues to do bad and air the last of the episodes in the summer like they did with Freakylinks. Lets hope that this Fridays episode does over a 5.0/8 and builds from it.
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Well, JASONZZZ getting over a 5.0 on a Friday isn't that ambitious. Lately most shows on Fridays have gotten under a 4.5 on Fox which is why we don't see them anymore. A 4.1/9 is not very good ratings. Both Enterprise and The New Twilight Zone for example beat that number and are both on UPN! 
If the ratings don't jump soon this show is gone which is a fact. I mean if you look at the last series that aired in that timeslot for a whole season was Sliders which was back in the 96/97 season and that show got an average of 6.0 million viewers and still got canceled after three years on the network. But back then the cutting point was anything under 6.0 but now that cable has grown all the major networks have lost viewers so any show that gets a 5.5 or higher is always brought back. On Friday I said over a 5.0 because in the last 3 or 4 years that day has been doing horribly and is the lowest watched day on Fox. Oh yea if you want to see weekly ratings go to the site below. They also have ratings from passed season as well. Take care 
http://www.boxofficemojo.com/tv/
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Question: Are we sure that Firefly received a 4.1? Because The Futon Critic at http://www.thefutoncritic.com/cgi/gofuton.cgi?action=thisdayintv&id=20
020923 says that Firefly received a 4.9 (the share was exactly the same). Just wondering.
Nathan
"It looks like a great adventure...That's what it is; that's what it feels like. When I saw the pilot, it was really engaging. It was exciting. It was unusual. It threw me off every now and then. I think people will be grabbed by it." - Ron Glass, on the pilot, during an interview with the Indianapolis Star
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From Scifi.com:
Quote:
Doe Goes, Fly Slow
Fox's John Doe garnered good ratings for the network and won its time slot in its Sept. 20 debut, but the much-anticipated Firefly took off much slower, coming in third place in its time slot an hour earlier, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Debuting at 9 p.m. Friday, John Doe averaged 9.6 million viewers and a 4.3 rating/14 share in the adults 18-49 demographic, the trade paper reported. Viewership grew throughout the hour from an average of 9.2 million viewers in the first half to 10 million from 9:30-10 p.m., the trade paper added.
But Firefly was slower out of the gate at 8 p.m., averaging 6.3 million viewers and a 3.0/11 in adults 18-49. The action-drama beat Fox's 2001-'02 season average in the time slot by 11 percent in adults 18-49, but it also took a dip at the half-hour mark in total viewers and some key demographics, the trade paper reported.
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