Angel, Smallville, Enterprise--and TV politics.

[Planesdragon]

Lousy, good-for-nothing, greedy, penny-pinching, short sighted corporate suits!

For some unknown reason, essentially EVERY half-intelligent fantasy/sci-fi drama is on Wednesday nights. At UPN Enterprise and a succession of half-hearted shows go head to head against Smallville and Angel, all of which are fairly well-written and gripping enough to get me watching every week.

And now they're cancelling Angel, at least a year too early.

I don't know what hidden bits and arguments led to this state, or how the numbers stack up--but if the show isn't pulling its own weight, shouldn't the first option be to see how the show can do with less weight? Cut the budget, keep the show--and let the creative staff take it or leave it?

The paranoid conspiracy nut in me things that the WB cut Angel because they only wanted to focus on one show aimed at sci-fi/fantasy men: Smallville, the one they had to pay another corporation for. I expect that when Angel leaves, Smallville will get a bigger buget--isn't next year supposed to be Smallville in college, with Louis Lane and Clark flying and the whole shebang?

And that same nut says that UPN won't pick up Angel out of some corporate half-wit who thinks that Enterprise would be a smash hit if it wasn't running against Angel and Smallville. (They could just move it to Tuesday or Monday or Friday--it's not like us geeks won't stay home to watch one show, or catch it anyway. NO, it has to be on Wednesday.. @#$!%...)

*sigh*

Anyway, if you DON'T want to see Angel canceled, and you haven't written to the WB to express your displeasure, why not?

They have an e-mail address for public comment.

Does anyone have a better forum for expressing entirely justified public outcry at a corproate suit who takes our art away?

 

[Chain Lightning]

I agree it hurts to see a personal favorite get cancelled. And yes, sometimes it is for dumb reasons. Especially when 'suits' are involved.

But, with 'Angel'....it might not really be about what you think. Maybe they just want to end it while its good and not wait to end it after it proverbally 'jumps the shark'. That could be a reason also.

Its not like it didn't have a strong run or anything. Right?

 

[Umbran]

but if the show isn't pulling its own weight, shouldn't the first option be to see how the show can do with less weight? Cut the budget, keep the show--and let the creative staff take it or leave it?

Not necessarily. The entertainment industry is all about risk assessment.

Perhaps trimming the show's budget will make it more profitable. Perhaps it will degrade the show's quality to the point where it loses more viewers, and thus loses advertising revenue. If you lose more in advertising than you'd save in the trimming, there's no win.

 

[Hand of Evil]

If a show makes it five years it has had a good run, this also means enough shows for syndication.

I think that producers and TV exec care too much about profit margin more than quality or ratings, they are in the business to make money.

What can you do? Stop watching those cheap dumb reality shows (I still do not watch Sci-Fi on Friday night). Write a nice letter telling your disappoint (they don't care). You move on but guess what, you find as time passes you find less and less on TV that entertains you, you are no longer the target demographic and you say "TV sucks" but you end up settling watching whatever is on, more than likely an old movie, Discovery, or History.

My list of shows it hurt to loose:
..Farscape
..John Doe
..Invisible Man
..Good vs Evil