Don't F*** With River! [Firefly]

[Kid Charlemagne]

I hope they would return into TV syndication market.

I don't really think there IS a first run TV syndication market anymore. Too many networks - it's what killed Babylon 5, it's the reason Star Trek is a network show now, it's the reason why nothing came along to replace Hercules and Xena.

Firefly has to come back on one of the big 4 networks to have a chance - unless it goes to HBO or Showtime. Sci Fi can't financially support a show like Firefly. Firefly is an expensive show.

 

[Mercule]

Rest assured, its spreading like a Virus...

Heh, I showed it to my dad. He watched it all in one weekend. My dad just doesn't do stuff like that.

 

[Brother Shatterstone]

No. Just spend $100 (one time, not per month) on an antenna and you get free on-air TV programs. I mean, how do you find the time to watch all 50-plus channels?

I think we just explained your post count... The massively large one you have here and the even bigger one you have on the WotC forum.

 

[Ranger REG]

I think we just explained your post count... The massively large one you have here and the even bigger one you have on the WotC forum.

Hey, I'd rather have my internet.

 

[Henry]

Hopefully we will get the Trilogy and then Universal will give Fox lots of money and then it will appear as a series on SciFi.

Lemme get this straight -- you want to take it away from the people who cancelled Firefly - and give it to the people who canceled Farscape?

I'm just teasing. Sci-Fi, especially sci-fi with a strong storyline, really doesn't have a good home, no matter who displays it.

 

[Ranger REG]

I don't really think there IS a first run TV syndication market anymore. Too many networks - it's what killed Babylon 5, it's the reason Star Trek is a network show now, it's the reason why nothing came along to replace Hercules and Xena.

Firefly has to come back on one of the big 4 networks to have a chance - unless it goes to HBO or Showtime. Sci Fi can't financially support a show like Firefly. Firefly is an expensive show.

True, but not all on-air broadcast networks have coverage in all states. For example, Hawaii no longer have a dedicated channel for UPN. Our local CBS station had to buy airtime for Enterprise and it airs on late saturday night.

I may not have cable, but I still enjoy watching SG-1 in syndication (airs on Hawaii's FOX station). Granted, it is one season behind, but at least I have my fix. The same applies for another SCI-FI series, Gene Roddenberry's Andromeda (airs on local ABC station). Not my fix anymore, except for the eye candies (two babes, soon to be three).

 

[Brother Shatterstone]

Hey, I'd rather have my internet.

Very true, and I understand your unique situation... Not saying Hawaii is backwards but I do believe cable is still less common than on the mainland where everyone has cable…

Is it? (sorry it's been a long time since I went through that area...)

 

[takyris]

We don't all have cable. Many of us have upgraded to satellite, since the local cable folks couldn't get our reception to stop looking grainy.

I've liked what USA has done with its treatment of Monk and Dead Zone. It re-airs eps frequently, so even if you can't watch it on Friday at 9, you can watch it on Saturday at 7, or Sunday at 11. It keeps to a consistent timeslot with its shows, and cross-pollinates liberally, so that if you watch Monk, you see a lot of ads for Dead Zone, and vice versa.

Right now, I watch more of the USA channel than I do of NBC, and that's even with the interruptions for tennis tournaments and the occasional Walker:Texas Ranger marathon.

The big question would be whether USA could afford Firefly. From a pure business perspective, Firefly failed because it didn't draw enough numbers to make it for what it cost. They weren't bad numbers by many standards, but they weren't good enough for what Firefly ran. Also, regardless of whether it was because of stupid execs, Joss being too cute, or space aliens using mind control beams on the world... Firefly was slow coming out of the gate. The reason does not matter. I honestly can't tell you whether I liked the opening episode (from the TV perspective) because it was well done, because it was well done for me personally but only in the "Tacky Likes This" niche market, or because I trusted Joss and knew it was going somewhere interesting. If "A", then it just didn't get promoted well enough. If "B" or "C", then that's not so good.

Don't get me wrong. Loved Firefly, will be seeing the movie. But I sort of doubt that Fox executives consciously try to get shows cancelled out of spite when they're doing well. Firefly didn't do well, for whatever reason. It got cancelled for not doing well, which meant that it didn't have someone inside fighting hard for its continued survival, arguing for it to get a chance to slowly build an audience. That's all that it means. The reasons it didn't do well are many and varied, and not all of them are the fault of evil Fox executives, and not all of them are knowable by us.

 

[MacMathan]

I would like to see it given the real backing and creative freedom that HBO gives their series. Imagine what cold be done without the retrictions on topics and storylines prevelent on other channels. I am a big fan of the HBO series and many of them have dominated the awards scene but they have not yet done a sci-fi one yet. I know it is probably a dream but Firefly on HBO would make me damn happy

 

[Mouseferatu]

Firefly didn't do well, for whatever reason. It got cancelled for not doing well, which meant that it didn't have someone inside fighting hard for its continued survival, arguing for it to get a chance to slowly build an audience. That's all that it means. The reasons it didn't do well are many and varied, and not all of them are the fault of evil Fox executives, and not all of them are knowable by us.

Except that this isn't entirely accurate. See, at the peak of its half-season run (assuming half a season can be said to have a peak), Firefly was pulling in more viewers per episode than the concurrent seasons of Buffy or Angel.

Yes, I'm serious.

The problem isn't that Firefly wasn't a success. The problem is that Firefly wasn't a success by Fox's standards. If the show had been on UPN or WB, we'd probably still be watching it.

April can't get here soon enough.