Firefly cancelled!

[Ranger REG]

Fox may not be the bigggest fish in the pond, but it is by no means small. In order to maintain it's position, it must meet some minimums, ratings-wise. If Firefly isn't meeting those minimums, it is not pulling it's own weight, as far as the network is concerned.

And once again, I must point out they are using an antiquated rating systems.

 

[Airwolf]

The cry to save Firefly and Birds of Prey has been heard and reported by the nice people of CNN. Here is the article.Save Firefly and Birds of Prey on CNN

 

[Villano]

The cry to save Firefly and Birds of Prey has been heard and reported by the nice people of CNN. Here is the article.Save Firefly and Birds of Prey on CNN

My favorite part of the article was

"It's gratifying that so many fans are speaking up for these shows," said one network executive. "But where were they in October?"

Which proves once again that all network executives are morons.

Hey, Einstein, we were watching in October! We've been watching all along, you @#$%^& idiot! But none of us have Neilson boxes, so we don't count.

How, in God's name, does the Neilson system stay in effect? How can it possibly give an accurate representation of viewers? I don't have a box, no one I know has a box, and no one I know knows anyone who has a box. I doubt that anyone in the entire city I grew up in or the town in which I live now has one.

Charles Barkley was on the Today Show a few months ago to hype his show and complained about the system, saying that, in all his years and all the people he's met, he's never once encountered anyone who owned a box or knew someone who did.

Barkley is a famous athlete who's traveled around the entire country numerous times. Think about how many people he's met to put that statement into perspective.

What's amazing is, I've tried doing searches and can't even find out how many boxes are actually out there. Does anyone know, or is it kept secret?

 

[Whodat]

Villano, I understand your frustration – but I am at the opposite end of the spectrum. Speaking as a Neilsen household, I don’t feel my participation counts for anything.

I’ve participated in the Nielsen rating study for about three years now. Since then, every one of the shows that I watch regularly has been cancelled… every single one! Most of them just within this year.

So I’ve got a question for that network busybody: What is the point of me having a Neilsen box when all of the shows that I watch are being cancelled anyway?

Birds of Prey… gone!
BattleBots… gone!
Firefly… gone!
Farscape… gone!


But somehow… SOMEHOW… Anna Nichole Smith’s drunken antics are revived for a second season!

I’m thinking that there are too many morons participating in the current Nielsen study, and that my input is being washed away in a flood of mediocrity. I feel like I’m voting for the “Independent” candidate in an election, and I’m simply throwing my vote away.

If they cancel South Park, my TV may stay off entirely.

 

[Chun-tzu]

I guess I'd represent the midpoint between you guys, Villano and Whodat. I kept a Neilsen diary for one week in November, a sweeps week. I was more than happy to do it, since it meant a chance of boosting ratings for Firefly and other shows I was hoping to keep alive, like Futurama and Birds of Prey.

 

[Villano]

Wow. I guess I can't say that I never met anyone who was a Neilsen family anymore.

You can understand why I was so angry at that executive. I honestly think he really believes that all these people who are trying to support the show weren't watching until now.

A few years ago, I worked at a cable tv network, and I heard stories from people who had been there for years about the questionable decisions executives make.

For example, one guy who had no tv or writing experience was given a chance to create and write his own show merely because he was friends with an exec. Fair enough. But when the show bombed after only a few episodes, he was allowed to do another one. And another one. And another one.

This guy hasn't created a series that made it a complete season, yet he's been given chance after chance after chance. He still works there, churning out crap that will be cancelled in 6 episodes, and will probably be there as long as his good buddy is at the top.

It wouldn't be so bad except for the fact that the guy was an egomaniacal jerk who was under the dillusion that he was a genius. He would walk around with his nose in the air (literally) and talk down to people, not realizing that everyone considered him to be a joke.

My office was right next door to his and I could hear him and the other writers (who were his friends who, not surprisingly, also had no writing experience) hammering out scripts. God, they were awful. A high school kid could knock something out better.

Excuse the rant.

But, if you don't mind me asking, Whodat, how many people does your vote represent? Also, do you know how many Neilsen Family there really are? I wasn't joking when I said I turned up zero information in my online searches.

Before you admitted to having a box (Do they use boxes? Chun-tzu mentioned a diary), I was beginning to believe that the whole Neilsen process was some sort of twisted urban legend, like bigfoot (although more people have probably seen bigfoot). Just something that networks used to excuse their horrible decisions and conceal their plot to cancel all the quality shows on tv.

BTW, BattleBots is cancelled?! Are you serious? Nooooo!

Geez. With Nero Wolfe, Firefly, and now BattleBots gone, that leaves my entire tv watching schedule to:

Alias (off and on)

Crossing Jordan (off and on)

Law & Order

Law & Order: SVU

Whose Line Is It, Anyway? (When I can find it. ABC bounces it around the scheule so much it doesn't seem to air in the same timslot 2 weeks in a row)

Buffy reruns on FX (I don't get UPN)

Dragonball

Dragonball Z

Inuyasha

Yu Yu Hakusho

Home Movies

Ultimate Muscle

People's Court (off and on)

MASH reruns on FX

And what's with shows getting cancelled just as they branch out into merchandising? Farscape releases its RPG and gets canned. BattleBots is coming out with a video game, and now it's gone.

Yet Anna Nichole, Fear Factor, and Who Wants To Marry A Millionaire's Dog will be airing from the grave.

 

[Hand of Evil]

Television is not getting any better, just a few shows I watch anymore.

Sunday - Futrama (no new shows) and Angel (now moved)
Monday - Stargate on SciFi
Tuesday - Everwood and Buffy
Wednesday - Smallville and ED, sometimes Enterprise
Thursday -
Friday - Farscape (cancelled), Firefly (cancelled), Joe Doe, Stargate
Saturday -

I do try to watch the Buffy reruns on FX everyday. And I don't know why I like Everwood, I just do, I think it is something on before Buffy on my UPN/WB station.

 

[John Crichton]

For the Neilsen Ratings questions that have been popping up, this may be helpful. About 6-8 years ago my family was asked to keep a diary for I think it was a month. I participated, even though I didn't watch a ton of TV at the time.

 

[Villano]

For the Neilsen Ratings questions that have been popping up, this may be helpful. About 6-8 years ago my family was asked to keep a diary for I think it was a month. I participated, even though I didn't watch a ton of TV at the time.

Thanks for the link.

It's not very encouraging to know that only 5,000 people are used to determine the viewing habits of 320,187,000+ people (288,774,000+ US and 31,413,000+ Canada).

Granted, not everyone owns a tv. The article claims roughly 99,000,000 in the US. That still equates one Neilson vote to 19,800. Of course, that number would have to be much higher if it included Canadian viewers.

Again, I can't see why networks place so much stock in it.

 

[Whodat]

But, if you don't mind me asking, Whodat, how many people does your vote represent?

This Nielsen “household” represents two viewers. Of course, we have been told explicitly from Nielsen Media Research that we are not to tell any friends or family that we are a Nielsen household.

I’ve heard of the diary. But, no – we have a box. It’s about the size of a VCR. They removed the back of the TV, did some soldering, hooked the box to the telephone, and put the TV back together. Every night, around 3 am, the box phones home to tell NMR what shows we’ve watched for the day. No muss, no fuss.

The problem that I have with the box is that it is too hands-free. I mean, my roommate and I are of the same basic demographic. White males, age 18-35. Suppose, however, that I were married with a couple of kids. One child watches programming for children under 5, one child is 10 or older. My wife likes to watch sit-coms. I like to watch dramas. How do they know which demographic is watching which show?



It has been reported by Futon Critic that BattleBots has been cancelled.

http://www.thefutoncritic.com/cgi/gofuton.cgi?action=showatch&network=all&status=0

Sorry, Villano. I feel your pain.