Firefly cancelled!

[John Crichton]

Not on my "The WB" station in Hawaii. It is possible that your local TV station were able to buy airtime for that show, assuming that you don't have UPN (then again, you may have combined affiliate of UPN/WB, like we had, but now it is soley "The WB.")

My area (just outside NY) gets the WB and UPN. And I understand that some areas aren't as lucky but the show did not get cancelled, it simply moved to another network. IIRC, UPN outbid the WB and since they had Smallville in the pipeline, they let it go. Buffy has new episodes that can be found in reruns, on DVD, etc. It's a much lesser of the 2 evils, IMO.

 

[Negative Zero]

Not on my "The WB" station in Hawaii. It is possible that your local TV station were able to buy airtime for that show, assuming that you don't have UPN (then again, you may have combined affiliate of UPN/WB, like we had, but now it is soley "The WB.")

Buffy wasn't cancelled. the show was actually produced at (and i believe by) Fox. WB was paying Fox for the show. towards the end of it's run on WB, they were complaining that Fox was asking for too much money, and that they couldn't afford to keep the show. that's when UPN stepped in and picked it up. i'm not sure where it's produced now though.

What do you mean? They found me. And judging from this thread, I'm not the only audience.

they may have found you, but the sure as hell didn't find me! they had no promotion for the show. i found it. i knew about the show before it came on, and I went looking for it. i really hope that someone else picks it up and makes a mint off it.

~NegZ

 

[John Crichton]

they may have found you, but the sure as hell didn't find me! they had no promotion for the show. i found it. i knew about the show before it came on, and I went looking for it. i really hope that someone else picks it up and makes a mint off it.

Man, that would be great. If another network picks it up and it duplicates the success of Buffy (just as an example). Put Fox in there place, so to speak....

 

[LrdApoc]

Man, that would be great. If another network picks it up and it duplicates the success of Buffy (just as an example). Put Fox in there place, so to speak....

Yes and no.. Fox still profits from the sale and residuals of producing the show regardless of who airs it.. Like Buffy and Angel... so they aren;t really being punished either way.

 

[John Crichton]

Yes and no.. Fox still profits from the sale and residuals of producing the show regardless of who airs it.. Like Buffy and Angel... so they aren;t really being punished either way.

Hmmm, you make a good point. Well, on the other hand it would show them that they obviously did something wrong. And they would loose advertising dollars if the show is not on their network.

:: edited to make sense ::

 

[Negative Zero]

Yes and no.. Fox still profits from the sale and residuals of producing the show regardless of who airs it.. Like Buffy and Angel... so they aren;t really being punished either way.

will Fox still produce Firefly? i got the impression that they were giving it up totally. though i admit to not having actually read anything concrete about that.

~NegZ

 

[Chun-tzu]

will Fox still produce Firefly? i got the impression that they were giving it up totally. though i admit to not having actually read anything concrete about that.

~NegZ

I suppose that would depend on the new network and the new contract. As it is, Fox has said that they are not ordering any new episodes, which effectively cancels the show. However, they aren't blocking Joss and Tim Minear from shopping around for a new network (which they can).

Even if UPN or another network picks up the show, some serious damage may have already been done. As it is now, the people who used to work on the show are out of a job, and looking for new ones, and if they find something, they may no longer be available for Firefly.

According to the Save Firefly webpage, Hollywood is closed until January 6, so we most likely won't get any responses from networks until then, at the earliest.

 

[Shadowdancer]

I think there are some misunderstandings about who makes TV series.

TV series are made by production companies. TV networks buy the series and air them.

Sometimes, the TV networks own the production companies. Such as Universal, which owns UPN and also owns the production company that makes "Enterprise." Universal also owns all of the rights to the "Star Trek" franchise, TV and movies.

But sometimes, you have a situation where one network owns a production company, but another network buys the series to air. Doesn't happen as much as it use to, now that Fox, UPN and the WB -- which all own production companies and make series -- started their own networks. Back in the days when NBC, CBS and ABC were the only networks, it happened frequently. However, even Fox, UPN and the WB today air shows made by production companies they don't own.

I don't believe Fox owns the production company that makes "Firefly." Joss owns that. He just sells the series to the high bidder, in this case Fox. Fox didn't order a full season of episodes to begin with, and has informed the production company that it won't order any behind its initial order. So the production company is not making any more episodes because it has no one to air them. If another network or cable outlet steps in and picks up the series, the production company can make more episodes. Fox won't get any money if someone else shows these episodes.

 

[Shard O'Glase]

I don't believe Fox owns the production company that makes "Firefly." Joss owns that. He just sells the series to the high bidder, in this case Fox. Fox didn't order a full season of episodes to begin with, and has informed the production company that it won't order any behind its initial order. So the production company is not making any more episodes because it has no one to air them. If another network or cable outlet steps in and picks up the series, the production company can make more episodes. Fox won't get any money if someone else shows these episodes.

Agree with all this. Just want to clarify a point, FOX would likely make money from re-aired shows that they bought(the 1st season). Without reading the contract they have no-one can be sure, but they likely have a clause so that they control those episodes.(though they may only control them for a limited time)

 

[Umbran]

but they likely have a clause so that they control those episodes.(though they may only control them for a limited time)

If sok, they aren't exercising it. Apparently, Joss considers this an extnesnion of good will - "We don't have a place for your show, but we won't exercise any rights we might have that would get in the way of shopping the show to anyone else." Joss has been clear about how FOX is being very nice about it, when they could actually be rather nasty about it.