Firefly Discussion (Merged)

[BadMojo]

Re: Firefly is still alive!

FOX: Cedric the Entertainer Presents; Fastlane; John Doe; and Firefly

WB: Birds of Prey;

UPN: Haunted

John Doe, Firefly and Haunted are three of my favorites among the new shows this season. As arrogant as it sounds, I've come to the conclusion that the viewing public in general really does prefer to see the same stupid, boring sitcoms rehashed over and over.

Gee, I wonder if something wacky will happen on Friends this week?

 

[Ranger REG]

Unfortunately, the mainstream viewing public (and potential consumers of products advertised during commercial timeslots) dwarfs the cult TV viewers like us. Then again, I'd rather watch Friends than Survivor on Thursday nights (although once in a while I take a peek to see if Erin is wearing a bikini).

 

[Crothian]

Tonight's episode was okay. I really liked after he hit the dude he said "Now, it's my type of party." I really liked the mechanic woman, what's her name, in this one. Very good job by here. Overall plot was interesting, but not great.

 

[Mistwell]

Re: Re: Re: Firefly is still alive!

2.9 is bad... depending on your expectations, and context.

For one thing, Friday prime-time just isn't a good slot. People go out on Fridays, so the networks expect lower ratings on Friday than they do on Tuesday. And nobody sane expects a freshman show to hit the same ratings as a many-year veteranshow like Buffy.

Umm, up until then, it HAD been getting better ratings than Buffy! In fact, if you look at the rest of this thread, you will see people making all kinds of justifications for why it was doing better than Buffy. Now you are making justifications for why it is doing worse than Buffy?

 

[Ranger REG]

Actually, I'm one of the people on this thread who can't factually justify Firefly. I can only speak from personal preference. It had a good start (albeit not a very good start as the follow-up show, John Doe) and I had hope that it will continue to improve and attract more audience. But the nostalgia wore off a little and I find it hard to see if it could attract the mainstream.

Still, I am hoping, but Joss Whedon have got to do something. The good thing about it, is that Firefly is a new TV series that has yet to establish certain canon, unlike long-running Star Trek series who has many previous episodes from previous series (as well as films) that have already established a lot of canon.

 

[Umbran]

Re: Re: Re: Re: Firefly is still alive!

Umm, up until then, it HAD been getting better ratings than Buffy! In fact, if you look at the rest of this thread, you will see people making all kinds of justifications for why it was doing better than Buffy. Now you are making justifications for why it is doing worse than Buffy?

Ah. Right. I forgot. Someone else had an opinion on the matter, so mine is now forfeit.

What I said is still true. Friday is traditionally not a good time slot. And whether or not it was doing better, I don't think any sane network exec would expect such performance.

Look at the network's actions to guage it's expectations - did they see they had a bigger hit than Buffy and suddenly order a full season? No. They are guarded, and only ordered three more episodes. It was a good enough showing to merit further exploration, but not good enough to really commit. That doesn't sound like expecting it to hold on to high ratings to me. Hoping, perhaps, but not expecting.

 

[Villano]

The original hype for the show was totally wrong (that whole "Oh, yeah. It's out there."). I think it turned off sci-fi (and western) fans would have watched, and the people expecting comedy saw that it wasn't and never came back.

In fact, if I didn't catch a brief glimpse of Gina Torres in a commercial (Anyone else notice that she was the only character not shown in those original ads?), I never would have turned it on.

I hope that Fox has the sense to realize that they dropped the ball on the series launch and is trying to give it time to let word of mouth (and the internet) draw in the viewers who passed it over before.

I'm also hoping that Fox realizes that the premptions of a few episode affects the ratings. After all, if a show isn't around for a couple of weeks, a lot of people will assume that it's been cancelled and not look for it again (part of the reason The Flash got canned).

I think that Fox is holding out hope. No network wants a show to fail. After all, they invest considerable money into it.

But, if it does come back next season, the ratings would really need to show a marked improvement or else it'll be cancelled as soon as it starts. I can see Fox giving the show a 2nd chance, but not a 3rd.

Personally, this is one of the few shows I look forward to each week.

 

[Shard O'Glase]

I love the show, but even if I didn't I'd watch it just for Gina Torres. I just find her absurdly hot. I 1st saw her in that cleopatra show, and I kept on watching just becaue of her.

Well hopefully the ratings will pick up.(why is it all the shows I like the ratings suck for) Because I love the show, and I get to see more of Gina Torres.

 

[Whodat]

Here comes that old sinking feeling...

The Nielsen ratings for the week of October 28 – November 3 are in.

Bad news, I’m afraid. For those of you with weak stomachs, there are receptacles near the exits. For those of you with strong stomachs… read on.
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Firefly’s ratings took another large drop, but this one was especially bad because it forced the show out of the top 100 for the first time. This week the show sank from #90 to #101, while the show scored a 2.8 in the ratings.

Now for the bad news… This was the first week of the November sweeps. Yep, this one really hurt.


Already the critics are trying to reach “minimum safe distance” from the blast zone. Futon Critic just released a list of 10 series whose fates still hang in the balance.

Number 4 is Firefly (of course).
Here’s what they had to say.
Quote:

Firefly (Fox)
The good: "Firefly" has only lost 1.8 million viewers since its premiere and has increased its viewership by 100,000 in the past week.

The bad: This show doesn't hold a candle to "Dark Angel" in the ratings last season. In its first five weeks this season, "Firefly" has trailed "Dark Angel" on average by 1.78 million viewers in year-to-year comparisons (that's a drop of 27% on average). Even "Dark Angel's" series low last season (3.3/6, 5.0 million viewers, 12/14/01) is above three of "Firefly's" five broadcasts this season. Considering that FOX sent the James Cameron series packing for this one, this definitely is not a good thing.

The bottom line: The next couple of weeks will undoubtedly decide the show's fate and while we remain optimistic (we enjoy the show here) one can't help but see its days are numbered especially with midseason cop drama (and likely better "John Doe" fit) "Keen Eddie" looking over its shoulder.

End quote.
The full article can be found here…
http://www.thefutoncritic.com/cgi/gofuton.cgi?action=thisdayintv&id=20021101

 

[Buddha the DM]

It was suggested by Crothian, that I point you all towards that character conversions that I have done of the Serenity's Crew for the SWRPG.

You can see the characters here:
http://enworld.cyberstreet.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=29976