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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Whodat" data-source="post: 425618" data-attributes="member: 7386">I was surfing a Firefly fan site, when I ran across some exciting news. At least I thought it was exciting, but apparently not everyone thought so.I have clipped two separate quotes from fireflyfans.netFirst, the good news. Quote:According to figures posted on The Futon Critic website, Firefly is currently ranked 59th out of 119 shows in generated income at $2,592,000 per episode. FOX's other series, John Doe, which appears on the same night as Firefly, is ranked 38th with an average income of $3,275,200. The much FOX Exec touted Fastlane is ranked 24th, generating an average income of $4,264,672. It's rumored that Firefly cost an estimated $1.3 million to produce. If that's the case, Firefly generates about $1.3 million in profit for FOX per episode.Here is where Firefly stands against other genre series.21. Alias - $4,636,48034. Smallville - $3,566,04838. John Doe - $3,275,20046. Push, Nevada - $3,065,98459. Firefly - $2,592,00065. Enterprise - $2,284,25672. That Was Then - $2,091,80881. Dinotopia - $1,921,21682. Buffy the Vampire Slayer - $1,889,02485. Birds of Prey - $1,837,44087. Angel - $1,779,48892. Charmed - $1,557,50497. Touched by an Angel - $1,354,944103. Twilight zone - $915,616104. Haunted - $908,800111. Sabrina, the Teenage Witch - $721,792118. Do Over - $534,880It's interesting to note that Push Nevada and That Was Then have both been cancelled.End QuoteI read this and I thought – Woo Hoo! FOX is making money on Firefly!Then I read a little further down the page.Someone else wrote a response to the previous post. And not just any "someone else".Quote:You're interpreting the numbers incorrectly here. The ad income minus the license fee does not equal the profit FOX makes per episode on the show. That ad income of $2.59 million per episode is contigent on "Firefly" meeting its pre-determined ratings guarantee to advertisers, that is what FOX assures advertisers a show will do in the ratings. If a show doesn't meet this guarantee (generally the average rating of its time slot for the previous season), FOX has to issue "make goods" or free ads that make up for the show not making its guarantee. So while FOX may take in $2.59 million for an episode, if it doesn't meet its guarantee, FOX ends up paying back money to the advertisers in the form of refunds or free ads, i.e. the show starts losing money for FOX, not making it. So while it would be nice to think FOX automatically makes money each time it airs "Firefly," that's not the case. And considering FOX averaged just shy of 6 million viewers in the Friday, 8 p.m. eastern time slot last season and the last episode of "Firefly" was only seen by 4.9 million viewers, FOX is already going to have to issue make goods or refunds for the show as it is.Furthermore, while its nice to say that "Firefly" makes more than "Buffy" or "Enterprise," FOX is seen by 97% of households in the U.S. while UPN only 88% of all U.S. households - FOX shows generally should be doing better than UPN shows.While I appreciate your enthusiasm for hyping "Firefly" (we're big fans here at the site too), it's also important when talking about things like this to lay out the facts correctly.Brian Ford SullivanEditor-In-ChiefThe Futon Critic<a href="http://www.thefutoncritic.com" target="_blank">http://www.thefutoncritic.com</a>End Quote:It sounds like he's saying that depending on FOX's agreement with advertisers, determines whether FOX is making or losing money on a show at any given time.So is this good news or not? Maybe not terrific news, but it doesn't sound like bad new either, right?I'm confused. At least, I think I'm confused.And does anyone remember what show Mr. Sullivan is referring to? What show was FOX airing at 8pm on Friday nights last year that was netting 6 million viewers?</blockquote>

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