Firefly

[Felon]

Farscape is a failure? It lasted 4 seasons! Sure fans wanted it to get more (they always do!) but if shows need 5 or more seasons to not be a failure I think the bar is really high!

I guess that's a fair point of view, but the show did actually struggle to find viewership on the Sci-Fi Channel of all places. It never got the kind of followship that BSG or B5 amassed, so it was specifically a segment of sci-fi fans who didn't like what it was serving up (in fact, Crothian, IIRC you started a thread here some years back about how its downbeatness turned you off).

And more to the point, the show was canceled. It didn't reach the natural end of its story arc naturally. It got axed.

 

[Fast Learner]

And more to the point, the show was canceled. It didn't reach the natural end of its story arc naturally. It got axed.

Which sci-fi shows have? BSG, check. B5 sort-of, though compressed and rewritten and such because of cancellation in season 3 and then again in season 4.

For that matter, which shows have in general? Only incredibly successful shows like M*A*S*H and Seinfeld have the power to end gracefully. The number of shows that have been able to do that can be counted on one hand, two at the most. Farscape got 3 seasons, which is a success. A very mild success, yes, but certainly a success.

 

[Umbran]

Well, if you're not one of those mystical Nielson households, it doesn't matter anyway, right?

Not quite true, if I recall correctly. TiVo now sells it's accumulated data to the networks as well - so the DVR contingent is also getting counted.

 

[Umbran]

Farscape got 3 seasons, which is a success. A very mild success, yes, but certainly a success.

Farscape ran for four seasons, not three. 88 regular episodes, and the final miniseries to wrap it up.

 

[Fast Learner]

Even better. Saw it all, including the miniseries. I'm not sure it really did wrap it up, but it was enojoyable.

 

[Felon]

Which sci-fi shows have? BSG, check. B5 sort-of, though compressed and rewritten and such because of cancellation in season 3 and then again in season 4.

For that matter, which shows have in general? Only incredibly successful shows like M*A*S*H and Seinfeld have the power to end gracefully. The number of shows that have been able to do that can be counted on one hand, two at the most. Farscape got 3 seasons, which is a success. A very mild success, yes, but certainly a success.

I get how it appears that way superficially, treating the concept of "success" as if it were a numbers game by counting episodes (heck, not even episodes, but seasons which in and of themselves are shorter than a normal season). But at a more qualified level, Farscape got axed on its cliffhanger season finale, and the creators themselves certainly felt burned, so I'm going to side with them and say it was a hosejob. There's a big difference between that and going into your final season actually knowing it's your final season.

By the way, Brian Henson is still trying to get webisodes made in the hopes of getting a Farscape sequal of some kind.

 

[Crothian]

(in fact, Crothian, IIRC you started a thread here some years back about how its downbeatness turned you off).

It was an acquired taste.

 

[Orius]

I guess that's a fair point of view, but the show did actually struggle to find viewership on the Sci-Fi Channel of all places. It never got the kind of followship that BSG or B5 amassed, so it was specifically a segment of sci-fi fans who didn't like what it was serving up (in fact, Crothian, IIRC you started a thread here some years back about how its downbeatness turned you off).

I found Farscape to be somewhat overrated myself. One of the biggest problems I had was story structure, there were a lot of episodes that just jumped right into the action with poor exposition of what was going on. I found such episodes to be somewhat difficult to follow. And there were occasional episodes that were just plain surreal and bizarre and made little sense.

Another problem was some of the characters, particularly Rygel and Chiana, were totally unlikeable to me.

And then there was that series finale. Ugh.

Overall, the episodes tended to be hit or miss. There were a number of pretty good episodes in the series that I actually enjoyed.

 

[RangerWickett]

I found Farscape to be somewhat overrated myself. One of the biggest problems I had was story structure, there were a lot of episodes that just jumped right into the action with poor exposition of what was going on. I found such episodes to be somewhat difficult to follow. And there were occasional episodes that were just plain surreal and bizarre and made little sense.

And that's the stuff that I loved the most. I felt like the show assumed that after a season of watching, I could be trusted to get what was going on, no matter how strange.

The show was nuts. I loved that.

 

[Fast Learner]

And that's the stuff that I loved the most. I felt like the show assumed that after a season of watching, I could be trusted to get what was going on, no matter how strange.

Agreed, I loved the eps that just threw us into the middle and let us watch as things came together.