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Wonderfalls - Cancelled
- Thread starter John Crichton
- Start date
Henry
Autoexreginated
Why bother to get invested in a damn show any more if a network pulls it after two shows!?!?! Just save the budget, save the producers and actors the heartache of having a paying job for 15 minutes, just put trained monkeys on riding bikes and pelting the audience with poo! Cheapest entertainment you can buy!
Feh.
Feh.
Pielorinho
Iron Fist of Pelor
Well, dangit. The show was a little wobbly, I thought, but it had some moments of pure brilliance. I figured I'd get at least a dozen episodes before Fox cancelled it.
My tinfoil hat theory? Fox was embarrassed about how well Firefly did after they cancelled it, and they knew they were gonna cancel Wonderfalls, so they decided they better do it before it had a chance to build up a cult following.
The profit motive is one thing, but i get the sense that Fox is a disfunctional corporation, in which the petty ambitions of a thousand midlevel managers thwart any chance the network now has of producing a standout show.
Daniel
My tinfoil hat theory? Fox was embarrassed about how well Firefly did after they cancelled it, and they knew they were gonna cancel Wonderfalls, so they decided they better do it before it had a chance to build up a cult following.
The profit motive is one thing, but i get the sense that Fox is a disfunctional corporation, in which the petty ambitions of a thousand midlevel managers thwart any chance the network now has of producing a standout show.
Daniel
Henry
Autoexreginated
The network that does the following two things will do well, I predict:
1) Hire TWICE as many test audiences, and make ALL of those audiences outside of the state of California. There's a heck of a lot more TV viewers outside of Hollywood than there is inside of it, and these people want to be entertained with something a notch above reality TV.
2) Institute a rule that all TV shows will air AT LEAST 13 episodes before being cancelled. There's no point to the viewing audience to watching something with a continuing storyline if it's NEVER completed.
This may be an overreaction, but just call it the straw that broke the camel's back for me. We've fallen so far into the pit of "Bread & Circuses" that someone needs to stand up and offer an alternative. Is there NO network any longer offering anything but the most superficial in concept? Is there a place for viewers who absolutely hate carnival side-show-based Reality TV? Isn't it too demeaning when people will watch TV because, "hey, it's midgets marrying trans-gendered hunchbacks on a space station for money!!!"
And again I say, "Feh."
1) Hire TWICE as many test audiences, and make ALL of those audiences outside of the state of California. There's a heck of a lot more TV viewers outside of Hollywood than there is inside of it, and these people want to be entertained with something a notch above reality TV.
2) Institute a rule that all TV shows will air AT LEAST 13 episodes before being cancelled. There's no point to the viewing audience to watching something with a continuing storyline if it's NEVER completed.
This may be an overreaction, but just call it the straw that broke the camel's back for me. We've fallen so far into the pit of "Bread & Circuses" that someone needs to stand up and offer an alternative. Is there NO network any longer offering anything but the most superficial in concept? Is there a place for viewers who absolutely hate carnival side-show-based Reality TV? Isn't it too demeaning when people will watch TV because, "hey, it's midgets marrying trans-gendered hunchbacks on a space station for money!!!"
And again I say, "Feh."
Mercule
Adventurer
Well, I saw the add for Wonderfalls during "Tru Calling" last week (yes, I actually watch Tru, although I'm afraid they just added an "evil leaper"), but didn't watch it for two reasons: 1) the commercial didn't give me any idea what it was about, and 2) I'd recorded Tru on my VCR and was watching it at 9:00 CST (oops -- bit late).
After hearing Wonderfalls discussed here, I thought I'd watch it this week. Going out to the web site, though I wasn't expecting to be impressed. Why? Well, it just didn't look that interesting, but if I had to nail a specific, it'd be because of a couple of vaguely insulting (IMHO) ideas I ran across that relate to politics. I won't break the board rules and really don't want to get into a discussion because I'm fully aware it may just have struck me wrong or something. If you want to know what I'm talking about, browse the Wonderfalls site, I'm sure it's obvious if you're looking.
I wish I could have seen at least one episode. I hate passing judgement sight-unseen. Still, based on the information available to me, I can't say I'm sad.
Edit: I am surprised, though, that they only let it go for four episodes. I wasn't even aware it existed until after the final episode had aired.
After hearing Wonderfalls discussed here, I thought I'd watch it this week. Going out to the web site, though I wasn't expecting to be impressed. Why? Well, it just didn't look that interesting, but if I had to nail a specific, it'd be because of a couple of vaguely insulting (IMHO) ideas I ran across that relate to politics. I won't break the board rules and really don't want to get into a discussion because I'm fully aware it may just have struck me wrong or something. If you want to know what I'm talking about, browse the Wonderfalls site, I'm sure it's obvious if you're looking.
I wish I could have seen at least one episode. I hate passing judgement sight-unseen. Still, based on the information available to me, I can't say I'm sad.
Edit: I am surprised, though, that they only let it go for four episodes. I wasn't even aware it existed until after the final episode had aired.
Last edited:
John Crichton
First Post
I still don't know why they wouldn't put a show like this on a better night with one of their powerhouse shows. It wouldn't work at that well with 24, but why not put it on the same night as American Idol? Anything is better than the FNDS (Friday night death slot) or putting it up against The Apprentice & CSI. That is just suicide.
Bah.
Bah.
John Crichton
First Post
I have to admit that the advertising campaign for the show probably wouldn't have got me watching, either. I watched it because Tim Minear was involved as one of the producers. I'm sure there was a better way to advertise the show, such as show a few of the more funny or obscene parts in the early commercials but I don't know if that would have worked any better. It is a show that is hard to really pin down.Mercule said:
Fox hypes 24 about every commercial break so why not devote a little of that effort into a new show that has a big heart? I dunno and I don't have the answers. Is it bad practice to say something like "from the producer of Angel and Firefly?" Yeah, I know - Fox dumped Firefly for the same reason and Angel is getting canned this year. But at least they'd have some small audience already built in. Even though the show has little genre similarity to the other shows he's worked on.
Bah.
Darnit. I wish I were a Nielson family. Feh.
As for the comments about the show, I will agree that a) The advertising for it stank, and didn't do a good job of differentiating it from Joan of Arcadia, b) They gave it the Timeslot of Death, and then moved it, out of the goodness of their hearts, to go opposite "CSI" and "The Apprentice", and c) Cancelling a show after four episodes is insulting. I liked the eps a lot, but I can see how other people might not have been wowed. Thing is, though, we'll never know if the show was going to spin out into blandsville, flogging its premise to death, or keep going in new and different directions.
Ah, well.
As for the comments about the show, I will agree that a) The advertising for it stank, and didn't do a good job of differentiating it from Joan of Arcadia, b) They gave it the Timeslot of Death, and then moved it, out of the goodness of their hearts, to go opposite "CSI" and "The Apprentice", and c) Cancelling a show after four episodes is insulting. I liked the eps a lot, but I can see how other people might not have been wowed. Thing is, though, we'll never know if the show was going to spin out into blandsville, flogging its premise to death, or keep going in new and different directions.
Ah, well.
Mercule
Adventurer
Heh! I got to be Nielson-Family-for-a-week back in late February. Which means I gave a thumbs-up to "Tru Calling", which probably doesn't make me popular around here. On the other hand, I did my part for Angel, so don't blame me.takyris said:
I joked at the time that we represented a very select niche -- the conservative, devoutly Christian family of four who watches less than five hours of TV per week, focusing almost exclusively on vampires and other supernatural/dead things. (Sorry if this paragraph violates board policy -- religion and politics -- but I do get a kick from it.)
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