San Francisco, 1:36 PM
Fri Dec 4
29 posts in the last 24 hours
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Didn't it get roughly the same viewers that BSG did, except they considered BSG a success because it was on cable instead of network?
Genre shows can't survive on network. Execs don't watch or understand it, geeks don't watch it on TV they wait and download it or watch it online and that doesn't work for advertisers. A good rating for SyFy is the pits for Fox. Maybe at some point producers will stop trying to pitch their shows to networks and "settle" for putting a show on a cable network for as long as they can manage.
Remember folks, Star Trek: The Next Generation was a syndicated show, not a network feature, and so was DS9. There's a damn good reason those series went on forever, and a damn good reason Voyager was on UPN and still sucked and the same goes for Enterprise. Genre shows just don't work on networks and the ones that do are very very lucky and special. (x-files is the only quality exception and I think even today if x-files was fighting for ratings right now they'd lose to online/dvr viewers).
Warner's tried to resurrect oldtime geek series Babylon 5 in DVD format and failed.
End of Show is actually wrong on this front. The B5 DVD did well and Warner was pleased. But they offered creator J. Michael Straczynski a cosmically low budget for making more DVD movies. He regretfully passed.
But End of Show is right on point. It's a great idea to continue TSCC on DVD. Unfortunately Warner is very tight-fisted and I can't see how TSCC could be produced on the budgets they are offering for these projects.
They apparently don't believe enough in this market to risk any money. And because they don't believe in it, they have no data to show they should change their minds.
SyFy needs to step up and pick the series up. They can tie in the marketing to the buzz over Terminator Salvation, since by the time the Salvation is released on DVD the third season will be ready.
But SyFy will probably just make more Flash Gordon crap instead.
Pope John Peeps II says: Your link is to a silly idea that isn't much like this idea at all. Besides which your blog is tiresome and boring, and you said it best by calling End of Show more "professional". Maybe you could take a clue from that. You're just mad that nobody is paying attention to you. Apparently just like on Consumerist. Well, once they ban you from here you'll be batting 1000.
With everything being on-demand, DVR, etc., do TV time slots really matter anymore? Seriously. I think TV execs are way behind on this one. So it's on Friday night? Who cares? You go out to the bar, drink 12 beers and a few shots, and then recover on Saturday watching Terminator on your DVR or PC. What does it matter anymore?
@yubnubforever: Probably advertising money. They need them to pay for tv commercials, but if nobody is watching tv, and it costs money to make the show, Fox would have to know that the money was coming in from all those other options to watch the show.
I know that DVR numbers mean "Hey, this many more people watched it timeshifted.", but how does it help the network when all we're doing is fast forward through the commercials?
Other than the DVR fee that the cable company is collecting, the DVR crowd is not generating any revenue. No ads = sad network CFO.
Isn't it all about ratings being down causing less ad revenue, or am I missing something here?
@Harrison_Bergeron: The Train Job (Or is it heist?), the real first episode, or just the first one you saw?
Train Job is NOT one of my favorite Firefly eps. It does give you a good idea of what Cap'n Reynolds and company are capable of and in what direction their moral compass points, but... rescheduling it to be the first episode, BAD NETWORK, BAD!
@LiC: I saw Firefly when it first debuted. and it's a testament to Joss' writing that it kept me wanting to see more.
In fact I can tell you the EXACT moment I fell in love with the show.
remember when all of Niska's henchmen were tied up and Mal was trying to give back the money? Then krull got up and gave the "last thing you will ever see is my blade" speech?
Alot of my friends thought they were setting up that seasons big bad. That this guy would show up and occasionally make all sorts of wacky and hilarious trouble for our guys.
If Fox wants to save them, yes. If they don't, no. IIRC, timeshifting only counts for 3 days, so if you know anyone who's a Nielsen family, tell them to make sure to watch the shows by Sunday!
Isn't it time that networks give up on Friday as a meaningful timeslot? Especially one by which to measure the effectiveness of TV show programming?
It's not "TGIF" anymore. More like, "Friday: Where Shows Go to Die."
They should just run movies on Fridays, like they use to (back in the olden days). It can't cost as much as funding original programming, and if the ratings suck, get a different movie.
@Ben Dyer: No, the networks gave up Saturday night a few years ago. FOX doesn't even have shows on then, and the others are all reruns of stuff that's usually on during the week. NBC briefly considered not showing at all on Saturday.
05/18/09
Didn't it get roughly the same viewers that BSG did, except they considered BSG a success because it was on cable instead of network?
Genre shows can't survive on network. Execs don't watch or understand it, geeks don't watch it on TV they wait and download it or watch it online and that doesn't work for advertisers. A good rating for SyFy is the pits for Fox. Maybe at some point producers will stop trying to pitch their shows to networks and "settle" for putting a show on a cable network for as long as they can manage.
Remember folks, Star Trek: The Next Generation was a syndicated show, not a network feature, and so was DS9. There's a damn good reason those series went on forever, and a damn good reason Voyager was on UPN and still sucked and the same goes for Enterprise. Genre shows just don't work on networks and the ones that do are very very lucky and special. (x-files is the only quality exception and I think even today if x-files was fighting for ratings right now they'd lose to online/dvr viewers).
05/18/09
Great idea, but SyWhy doesn't do that anymore. They don't want to pay any money to anyone for anything. It's sad!!
05/18/09
Hmm. That MGM sure likes their DVD movies like Stargate...
05/18/09
End of Show is actually wrong on this front. The B5 DVD did well and Warner was pleased. But they offered creator J. Michael Straczynski a cosmically low budget for making more DVD movies. He regretfully passed.
But End of Show is right on point. It's a great idea to continue TSCC on DVD. Unfortunately Warner is very tight-fisted and I can't see how TSCC could be produced on the budgets they are offering for these projects.
They apparently don't believe enough in this market to risk any money. And because they don't believe in it, they have no data to show they should change their minds.
05/18/09
But SyFy will probably just make more Flash Gordon crap instead.
05/18/09
--Kyle
05/18/09
Pope John Peeps II says: Your link is to a silly idea that isn't much like this idea at all. Besides which your blog is tiresome and boring, and you said it best by calling End of Show more "professional". Maybe you could take a clue from that. You're just mad that nobody is paying attention to you. Apparently just like on Consumerist. Well, once they ban you from here you'll be batting 1000.
-Pope John Peeps II
05/18/09
05/18/09
I also want to see her play a villain on Chuck so she can fight Casey.
03/15/09
03/15/09
I'm guessing.
03/15/09
03/03/09
Yay! Yay!
03/03/09
Other than the DVR fee that the cable company is collecting, the DVR crowd is not generating any revenue. No ads = sad network CFO.
Isn't it all about ratings being down causing less ad revenue, or am I missing something here?
03/03/09
03/03/09
03/03/09
03/03/09
03/03/09
Train Job is NOT one of my favorite Firefly eps. It does give you a good idea of what Cap'n Reynolds and company are capable of and in what direction their moral compass points, but... rescheduling it to be the first episode, BAD NETWORK, BAD!
03/03/09
Honestly, any sort of break that separates the "seven pilots" from the actual arc story is welcome.
@Harrison_Bergeron:
I can't say the same here. I didn't dig Firefly until I saw the original pilot and rewatched the series.
03/03/09
In fact I can tell you the EXACT moment I fell in love with the show.
remember when all of Niska's henchmen were tied up and Mal was trying to give back the money? Then krull got up and gave the "last thing you will ever see is my blade" speech?
Alot of my friends thought they were setting up that seasons big bad. That this guy would show up and occasionally make all sorts of wacky and hilarious trouble for our guys.
Then he got kicked into the jet engine.
And at that moment Joss made a fan for life.
03/03/09
03/03/09
03/03/09
02/27/09
02/27/09
It's not "TGIF" anymore. More like, "Friday: Where Shows Go to Die."
They should just run movies on Fridays, like they use to (back in the olden days). It can't cost as much as funding original programming, and if the ratings suck, get a different movie.
02/27/09