Is Fox run by morons?

[Nebby]

I ask having just raced through the Firefly box set - how the hell was this show cancelled?

I hope that Serenity - the big screen spin off - will become another Blade Runner, and find a place in everyone's hearts when it hits the rental market.

Then - hopefully - some bright spark exec somewhere will realise what a fumble Fox has made, and pick up the show, and we can look forward to having all those questions answered.

[steve36]

There are many shows in the last couple of years that should have been given the chance to gain an audience but were abruptly cancelled after between 1/2 and 1 1/2 series, a few of them run by fox.
In some cases they were cancelled because the network decided they had a much better idea rather than extremely low ratings.
One prime FOX example of this is 'Tru calling', it was cancelled to make way for 'Point pleasant' which FOX thought in their wisdom would fit better with their other shows such as 'OC'. There are others......
I think that U.S.A TV management should be replaced by people who like TV rather than just money. They all seem far too hasty to cancel shows without giving them a chance (including NBC & ABC).

If the UK was as quick to cancel many shows which are popular (even if not good!), would not have survived. These include Only fools and horses, Coupling, Red Dwarf.

Steve

[steve36]

I even forgot to mention the rush to cancel Angel, another Whedon production. That show would have been far better if it did not have to struggle every season to get any funding.
I wonder if they count the now high DVD sales into their calculations today?

I don't think he had a chance in the USA market with Firefly, especially if Enterprice and Farscape had been cancelled.

Steve

[PoochJD]

Hi Nebby,

Originally Posted by Nebby

I ask having just raced through the Firefly box set - how the hell was this show cancelled?

Essentially, Fox screwed-up, and Joss Whedon got a tad hacked-off with them!

Firstly, Fox didn't like the Pilot Episode, so that had to be rewritten, to make it a bit more "obvious" and less subtle. (In other words, Fox wanted it dumbed-down!) Then Fox, decided the new Pilot Episode (the one on the DVD) was too complex and not action-packed enough. So, in all their wisdom , Fox decided to air Episode 3 (The Train Job) first. Thus, viewers in the USA, were shown an episode, where none of the characters were properly introduced to them, and viewers wondered what the hell was going on.

To top things off, the remaining episodes were all shown out of order, and the Pilot Episode was eventually shown after the rest of the series had ended! And, just to really Joss Whedon off, Fox kept pre-empting the show, and changing its scheduled time slot, to different days and times, without warning people. Oh, and they never promoted the show either.

Hence, the US fans left the show in droves, and when the show was premiered on the UK Sci-Fi Channel, they spoke directly to Whedon, and got him to sort out all the chronology and tell them exactly how he wanted this series to be shown.

UK fans loved it, and then sent copies of the episodes in the correct order, to US fans, who - when they saw the show in its proper and correct episodic order - loved it to pieces! Sadly, by this point, Fox had signed its death card already, the gits!

Finally, the show was released to UK DVD, and fans from all over the world bought it up very, very quickly. This made Fox reconsider their mistake, and Whedon was given a budget and chance to make a movie.

The movie, as I'm sure you now know, has become a worldwide hit, both with critics, fans and non-fans of the show! And rightly so!


Pooch

[DLPMaybe]

I think Joss Whedon is pretty much as close to genius as your going to get in TV. For him to get messed around to such a degree is a disgrace. Buffy, Angel and Firefly are still some of my favourite shows. Great characters, funny and great story.

I love the scene in Firefly when the Mal is trying to convicing the crew to go and help some people out, without any success. Mal then mentions the people in trouble are whores, a revelation which leads to Jaynes immediate approval. Class!

[tichtich]

You can't blame the studios for being in it for the money. That's what businesses exist for. But you can blame them for taking such a short-term view, and for not giving the series a decent chance.

The latest news is that Serenity didn't do so well in the States. (I guess they didn't have a Jonathan Ross praising it.) It'll probably break even, but not make enough money to get a sequel. Still, if Joss Whedon fails in the movie business, perhaps he'll just have to go back to TV, which would suit me.

[stlic]

By the time Serenity hits DVD release I would be shocked if it didn't do far better than break even even with the dissapointing theater numbers from the states; after all it was made on a resonable budget given they already had most of the props in storage.

I couldn't believe when I heard FOX originally aired the show in the wrong order, especially given the continuation of the story; it's like if they aired Carnivale without the pilot. As it was Firefly was an enjoyable series and I managed to catch it a couple of years after. Havn't been to see Serenity yet but may do if it's still showing in a few weeks time.

[pjclark1]

I thought Firefly was pooh!

Serenity was OK, but the end was a bit silly, guys with big rapid fire guns couldn't fight off 20 half crazed baddies, but a seventeen year old girl with a sword could. (count the bodies for yourself)

How does that work then?

[Starburst]

Originally Posted by pjclark1

How does that work then?

Last time I looked very few action/sf movies make a lot of sense if you were to transpose those scenes into the real world.
Dozens of highly armed guards are rarely beaten by a single individual armed with a pistol and knife and certainly don't empty a dozen clips worth of ammo from assault rifles and miss!


It's the movies

[tichtich]

I found with Firefly (as with most science fiction series/films) that I had to switch off my critical thinking (which keeps noticing when stuff is unrealistic) and treat it more like a fantasy. Once I did that I really enjoyed it. I loved the characters, their relationships, the witty dialogue, the images, and not least the music. I was a bit disappointed with Serenity, especially the second half, which concentrated more on the action and less on the characterisation. And I missed the Western-style music.

[DLPMaybe]

Originally Posted by tichtich

And I missed the Western-style music.

I second that. To start the movie in disapointment at the music was not a good start!

[sonofmoth]

Fox are just plain stupid. Loved the Firefly boxset and, as with all Whedon series, the characters evolve over time. Hopefully Universal will commission a new series and let Joss get on with it without any hindrance. You just know that Fox would have cancelled Buffy in the same manner. Words fail me.....

[Razor]

I still cant understand why Firefly was binned. Talk about shooting themselves in the foot.

[Starburst]

Originally Posted by Razor

I still cant understand why Firefly was binned. Talk about shooting themselves in the foot.

Putting aside it's performance which could easily be attributed to it's timeslot/prempts for baseball and any promotion or lack there of I still get the impression that the show simply was not what the suits were expecting from Joss. Pretty much in the same vain as the original Star Trek which wasn't the show they suits were expecting or were actually told they were going to get

The difference between the two is perhaps the simple fact the TV market was totally different to what it was 10 years ago let alone the late 1960's and studios are prepared to write off serious money in the belief that spending a similar amount on a new project may workout better.
Buffy was a mid-season replacment after all

[NicolasB]

Angel ended when it should have done - the last series was definitely a step down from its previous greatness. And Tru Calling should have been cancelled a lot sooner.

To my mind the most perplexing cancellation (after Firefly which was the worst cancellation decision ever) was cancelling "Babylon 5: Crusade" mid way through the first series. That, I felt, could have gone on to really great things.

Personally I thought there was still some life in Enterprise too. The fourth season wasn't as good as the the third, but I think that was because they already knew that they weren't going to get a 5th season, and they were rushing to try and squeeze in everything they wanted to include.