RHYMEPHILE'S BLOG

RhymePhile

FF mini-series or 11 tossed-around episodes?
Monday, July 19, 2004

As I was watching "The 4400" on USA Network last night I came to the conclusion that maybe Firefly should have been a mini or limited series.

Look how well "Taken" did on the Sci-Fi Channel in 2002. It was 10 episodes at 14 hours, and it had a stable schedule so that everyone was able to watch it. It did very well for the network.

Now "The 4400" is doing well in ratings, and that is going until, what, August sometime I think. The popularity of this current series shows how much fans still want to watch and enjoy sci-fi.

Perhaps if Firely had a set mini-run, allowing people to actually see it instead of hunting for the show as it was flung around the schedule, more fans would have discovered FF. Joss could have created a nice mini-series, and then when ratings showed how well it was doing, he could have then branched out into a weekly series.

I'm sure that's not how they do it, but it would have been a better fate than what Fox did to it. With a mini-series Joss would have known how many episodes he had, he wouldn't have had to worry about the stress of the network suits, he could have planned a whole story arc, and he would have got to plan 10 or 11 episodes without fear of the cancellation hatchet falling.

What also worries me is that if Joss got burned with FF -- a show he obviously felt very strongly about and loved -- what is going to make him test the shark-infested waters of the networks again? He got burned by the WB with "Angel", too. Perhaps his next show will be on pay-cable.

This doesn't mean I don't think FF deserved to be a weekly series at the start. I just feel that if Fox started with a mini-series they would have had more faith in the fans' reaction and would have had more faith in the series, they would have had better ratings, and we would have had a stable couple of weeks where we could have enjoyed the show.

COMMENTS

Monday, July 19, 2004 6:02 AM

PLACIDITY


Considering I started watching FF from Episode 1 (only because I was an AVID John Doe fan - I got to see a lot of promos leading up to it), I feel everyone is failing to see the strategy Fox used in promoting this series.

Banking that Joss's name would leap out and bring in viewers, Fox poorly advertised the series. Besides this poor push by the network, the series actually started strong. However since they started FF before the MLB playoffs, they cut into the season.

This turned off A TON OF VIEWERS, as well as lost some. Who would remember about a TV that is not being promoted during baseball 2 months after the first few episodes?

I have no doubt, that had Fox done one or two or both of the following, we would STILL have FF as a viewing choice.
1. Not aired the series until AFTER baseball was over (also not on a Friday nite)
2. Promoted the series during baseball, during simpsons, etc. It would have had a stronger showing in the ratings.

Just look into the DvD sales of the series.....with 2 seasons FF would have been a hit and helped Fox out on the bottom line (only CBS and NBC made money last year).

just my thoughts......
i am just glad i had DVR through my cable company and set it to tape all episodes (otherwise i would have missed the second run after baseball)


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