When will Firefly be seen in the U.S. again? by Adasm

GENERAL DISCUSSIONS

When will Firefly be seen in the U.S. again?

POSTED BY: ADASM
UPDATED: Tuesday, May 6, 2003 07:00
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VIEWED: 8457
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Monday, April 21, 2003 6:34 AM

I loved the show from the beginning and I have watching the site for updates. I see that they are going to be airing the shows in the U.K. but are they planning on showing them again her (perhaps on Sci-Fi)? Is there any word about when they are going to air the remaining episodes?

Still wanting to fly!!!

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Monday, April 21, 2003 11:14 AM

INVISIBLEGREEN

Quote:
Originally posted by Adasm:
I loved the show from the beginning and I have watching the site for updates. I see that they are going to be airing the shows in the U.K. but are they planning on showing them again her (perhaps on Sci-Fi)? Is there any word about when they are going to air the remaining episodes?

FOX still plans to air them in June. I don't know anything about Sci-Fi, although they did make some sort of deal before any eps aired; perhaps that is now void.

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Monday, April 21, 2003 11:37 AM

NOOCYTE

Whoa. Hey now! Where did yo hear that Fox plans to air the eps in June? Do you have a link to this? Haken? You readin this? Can we have a verification, please?

Department of Redundancy Department

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Monday, April 21, 2003 2:20 PM

TABITHA

Quote:
Originally posted by InvisibleGreen:

FOX still plans to air them in June. I don't know anything about Sci-Fi, although they did make some sort of deal before any eps aired; perhaps that is now void.

I'd be VERY interested to know more about that too.

(and here was me thinking us UK folk were gonna get some Whedon eps before the US... for once)

www.ascifi.com

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Monday, April 21, 2003 3:43 PM

INVISIBLEGREEN

Quote:
Originally posted by Noocyte:
Whoa. Hey now! Where did yo hear that Fox plans to air the eps in June? Do you have a link to this? Haken? You readin this? Can we have a verification, please?

A read it way back in December from various sources, most notably TheFutonCritic, and I haven't heard otherwise since. The same thing is happening with "Futurama"-in that case, the final eight episodes will begin airing in June (although that show was cancelled about a year and a half ago, it gets pre-empted ever time sweeps comes near).

Within a few weeks we should be able to get dates of confirmation.

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Monday, April 21, 2003 3:48 PM

INVISIBLEGREEN

Quote:
Originally posted by Tabitha:
(and here was me thinking us UK folk were gonna get some Whedon eps before the US... for once)

Actually the episodes can't even legally air in the UK until FOX has aired them or made a final decision not to air them.

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Tuesday, April 22, 2003 4:43 AM

TABITHA

Quote:
Originally posted by InvisibleGreen:

Actually the episodes can't even legally air in the UK until FOX has aired them or made a final decision not to air them.

huh?
I never heard that before, and to be honest I am a bit sceptical as to whether it is true or not.
As a comparison, when the SciFi Channel (US) put Stargate SG1 on hiatus for months between Nov 2002 (or so) and January 2003 (or so - sorry, can't be bothered to go look for the actual dates), Sky One in the UK kept airing without a break, and consequently Season Six actually finished airing over here in the UK before the US had shown the last few episodes - i.e. we saw a bunch of episodes first.

Now, perhaps that was a completely different situation, but unless you have some inside information regarding the contract between Fox and SciFi UK, then I don't know where you pulled that idea from. As far as all contact I have had with SciFi UK suggests, their airings have nothing whatsoever to do with what Fox decides to do with the remaining episodes of the show.
But perhaps you know different? Sources please?

And as for the eps airing in June in the US, I have heard that bandied about several times. As in "Well, Fox has gotta put the unaired eps out then, don't they?", or "Perhaps IF the remaining episodes get aired in the summer, or if Fox rerun the entire series, and the ratings are strong, we will get Firefly back for good..." but I have yet to see anything at all official, or even remotely solid about it.

Having said all that, I am perfectly happy to be put in my place with some cold hard facts, or even strong rumours from reliable sources (like Haken, Futon, even AICN).

www.ascifi.com

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Tuesday, April 22, 2003 5:09 AM

BROWNCOAT1

May have been the losing side. Still not convinced it was the wrong one.

InvisibleGreen wrote:

Quote:
FOX still plans to air them in June.

I had not heard this either. As far as I have heard, both here and at the official board, Fox has not mentioned showing the unaired episodes at all.

I hope I am mistaken, please let that be the case. I would love to see the unaired episodes in June, rather than having to wait until December for the DVD set.

"May have been the losing side. Still not convinced it was the wrong one."

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Tuesday, April 22, 2003 6:39 AM

INVISIBLEGREEN

I'll try to dig up sources in a little bit, though I don't think I'll have time for about a week. In any case, it's common practice for cancelled series to air remaining episodes during the summer. I think I could've read the "June" thing from a statement released by FOX, although it's more likely just "summer" was used. I'm pretty sure TheFutonCritic and other generably reliable sources had something to say about it also.

As for the US/UK thing, FOX currently owns the rights to broadcasting the episodes. Therefore, they cannot be released on DVD or shown in the UK or elsewhere until FOX airs them or decides not to. (There may be some exeptions to this, but this is the general rule.) FOX has stated that they plan to air all the episodes [eventually]—I'll try to find out proof of that too, although e-mailing them might be quicker.

Y'know, the news archive on this site might mention s.th. about the "June" thing. That I can probably check pretty quickly.

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Tuesday, April 22, 2003 6:53 AM

INVISIBLEGREEN

I couldn't find anything here (although it's possibly I overlooked it). Someone wanna check FOX, Futon, or WHEDONesque?

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Tuesday, April 22, 2003 12:16 PM

TABITHA

Quote:
Originally posted by InvisibleGreen:

As for the US/UK thing, FOX currently owns the rights to broadcasting the episodes. Therefore, they cannot be released on DVD or shown in the UK or elsewhere until FOX airs them or decides not to.

Thanks for your reply, however I still don't follow your logic. Fox has officially licensed SciFi Uk to air the episodes, and SciFi UK have confirmed that they intend to air all of the episodes. I read that this was a six figure deals (along with John Doe and poss some other shows). I don't understand what bearing Fox's decisions re: airing the show in the US has on whether SciFi Uk can air a complete run.

Here's a hypothetical. Let's say Fox (for whatever reason) doesn't air the unseen episodes until September. Does that mean, by your reckoning, that Firefly in the UK will have to grind to a halt in late July/early August, wait for Fox to air the as-yet unseen episodes in the US, and then continue it's run sometime after that?
I don't buy it. But maybe I misunderstood you.

As I see it, SciFi Uk bought the UK rights to air all the Firefly episodes produced, and if it decided to air them in a crazy backwards marathon Fox would have no right to complain.

Sorry if I am pushing this, but I was ecstatic when I read that we were getting these episodes in Britain, and have been really freaked out by the suggestion that we might have to wait even longer for the unseen eps to air in the US before we got them over here.

www.ascifi.com

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Tuesday, April 22, 2003 12:39 PM

TALRIUS

No, hey it's a lagitament question. I didn't understand that whole thing either.

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Tuesday, April 22, 2003 12:45 PM

INVISIBLEGREEN

Quote:
Originally posted by Tabitha:
Thanks for your reply, however I still don't follow your logic. Fox has officially licensed SciFi Uk to air the episodes, and SciFi UK have confirmed that they intend to air all of the episodes. I read that this was a six figure deals (along with John Doe and poss some other shows). I don't understand what bearing Fox's decisions re: airing the show in the US has on whether SciFi Uk can air a complete run.

It's possibly FOX and Sci-Fi UK worked out some sort of special deal. But I have to say, I haven't seen the contract, so I don't know for sure. But for "Futurama," which is pre-empted more often than it is shown, the foreign stations can't air the eps until FOX does (and this pisses off a lot of UK & German fans, as well as US fans), and I believe this is how things are generally done. But As far as I know the UK won't get the eps first.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

As for the June thing, I've searched the FOX Firefly site and Whedonesque, and I can't find anything specific, but there were lots of articles back in Nov-Jan. Yet I'm positive it wasn't just speculation or a random assumption. Maybe TheFutonCritic knows.

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Tuesday, April 22, 2003 12:47 PM

INVISIBLEGREEN

btw, If you want info on FOX's treatment of "Futurama", look here: http://www.gotfuturama.com/dispatch.cgi?target=index2

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Tuesday, April 22, 2003 1:11 PM

INVISIBLEGREEN

I did find this @ TFC:

Quote:
To make room for its summer series, FOX will forgo airing repeats of "Boston Public," "24," "Fastlane" and "John Doe" during the period. Still to be determined however are the fates of the unaired installments of "Futurama" (8 episodes) and "Cedric the Entertainer Presents" (6 episodes) both of which had previously been scheduled to run new episodes beginning in June.

It seems like FOX is planning for a "Super Summer," and they may have changed their plans a bit. Since Firefly wasn't mentioned alongside Futurama and Cedric, I e-mailed TFC specifically to ask him about Firefly's television fate. Hopefully his reply will answer all our questions.

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Tuesday, April 22, 2003 8:20 PM

TVDIR

I understand the sydication market pretty well. The UK Sci-Fi deal has nothing to do with America's Fox Broadcasting. 20th Century Fox owns the rights to Firefly, and they are the ones syndicating the program overseas. In the past, programs usually air in the US first then are seen overseas at a later date. But nowadays, the TV landscape has changed. In this case, Firefly has been cancelled by Fox TV (although nothing official has been said), so it doesn't matter.

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Wednesday, April 23, 2003 12:12 PM

TABITHA

Thanks for the info guys - particularly on Futurama. I always wondered why we got it in such a piecemeal fashion over here in Britain.

I am still quietly hoping that I'm right and you are wrong though, Invisible... Don't want the long arm of Fox stuffing things up for us UK folk from all the way across the Atlantic!

www.ascifi.com

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Sunday, April 27, 2003 11:18 AM

INVISIBLEGREEN

Quote:
Originally posted by tvdir:
I understand the sydication market pretty well. The UK Sci-Fi deal has nothing to do with America's Fox Broadcasting. 20th Century Fox owns the rights to Firefly, and they are the ones syndicating the program overseas. In the past, programs usually air in the US first then are seen overseas at a later date. But nowadays, the TV landscape has changed. In this case, Firefly has been cancelled by Fox TV (although nothing official has been said), so it doesn't matter.

That's basically what I was trying to say, thanks for clearing that up. But I don't think FOX has dropped it entirely. FOX has placed on hiatus in November, and cancelled in December, but the hiatus status remained b/c although the series was cancelled, FOX still intended to air the eps.

It is possible that FOX has changed their minds, however, with a decision that would not necessarily be publicized, in which case the episodes would be fair game anywhere. Although I haven't heard anything about this, it's definitely a possibility, but I don't know where we could find confirmation on it.

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Sunday, April 27, 2003 11:44 AM

TVDIR

At this point, Fox has said nothing about Firefly. Period. They mentioned it briefly in articles about having problems with pre-emptions during the baseball playoffs.

Personally, it doesn't appear that Fox will air Firefly during the summer. It doesn't matter to them if there's 3 episodes unaired. Fox already counted FF as a loss.

BTW, Did you noticed Fastlane is moving to 9pm Fridays (EST) in June. No clue what's going to air at 8pm.

We shouldn't get our hopes up to see Firefly this summer at all. Maybe year or so from now on the Sci-Fi channel as special programming (like Cleopatra, Roar, etc.)

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Sunday, April 27, 2003 11:48 AM

TALRIUS

Yeah, fox has sat on unaired episodes before. Once they cut a show they don't bother showing the unaired ep's ever. Especially when Happy Gilmore will garner 15 million viewers. Even thought it's shown every other week on Fox.

--------------------------------------------------
DOBSON: I'm supposed to be meeting my wife's sister. I've only got a few days to see her...

ZOE: I wish there was another way...

DOBSON: Oh, no, no. That woman is like a dragon. I mean, I believe she has a tail. If there's any other moons we need to visit, or if we could just
fly very slowly...

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Sunday, April 27, 2003 1:35 PM

MOLLARI

if FOX owns the first air rights, the brits will have to wait for FOX to either (a) air the episodes, or (b) decide they don't want to air them ever.

however, since the brits don't plan on starting Firfly till May, it'll be late August before any of the unaired episodes are slated to be shown.

by late Auguest, either FOX will have already shown the unaired episodes, or they will have decided that they don't plan on showing them ever (i mean, its not like FOX is going to wait till next summer). in either case, the brits will be free air them.

and when that happens, you bastards better make some great encodes. you owe us.

Keep Flyin'

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Sunday, April 27, 2003 3:06 PM

TABITHA

Quote:
Originally posted by Mollari:
if FOX owns the first air rights, the brits will have to wait for FOX to either (a) air the episodes, or (b) decide they don't want to air them ever.

Edited my post... had posted a rant, and then realised I had misread a response...

Does anyone know anything more about "First Air" rights?
In a post near the top I gave the example of SG1 and SciFi US - which didn't seem to have a problem letting a UK channel air the newest episodes before airing them stateside. Same goes for Farscape. Hmm, I would wonder if perhaps this is something that SciFi US do regularly? But then, I am pretty sure that even when SG1 was on Showtime, we still got the last few episodes in the UK ahead of their first US airing...

Anyhoo, don't wan't to get myself stuck on an infinite loop.
I will be making as high quality encodes as I am able to with my eyetv box and making the eps available at the usual places. Still pissed that we (probably) aren't going to get widescreen versions though :(

www.ascifi.com

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Monday, April 28, 2003 5:54 PM

TVDIR

Playing the series in The US and oversea are two different things. It's syndication. For telecasting, sadly Fox Network has the current rights to the show...although those rights should be expiring soon. For overseas, it's 20th Century Fox that has the rights to syndicate. Uk SciFi purchased those rights from 20th Century Fox to telecast the episodes.

In anycase, no chance of seeing Firefly in the US until Fox Network's rights expire. Most likely after summer. I expect see Firefly again on US TV maybe a year or so on the most logical place, SciFi Channel.

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Thursday, May 1, 2003 9:52 PM

BLUESUNWORSHIPPER

LOST EPISODES NOW AVAILABLE FROM SELLER ON EBAY! The episodes which haven't aired in the US are now being sold by an eBay seller called 'philshibano' on eBay...same guy who was selling the 'Blue Sun' mug not too long ago. The bids are at about $35 right now, but the reserve is not yet met, so who knows how high it'll go. Still, it's a VHS copy of 'Heart of Gold', 'Trash', and 'The Message.'

Thought I'd put that out there!

- BSW

"Two by Two...Hands of Blue..."

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Monday, May 5, 2003 4:22 AM

KOFFEE

Quote:
Originally posted by BlueSunWorshipper:
LOST EPISODES NOW AVAILABLE FROM SELLER ON EBAY!

Final selling price : $212.50

Sure hope the guy who bought them (marksbirthday) is the sharing kind.

What I wouldn't give (iffin I's able

) to at least see Trash.

Ya, ya. I know what your all thinkin'. "She just wants to see Nate with no clothes on."

Well to that I say....

.....your right!

-----------------------------------------
“It's a real burn, being right so often.”

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Tuesday, May 6, 2003 1:41 AM

MANIACNUMBERONE

Did our Mark get them thar lost episodes, or was that some other Mark? If'n our Mark got 'em, he be sure to put them out to the rest of us, I reckon.

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Tuesday, May 6, 2003 6:42 AM

LOSTANGEL

If'n he isn't our Mark, can we find him and keep him? Then he'd be our Mark too. Then he'd be so overwhelmed with the feeling of brotherlyness (and sisterlyness) that we browncoats share, that he'd be right obligated to share with us!

______________________
Lost Angel

WASH: Psychic, though? That sounds like something out of science fiction.
ZOE: We live in a space ship, dear.
WASH: So?

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Tuesday, May 6, 2003 7:00 AM

SAGRILARUS

He (or she) HAS to be one of us. It is time for all of us to look our fellow Firefly fans in the eye, and see who blinks.

Either that or he's part of the evil conspiracy that shut down Firefly in the first place.

J.

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