I am confused, please help by Svenn1968

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I am confused, please help

POSTED BY: SVENN1968
UPDATED: Saturday, January 13, 2007 20:23
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Saturday, January 13, 2007 11:29 AM

SVENN1968

I am sure that this has been explained many times, but I am seriously confused.

I am in Newcastle Australia, and a new thing that is showing up in our video stores are TV series that come out on DVD but have been axed after one season. Maninly I am refering to Firefly and also another series called Over There.

Now what confuses me is;
A) both of these series I have found to be some of the best entertainment, far outshining much of the shows that wafle on year after year, so why are these better shows given the chop?

And;
B) Why axe a show and then go to the expense of distributing a DVD of it? If it has been decided that the show is not worth continueing on TV, then why do they think that the DVD will be popular?

On a more Firefly note, I cannot beleive this show was cut. The characters are awesome, the stories witty and dramatic, with good morals thrown in (my personal favorite ep is Out Of Gas. The look on Mals face at the end when he is looking at Serenity for the first time speaks volumes). What more could you want. But what confuses me the most is that the popularity of the show was so great that a movie was later made, SO WHY DOES THE SHOW NOT COME BACK?

Anyway, I am sure you all have the same frustration I have, but I was hopeing someone could explain the logic (if you could call it that) behind why inteligent shows like Firefly get axed and a show like Survivor is not?

Cheers....

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Saturday, January 13, 2007 11:52 AM

CHINDI

well I have no answer, but I wanted to acknowledge your post... maybe there is mass insanity in the world of big time tv... and those shows that do NOT cater to the lowest common denominator do not survive.. thank GOODNESS for dvds...

Chindi

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Saturday, January 13, 2007 11:59 AM

JLIN13

the reason these two shows were so great but axed after one(or before one in Firefly's case) season is because of Fox owning the companies and for being Fox. and the reason they distribute it on DVD is because they know that the show was very good and but bringing them back would "cost too much" so they just rake in all the dough from the DVD sales

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Saturday, January 13, 2007 12:09 PM

DAVESHAYNE

Quote:
Originally posted by Svenn1968:
A) both of these series I have found to be some of the best entertainment, far outshining much of the shows that wafle on year after year, so why are these better shows given the chop?

Because TV executives are morons. By and large.

Quote:
B) Why axe a show and then go to the expense of distributing a DVD of it? If it has been decided that the show is not worth continueing on TV, then why do they think that the DVD will be popular?

DVDs can be produced for a very tiny fraction of their sale price so it makes sense for cult favorite but cancelled shows to have whatever episodes were produced made available to the home video market. It's almost like a licence to print money.

David

"Not completely as well as the series of Firefly..." - From a review of Serenity at amazon.de

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Saturday, January 13, 2007 1:07 PM

ECGORDON

There's no place I can be since I found Serenity.

I think there are two basic reasons for why Firefly got a DVD release and a movie follow-up. First, Joss refused to give up and even though he was not able to interest another tv network to pick up the show, Mary Parent at Universal saw the possibility of a sleeper hit at the movies. Second, the fans also refused to give up, and it was the continued actions of a lot of people that convinced FOX there was money to be made in the DVDs.

Why it did not succeed in the first place is due to several factors, mostly FOX not promoting it properly, scheduling it in the time-slot of Death on Fridays, airing it out of order and pre-empting it so many times for sports and other specials.

It averaged between 4-5 million viewers originally, which is what hits on the smaller networks like WB and UPN were getting, but FOX wanted more. Essentially they were looking for another breakout hit like the X-Files, and bailed when they didn't get it right out of the gate. They forgot that it took several years for X-Files to get to that point, and if that had premiered ten years later than it did FOX would have canceled it just as quickly.

wo men ren ran zai fei xing.

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Saturday, January 13, 2007 1:32 PM

STINKINGROSE

It remains a mystery.

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Saturday, January 13, 2007 1:40 PM

TRAVELER

Welcome Svenn1968:

Looks like people have already answered your questions. Simply FOX used Firefly poorly.

But you are here now and I hope you stay. We have some wonderful people here and have some good times. So join in and get the benefit of meeting some nice people. Another thing that Firefly did was bring a lot of people together in sites like this one. So please join us and come and play.

Welcome;
Traveler

Traveler

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Saturday, January 13, 2007 2:28 PM

SPACEMANSPIFF76

remember that you are speaking of american tv. look at the crap we get shown on a regular basis. most folks here are too engrossed in watching people play cards or try to sing horribly. firefly was a beacon in a vast crapulous wasteland. too bad the beacon was so far away it looked like a dim bulb.

Wash> but thats like science fiction
Zoe> you live on a spaceship, dear

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Saturday, January 13, 2007 2:42 PM

SIRI

I discovered Firefly postmortem (so to speak) and instantly became a fan. Like you, I just could not understand how it got cut. It was smart, funny, irreverent (in a slick way, not offensive), the actors were perfect for the parts and the show was magical in the manner of truly suspending belief and shifting the viewer into the realm of the storyline.

People have already given a number of good reasons why the show got cut. I only have one thing to add - sometimes shows like this are just too smart and too funny. I've seen it happen to other shows I liked. Won't bother naming them here. Even tho Joss' other shows Buffy (7 seasons) and Angel (4 or 5 season?) did manage to stay on - it was the fans who pushed it and these shows got moved from network to network.

There's just no accounting for taste sometimes. But once I found this site I've been doing my part to spread the word and keep the faith.

"I'm thinkin we'll rise again."

Siri

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Saturday, January 13, 2007 8:23 PM

SVENN1968

Why it did not succeed in the first place is due to several factors, mostly FOX not promoting it properly, scheduling it in the time-slot of Death on Fridays, airing it out of order and pre-empting it so many times for sports and other specials.

This does seem the case...Why spend all that money making a show and then show it at a bad time slot, out of order and not promote it...Just rediculous....

Thanks for all the responses. The extras I watched mentioned how friendly the fans of the show are and I can see that.

Cheers,
Svenn

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