Firefly Lands Fridays At 8 by FilmCritic3000

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Firefly Lands Fridays At 8

POSTED BY: FILMCRITIC3000
UPDATED: Sunday, May 19, 2002 08:15
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Wednesday, May 15, 2002 8:06 PM

First it looked like it was going to be a midseason replacement, but FOX is killing "Dark Angel" in favor of "Firefly"

Jason
(can't wait to see it)

Fox winging "Angel" out, "Firefly" in

By Josef Adalian

NEW YORK (Variety) - "Dark Angel" has gone to TV heaven.

Despite indications earlier this week that the Jessica Alba starrer would be returning for a third season, Fox has decided to pull the plug on the sci-fi actioner.

Its 8 p.m. Friday slot will be filled by the new space Western "Firefly," from "Buffy The Vampire Slayer" creator Joss Whedon, which had been teetering between a fall and midseason berth.

"Firefly" will lead into the new mystery drama "John Doe" at 9. The latter series, along with "Firefly" and "Dark Angel," had been competing for two drama slots on Fox's new Friday night schedule. The rest of the lineup had already been finalized.

While Whedon had produced a two-hour pilot for "Firefly," it's now expected Fox will ask Whedon to come up with an hourlong kickoff to the series.

Fox officially unveils its new lineup Thursday. The new schedule boasts four new dramas and two new comedies, along with the sketch variety series "The Cedric Show" and the reality half-hours "30 Minutes to Fame" and "Meet the Marks." The latter pair, along with the drama "Septuplets," won't bow until winter.

Reuters/Variety
05/16/02 01:12 ET

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Thursday, May 16, 2002 4:47 AM

TIEKA

Whoopee!!!

Ok, now I'll behave.

It seems like we should get ready for Fox and the way they treat the fans.

First, we are happy we are getting Firefly at all.

Then we panic when it appears that it may be a mid-season replacement.

For two days, we wait in agony, trying to decide what we would do if we were Fox. (Okay, so IF we were Fox, it would be easy, but play along here)

Now we find out that not only do we get our show at the begining of the season, in our own spot, but Fox wants another episode for the lead-in. 14 episodes now!!

Now all we have to do is survive an entire summer until the episodes actually air.

btw, does anyone know when first season Firefly comes out on DVD?

Tieka

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Thursday, May 16, 2002 5:59 AM

HJERMSTED

This is great news!

To answer Tieka's DVD question:

Sadly, the US networks are not as enlightened as Europe when it comes to releasing TV seasons on DVD (HBO and Showtime being the exceptions). Over there, you wait a couple months after a season ends and then buy your DVD package. This is mainly because they don't televise repeats of American shows in Europe once they've been shown.

Here in the States there is a strict pattern that must be followed: The main network gets to present each episode at least twice (guaranteed). Once a show has produced close to 100 episodes, it gets syndicated. It's only after all episodes available for syndication have been shown that a DVD set gets released and usually the seasons are brought out painfully slow to ensure the syndicated channels can maximize their ad revenues.

This is why first two seasons of Angel are already available on DVD in Europe and won't be for sale in the States for several more years.

Unless the conventional marketing pattern in the States changes to favor the DVD purchaser over the commercial sponsor, don't expect to see Firefly DVDs until 2007 (unless the show gets canceled, god forbid!).

So use your trusty ol' VCR until then or shell out the $ for your own personal DVD burner!

Mattro

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Thursday, May 16, 2002 6:12 AM

TIEKA

Thnaks for the break down. I knew it was painfully slow, and now I know why.

Getting a burner and making my own DVD's is a bit costly, and probaly not the greatest quality. I'd rather get the real ones, with commentary, extra scenes, and all of the extra stuff. Maybe I should try to find someone in Europe, and talk them into buying them for me.

Tieka

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Thursday, May 16, 2002 7:59 AM

BAR

Does it bug anyone that he had to redo the "epic" pilot he had laready done to please the network? I remember reading thats how we got the original buffy movie .

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Thursday, May 16, 2002 8:21 AM

JONWES

Nah, dooesn't bother me. They say they'll use the original pilot further down the line (maybe as a big sweeps movie event?) so we'll get to see it. My guess is that the pilot may have just not pleased the network as an introduction to the series - they may have wanted something more self contained or something. It's hard to say. But I wouldn't take it as to bad of a sign. Now if we never say the pilot, that would stink but that doesn't look to be the case.

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Thursday, May 16, 2002 11:33 AM

RINGWRAITH

I was worried when I first heard about it but seeing that JW is re-writing the pilot, and not some Fox suit, it should't be too bad. Still, I'd like to have seen the pilot first.

It's not near as bad as what happened to J. Michael Straczynski's series "Crusade" which was airing on TNT. TNT said they'd like more episodes...if there was more alien sex (or something like that) and lots of action. So basically, sex and violence. JMS basically told them to take a flying you-know-what because he didn't want his show to be compromised.

This probably wasn't the case with Fox and Firefly. I hope.

As for the timeslot, I'm not worried about staying home on Friday nights, I'm married.

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Thursday, May 16, 2002 11:50 AM

TROLLY

Not as long as we get to see it, which according to the current report we will. If not, well then...another network debacle in the works.

And I'm just so happy it's on the fall schedule at all, I could spit!

As far as Fridays at 8pm goes, that's why I have a VCR.

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Thursday, May 16, 2002 3:27 PM

NOVAGRASS

/me Spazes out!

This makes me very excited. I was fearing that we might never even see Firefly at all!

I'm so excited.

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Thursday, May 16, 2002 3:59 PM

TIEKA

I may be showing my age, but something similar happen to Star Trek. The orginal pilot wasn't accepted, so Rodenberry had to go back and redo a lot of parts. The female first officer lost her logic to Spock, and became a nurse. Spock became First Officier, and the crew used phasers instead of swords. The whole cast and basic premis were changed. That orginal pilot was later used in parts in another episode, and was eventually released in it's entirety. I don't have to point out how successful that show became.

As pointed out above, Crusades had a hard time as well. Based upon those bad experiences, I just hope Firefly fares better. I trust Joss to know what the fans want. "Buffy" and "Angel" are appealing to fans, so JW must know something.

Heres to the future of Firefly.

Tieka

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Thursday, May 16, 2002 4:50 PM

RATZCRACKERS

Originally posted by bar:
Does it bug anyone that he had to redo the "epic" pilot he had laready done to please the network? I remember reading thats how we got the original buffy movie .

It bothers me a little... I hate it when network executives toy around with shows.

Still... trust in Joss.

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Thursday, May 16, 2002 5:37 PM

BAR

Yes trust in Joss, I am just having a crisis I want this show to be good. I want his vision and not a changed by the network bosses version. So much crappy Tv available already.

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Friday, May 17, 2002 5:16 AM

MERCURY

To bad about DA..But great about Firefly!!!!!:D

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Sunday, May 19, 2002 8:15 AM

SHUGGIE

Originally posted by Hjermsted:

Sadly, the US networks are not as enlightened as Europe when it comes to releasing TV seasons on DVD (HBO and Showtime being the exceptions). Over there, you wait a couple months after a season ends and then buy your DVD package. This is mainly because they don't televise repeats of American shows in Europe once they've been shown.

Here in the States there is a strict pattern that must be followed: The main network gets to present each episode at least twice (guaranteed). Once a show has produced close to 100 episodes, it gets syndicated. It's only after all episodes available for syndication have been shown that a DVD set gets released and usually the seasons are brought out painfully slow to ensure the syndicated channels can maximize their ad revenues.

This is why first two seasons of Angel are already available on DVD in Europe and won't be for sale in the States for several more years.

Mattro

You're mostly right but we do actually get US shows repeated here.

It's not so much about being enlightened as it is about economics. We don't have the same Network/Syndication set-up here in the UK. What normally happens is that we get a first run on satellite/cable TV, a second on a terestrial channel and subsequent repeats on both. After the initial runs any money earned is usually seen as a bonus and so they sell off repeats rights cheap - meaning they're not tied into protecting their value by not releasing DVDs.

I think there's also evidence that we buy more DVDs of TV shows. But that could be a chicken-and-egg thing - we buy more because they are available. Either way there is a significant market that's definitely worth more than the repeats rights.

By the way it's not just S1&2 of Angel it's also S1-4 of Buffy, with S4 in full anamorphic widescreen.

(again widescreen very big over here, not so much in the US)

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