posted
Farscape is, quite honestly, the best show I have ever seen on TV. Ever. I didn't even enjoy B5 this much.
What great morons, them that run networks...
-------------------- "This is why you people think I'm so unknowable. You don't listen!" - God, "God, the Devil and Bob"
Registered: Mar 1999
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posted
Though Trek is my one great passion, I also say without hesitation that "Farscape" is undoubtedly the best show ever made.
I've already mailed three letters, sent a fax, and purchased a little package of crackers to mail on Monday. (Crackers? Yeah, it's stupid. But not as stupid as canceling the show!)
I seriously have to wonder just how fucked up the people at Sci-Fi have gotten. Farscape is either the first or second highest rated show in their entire lineup. It's gotten extremely positive reviews from TV Guide and other publications, and just a month or two ago it won two Saturn Awards... one for Best Syndicated/Cable Television Series! Just what the hell are they thinking?
I desperately hope that a quick response can change their minds... because according to David Kemper and Richard Manning, the sets have an appointment with the chainsaw in about a week.
WHAT THE???
Heh... I just got an e-mail (as I'm typing this post) from the online fax service I use... and it seems that the Sci-Fi Channel's fax number is currently unavailable. Either they're overloaded with messages from pissed-off fans, or else they've got their fingers stuck in their ears and are yelling "LA LA LA! I CAN'T HEAR YOU!!!"
Sigh...
-------------------- “Those people who think they know everything are a great annoyance to those of us who do.” — Isaac Asimov Star Trek Minutiae | Memory Alpha
Registered: Nov 2000
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posted
On the other hand, network executives only produce what demographics dictate. Afterall, they're in it to make money. If market pressures dictate that good science fiction is unprofitable, then they cancel it. A good right-winger like yourself, must understand this concept.
In other words, don't blame the network CEOs, blame Joe, the average American.
Note: I was actually responding to Omega here, damn people who type faster than I do.
Registered: Mar 1999
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posted
Except, of course, that it's still an extremely highly rated show, for cable. So if that's the reason, they're, again, morons.
-------------------- "This is why you people think I'm so unknowable. You don't listen!" - God, "God, the Devil and Bob"
Registered: Mar 1999
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Those in charge of the Sci-Fi Channel have now officially incurred my everlasting hatred. Morons, the lot of them.
Now, if you will excuse me, I'm going to rework the Grand Scheme of Series ? to include a whole lot more Farscape stuff than it did previously. (Yes, there's a Grand Scheme.)
-------------------- "Kirito? I killed a thing and now it says I have XPs! Is that bad? Am I dying?"
-Asuna, Episode 2, Sword Art Online Abridged
Registered: Mar 1999
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posted
I heard about this the instant is happened because I just so happen to chat on the Sci-Fi Channel's Star Trek chat room, which is on the same server and I can just hop next door to see what is going on in FarScape. The room maxed out at nearly 500 users total. That alone shows the huge fan base that FarScape has.
I personally loved FarScape, but I missed the early episodes of Season 4 and have since not watched it, I planned to watch them once the reruns started. I also have the entire first season on DVD, and was planning to start buying the second. This definatly has to go down as one of the stupidest marketing moves in TV history, since FarScape is their 2nd highest series (Stargate SG-1 took over first a few weeks ago).
There will be no closure to the series apparently since, as they said, they're a week away from shooting the end of Season 4. So we'll be left with a cliffhanger. And then nothing...
-------------------- "Lotta people go through life doing things badly. Racing's important to men who do it well. When you're racing, it's life. Anything that happens before or after is just waiting."
-Steve McQueen as Michael Delaney, LeMans
Registered: Mar 1999
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posted
I'll wager that The X-Files (the rights to which they've just purchased) will pull in two or three times the numbers of anything else on the channel, at a tiny fraction of the cost.
Registered: Mar 1999
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quote:Originally posted by The359: The room maxed out at nearly 500 users total. That alone shows the huge fan base that FarScape has.
If you'll forgive me for pulling out a sentence that sounds considerably sillier than I' sure it was intended to sound, I still have to say that it don't mean jack.
My sincerest condolences to Farscape fans. However, I'm going to give those running the Sci-Fi channel the benefit of the doubt and assume they are reasonably competently-trained knowitalls when it comes the ins and outs of television production these days. And so I imagine this was a rather large and well-considered decision on their part. Yes, I'm hopelessly naive, but that's not a crime.
What I'm saying is that it's more than a tiny bit petulant to turn around and tell these guys "look, I know thirty people online who really like this show, so clearly your balance sheets are lying and there's no way that you can conclude that the channel's interests would be best served with its timeslots and money invested elsewhere."
The fan petition was a groovy thing back in 1968. The television environment was of course considerably less forgiving back then, too, when shows were usually cancelled for running a low profit margin rather than an actual loss. In any case, aspiring Bjo Trimbles probably need a reality check. The petition is groovy and hip no more. Like, soooo out, and all that. And if a cable channel in need for a flagship show won't hang on to either of its two shows that come closest to that today (SG1 and FS), there's really no point to fighting the cancellation decision, because one can only assume this came about from an excessively deep pool of red ink.
-------------------- "I was surprised by the matter-of-factness of Kafka's narration, and the subtle humor present as a result." (Sizer 2005)
Registered: Mar 1999
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posted
This is what Warren Ellis (if you don't know who he is, I'm not going to tell you here, except to say he writes funny books) had to say about it:
Two events of note in genre TV this week.
WITCHBLADE, based on the Top Cow comics series, got shitcanned by TNT in the States, despite apparently healthy ratings but in the face of star Yancy Butler's treatment for alcoholism. I've only seen a bit of the pilot, but more than one wag in the TV/film business has suggested to me that, if they had to work with those scripts, they'd be drinking too. It'll be on reruns here in Britain soon enough, and I'll probably take a look at it then.
And sci-fi leatherqueen BLAKES SEVEN/ BUCK ROGERS rip FARSCAPE -- in space, no-one can hear you speak with an Australian accent -- has evidently also been shitcanned, and confusion seems to reign as to why. I've seen several episodes, and it's a wildly uneven piece of work. It has some good gags, some good dialogue, and some hard-working actors, but it's eaten up by its own continuity and the usual mediocre tangle of soap-opera elements to the point where later episodes are unintelligible. That sort of situation means that by season three or four you're writing for the fans, and the series concept doesn't allow for closure. If the crew aren't running away from bastards any more, there's no series.
This does presumably free up some money at Sci-Fi Channel to do something new. They've shown signs of serious ambition of late - their massive DUNE adaptation was, I think, a case of their reach exceeding their grasp, but it was nice to see them try. It'd be good to see them try either more novels-for-television or a serial with an more extensible concept. It must be tempting to go back to the old saw and launch a new spaceship drama, but cable provides a kind of aesthetic protection, the same environment that allows a SOPRANOS or a Larry Gelbart movie at HBO, and I'd really like to see them use it.
posted
Wow, I am going to disagree with Mr. Ellis now, and will likely find myself impaled on the top of a tall building by a fit teenage Japanese assassins-by-night/all-girl-pop-group-by-day.
quote: It must be tempting to go back to the old saw and launch a new spaceship drama, but cable provides a kind of aesthetic protection, the same environment that allows a SOPRANOS or a Larry Gelbart movie at HBO, and I'd really like to see them use it.
HBO does. Basic cable does not.
And, uh, at the risk of talking about things I myself have never seen, I am going to go out on a limb and say that the science fiction offerings which are on premium channels (Odyssey 5, Jeremiah) are not exactly bright and shining monuments to the genre.
Registered: Mar 1999
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Don't get me wrong. There are lots of great shows on cable. I hardly ever watch the networks anymore. But don't think I could count many of them as "risky" or avant garde.
Registered: Mar 1999
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posted
No. Plus, what Ellis would consider Avant Garde many other people would consider crap.
I would like to see something a bit more original than what they're putting out, but that's a common complaint with entertainment in general.
I posted Ellis's words about Farscape mostly because they're pretty much what I thought about it as well. I watched several episodes of it on a rental from Blockbuster, and I didn't bother to watch the rest.
It may just be because the aliens remind me too much of Fraggle Rock, though.
Registered: Jan 2001
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