I'm not going to get into spoilers here, so this thread should remain eyeball safe for the, uh, unvaccinated?
Anyway, Firefly is a good show. I really like it. A lot. At first I thought that, hey, it was really super-Whedony. But the Whedonisms have both grown on me and been subsumed by the characters as they start to get fleshed out. The show looks good, it is written well, and it is utterly unique. Well, I mean, for prime time network television.
So why isn't anyone watching it? This isn't a case, I think, of Fox screwing it over (too much) or some vast dark media conspiracy against it. People just aren't tuning in. I guess it might be the timeslot, but people watched The X-Files for a few years on Friday. What's up?
The show is smart, but it doesn't seem off-puttingly smart. Even my father likes it, and he likes CSI because the characters have no internal lives. It has frequent exchanges of gunfire. It even has a Space Hooker! How is this not square in the middle of the prime Fox audience?
I should note that, until Firefly, I had never sat through an episode of Buffy, and I've never even seen Angel. I have seen both Alien Resurrection and X-Men, but he can hardly be blamed for those. So it's not like I'm some die-hard Whedon fan.
So, what do you think?
Posted by EdipisReks (Member # 510) on :
i had forgotten the show was still on. btw, what do X-Men and Alien: Resurrection have to do with Joss Whedon?
Posted by Sol System (Member # 30) on :
He was called in to script-doctor both of them. He also hates both of them. Well, doesn't like much, let's say. I don't think there are any actual Whedon lines left in either, or maybe only one or two.
Posted by Mark Nguyen (Member # 469) on :
Friday night is a dead-zone for TV. Most people in the target demographic would be home from work or school, but not for very long - they want to go out. Such was the case for Star Trek back in the 60s.
I *like* this show. Haven't been able to catch it as often as I want to, but it makes for good viewing when I can. Better than freakin' Andromeda at the very least.
Mark
Posted by Sol System (Member # 30) on :
Well, yes, the timeslot is bad. But as I mentioned, other shows have done well enough there to justify being moved, and gone on to great success. Well, one has.
Posted by MinutiaeMan (Member # 444) on :
I've never seen an example of Whedon's work before watching "Firefly," and I've been very impressed with the show so far. This show has the potential to get as good as "Babylon 5" and "Farscape," IMO the two greatest sci-fi shows ever made.
As for the timeslot... I really don't understand what the people at Fox expect. They've put up some decent advertising -- they got ME to watch it, anyway. But it seems that when the show is aired can be just as important, and I agree that most people in the target demographic are probably out partying instead of watching the show.
Me, I have no life, so I watch "Firefly" instead. Posted by Siegfried (Member # 29) on :
I want to watch the show. It has one of the cute girls from Space Cases in it. And I've heard good things about it. Unfortunately, I'm usually out of the house when it comes on. And I don't have a programmable VCR.
Posted by PsyLiam (Member # 73) on :
Hasn't come over here yet. Watch Angel, damnit!
I think only one of Whedon's lines remained in the final X-Men script, at the point where Cyclops and Wolverine are staring at each other, and Cyc asks how can Wolverine prove that he isn't a shapeshifter, Wolvie responds:
"You're a dick".
That's it, I think.
Posted by Sol System (Member # 30) on :
An interview. Though an older one. Talks about the movies, though.
Posted by Topher (Member # 71) on :
When is Firefly on, anyways? I must admit, I only watch one hour of TV a week usually (Enterprise) so I don't see much advertising for anything else.
Posted by The_Tom (Member # 38) on :
Fridays at 8 on Fox in the US and on Global in Canada.
Posted by Topher (Member # 71) on :
Timezones, please? I'm in AST, which doesn't exist in the US Posted by Kosh (Member # 167) on :
8pm EST, Friday.
I missed the first episode, saw some, then lost interest. There are two houses on our lot, I have dish TV in one house, and the lowest tier of cable in the other. I was sitting watching F/X, buffy reruns off dish, and at 8pm, I thought, I can wlk over to the other place, and watch Firefly, or sit here and flip channels. I ended up watching the Histroy channel for an hour.
I have stopped watching Andromeda, cause it's just a bad show, I really don't care if I see Enterprise or not, cause while it's better then Andromeda, it's still not a very good show. Never tried Alias or 24 or John Doe.
Firefly has something, and I hope it makes it, maybe I'll get interested later.
Posted by Aban Rune (Member # 226) on :
I thought it looked really good, but I simply ran out of time. I didn't want to devote the time this season to pick up a new series, so I just never watched it. Which is kinda odd... because there's nothing on Friday nights. There's Providence. But the only way to enjoy that show is to put it on mute and just watch Melina Kanakerides walk around. Man, she's hot. And of course John Doe, which is simply a rehash of The Prentender. Almost painfully so.
I don't know.. maybe I actually get something done Friday nights....
Posted by Balaam Xumucane (Member # 419) on :
It's got a LOT of potential, but so far I've kind of been disappointed by the stories. There have been a couple of episodes I liked (and for the sake of non-spoilerage, I won't recount those here), but by and large I'm not feeling the momentum of the show. He's made some quirky genre characters who are pretty interesting to watch, but then a lot of them don't seem to have much to do. Many of the episodes thus far have felt like 'filler' episodes, and I feel like I'm still waiting to get to the good stuff. I felt that the first episode mostly just sat there even during many of the swash-buckling moments. There was an absolutely brilliant part of the first episode (that really let you know that you weren't going to be watching a Star Trek knock off), but it came at the end. Overall the dialogue has been fantastic. A lot of funny stuff, lots of interesting antiquated idioms and colloquialisms (not to mention a smattering of Chinese!) Good setting, lots of possibilities. Some great characters, some not so much. Some good acting, others less so.
So I'll still catch it regular, and I really do think it could be great, but I'm still waiting for that greatness to arrive. Shiny.
Posted by Sol System (Member # 30) on :
Again, leaving out details, but what did you think about "Ariel"?
Posted by MinutiaeMan (Member # 444) on :
"Ariel" was excellent, probably the best show of the series to date. It easily deals with one of the major plot points of the series arc so far (and yes, there IS an arc, kinda), while still including some believable character drama and some very suspenseful action. Not to mention a couple of plot twists that you could easily see coming but were actually more interesting because you COULD.
Posted by Balaam Xumucane (Member # 419) on :
Thought 'Ariel' was good. Not great, but good. Glad to see that arc revisited. A couple great lines, some pretty good situations. There were also some good creepy aspects of this story, and you had to love that A-Team flavor. But it was predictable in what I thought was kind of an irritating way, and I felt like a couple of the sequences could have been punched-up a bit.
So far my favorite episode has been 'Out Of Gas'. Hooray for non-linear storytelling! Good performances, good characterization, good setting, compelling drama, etc. Would have made a perfect second or third episode.
Posted by Antagonist (Member # 484) on :
You know I've never watched Firefly, even though I've heard great things about it. The truth is, I don't want to get caught up in another scifi show that'll be cancelled half-way through the overall story arc. I've become a little bitter because of this. I also have seen so much crappy scifi lately (e.g. Enterprise, Andromeda, Voyager, etc.) that it pains me to think of what my progeny will be watching for entertainment in 20 years or so. I'm sure that Firefly is a fnatastic show, probably worthy of much more fanfare than it is attracting, but I must admit, I can't do it anymore.... science fiction is a dying genre. Don't believe me? You will, give it another year or so at this rate and I promise you notice fewer scifi programs than last years, and the year before that, and before that. Less Scifi, and poorer quality. (Maybe this is the entertainment equivalent to the Great Extinction)
The reason for all this? Fanboy writers, cliche plots and characters, Akiva Goldsman, bad timeslots, Enterprise, Really retarded corporate execs...(no REALLY retarded) I can go on, but the hour is late and I am weary from a long day of watching myself waste away in front of a textbook cleverly titled "Physics, Einstein, and You!"
Oh the humanity. God Save the Breen.
Posted by Sol System (Member # 30) on :
![[Wink]](wink.gif)
But it seems that when the show is aired can be just as important, and I agree that most people in the target demographic are probably out partying instead of watching the show.![[Razz]](tongue.gif)