A little BSG and Firefly news From Salt Lake Comic-Con

[Fubeca]

We had an awesome first inaugural Comic-Con here in SLC, Utah with 70,000+!!!
1st Comic Con in SLC

One of the cool panels had Richard Hatch from BSG, check out the summary of the panel from one of my friends!

"I got to see Richard Hatch's presentation/panel on Battlestar Galactica, which was awesome. He talked about the problem of TV networks not supporting good sci-fi and good shows (e.g. Firefly, Battlestar Galactica, Star Trek) getting cancelled way too early. Then, he talked about a new movement underfoot within the ranks of Hollywood to produce shows outside the age-old structure of network television using crowdfunding and online distribution methods. He mentioned Firefly specifically and asked the audience to consider if Firefly only had five million viewers (said Nielsen ratings) and each of those viewers were willing to pony up $10/mo to watch new episodes of Firefly, that would give Joss Whedon $50M per month to produce a show that might have had a $3M budget for each episode.It's something to think about."

 

[darthviper107]

Joss had said earlier this year he would actually do something like that, but at the moment he's too busy, so it wouldn't be able to happen until like after Avengers 2 at least.

 

[Fubeca]

yes and fillion should be done with Castle by then too!

 

[Eiko82]

I love Firefly, I really do but I'm happy to leave it alone. It's been 10 years since it got cancelled. Somehow I just can't see them making it work.

 

[CelticPredator]

They made Serenity work.

 

[Devil_666]

He talked about the problem of TV networks not supporting good sci-fi and good shows (e.g. Firefly, Battlestar Galactica, Star Trek) getting cancelled way too early.

I love how the networks get blamed for these so-called "good sci-fi/good shows" not being watched. Did the networks also make that Serenity movie absolutely bomb in theaters!? Yeah.. tin-foil hat wearing nerds all mad about their crappy shows being canceled need something to blame I guess.

 

[CelticPredator]

Yeah LOL...oh wait. No.

Not at all. The show never found it's audience because the studio constantly ****ed with the schedule, and episode order so the audience had no clue when the next episode was, or how it connected to the show. They aired the first episode last after the show ended. So...it's the studio's fault. Freaks and Geeks and Undeclared had the same issue too. Those shows were great. Despite both never getting an ending to the season.

The problem is, creative, well made shows are a huge hit and miss with the audience. Sometimes it sticks, like Breaking Bad, sometimes it doesn't, like Firefly or Arrested Development.

And then sometimes you have a show that starts off bold, and new...then gets watered down to appeal to the masses. Such as Dexter and The Walking Dead.

There should be no reason why Breaking Bad isn't the most watched show right now....but the problem is, the show scares people. They don't want to watch this crazy thing. And when they do, a lot of people get really turned off by it. It's too different for them. It jumps around different genres episode to episode....and that just bothers a lot of people.

They want simple. They want show that's tonally consistent. They want safe.

But thankfully, that's not everyone. And even the most obscure show can find love.

 

[Devil_666]

Nerd rage.

 

[CelticPredator]

I'll take the short lived, nerdy niche shows over watered down mass garbage....for da masses.


The Worlds End >>> Identity Thief.

 

[devilof76]

I despise crappy tv sci-fi shows. Star Trek: Next Generation, Babylon 5, Stargate, Farscape, and on, and on. Then the fantasy stuff, like Zena and Hercules.



But I watched Firefly and I was blown away. Still am. That said, if those other shows did well, I'm not surprised Firefly failed.

 

[CelticPredator]

I agree with you. Never liked those shows you mentioned. Firefly works for me because it's pretty funny, and has a good sense of pacing and character.

 

[devilof76]

Good character is an understatement. Good plotting would be an understatement too.

 

[CelticPredator]

It really is.

 

[ifrack]

Firefly both had creative scripts and more importantly great casting.

 

[ProgMatinee]

Sounds like a cool idea. I don't think it needs to be $10 a month however. I mean, yeah I'm a die hard Firefly fan, I'd pay it. But I'm also a die hard fan of other shows. I'd hate to see it become a frequent thing where I want to subscribe to 10 shows. The concept sounds really good, but IMO its something that using a service like Netflix to back the program is much more feasible.

 

[darthviper107]

$10 is actually cheaper than it'd actually be, like iTunes costs are $3 per episode, so for a regular schedule you'd be paying $12 a month.
5 million viewers is not realistic though, I think BSG maxed out at like 2 million viewers, I don't know the number for Firefly. But even at that number, $6 million to do each episode is actually quite a lot.

 

[Matt S]

Joss had said earlier this year he would actually do something like that, but at the moment he's too busy, so it wouldn't be able to happen until like after Avengers 2 at least.

He's busy? Doing what? Buffy conventions....what a loser.........

And yes, If I got a new season of Firefly for $120 a year, I'd think about it

 

[Sweet Rabbit]

They made Serenity work.

It wasn't that good of a movie

 

[Devil_666]

It wasn't that good of a movie

Because of Network interference.. oh wait.

 

[CelticPredator]

It was a great movie. It's just....people are dumb, ya know? The best films always bomb.