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The Tick to be Cancelled
mr.buddylee writes "This is a short write up, but evidently The Tick is going to be cancelled. " There
really isn't much there to read except the notice. I'll keep watching until
the last episode airs on Jan 24. I enjoyed it even if it was put in
a terrifying time slot guaranteeing that nobody saw it. I think if it
had a full season to find a footing it would have been a real winner.
Ah well, good luck to Ben and his future projects.
And here I forgot my violin. Let me do some calculus instead.
I didn't like it at all anyways :P
Karma: Bad (but who really cares anyway?)
We'll have to go back to watching the cartoon series i guess.
The biggest trick the devil pulled was letting lawyers become politicians so they can write the laws.
Free Mac Mini
At least they made the episodes they did! Theses types of alterative Comics/Cartoons/Comedy is rarely fully appreciated by the mass audience that most marketing firms are after. I think we were fortunate that it got produced at all.. Ah, lost opportunities..
Jim Harry
Oh, well, I watched it on ReplayTV and skipped the commercials anyway, so I'm sure I made them no money.
John
The Tick can NEVER be cancelled because the Tick is INDESTRUCTABLE!
all I can say is: grip too tight. Must... Break... Free...
I am a leaf on the wind
I'm a statistician for a large corporation. I cannot reveal which one or my identity so I must post this anonymously. I deal a lot with statistics in the computer world, and we are contracted often by ad agencies for information in regards to the preferences of computer users. One assignment was dealing with the operating systems and their user's lifestyle and preferences. The results we came up with were interesting and shocking. Here are some memorable tidbits.
Windows users
87% of Windows users are employed (3% on welfare)
40% hold a university level degree
43% in a heterosexual relationship
5% are in a homosexual relationship
3% have a serious mental disorder
Linux users
32% of linux users are employed (15% are on welfare)
35% hold a university degree
4% are in a heterosexual relationship
37% are in a homosexual relationship
56% have a serious mental disorder
Thus we have concluded that effective ads related to linux should try and target the mentally disturbed, homosexuals, and the unemployed.
I'm a big fan of the Tick - the comic book is one of the few I can stand and the cartoon series is pure magic. But the live action show just didn't get its groove going after the pilot. One thing that was missing was the EVIL - most of the episodes spent more time on antics involving dates, sexual misunderstandings, etc, which are fine in their place but not really the best medium for The Tick's histrionics. To really show what the Tick can do, he needs to be yelling "Spoooon!" whilst crushing evil. If he has to overcome some sexual innuendo to do that, so much the better. But as a Seinfeld-like sitcom, the Tick was so lacklustre I actually forgot to watch a couple of episodes.
Everyone knows that damage is done to the soul by bad motion pictures. -Pope Pius XI
Sorry, I was brought up on the Tick Cartoon, not the comic book. Missing all m favorite villians was one strike. The loss of Tick's yperKinetic movements was a 2nd strike. There really was no third strike, but I didn't see the show getting a hit anyway. It was a good try though...
Blar.
how every show that gets cancelled has someone saying that it was in a bad timeslot.
The show, albeit crazy, was so predictable after a certain amount of time and it became a pain to sit through it. Of course, who can sit through a first season's episode of the Simpsons now?
Will always be David Putty in my heart of hearts.
(Before this gets modded down, Warburton portrayed the Tick. Not completely random.)
I suspected this would happen. The thing is about The Tick is that your average Fox viewer isn't intelligent enough to get any of the jokes.
Now, I'm not saying everyone who watches Fox is cranially deficient, but think about the kind of shows the network survives on. Ally McBeal. Melrose Place. Temptation freakin' Island! The network is built on running low-brow shows that copy from other successful shows. When The Tick delivers one of his trademark metaphors, most of the audience is wondering why they aren't seeing any car chases or strippers.
Now I'll admit that Fox's early reason for surviving was the Simpsons, but that's an exception in a sea of low-quality knock-offs.
I'll miss ya, Tick.
Any idea what the history of the Simpsons ratings were? I'm just wondering if back in the day they were as quick to axe as they are now.
This sig has been temporarily disconnected or is no longer in service
Maybe Ben can finally get his Tick movie bankrolled. I believe he's got a script ready, and now he has the actors (if they're willing to be on the big screen).
I think it could work. It won't be a huge success, but it'll definitely have a cult following.
Without you I'm one step closer to happiness without violence.
This warrants the brief attention of /.; if not in a story, then in this fashion.
The Dutch railway company is blocking non-IE users. Check it out, pass it on, and send a complaint. Thanks.
Pushin' 'n dealin', shovin' 'n stealin'
NIGH INVULNERABLE!
Everyone knows that damage is done to the soul by bad motion pictures. -Pope Pius XI
I wonder if Comedy Central would have any interest in picking the series up. I think the demographics of Comedy Central would be a perfect fit for the show. Oh well, that's just wishful thinking. It was fun to watch while it lasted.
How is it possible that we saw SO much advertising for this show during the World Series (A secret message.... from my TEETH!), but I never saw commercial one for the show while it was on the air?Honestly if they would have advertised it a *little* more, perhaps I could tell you what time the show was on. Heck, I don't even know what day it was on. Just like Family Guy.Yet, I am pretty sure we're all sick of 'A Very Special Boston Public' and 'That Goddamned 80's Show' commercials.
A winner is you!
The Tick is gone?!?!?
I bet its because PBS put Frontline against it!
-MichaelTake a hike! Go to http://www.mtnhike.com
Sometimes I just don't get their decisions.
About damn time. the cartoon is the one true tick.
the characters in the real version were too.. um.. Too much. The tick was too obnoxious and imature. The animated version rocked your socks. Bring that one back.
...was cool, though the time slot was awful. What I REALLY want to see is a live action Johnny Bravo.
-- Minds are like parachutes... they work best when open.
I never thought the current show was all that great. The cartoon had a twisted bent to it that was enjoyable from time to time. Course, I never watch cartoons - its for the kids, yeah - that's it. he kids.
Top Most Bizarre/Disturbing Error Messages
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It is too bad for the people involved, but I vastly prefer the cartoon. I only watched the pilot of the live action series. I think that cartoons are very difficult to bring to life, and the Tick is such an over-the-top character that it shouldn't even have been attempted. Loved Batmanuel though.
Having gotten started with the cartoon, then buying a bunch of comics on EBay, the TV show seems to be more of the comic-book-style Tick, which was pretty good. Too bad they didn't bring in Samuri Paul(? it's been a while..) or the ninjas. That would have been a great episode.
"Jeez. I thought Ninjas just got sucked up into jet engines.."
Given Fox's recent fare of programming, I didn't expect it to last. The only thing left is the Simpsons, since I can only get the last 15 minutes of Futurama because football runs over. C'mon guys, if the game goes too long EVERY WEEK, don't you think you can schedule around it?
Come on, you all saw it coming. The Tick was never gonna succeed with all the crap the Fox nimrods edited into it. I remember when the creator of the Tick was interviewed about the live action show...he said alot of the stupid dialogue wasn't his idea and he seemed kinda pissed that some knucklehead edited it to be that way.
Networks are great at shooting themselves in the foot when it comes to innovation. Remember the Clerks animated cartoon? It only lived long enough to spawn 6 episodes but was hilarious and had the trademark Clerks humor out the wazzoo. The episodes built the plot successively, so if you didn't see episode one before 2 you could be slightly lost.
Guess what. NBC (or was it CBS) aired the 4th episode as the pilot! People were lost and wondering what the hell was going on when they saw it. After 4 was 5 and 6 but that was it. It got canned. I suggest everyone go grab it on DVD. A true jewel.
It was a good idea. I even thought the casting was appropriate. The first episode was nothing short of unbelievably hilarious. However, every episode to follow was not so funny. They had the potential to introduce new and hilarious "Superheros" every episode or so, instead of focusing on Bat Maneul and Captain Liberty. I would have loved to see the Swiss Army!
it couldn't have happened to a more deserving show:)
-- Note to self - 'Don't push that button'.
It strikes again!
For those who don't know, Patrick Warburton (The Tick) had a part on Seinfeld as David Puddy.
Like all the ex-Seinfeld cast members before him, Warburton's show seemed doomed from the start. This makes the 3rd flop.
Hmm. I wonder if Julia Louis-Dreyfus' show will be cancelled before it starts. Good luck.
-twb
I really liked the TV show. I am in the 'college crowd' so I like dry ramen as well. I think that if it got a better time slot, a little more money put into it and some advertisements it would have taken off. This kind of reminds me of Brisco Country Jr. Wasn't around for very long but people did like it.
No, surely, our beloved City is unprepared for gigantic blue justice striding upon the rooftops of their daily lives. The forces of truth and justice fall silent this day, but they shall rise again like the head to the top of a cold one, if you know what I mean, chum. Yes, evildoers and television programming execs, you have won this round, but as sure as the sun will rise over the dark jungles of Tibet, your day in that sun will be over, and then you shall again face... The Tick.
someone could find the episodes to download?
Thanks to file sharing, I purchase more CDs
Thanks to the RIAA, I buy them used...
Maybe if they had actually showed episodes, instead of pre-empting it with other crap, it'd have worked better. Or they could've started showing the episodes at the start of the season, when people haven't figured out viewing schedules yet.
Here's a list of the Top 64 Shows That Didn't Make The Fall Season that's sure to brighten the day of even the most devout fan of 'The Tick'
Rick
The series was pretty lyme if you ask me.
Seriously, though, I think the two biggest problems were 1) flimsy plots (i.e. crimefighters not really fighting much crime and 2) FOX.
It is unfair to say things like, "How did the Simpsons do in its first season?" as I've seen a few people do, since the series, as everybody knows, spawned from the Christmas special, which came from the Tracy Ulmann show short pieces, so it had at least a little exposure before its first true season. Also, the expectations of new shows are different now than they were in the late 1980s. It used to be that networks would be willing to give shows more of a chance to build a fan base. Nowadays, if a show isn't a serious hit by midseason, it gets swept away. Sad, but true.
This is the NFL, which stands for "Not For Long" if you keep making those bulls*** calls.
HISTORY REPEATS ITSELF
+MONDAY MORNING+
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+MONDAY EVENING+
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Cmdr Taco: I will not suck any more dick ever again.
+TUESDAY EVENING+
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+WEDNESDAY MORNING+
Cmdr Taco: I will not suck any more dick ever again.
+WEDNESDAY EVENING+
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+THURSDAY MORNING+
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+FRIDAY MORNING+
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+FRIDAY EVENING+
Cmdr Taco: *slurp* *slurp* *slurp* *slurp*
+SATURDAY MORNING+
Cmdr Taco: I will not suck any more dick ever again.
+SATURDAY EVENING+
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+SUNDAY MORNING+
Cmdr Taco: Today is the Lord's day.
+SUNDAY AFTERNOON+
Cmdr Taco: *slurp* *slurp* *slurp*
I loved the episodes I could see.. but since the local fox affiliate couldn't seem to play the show, its no wonder they are canceling it...
ariven.com
Thanks for sharing, I feel better now
for being the Linux LUSER that I am.
I can finally blame it on the sad fact
that I use LINUX. If I had been using
winXP instead, there is a fair chance that
I wouldnt be eating this dog turd I found
on the lawn earlier today.
--Ted
!!SPOILER FREE!! A worthy sequel to the highly acclaimed blockbuster hit to TFOTR and shot entirely on location in New Zealand, the beautiful cinematography and rich plot accentuates Peter Jackson's talent as a director. However, the shameless advertising throughout the film ruined the overall mystique of the classic work. When upon learning that Frodo's true passion in life is "The Joy of Pepsi" the viewer is left with suspicion as to the movies true subliminal motives. Conflict erupts, in later scenes when a revived Gandalf extols the virtues of Coca-Cola's crisp, sweet taste. Also, the viewer is left alienated when he discovers Frodo's awful drinking habit and racist attitudes toward the ethnic Hobbits in the Shire. Furthermore, the inexplicable pornographic cupcake scene was more than just a mild shock in this otherwise masterful work. Obvious casting problems between films included the replacement of Pip, who was replaced with Gary Coleman (who was oft to say "Whacha' talkin' about Frodo?!") and the mysterious appearance of a character deemed Gandalf XP (played by Bill Gates). Sadly, Gandalf XP is unable to aid his friends in their final quest after encountering a "fatal exception" and shutting down. Tolkein's original portrayal of the Orc's did not include a half-shell nor a penchant for pizza, or the final word "Cowabunga" exclaimed by the Orc leader Beanardo. The score was stellar, however Snoop Dogg's rendition of "Pimpin the ring in my '64!" seemed awkward during the final battle scene. And I am not any sort of literary expert, but I distinctly do not recall Tolkein's work to contain such a graphic and disturbing development surrounding Aragorn's methamphetamine habit. Hollywood's political influences were evident in Jackson's pro-war propaganda throughout the film, particularly striking was Merridoc's reference to the Orc's as "those damn rag-heads" and the ever-present threat of the "sandpeople". However, triumph reigns in the end when the evil Saruman (renamed Bin-Laden) meets with utter defeat. _________ I'm still working on my HARDCOPY of the INTERNET. -gobs o freetime
Family Guy Back to Back... wasnt the Tick supposed to be on Thursdays?
Thanks to file sharing, I purchase more CDs
Thanks to the RIAA, I buy them used...
Did September 11th kill "That's my Bush"? If so, then Osama bin Laden better watch his back. . .
the tick sucks
I never watched a full episode of it and I was never really a huge fan of the tick cartoon or comic, but it kind of seemed to me like it was a bad gimmick, if fox wanted to bring back the tick they should bring it back as the cartoon series. The only reason for making it live action I see besides "hey! it's a cartoon but with REAL PEOPLE!!!" is that animated series cost more money. Either way I don't like fox.
Gimmick? Evil.
Cheap? Evil.
by the way, I can sit through the first season of the simpsons and I did this christmas with my brother because he brought home the DVD set. Not only did I watch them but I watched them with commentary as well.
The Simpsons analogy doesn't go well because it was popular when it came out. I mean they were made into a series because the Tracy Ullman shorts were popular (even though those, for the most part, are REALLY lame). The reason why the first season simpsons seem kind of lame now is just because it's a totally different time now. I mean, the first season was 12 years ago, can you think of many things from 1990 that don't seem a little lamer now than they did then?
dammit, you're all right.
glad I didn't carve THAT on the moon though...
I am a leaf on the wind
It seems that over and over again networks put good, or at least promising, shows in awful spots or against established leaders. Hello? Put a good show in a dead spot (Thursday at 8 maybe, c'mon Survivor?!), let it build up an audience, then move it to a stronger slot.
Futurama at 7 on Sundays?! This show is as good, if not better than, the Simpsons, yet it flounders...
Vote monkeys into Congress. They are cheaper and more trustworthy.
For the longest while I felt I was alone thinking slashdot sucked unless you were twelve.
I think anyone who didn't see this coming was fooling themselves simply because they liked the cartoon.
The live action show was not funny at all. The closest I got to a chuckle was when they did a closeup on his face and the antennas would wiggle depending on his emotion. But then that just got creepy.
Now if someone told me they were going to cancel The Family Guy, then I'd be shocked and start talking about bad time slots. But in The Tick's case, it just wasn't funny, sorry.
FiGZ.COM - A waste of perfectly good web space
When Fox cancels a show, they take it off immediately and put on repeats of what worked, which explains why we had almost 10 weeks of Simpsons and KotH weeknights last year.
When Com Central cans a show, they keep showing it ad naseum until they find something to replace it (which is why you keep seeing the same TV Funhouse over and over again).
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an adminstrator's Slash account.
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You are all wrong
Windows users
87% of Windows users are employed (3% on welfare) So what do the other 10% do for employment? Does being a student count as employment?
40% hold a university level degree Sounds too high, remember there are a lot of punk teens who use Windows.
43% in a heterosexual relationship Should be 95% at least.
5% are in a homosexual relationship So if 43% are heterosexual, and 5% are homosexual, what happened to the other 52%? Or are you counting those who have not entered puberty, like you.
3% have a serious mental disorder Must be lower.
Linux users
32% of linux users are employed (15% are on welfare) Again, where is the other 53%?
35% hold a university degree No comment.
4% are in a heterosexual relationship Hmm...a little to HIGH!
37% are in a homosexual relationship Again, what happened to the missing percentage?
56% have a serious mental disorder Hmm...a little to LOW!
I never saw this show lasting long at all. I did see a few episodes, mainly because nothing else was on, and I had liked the cartoon. But this show looked like a loser from the start, and now it's confirmed. People have raised the point of lack of advertising, but I think that's not it. I personally am sick of all the advertising fox does for it's programming. "Coming in six months" over and over for six months really makes me more inclined to flip it over to PBS when the damn show actually airs. Fox has it's few good shows but like all good things, they must continue for at least ten years. Or so Fox thinks. Like married with childeren was any good after they bumped off Steve, and started all that inane hooting and hollering. And I hate to admit it, but the Simpsons is getting less funny with each episode. I think if Fox stopped with the 6 or so months of hype before a show starts, they might actually get a better response. The Family guy seriously needs to go though. Christ, I can feel my IQ drop while watching it. Less effort in the family guy, and more for Futurama. Every few months I see an ad for "An all new Futurama" and I always think the same thing, Jesus, wasn't that cancelled last year? And for the LOVE OF GOD! stop with the X-Files!!!
Shift happens. Fire it up.
No one has claimed a first post, so this leaves me right open to claim "first fisting". Yes, that's right, first fisting. Now if you will excuse me, I must wash my hands.
Thank you
Osama Bin Laden
Write a nice letter to Fox and the sponsors telling them you don't want to see it canceled. It only takes a few positive responses to get them to turn it around.
However, you can always try to save that show.
The Tick has been cancelled!!!!!! REJOICE!!!!!
Now, maybe CmdrIWatchCartoonsEvenThoughI'mLike25YearsOld will stop posting stories about it!!!!!!
"News for Nerds"? With CmdrTaco it's more like News for Elementary Students.
On, of all places, Nickelodeon, has much the same twisted sensibility as The Tick cartoon (I love them both, truly I do.)
Also the brainchild of a independent comic...uh...guy, the fellow who did Johnny the Homicidal Manic.
Doom Dooom Doom Dooom Doom Dooom De Doom Dooom....
What were you expecting?
Fox really bungled the Tick. What I don't understand is why they'd spend the money on developing a quirky series like this, and then put it up against Friends. IMHO, the Tick would have been perfect right after the Simpsons, or in the (horrible) Bernie Mac time slot.
I can't say that the episodes I watched were terribly impressive, but it had possibilities -- and Patrick Warburton did a great job as the Tick.
I guess we won't be seeing a Tick movie any time soon... nuts. At least we still have the comic!
I've heard that Julia sometimes breaks into song during the show. I give it three weeks. :)
parent post is so much over rated.
look on morpheus like you should have in the first place instead of posting comments like this on slashdot.
where else would you expect to find old shows of the tick? in the back of fox studio's dumpsters?
i dont know why you even have a default score of 2, but you sure as hell dont deserve it.
here is an interview with the tick himself on npr's freshair. talks about the show among other things... interview is pre-cancelation however
That show was just about the only thing worth watching -- I've been taping every episode to archive tape just in case this happened. I haven't done that since the early 90's Simpsons episodes.
So, what can we do to try to reverse this decision? There are precedents for networks bringing back shows after a public outcry. Who do I write to? (politely, of course)
One simple rule for its versus it's
Finally we get to see a real Women Superhero, Captain Liberty, and they take her off the air.
Guess Ill go watch Lora Croft on the Tomb Raider dvd.
(Disclaimer, humor alert)
I had a rip of the live action pilot (which ended up being the first episode) on my PC for over a year before the show actually made it to Fox. That alone should say that the TV executives didn't know what the hell to do with the show. Perhaps Comedy Central will be wise enough to purchase the rights and market the show the way it's supposed to be?
Does this meen that Ben will lose the rights to use Bat Manuel, Captain Liberty, and any other characters specifice to the live action Tick? I would love to see more Tick (maybe picked up by USA, SciFi, Comedy Central) and I really kind of liked Bat Manuel. An interesting take on a Die Fledermaus (Euro-trash vs. Latin lover stereotypes).
I guess this means that Family Guy is probably going down, too. Why else would I watch TV Thursday night other than The Family Guy and The Tick?
Blasted! First The Invisible Man and now The Tick. Oh well, I don't get Fox anyway--only saw the pilot at a friends house. Maybe now FX will rerun it and I can Tivo it.
I hope not. I saw a promo with her wearing a skimpy nightie.
Other than that, the show looked stupid. It will probrably fail.
the tick sucked. not as much as jonkatz sucks cmdrtaco though.
None of the characters that first appeared in the cartoon were available in the live action version of the series because several different companies owned the rights to them and couldn't agree on licensing fees for using the characters. That is also why American Maid became Captain Liberty and Dir Fliedermaus became Batmanuel.
"I think so, Brain, but 'instant karma' always gets so lumpy." - Pinky
"Decepticons FOREVER!!!" - Ravage
This show sucked ass. Name one good thing about it. Oh yeah, it's off the air. What a piece of shit!
http://www.softlandmark.com/Audioplayers.htm
Sad to see a TV-series cancelled before it even hits the international market. Wasn't that the story with Twin Peaks? It was a dud in the US so Lynch had to wrap it up prematurely, then it became a huge hit in europe, but it was already to late.
My favorite prematurely cancelled TV-show was American Gothic, though. Man, that show rocked.
Try out fish, the friendly interactive shell.
That ticks me off
Of course, a "me too!" post deserves a down-mod. But I also am karma-capped...
I think /. should at least try eliminating down-mod, keep up-mods and add a point or two to the scale. Increase the number of moderators, so the really slimey posts will be spotted quickly.
As it stands, there's too much mod power in the hands of too few people; it should not be possible for one guy to make one other guy disappear! Sure somebody else may up-mod, but how many readers later?
I wouldn't want to see moderation completely go, as a low signal-to-noise ratio also acts as "censorship" to the site as a whole, by making /. entirely unreadable.
I survived the Dick Cheney Presidency 7 to 9 AM 7-21-07
the live action show sucks much...however, the animation was pretty damn funny.
You just triggered a thought for me. Technically, the Tick had lots of exposure before this live-action one was aired. It was a cartoon years ago. [I know everyone knows it was a cartoon, but nobody seems to be counting that as previous exposure]
Well, I meant that it wasn't exposed in this format (live-action). The Simpsons was always in an animated format.
This is the NFL, which stands for "Not For Long" if you keep making those bulls*** calls.
As an ardent fan of the cartoon I had high hopes when they announced the "real-life" series. I was deeply disappointed. The series sucked rocks and deserves to go away. Make new cartoon episodes. Delightful subtlety that the meatspace version couldn't begin to contemplate.
That sort of nonsense is not, actually, why I don't watch TV. The simple fact of the matter is that television is finely crafted to be as appealing as possible. As such, it s deuced difficult not to be attracted to it. And if one's not careful, one might spend all one's time in front of the tube. So I play on the computer, which is slightly less bad, or read books, which is much better. More of the former than the latter, I'm afraid:-)
Very true. On the other hand, neither the current incarnation of the tick, nor the Simpsons show started from nowhere. Both did exist in some form or other before becoming shows.
Still, you're right in that success in a cartoon format !==> success in a live-action format.
I can't say I'm sorry to see the show go. I loved the quirky animated show, but the live version just didn't have the same level of excitement. I especially think Patrick Warburton's portrayal of the Tick was way off target; he came off as being too soft-spoken and dim-witted, in contrast to the cartoon hero's thundering expression of simple-mindedness.
"Get a life" starring Chris Elliot and his father Bob Elliot (of "Bob and Ray" fame) was the highest rated new FOX show of the 1990 season, but it was cancelled, while a lesser rated show called "Beverly Hills 90210" stayed on the air for way to long. Must be fun to be a TV executive, no stress like in other industries where an executive is expected to make sense every once in a while.
Time slot? Who cares? I almost never watch a show "live" these days. Who has the time to schedule their lives around network broadcasts? I have two VCRs and they are both programmed to the hilt. (Why do VCRs only have 8 program slots? A salescritter I asked said "most people don't use them at all." He's probably right.) I watch shows when *I* want to. And I fast forward through the commercials. Phthbppppt!
I await the day television executives aren't 40, and aren't appealing to 40 year olds.
The day that business executives are mostly slashdot readers, and the "working man" watches cartoons. The day is coming, my friends. Cartoon network has "adult swim" now - with comics specifically for adults.
It is only a matter of time. Quantum computing may or may not be a reality, but the Tick will rise again. And so will Shaft.
Mod me down and I will become more powerful than you can possibly imagine!
The Tick, Kicked Ass.
I am.. Batmanuel!
What a loss. sniff.
-- "The best way to predict the future is to invent it."
how can this be so?! it was only the worst fucking show i had ever seen in my entire life.
So they decide to cancel it just as Survivor ends?
I think that was drawing a lot of people away. Perhaps it will pick up a bit, but it sounds like it wouldn't be soon enough to save the show.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
I went to hear Ben Edlund speak a few years ago, and after he had fielded a couple dozen questions about minutiae from Tick cartoon episodes, I asked "What are you working on besides The Tick?" And he smiled and said, "You know, I'm really glad you asked me that."
So, while I'm sorry to see The Tick go, I got the impression that Ben's ready to move on. Personally, I'm looking forward to seeing what's next. Ben, you made the world a little weirder - thanks.
This show sounded pretty questionable when it first came out. It might have pulled it off if it did something spectacular, but it was just not that good in cast, story or production. It had a very few good moments, but will not be missed by most. However, the statement that it had a terrifying time slot must not go unchallanged. It had the best slot a show could have had - after Friends and against Inside Swartz, a show people were turning away from in droves. ABC and NBC were in the middle of hour long shows, so it should have at least gotten the entire Friends audience.
The show just wasn't that great, but another factor against it wasn't it's time slot so much as that it wasn't in it's time slot very often. You don't build up a following by showing a couple of weeks, and then just when word of mouth might get you some viewers put on lame filler instead until the audience looses interest or just forgets about the show.
If this show's cancellation dominos onto the family guy, I'll be pissed enough to dress up like a stupid goddam insect with a bad script
Well, The Simpsons had better (read: some) exposure to its target audience (WRT timeslot. Tickheads followed it, but, obviously, the network wasn't in it for a few thousand hardcore fans). The transition from Saturday morning to Thursday night isn't exactly ideal, especially when spaced by a handful of years. I won't count the brief stint on Comedy Central, since being on cable in the wee hours of a Monday (what was it? 1am?) can't be considered exposure.
If a corporation is a personhood, is owning stock slavery?
One less shitty tv show to watch :(
Day in and day out, Slashdot sings the praises of "open source" software. New readers of the site must be a little puzzled to find items like "GPL Violation discovered" and "Open Source Guru Speaks" listed on the main page alongside the "straight" science and technology news. Unfortunately, few people really know what Open Source stands for. Perhaps Richard Means Stallman, one of the founders of the movement, can elucidate.
"[The GNU goal was] to be able to use a computer without using any proprietary software," declaims RMS. "Because that way, you can lead a better life." Of course, the only way to get rid of proprietary software is to destroy the software companies that produce it. One way this is accomplished is by putting software that would normally be public domain under a license RMS himself created, called the "General Public License," or "GPL." Simply put, this license allows code to be reused-- unless the final product is distributed without its source code, as a proprietary product must be.
Software is a commodity, and people will often take the cheapest product, even if they have to spend inordinate amounts of time struggling with poor documentation and clumsy user interfaces. "One of the best things I could do with my life is: find a gigantic pile of proprietary software that was a trade secret, and start handing out copies on a street corner so it wouldn't be a trade secret any more," enthuses RMS. "Perhaps that would be a much more efficient way for me to give people new free software than actually writing it myself."
It's time to stop the doubletalk and start thinking about the real meaning of intellectual property. By some measures, intellectual property is the main export of the developed countries of the world. Artists, actors, and musicians make a living off the intellectual property they produce. Programmers and engineers create designs to be sold. And journalists and writers depend on intellectual property. Ironically, the only jobs not deeply tied to intellectual property are the jobs many slashdot readers affect to despise, like service workers, menial laborers, and administrators. If slashdot readers can't stomach Scott McNealy, maybe they would prefer to work with Ronald McDonald. From the other side of the fast food counter.
Not everyone enjoys working at a menial job in the day, simply in order to slave away at poorly organized programming projects. Not everyone enjoys being told that he has the "freedom" to work, without pay, for a small clique of free software partisans. It is one thing to oppose microsoft's monopoly on the desktop, and the RIAA's slow strangulation of fair use rights. It is quite another to embrace a whole economic and political ideology that centers around the exploitation of childlike programming savants.
This message is not a troll, although many slashdot readers may take it as such. It is simply a warning to users to think carefully before they blindly follow the political lead of Rob Malda, Jon Katz, and the like. I encourage readers to repost the text of this message, and others like it, to the supposedly "free" message boards of slashdot and other sites.
Peace out, and God bless.
So long, live action Tick. I hardly knew thee, and now I won't have to.
Mr. Ska
ABC aired episode 4 first, then episode 2 (the flashback episode).
I didn't care, really (about the order) : 4 stands on its own, and I thought the idea of having flashbacks to events that hadn't happened yet was fucking briliant! I assumed Kevin Smith was making fun of all the clip shows on TV, where everyone sits around and remembers all the wacky things they did before.
It was only after I had bought the DVDs for a friend's birthday did
I find out what the running order was supposed to be.
It doesn't mean much now, it's built for the future.
Is baby gonna cwy? :(
Those guys rule!
It doesn't mean much now, it's built for the future.
Yes, I watched the cartoon years ago and it was quite funny. But the show? Come on. Real men in cartoon outfits? Thats not funny. And saying childish things? Who were they fooling? There was that move like that which I enjoyed, but not a TV show...
The Tick sucked anyway. Totally inappropriate humor. It seems like most sitcoms today are just vehicles for inappropriate sex to be taught to young people.
Fox needed to hold onto ANY show that was even mildly successful. Don't get me wrong, I loved "Married with Children," but any other network would have cancelled it when the Seven character was introduced. Fortunately, they rebounded and got past that rough spot.
Fox shows were given the ability to get a cult following (like the X-Files) simply because Fox had little else of value to broadcast. Remember the Simpson's episode with Troy McClure displaying a diagram of Fox's weekly lineup: "Simpsons", "X-Files", and "???" all over the place?
If a show can't "self-correct" itself and at least find a niche audience, fox will cancel them swiftly. The trick with Fox broadcasting is to find a hook and develop it quickly before you get shit-canned.
BTW, this isn't a criticism of Fox broadcasting methods. If ST:TOS was on Fox instead of NBC, it would still be on the air.
His new movie The Mothman Prophecies will be opening soon!
That's why I remain anonymouse.
The tick was about extreme characters in a very normal setting. What made the show great is that the setting wasn't a fantasy world. That would have made it just another Saturday morning cartoon.
The notion of superheroes living among the normal population is a great premise. Fox should have let them develop it. There aren't any television shows that I make a point to see - but I try not to miss this one.
The Tick lives between animation and 'real life.'
That makes it original. Unfortunately, that's not enough for the big networks.
Comic book == good
Cartoon == good
Live Action TV show != good
For those of you truly dedicated to the show, you can drop FOX an email at askfox@foxinc.com. It'll only take a minute, and it might just make a difference. I've already sent mine. What have we got to lose?
Like woodworking? Build your own picture frames.
I admit I only saw part of one episode of the live-action series; but, as a fan of the comic book and the cartoon, I was awfully disappointed in what I saw (it was that episode where the Immortal dies).
I thought the pace or timing seemed off (although I did think that I could warm up to Warburton, eventually). And it seemed that they went for overused sight gags with the dead body too much (like those movies about the dead guy, Weekend at Bernies, I think it was called).
Basically, as others have mentioned, it seemed like much of the wacky humor of the Tick was replaced with the formulaic humor (and plot) of the networks.
I was also disappointed in Arthur, who looked and acted too much like Rick Moranis from the Ghostbusters. Plus, Arthur is supposed to be chubby -- he's the Pudgy-Voice-of-Reason! He seemed too scrawny in the live-action series to me.
Granted, this is just the impression I got from seeing about half of an episode, but it didn't make me want to watch it again. I can only imagine what people who were not already fans thought.
And while I was/am willing to give the series another chance, like other people have mentioned, I had no real idea what time it airs (aside from the Futurama-Simpsons-XFiles stretch, I don't watch much TV).
Well, here's hoping that it gets picked up (and improved) by some other channel. Comedy Central seems like a good candidate -- I could do without that bowling show.
-- D.
Your mother ate my dog! --Paquita, Braindead
Kind of like the topless donut shops that pop up in California: an incredibly stupid idea, but you're pretty much guaranteed that NOW will show up and protest, getting you press coverage, and the thing works for a few months (before succumbing to the "incredibly stupid idea" thing).
hawk
saw the first episode while on business travel
never heard another word about it since until now
dont even know what tv network it's on currently
maybe this will be another mst3k deals where it gets resurrected a half dozen times over the next decade
hawk
Forgetting that the show sucked.
and that idiot that played the tick should have his acting licence taken away.
Last one in jail is a fascist.
Rumor has it that "The Tick" is going to be replaced with a live-action version of "Family Guy."
It must be true because it was on the internet.
I must be different from everyone in the world. I don't watch network television at all, but I did make it a point to watch this show. I think the dialog was great and the casting was perfect.
In my opinion, interesting dialog is what makes a show good and re-watchable. For example, Mr. Bean may be funny the first time you see it, but if you see a re-run, you don't want to watch it again. At least I don't. However, The Black Adder (from season two on) has excellent dialog and is always a joy to watch no matter how many times you've seen it.
The Tick was like that for me. I liked the dialog and found myself re-watching almost every episode I taped. I wish FOX would have put it in a better time slot and given it a little more time.
Sigh.
I guess Fox is just a nonce-Tick surface.
Can't we start a petition? ;-)
Get the fox site slashdotted intentionally
Flood 'em with emails requesting, nay, DEMANDING that the tick be put on right after Futurama, and that they divulged the top secret time slot of futurama while they're at it?
You know a show is about to die when they change its time slot around everyweek until NO ONE knows when its on.
I'm convinced its some stupid internal rivalry between execs...killing one guy's show because he drank the last cup of punch at the xmas party and whatnot.
You can't take the sky from me...
Sounds like a show for the Playboy channel.
Steve's Computer Service, Hobbs, NM
The tick was alright.. But it was missing something. It focused too much on their individual trials and tribulations than destroying evil villains. While probably good for hard core tick fans, 'the general public' probably wasn't impressed.
www.lonseidman.com
This is crap! Take a look at the ratings as compared to other SciFi shows:
The X-Files 6.2
Smallville 3.9
Dark Angel 3.3
Enterprise 2.8
Charmed 2.8
The Tick 2.5
Buffy 2.5
Angel 2.5
Special Unit 2 1.8
Roswell 1.4
The Tick is only slightly behind shows like Enterprise. And that tripe roswell is STILL on the air.
This is totally lame and totally sucks. The Tick ROX and Fox should have done more for it than a handful of episodes...
First the Lone Gunmen and now this. What a bunch of puds.
Polymorphism -- It's what you make of it.
The Tick suffered from the Seinfeld curse. See Cosmo, George and soon to be Elaine's show.
you pretentious tick fans are fucking losers who've been out of highschool too long and need to be put back in your place
lets hear u shout "spoon" when i fucking stuff u in a locker
fuck i hate nerds
if theres anything i hate more its the gay ass things u find funny like the tick
I disagree that the timeslot had anything to do with the demise of the show. Timeslots become popular because of the shows, not the other way around. NBC has 0wn3d Thursday evenings ever since the cosby show, but before the cosby show it was fair game. After that, they put their best crap their to maintain their thursday night audience. Of course now they are losing to survivor but that is besides the point. Thursday night is the biggest TV night for no reason other than the popularity of the cosby show. My basic point being that, aside from like the 2am-7am time slots, the quality of the show dictates it's popularity far more than the timeslot.
Furthermore, as TiVo and similar technology popularizes, hopefully the networks will realize that they can run more series in the 2am-7am timeslots, because suddenly timeslots are irrelevant because people will watch the show whenever they want to. It'd be nice if they would run entire seasons of the simpsons, etc. marathon style during the off hours for the convinience of tivo viewers.
This is FOX... the same network that initially cancelled Family Guy, only to bring it back after they received a lot of letters. From what I recall, FOX didn't initially know they had a gem with Malcolm in the Middle either.
Bottom line is, if enough snail-mail letters are sent to FOX (trust me on this, networks give snail-mail more weight than e-mails), there is a possibility that the show could be saved. It's worked in the past for the original Star Trek (thus its third season) as well as Roswell (thus its second season).
In the case of Roswell, fans sent thousands of bottles of tabasco sauce to The WB as a show of support. With The Tick, perhaps fans can instead send... spoons?
Generally agree about Fox. Simpsons has had ups and downs, but is in an up (and the downs were still better than friends) Futurama is great, Malcolm is Great, Family Guy is pretty good, if a little overboard, The Tick was shaping up quite well, 24 isn't perfect, but it's good... but it isn't a comedy, it's a drama, so... drama's are fair game? Then you slight NBC. They have the Law and Order franchise (and the original and SVU are actually really a damn sight better than 24, frankly) and some of the best miniseries on broadcast. West Wing, Crossing Jordan, and ER are too good to dismiss out of hand, especially if you're willing to put 24 on your list. I'm not all that impressed with CBS on Dramas. I mean, "The Agency"? But they had the wisdom to take the free agent CSI, which is really one of the five best dramas in broadcast and syndication right now, as far as I'm concerned. ABC is just plain bad, and UPN, well, I can't even watch Enterprise (and lest you peg me, I have cable entirely because I missed Farscape too much, in spite of my "who has time for TV" attitude.) I really don't watch anything but the first two Law and Order shows (but not CI), CSI, Farscape, Titus, The Tick, Futurama, 24, and Smallville (sorry, I don't know why, but I like it. Probably because of Michael Rosenbaum, who manages to do a weirdly believable road to hell character), and all of those I approach with a tape-it-and-catch-it-later attitude. I'm two months behind on some of them, and that's taking reruns into account. So my habits result in... NBC (2 hours), CBS (1 hour), Fox (2.5 hours), WB (1 hour), and SF (1 hour) Admittedly, my rare extras include Simpsons, Malcolm, and Family Guy. So Fox gets more than the rest. Followed by NBC. ABC gets none of my eyeball time.
-- Still waiting for the Nike endorsement
Now, I was a fan from the start when I first happened across issue number 3 of The Tick (in the hands of a friend who let me read it) and ended up buying the graphic novel as soon as it saw daylight. I love the humor of the comic, and found the show far more true than the cartoon.
I've also never seen Invader Zim. Is that what happened to Vasquez after the second issue of "I Feel Sick!"? There was mention of a cartoon, but...
But there is a world of difference between The Tick and JTHM. The first time I walked into my favorite indie-friendly comic shop (and I still patronize that sort even if it means going 40 minutes out of my way and spending a lot more than I would on subscriptions, because I value their existance, damnit!) and laid eyes on the grotesque and fascinating work that was Johnny, I was blown away. Twisted. Sick. Perverse. Strangely compelling. His world is the polar opposite of The Tick. With the same innocent disconnectedness, but nothing else in common, Johnny sees himself as artist and equalizer, striking out against the "righteous" and popular, the petty and mostly harmless bullies and bureaucrats of his world, sometimes with a spork. And while he terrifies poor Squee (see Squee's own title), he never considers harming the victim of the condescending, the contemptuous, the too-perfect. And somehow, you're never quite sure if Johnen himself is sane, or even safe.
Now, a show (cartoon, of course) based on JTHM would be... frightening. It would never sell. But... the kid brother of a friend, who I had introduced to JTHM, actually contacted Johnen and got his permission to adapt a play from that same series... and managed to produce and run it at a rather uptight and proper elite high school. And it went over well. Remarkable...
So, your thoughts... whither bound the properties of The Tick? Will we ever see another show, animated or otherwise? Perhaps a new patron could be found, one willing to give it a real chance?
For now, I must actually record myself some episodes of this "Invader Zim"... it will be some consolation, at least.
-- Still waiting for the Nike endorsement
This is what happened:
1.) Fox Executive understood The Tick starts project, but gets moved to another project
2.) New executive doesn't get it - battens down the hatches budget-wise and puts it in a time slot sure to kill it.
voila! The show he doesn't understand with the huge budget is gone and no one can blame him - if had worked, well, all the better.
The show was soooo cramped for cash it never had a chance.
It really needed to be animated - that way you could have all the sets and effects you wanted, and it would be closer to as concieved.
Humor can be a delicate thing of precise timing and tone - throw in executives, a budget, and actors with thier own take on a charcter and it's no surprise that most "comedies" on network tv need laugh tracks.
Not that anyone will read or respond to this post.