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Farscape Frelling Cancelled
Mukaikubo writes "The Sci-Fi Channel has decided to cancel their second largest show, Farscape. Because networks respond better to phone calls and snail-mail letters than a mass e-mail campaign and there is contact info on a fan-run Message Board. Time is of the essence, as the Network wants to tear down props at the end of next week. Help save one of the best science fiction shows on TV today!" Other articles can be found here and the chat log is online too.
Why did they decide to cancel it?
First MST3K, now Farscape? My motivation to watch SciFi has greatly diminished over the years.
I'm sure they'll show reruns for years on SciFi, and failing that there is always alt.binaries.tv.farscape. But it would really be a shame if no new content was created.
The future isn't what it used to be.
Farscape's for fucktards anyway.
I never enjoyed it myself, but many of my friends did, so I am sad that they will be sad.
"And that makes me a saaad panda."
- Sexual Harrasment Panda
Democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch. Liberty is a well-armed lamb contesting the vote.
Bring back LEXX. Now that's quality programming!
"sweet dreams are made of this..."
Farscape certainly is not good scifi series anymore. Especially the second and third season were great with a continuous plot, but the fourth season is nothing like previous ones. No continuous plot, no good story line, just separate episodes with totally pointless plots. IMHO.
This is just too bad. Farscape is the best show on Sci-Fi. Anyone care to comment on their reasoning behind this?
Leave it to management to cancel a successful show. No doubt they'll replace it with something lame like the Twilight Zone remake. Guess Rod Serling got it wrong the first time or something...
Since your not logged in either, you can fuck off.
Sci-Fi cancells Farscape (MLP)
By yanisa
Sat Sep 7th, 2002 at 05:46:41 AM CST
Sci-Fi network shocks viewers: Farscape, its flagship series, has been cancelled.
Fanbase reacts; join them!
-
In a surprise chat yesterday night, David Kemper, Richard Manning and Ben Browder announced Sci-Fi network's decision to cancel Farscape, critically acclaimed and much beloved SF series, now in its fourth season.
Although Sci-Fi has previously contracted for two more seasons of Farscape, they have now excercised an out-clause. This was made known to the creators and cast only after they have finished filming the last episode of Season 4, which means that they have had no chance of even finishing the story. Farscape will thus end with a cliffhanger and unfinished story threads.
Needles to say, the fanbase is in an uproar and the cast is shocked.
And not suprisingly, Dilbert has seen it coming.
If you like Farscape and would like to see it go on, add your voice to the enraged masses.
-
So, if it really is their second largest show, why would they be canceling it?
If there's anything those corporate execs are good at, it's squeezing every last drop out of something (think Star Trek).
Hey, I'm not the one with their panties in a bunch because some GNU/communist didn't approve my story.
We may lose Farscape but Enterprise resumes on Sept 18 on UPN.
UPN will be airing the two-hour series premiere "Broken Bow" on Sept 11 at 8 p.m.
The week after, they will air the last episode from the 1st season "Shockwave, Part I" on Tuesday, September 17 at 9 p.m. The next day, Wednesday, September 18, they will show the 2nd season premiere, "Shockwave, Part II" at 8 p.m. This episode picks up where the show left off last season, with Archer stuck in the 31st century. He and Daniels must work together in order for him to return to Enterprise." You can read more about the Enterprise schedule here
Everyman dies, not everyman really lives. -W.W
Well, it's a sad thing to write, but maybe they just make more profit with other series of lower quality? It's like when the Babylon 5 spin-offs where killed... Here's a good statement from JMS about this.
The analogy I can find, is to Fast Food: Low-quality stuff for the masses (but it's practical and I'm enjoying it sometimes). Guaranteed profit. The stuff I consider high-quality, is a matter of taste. So the market is limited and profits not guaranteed. If you would run a restaurant for a living, what would you offer?
Sad, though.
Excellence: Moderate (mostly affected by comments on your karma)
Then go and get a traffic cone and shove it up your ass Aol/luser.
Season five has been cancelled, however the second half of season 4 is almost finished being shot and will be shwon on the scifi channel in january.
You're not helping! :(
Aack, stop that!
As if losing Farscape wasn't turture enough...
Farscape is, of course, a space show, so I saw this coming. It was surprising that it stayed on the schedule this season, but not surprising that its stay of execution was only temporary.
And now, for a small question from me... What is the point of a science fiction channel without science fiction?
At least it wasn't a repost. ;P
It seems like they're moving towards the kook psychic and horror stuff. This is truly a shame, but the point at which this season ended really made me wonder.
Are they going to even bother trying to end it with continuity, or are they going to pull a voyager and cram everything into one episode?
There hasn't been any real 'new' content created since the second season, just a rehashing of the same old lame plotlines ...which is why I stopped watching long ago, and probably why the show is being cancelled.
At times like this when it appears a trend is forming to cancel highly-rated shows like Farscape and Witchblade on cable, you have to wonder if there was a network study somewhere which claimed that Sci Fi was "out" or "on the want" and everyone is trying to get ahead of the curve. TV execs always seem to be trying to get ahead of the curve (rather than sticking with what works), which seems to leave us with fewer and fewer old, popular, and unique shows and more and more shows stamped from the same cloth.
If farscape is the second-largest, can anyone tell me what the first-largest show on the sci-fi channel is?
I did love Farscape. The story arcs in the first three seasons were excellent, but the this season hadn't seemed to be going anywhere until the last episode that was aired.
I'm really not surprised. I don't think the show was at all ratings friendly. It was too difficult to catch reruns.. too difficult to pick up the gist of the story mid-season. Thanks to ADV, way too freaking expensive to buy the dvds. If you didn't watch every week, you never knew where those new characters came from.
even if it IS expensive to create....this show has a HUGE fanbase and it's got ratings through the roof, and not with any qualifiers like "for a cable sci-fi show". It seriously has ratings many mainstream shows would be envious of. WRITE people. WRITE IN. I'd like to see Sci-Fi say "okay. we know you've got season five and six plotted out. scrap season six, rewrite it so it wraps up the show." and then let them do the two more years. and the wrapup doesn't have to END their relationship or similar...just maybe put them on a footing with say episode two - only without anyone chasing them down. and now we start going from THERE, if anyone ever wants to do anything. perhaps in the form of movies a la B5.
You see, without that little doohicky, the universe stops.
http://propheteer.org
Freddie needs a nanny, because he's been a very naughty boy.
I don't think petitions, letters, nor phone calls will do any good.
As Ben put it, "They're taking a chainsaw to Moya next week" meaning that the sets are scheduled to be destroyed within a matter of days.
Yeah, maybe letters and phone calls will make them spend the money to rebuild the sets, but I probably wouldn't hold my breath. They would have folded the sets if there was a chance the show was going to be picked up again (as they did with "Crusade"'s sets [even though they never did pick up this series]). I think it's best we wish Brian Henson et al the best of luck on their new endeavors instead of spending our energy on such a longshot. The best we could hope for is for a final episode or movie, but I doubt this as well
Gnuyen
Typical corporate stupidity. Cancel a popular show and fill the time slot with crappy junk we have all seen before...douchebags!
But what is "frelling"?
There is no good sci-fi on at the moment. I see Enterprise and its just more "wild west cowboys in space" crap.
no sig.
I never got into the show, but understand why other people did. It's a decent show and probably should continue.
There is always hope. HBO has a rather good record of picking up shows of meritable creative content that do not get network/cable support from the cronies that run them. Maybe you could redirect or cc your support mail there.
Game: Player 'Donald J Trump' now has AI skill level 'experimental'.
To be honest, I've followed Farscape from the start, I've watched every episode soo far, and douh, SciFi doesn't even air in Sweden, go figure.
From what I've seen from seasong 4, they're either running out of ideas or being bored, the plot is gone, its moving more and more into a serie of losely connected episodes where every episodes is a entirerly own story. What I liked about Farscape and I'm sure most others did was the "ongoing" plot that they actually stuck too, unless many other series like it..
Urrghh... what a way to wake up on a Saturday. Farscape is one of the few shows that I make time to watch.
I'm not usually surprised when a series is cancelled - either it obviously bites, or no-one is watching. Neither seems to be true of Farscape. In fact, I'm so mystified by this, I've spent my Saturday morning writing a letter to the Sci Fi channel in the U.S... I know, I know, I've been extremely polite (just expressing my sincere shock) and I realise that they will probably just bin it along with the thousands of other "fan" letters, but I had to do it.
I've never done that for a TV show before. So maybe that will mean something to the less cynical slashdot readers.
I urge everyone who is upset about this to send a fax to Sci-Fi Network. I found the this link to a free online fax service from the parent article.
Free Online Fax
Sci-Fi's fax number is +1-212-413-6531.
That is from the story submission. It is not even English! Lazy "editors", please have the decency to edit submissions when it is for the purpose of clarifying the poster's intent. More than likely, Enlish is a second lanquage for the poster so I do not blame them. You lazy ass editors should be ashamed though! Yes I know what he meant, but it hurts my brain to have to extrapolate meaning from non-sensical posts that you could have easily cleaned up. Slashdot editors have to be the laziest people in the world. I expect better on a supposedly educated geek log.
Thank you. I am also quite serious about this, if I wanted to read piss-poor writing I would hang out on the wrestling message boards.
Unless I missed it, the Sci-Fi channel's web site is remarkably silent on this topic. Sure seems like this is a hoax to me... Wouldn't be the first time someone reacted to a false report in a chatroom. (And I'm sure we could never imagine a chat session being hacked, now have we?)
The only item of note on Farscape's pages at SciFi.com is that new episodes will be out in 2003 to finish the second half of the "fourth" season. Looks like Crichton won't be left floating in orbit over Earth after all.
You say that like that's a good thing.
Yes! Finally, someone said it. I agree 100%. I think this is, at the very least, a test to see what kind of free pub they can get out of such an announcement."A chainsaw to Moya"? Sounds like "Everyone! Clap your hands to save tinkerbell's life!" to me.
Still, I hate to underestimate the stupidity of a network which cancelled The Invisible Man.
Farscape is one of the most thought-provoking shows on televison. It's not for everyone and, news flash for network execs, you can't make something for everyone! Farscape has consistantly amazed me with the quality of work in every aspect of it's production. I hope this is just a silly stunt by some marketing feebs, but I'll be calling/writing SciFi to voice my support for Farscape anyway!
If this keeps up, I may have to return to reading!
All that bickering between the characters on every episode. That grows old really fast. I actually forced myself to watch more than a couple episodes to see what all that hype is about but to no avail... if anything... this is like the soaps of sci fi....
I must say the peacekeeper chick does compete nicely with the vulcan chick on Enterprise on some attributes
The point is to make more room in the schedule for talking to dead people, of course:
It happens all the time, get a popular show that brings in the viewers/ads then cancel it..
And they get paid well for these decisions too..
F-ing morons.
Yes write them fast!!!
---- Booth was a patriot ----
I find it hard to believe that somebody can make a bloody fortune off of the stupid masses. The one time I watched that show, he was so vague that he couldn't help but get something right. And even then, the audience fed him so much information it was pathetic!
That's not science-fiction, that's pure fantasy man!
I would say yes save the show. However, I dont' like that show. It's too much like Star Trek, which I hate. I mean, I'm a geek just like the rest of you, but this is one area of geekdom I just don't get. When I watch Star Trek I just can't help but feel I'm watching an afternoon soap opera, except everyone is wearing an alien costume or a space ship uniform. Changing the setting doesn't make a show any better. I don't watch scifi channel anymore anyway. Wait... I don't watch TV anymore really. Go ahead and cancel all the shows you want.
The GeekNights podcast is going strong. Listen!
In those cases, they killed off shows that you had to think ( gasp ) to enjoy.. and replaced with mindless garbage. Sign of the times i guess.
---- Booth was a patriot ----
Look at what the networks have killed in the past 6 months (of note):
Dark Angel (FOX: news to me, but axed in May, had ok ratings!)
Futurama (FOX: weak ratings)
A couple days ago:
Witchblade (TNT: had strong ratings!)
Farscape (Sci-Fi: good ratings?)
(I'm sure I'm missing a biggie in all this. X-Files, Ally McBeal, Family Guy, etc. don't count...)
I'd understand the cancellations if the ratings were weak, and new programming was so much more promising but:
Derivative spinoffs: CSI:Miami, Law & Order:
Cop shows, cop shows, cops shows
doc shows, doc shows, doc shows
Another boring lawyer show from David E. Kelley
New soon-2-be-DOA show from the other lucky producer...
And the rest being f**king lame-assed "reality" shows I don't watch. How the f**k do loser shows like Big Brother2, Amazing Race2, and The Mole2 manage to get timeslots??? Yeah, they're cheap to produce, but they get sh*tty ratings.
I just don't get it. There a quite a few new shows coming out this fall, and most of them have LOSER stamped on them. Why kick out a promising show to stick in a sure loser?
The only thing new that looks like it has promise is Firefly. But I would have killed something other than Dark Angel... (Birds Of Prey looks promising too.)
Is it that our demographic (and thus, entertainment preferences) is too old and not desirable anymore? Do good shows cost too much? Do networks make more money on sh*t reality shows?
Am I missing a possible trend? (Economic recession putting content companies out of business? 9/11 makes people want mindless, "wholesome", patriotic, hero themed shows?)
Its a conspiracy, I tell you! And the handwriting is on the wall. Get ready to say goodbye to Buffy, Stargate SG1 (a Sci-Fi channel property), Angel, Smallville, Enterprise(?), South Park, Son of the Beach,
I can't say its all bad. I watch way too much TV. I'd like to feel confident that there will be something watchable in a couple of years, but it doesn't look good (for me, for us?)...
There is no America. There is no democracy. There is only IBM and AT&T and DuPont, Dow, General Electric, and Exxon
Not Family Guy!!!
/me cries
SAVAGES!
Buffy - Ending after the upcoming season 7 (SMG's contract is running out, and Buffy doesn't work so well without Buffy)
Stargate SG1 - Ending after the upcoming second half of season 6 (planned end of arc). Note that this means SciFi is losing the ENTIRE Friday night lineup after the upcoming spring.
I wouldn't be too worried about Enterprise, it seems unlikely UPN would cancel a Trek - hell, even Voyager lasted 7 years!
Since so many people seem to be asking, Farscape was scifi's highest, or second highest show depending on who you ask. Unrealized Reality (Season 4, Episode 12) pulled a 1.5, which is pretty unheard of for this network.
Unfortunately, it's also their most expensive show to create, but what the hell else do they have? They killed b5:lotr (And no, not THAT lotr), they killed lexx, Stargate's coming to a conclusion after this season.... They're going to have dead zone and johnathon edwards when at the end of this year.
JMS said scifi wants to get away from "those space shows", when they killed the b5 spinoff. I haven't figure out who's irrational bias this is, they're the scifi channel for christ sake, ut if I ever identify the person responsible, rest assured that I will provide contact info.
They cancelled First Wave dispite a huge response from fans.. Farscape won't be any different.. Good luck in the attempt though.
If you're going by ratings, it's been whoopin' Farscape's ass... AND this is after Stargate SG1 lost it's most popular character and replaced him with Parker Lewis. There's even talk that they may decide to make another season after this one (which wasn't the original plan). If not, they've been looking at doing a movie.
But I love law and order!!! And CSI! all those other shows can hit the can for all I care.
This is the only show on TV that has given me joy. Period. I was happy when I watched. That hasn't happened with any other show since I was a kid and was watching schlock like Knight Rider and The A Team. I didn't know any better then. This show is different. This show was genuine, and I genuinely felt for the characters. More than once the show has brought me to tears with the Aeryn & John arc. I was astounded that I could feel so much for a space opera. This show has, single handedly, restored my faith that good writing & production can slip past the yes-wo/men every now and then to inspire a cherished few.
Good people must stand up and try to find more of these holes in the fabric of sanitized corporate culture products. Otherwise money and the lowest common, disinterested intellects will win the day.
Do other creative types understand the magnitude of of this cancellation and Futurama's? It means that good sci-fi doesn't matter. It's about the cash instead of heart. Cheap it out and the numbers will be the same.
Our only worthwhile reaction will be to get out and create what we believe to have heart. Then fight with everything we have to get it realized and inspire others to do the same.
Money begets money. Empathy and heart do not figure in to that.
Sad times indeed.
Next season will be SG1's final season, but that is because they want to expand on the concept. The creaters feel that they have gone as far as they can with SG1 and are afraid of killing the show with the the x-files death(draging a show way past its due date). After SG1, a second stargate movie will be created(suposedely with the cast of SG1). Then a cartoon will be created called stargate infinity that is supposed to come on saturdays, and finally a spinoff of SG1 will be created called Atlantis which will be based on the finale season of SG1. I just hope Richard Dean Anderson will be in the spinoff. He is FUNNY as hell, and one of the biggest reasons I watch stargate is because he cracks me up. :)
For information about all this go to: http://www.gateworld.net/ it has the best information for all things stargate. :)
Hmm, this is offtopic, but the /. feature showing domains of links in brackets behind the link should maybe be fixed a little for news:// URLs as the one given here. It reads [binaries.tv.farscape] here; maybe it would be more practical to make it simply read [newsgroup] or something? Just a sidenote...
Because networks respond better to phone calls and snail-mail letters than a mass e-mail campaign and there is contact info on a fan-run Message Board.
/. editor's scalpel.
Huh? I'm hoping this is due to a
mstyne: real name, no gimmicks
[19:48] <DK>hudder to think what is going to happen when this is opened up to all deserving voices.
Well, it hit slashdot, now we'll see what happens. I just wish it had happened during a weekday so more people would see it.
What will happen. I don't know. I love this show. It's the only reason why I even watch their friday night stuff. Heck I like their new Dead Zone, and yet I haven't watched it since farscape ended a couple weeks ago.
I have never written a letter in my life for any campaign, or even joined any online petition or anything, but I am seriously considreing writing to scifi channel and leting them know how stupid I think this is.
Now I just wish I knew how to even start that letter.
Oh and editors, plase mention this again at least on a slashback during the week so more people will see it.
Demographically, for an example, Mole 2 was holding its own against AI in the 18-34 demos for that time slot. If people that advertisers want to sell to are watching, that's good enough.
Then again, NBC Executives have twice cancelled ratings-wise successes that followed Friends (Inside Schwartz was ranked in the top 15 at year's end, believe it, or not), because they pulled in only a 30 share rather than carry the 60 share of the Ross/Rachel crew.
SFC's tactics seems to make it unprofitable for another network to hop in and save the show, or else toss in money to rebuilt the sets. Slash and burn, anyone?
Mod Karma -1: I sed bad wurds. If I cep my mouf shut, I wud be at riyses.
maybe they can pick up Farscape and show it between ST:TNG and wrestling. woohoo!
I'm sorry for those people that enjoy Farscape, but I could never get into it.
I could never get into it. It just seemed like Days of Our Lives in spaceships. It had that same dark, dreary lighting and slow pace that is so typical of soap operas. Even the character summaries from the show's web page sound like a soap opera:
Chiana's happiest when she has the opportunity to show off her scoundrel skills; she's a thief, a liar, a seductress and a drama queen.
I'll take Enterprise any day. The story line is inspirational. The recurring characters are admirable. The production values are top-notch. The special effects are beyond reproach. And each episode stands on its own and does not require that you watch the show serially from the pilot up to the current episode to understand what is going on -- though, taken together, it tells a larger story.
I like science fiction, but I'd hardly call myself a "fan". Some of what passes for popular in the sci fi community doesn't register at all with me, and in fact I'd often write off as just not very good.
Unfortunately I'd have to put Farscape in that column. I caught an episode or two and just didn't find it all that interesting. I'd guess that someone, somewhere decided that a show that lacks whatever elements make scifi popular to those people who don't count themselves as part of the sci fi fanbase.
I think that like any genre the true fans always have a greater level of appreciation for things that will never register with most people. Some things (Star Wars, Alien, Close Encounters, Blade Runner, etc) have an attraction that makes them attractive outside the genre's base. I don't think that Farscape was one of them.
And this is true of lots of genres of books, movies, music, or any other creative endeavor. It drives the fans batty, of course, because inevitably they are insulted when something they thought was a good representation of the genre gets cut because it just isn't popular with non fans.
What surprises me is that as many scifi fans as there are that they haven't started doing their own low-budget scifi films direct to video. The Born Again types have been doing this for a while now, making movies based on Revelations. Its pretty big in the Christian community but doesn't even register on Hollywood's radar.
I enjoyed farscape in it's first season. I found it had interesting characters, a really good storyline and lots of wacky stuff going on. However I'm not surprised they are cancelling it, because its impossible to follow.
I missed a couple of episodes at the end of season one begining season two and when I started watching it again had not idea at all as to what was going on. This is excellent from a interest point of view, but not great for picking up new viewers along th eline.
I thought the show sucked. I could never understand how it lasted as long as it did. Hopefully SciFi can fill that time slot with something better this time.
Money only sorta.
The problem is that Farscape had an involved story (unlike other TV shows). That's what made it good. But you needed to see all the episodes to make any sense of what was happening.
Combine that with expensive, high quality production and the most incompetent marketing department in history and you have a huge money hole.
They needed world wide distribution to make their money back, but their God damn incompetent marketing dept. couldn't understand that you have to treat a program like this differently than Bonanza.
They wouldn't let outside networks get season 1 & season 2 episodes without which the series made no sense!
100% incompetent marking.
100%
One, everyone is right in that the Show was less linear in the 4th season and had more single episode bubbles. I think the reason is cause SciFi wanted another Star Trek and not another Babylon 5. They needed a show that they can show in ANY order in the reruns and not have to worry about keeping the story arc going. One of the reason Star Trek is so popular is cause with its overall single episode ways, they can be rerun like mad and anyone, not even star trek fans can see an episode and get into it and not worry about why, who, when.. I LOVE babylon 5 but i have to admit, if i watch the reruns, its much harder if i wasnt already aware of the series plot.
As for why it was canceled? Face it people. Scifi and USA Networks isnt Paramount with its huge cash reserves. It takes money. While Paramount can keep up with the costs, SCiFi cant. All those CGI effects, costumes, salaries, Puppets, etc..all cost money.
I hate it. I wish they didnt cancel it. But SciFi can actually make MORE money rerunning POPULAR scifi shows and have fans watch then make a new series or new season.
Think about it. They get money for the commercials and stuff for simply reruning a show that was already made or has already paid for it self.So instead of spending money on it, they can start making money. I think they simply figured 88 epsiodes are enough backlog to show reruns and have the fans keep coming back out of nastalgia.
sad sad. Witchblade is canceled too!! Cause its TNT. Sad. Cause a cable TV isnt as big as Paramount or not enough money..original and great shows get cancled.
Witchblade,
First wave,
etc..
now..Frascape.
oh that's right, they're showing Stargate reruns in place of Farscape until the next new episode in January. I still don't understand how doing that is supposed to be good for a show.. it's like they're trying to kill it off.
Do they really want to kill there network that badly? I mean they keep cancelling shows that have a large fan base in favor of either crap shows(ie John Edwards) or to repeat some other old show 6 times a day instead of 5. Bah.... im so incredibly pissed off right now.
(This Space For Rent)
Caitlin Kiernan, the horror and fantasy writer, has a long comment on the cancellation of Farscape along with contact information and actions to take, including contacts for the advertisers on the show. She doesn't have links to individual days, so read the journal and look for the entry for Saturday, September 07, 2002.t mlÂÂ
http://www.caitlin-r-kiernan.com/journal.h
The phone number given is for a woman named Bonnie Hammer. Unfortunately her voicemailbox is full. Does anyone have the number of anyone it would be appropriate to call?
I think I can shead some light on this
I saw some episodes including some with the
cute pale skined chick.
Problems of the show: It was REALY hard o follow
Not just in terms of scheduling but also because it
was so alian
TV Execs: I know exactly why it was cancled (or at least some veriaty of)
My two american room mates in response to say StarTrek over say Friends: Boob can I PLEASE wach it (friends)
They also don't get the other shows in the series
Americana just doesn't get Sci. Fi. or fantasy they'd rather wach the fucking oxigen network with the old wrinkled prune talking nasty shit about Anonymous Cowards going "at it" like rabbits. They'd not here of me speak of finer things such as; Lex, or Farscape, or Resident Evil, they have nary the patiance for learning and understanding computers. So why did it not get canned before then? Probably the fucking hot chicks.
Huh... And to think that I upgraded my cable service just so I could get Sci-Fi and watch this show. After season 4 is finished, I imagine that I'll drop my service back down as I don't really watch much else on that tier.
Insert witty
Let me make sure I've got this straight.
The Sci-Fi Channel has been killing off original programming that hasn't done well, like The Chronicle.
They've been killing off original programming that has done well, like Farscape.
I have no idea what the ratings for Stargate: SG-1 are like, but given the logic above, anyone care to join in my deadpool for the show? Bonus points for correctly predicting whether or not the Sci-Fi Channel will replace SG-1 with old reruns of Automan.
It's not so much that our demographic isn't wanted (people with disposable income is what the ad agencies want after all). The question is how many slashdot readers actually have Nielson boxes? I'm guessing that the number is extremely small... if any. Privacy of information after all.
Another boring lawyer show from David E. Kelley
More specifically: Another boring "single female lawyer living in the city" show.
At least Jeremiah was renewed for a second season. not a space show, I guess.
i think it's about time for a cable channel that's entirely programmed by the viewers, kinda like a slashdot channel.
yeah, it wouldn't have much original programming, but i imagine it would be the best mix of reruns and syndicated shows available. and with this crowd, a lot of sci-fi and classic thinking-person's shows (ooh! a channel that would show "The Prisoner" would get my vote)
maybe with enough karma-minded contributing viewers, it would have enough clout and advertisers to afford to get some original shows produced...
*shrug*
it's an idea. not my best...
- Entertaining Bits from the Ancient Kernel Tree
I'm not going to miss muppets in space... Too many modern scifi or semi scifi shows are corrupted with over moralising, or being destroyed by inserting crappy soap opera elements, in a short sighted attempt to try and broaden the audience to generate more dollars. Current sci-fi sucks, just look at the two latest Starwars.........
-You can lead a fool to wisdom, but you can't make them think
Well, maybe not totally, since shows like SG-1 is still on, one can still hope, but for the most part, the shows that i enjoy to a huge extent seem to not always last. Crusade, for example (and basically any of JMS's work like Legand or the Rangers), got cancled far too quickly by TNT, and it was sad that Sci-Fi didn't pickup the production of it, i would have liked to of seen the B5 universe completed. But, i can't balme Sci-Fi too much, they are, after all, a company. And a company is always looking after thier bottem line, no matter what the fans say (Unless the fans are the stock holders, then they listen quite a bit more).
So i wonder... Would it be possible to save Sci-Fi shows ala Blender stlye? I mean, in the span of a few months, Blender fans produced 100,000 Euros for a piece of software. Could we geeks and Sci-Fi lovers produce a fund or even an independent channel that can save and help produce good Sci-Fi? It would rock to once again see Crition travel in Moya and be able to say that I helped pay to keep that show alive. Or see the Rangers once again walk in the dark place no one else dares? Ahhh, the dream would be so sweet.
...is not that they cancel and don't pick up shows I would love to see (such as Farscape and B5 spin-offs). It's that they cut the re-runs! I love to watch old series Star Trek, but it's frustrating when they chop out scenes to fit more commercials. Sometimes it's hard to notice unless you are very familiar with the episode, but in "Mirror, Mirror" (for instance) the cutting is clumsy enough that it breaks up the continuity. I like to think of these reruns as an archive of great shows, such as Star Trek and B5. I guess they aren't, tho.
http://www.farscape.com/092701.html
Frill. They are the SciFi channel! Space shows are they're bread and butter!
The problem with television is that relatively new emerging networks (Fox is another example) is their history:
Hmmm... Lots of traditional businesses follow a similar path now that I think of it...
Solution?
I swear by MacOS X. Although I use to swear *at* MacOS 9...
that they are trying to push, this just might be a rumor. They had a whole booth at Gen Con where you could learn and play the game. This rumor was around after third season as well.
I was a devoted Farscape watcher in seasons one and two but then the plot made a serious turn into la-la land. I'm usually the one who explains what's going on to everyone else watching but this last season I was going "HUH?" for the first few episodes. If *I* was having a hard time following, a new watcher would have had no clue. No new watchers = no growth = soon canceled.
I see this often in sci-fi series, a show begins with a solid premise and then gradually fades toward the mystical/spiritual and begins adding/promoting godlike characters (ST:TNG, ST:DSN, Earth2, Earth:FC, I could go on and on). Yes, I know alot of people *liked* Q, I thought he was just a childish "Deus Ex Machina" on a bad drug trip.
Sci-Fi television is a specialized genera, it has to walk a fine line in order to have the type of appeal needed to support a mass media. There aren't enough of us hard-cores to make it profitable to the suits.
I have great hopes for Firefly though. Hope I'm not disappointed again.
John Edward -- All fiction and no science.
Real science fiction fans deride the use of Sci-Fi as a moniker, I guess it is becoming obvious why. Soap operas in space are not science fiction, 900 number reject asshole "psychics" that scam old people are not science fiction.
Science fiction is about expanding the way we thing about the present, by showing us probable or possible futures, based on the science and technology we currently have. It only barely encompasses the "supernatural", only insofar as the "supernatural" is just science we do not yet understand, which, by definition isn't really supernatural.
I've had enough abrasive sigs. Kittens are cute and fuzzy.
where were you when the good doctor was canceled. Farscape has its moments, but nothing like the adventure the sense of timing that the good doctor brought.
For those of you who are claiming that the show has lost its focus and direction because of "bubble" plots and no larger story arc, go back and take a look at season one again. Season one was very much like season four, with episodes having individual self-contained plots. In fact, if you take a look at the extra DVD content from season one you'll find that the producers ended season one not knowing if the show would be picked up for a second season. For that reason, season one had only the slightest hint of the beginnings of a larger story arc. So perhaps season three was simply an end to the original arc with season four serving as a seed for the development of a new story arc. After all, how long could the old arc remain interesting. It's refreshing to see the new "twist" to scorpi's character while keeping him true to his underlying motives. It's interesting to see the development of a new dynamic and new posibilities where scorpi is with Moya's crew (maybe) instead of against them. For those of you complaining that the 4th season has no story arc, would you rather be complaining that the original arc was old, tired, and done to death?
You can use this link to email the scifi channels programming depaartment. I told them I would boycott the channel if they removed scifi. Hey it worked with New Coke
In other cost-cutting measures, Stargate SG1 will be canceled, but replaced with a spin-off series called "Wormhole eXtreme". Also, the network is considering breathing new life into the old BBC series "Doctor Who". Rumour has it that the renewed "Doctor Who" series would hold fairly true to its earlier incarnation, and less like the movie-length "pilot" episode that was produced a number of years ago. An anonymous inside source tells us, "we think the die-hard Who fans will like it: sets will wobble."
proof, n. A demonstration that a conclusion is implied by certain premises and axioms.
My theory for the past 10 years has been that there is an inevitable tendency for any given TV network or channel to become exactly like all the others. New, focused channels may pop up, or old ones may refocus, but those are momentary spikes, and the general direction will remain unchanged.
Remember when MTV actually had music? Or when VH1 did? Now they both mostly have crappy reality shows and cheesy documentaries.
Remember when TNN was The Nashville Network? Even if you weren't a country fan, you had to respect the attention they gave to their target demographic, with "Dukes of Hazzard" and "Dallas" marathons, NASCAR, outdoor shows, and the Grand Ol' Opry. The first bad sign was when they started showing Star Trek. Nashville? Huh? Now they're the "National Network," and last time I checked there were no fishing shows or overalls in sight.
CNN used to be all news; now it's mostly talk shows that are vaguely news-related. Fox and WB used to be hip and edgy, and now they could give CBS a strong challenge for the snooze market most nights. Heck, even the Weather Channel has shows now!
And soon we'll all pine for the days when Sci-Fi actually had science fiction. I'll go out on a limb and predict that they'll soon change their name to "SF," then shortly thereafter start pretending that it stands for something completely different, like -- I don't know -- "Serious Favorites: The Best Shows Everybody Likes!"
When we were told we'd have 500 channels of programming, nobody ever bothered to mention that they'd all be showing reruns of Law & Order and Friends.
Get a life loser.
Dumb question... how ,much tv do individuals watch when they have a favorite show, and how much when they don't have a clear winner? Does it increase the time they spend watching looking for the fix?
Your a drug dealer, you make a cool new drug, but it has 1 major downfall. You never start to get used to the hit, so noone wants to buy MORE of it they always want the same amount... solution, dilute it, they think it isn't have as much effect on them because they are getting use to it and buy more... increasing your profits while you save on costs (less drug per hit).
just a thought...
I attended WorldCon, in which some of the executives of the SciFi channel were at a panel.
They gave no clue that they were cancelling Farscape, but it was clear that the relationship with Farscape was different then many of their other shows. Basically a number of their shows are produced by either themselves or by a sister company under Vivendi Universal, but Farscape is not.
Thus they have very few rights to Farscape, basically first broadcast rights. They may have decided that they needed more rights or control to the properties that they do broadcast then what Farscape was offering. Think about it, with the Dune miniseries, they own it completely. They get money from every DVD, every overseas sale, etc.
This adds up, and may be what makes them believe they'll make more money producing their own or their sister companies shows then continuing to promote Farscape which owns all such subsidiary rights.
BTW, re: the comments about starting in January being a bad sign, the executives also said in the panel that they don't try to do new stuff in the fall like the other networks. Instead, they counter-program, and thus introduce new mini-series and events in December when most networks are doing their first reruns, and introduce new shows in January and Summer when the momentum for network shows is down.
-- Herder of Cats
The cancellation of Dark Angel hit me harder than this one. I can't help but think that there was a political motivation for the cancellation of Dark Angel; it had good ratings, targetted the teens and twenty's demographic, but it had an anti-government message and a strong lesbian vibe.
Dark Angels' cancellation was sadder than Farscape because the series was only 2 years old. At least Farscape had 4 years of existence.
I think the common thread running thru the comments here acknowledges hi-production costs coupled with inadequate marketing relative to audience size.
One could easily surmise that the true audiences for these more thoughtful shows has already largely abandoned TV for the internet and games. Therefore the delivery media is out of sync with the potential audience.
In some ways, maybe we are witnessing the TV equivalent of the dotcom crash. The hitech shows are not reaching their audience because the TV and the PC have not converged yet.
Once geeks are sitting in front of the their PC/TV instead of just their PC, the audience will be at a more optimal size. And at point, since we'll have digital distribution which lowers costs, this might facilitate some cost savings which could translate into better profitability for these shows: larger watching audience and lower distribution/marketing costs.
Basically, these cancellations are the result of the delayed convergence of PC/TV and broadband.
Things should get better by 2007
I only needed to watch about 1 minute of 1 episode to realize that the show is crap. I'll be happy to send them a letter saying "thank you for ending it". Well, there is one reason I'd encourage them to keep the show...if after killing the show, what if they fill the extra hour of time with even more "Crossing Over" crap? That whole channel has become so retarded.
The SCIFI web page for FarScape has no mention of a cancellation, and in fact they are touting new epsisodes in January. They are also touting the new FarScape video game.
On top of that, SCIFI doesn't seem (from my brief research and the recollection of the credits) to have anything to do with production, they seem merely to purchase the show for "broadcast". What I understand is that Jim Henson Productions owns the show (characters, plots, elements, etc). So if JH owns the show, why would SCIFI cancelling the show cause JH and the production company to tear down sets when apparently the show runs on several other channels/stations in other countries (like BBC2 in England, FoxTel in Australia, etc).
While SCIFI has a history of cancelling good shows, and I can't completely discount this as rumor/hoax the story just doesn't make a whole lot of sense, and there is no press release or the like that I can find on a credible site.
If you do believe that the story is true and SCIFI is indeed cancelling FarScape, then I suggest that along with your letters/calls/emails/faxes to the SCIFI headquarters, that you also write/contact the programming managers at some other stations, just in case.
HBO comes to mind, they are a major force in commercial-free original series, and they currently lack a SciFi based show. In order to compete with Odyssey 5 and Jeremiah on ShowTime (don't they also show SG-1?), HBO might very well be willing to pick up FarScape along with the installed viewer base. A letter writing campaign to them might better scure the future of FarScape in the event of cancellation by SciFi Network and cesssation of production by Henson, et al.
Article X: The powers not delegated... by the Constitution...are reserved...to the people
I'm inclined to believe that an impatient viewer
got pissed off because they didn't want to wait
til January to see new episodes, and cooked this
up. I'm inclined to think that the reason the
last season has been so "patchy" has been because
the aussie actors have gotten much attention from
their work and are doing tons of side projects.
Other than the show getting a little "ra ra ben
browder", it's been pretty good. I didn't like the
fact they waited until the last episode to close
up the plot hole with Moya getting sucked away
by a wormhole, but I still love and watch the
show for the acting and creativity. My guess is
this isn't a deliberate thing done by SciFi, or
the truth, but a desparate fan trying to light
a fire under SciFi's ass.
The most important thing any republican needs to know.
Lexx wasn't cancelled per se. The producers of Lexx didn't want to create any more episodes. They felt it was getting to be tired in cliched. That's the reason they got a real final episode. Other than that SciFi tends to kill off all its shows in a realitivly short order. Nothing lasts past season two and nothing gets a chance to grow at all. Farscape was an anonmly for them and now it will be really, really missed.
Did any of you even watch this last season? It's almost as if they WANTED to get cancelled. I'm sorry, but I havent even wanted to watch the show for the last 3 months because of the crappy writing and LAME LAME LAME special effects that the first few episodes featured. I'm glad someone put it out of its misery.
Often wrong but never in doubt.
I am Jack9.
Everyone knows me.
..for other networks to try to copy the format.
FireFly looks like an upcoming cheap clone that
will probably bring recycled cliches and bad
acting to the table. The biggest similarity being
a strong lead male role with a wild west attitude.
The most important thing any republican needs to know.
Publicitity that says your execs are a bunch of morons who will dump any show? Why would you ever become a loyal viewer knowing that the series could end at any time? Some publicity REALLY IS bad publicity.
"I don't know that atheists should be considered citizens, nor should they be considered patriots." George HW Bush
What the hell are you doing on Slashdot? Shouldn't you be posting on adequacy.org or buying little American flags to stick to your SUV?
Whoa. They canceled Dark Angel? Next to Farscape, that was the best show on television. It took me awhile to warm up to it, but I really started to love it. The fact that the absolutely gorgeous Jessica Alba was great eye candy for an hour a week didn't hurt, either.
As for witchblade.. blech.. just another stupid Buffy-esque piece of crap. More of the sort of stuff that could only be called science fiction by the likes of eight year old girls.
But at least we wont' have to worry much longer. Intelligent and fun television is going to go out the window. They have to cater to the lowest common denomenator now, which means that every show will end up being That 70's Show at heart or Ally McBeal at heart.
Too bad I just spent $6,000 on a new television. I guess I'll have to stock up on shitloads of DVD's to keep me entertained after I pull the plub on my digital cable subscription.
no text
The program is crap in content and realism... Realism.. It's not believable, and watching stuffed monkeys run around pretending to do something useful isn't my idea of SCI-FI. No sci. But assloads of fi. So FI on it. I care not.
Actually, The Chronicle did quite well, often turning in numbers that were better than Farscape in the same time slot. It did even better in the original Saturday night slot.
And I can say with certainty that The Chronicle was not an expensive show to produce.
However, Sci Fi Channel seems intent on eliminating all original production. Two years ago, they were following a path of turning the channel into a "real" network, with several nights of their own shows. Once new management took over, they retreated, chopping shows and nights with abandon.
Where is the talent? Or story?
Uh... like, 90% of all sci-fi books, movies and shows are "space shows". Exactly what the hell do they plan on doing then?
Sci-FI is a step away from becoming Lifetime or Oxygen or Nickalodeon.
As far as SCi-Fi's other "big shows".. SG1 is just stupid. Better than your average science fiction show on television these days, but in the grand scheme of things, it still sucks. B5 is just gay. Anyone who watches that probably spends their afternoons watching Days of Our Lives, too. Lexx was good, in a comical sort of way. John Edwards is a waste of air-time AND flesh. Move him to Comedy Central or Oxygen at least. The Dead Zone rocked the first few episodes and I really like seeing the kid from all the 80's movies do so well. I like watching him. But I can see that show's plot line growing really thin soon. Every episode is the same. I mean, how much can you do with a guy who can have visions like that? Something happens. He gets in the picture. Nobody believes him. He does something that makes people believe him and they're impressed. Then he has more visions until he figures out what is going on. Then the episode ends. Repeat the following week.
You people still watch television? Paying
the CABLE COMPANY?
I thought we were supposed to be trimming our
consumption of mass media, in order to save our
freedom. Now I read a slashdot thread that is
the kind of whining I'd expect on a soap opera
board.
I'm sure the Farscape series is great and everything, but I wouldn't know, because I read
and play piano during the time that I would have
watched television. And I do something else with
the money that I would send to a cable company.
Something like $60/month if I want the SciFi channel.
The sad thing is that the vast majority of viewers (including those here on slashdot) will whine and complaine... and then spend 8 hours a day sitting in front of the television watching whatever they've given to watch in place of the shows they *did* like. They may hate it, but "at least it's still some television".
Time has since progressed as television has regressed. Older shows have jumped the shark as very little has come to replace them. The death of Farscape leaves Fox's 24 as my only "must see" show left. (Alias was a welcome alternative to the grim demise of X-Files, though.) With that perpetually on the death block, too, I find myself wondering why I even bother with TV anymore.
Well, people who are stupid enough to actually buy the stuff they see in the commercials are probably a better target group than those who don't and even use DVRs to skip them.
Lars T.
To the guy who modded me down from perfect to terrible Karma - Apple haters still suck
If you have cable, I don't think you need a nielson's box. They track what is watched anyway. In fact, I'm sure it's a stronger guide of viewership than nielsons by far.
Fine with me though. Every show I have grown to like has been canceled long before the series was able to play out. I'm about to just stop giving series shows a chance. Why invest an hour a week for two years of your life just to have something you really enjoy taken away and replaced with crap?
If I understand the idea behind television series correctly, The producers of the programming make a bit of money off of the original run (more if the ratings are really good and the show really brings in the advertising) which is all well and good. But don't they end up making more money *long term* if their shows end up in syndication after the series has been around for a few (3 or 4?) seasons.
Now what I don't get is how the networks plan on making money off all of the "Reality Programming" after it has been aired once (other than making another season of it). Somehow I don't see people wanting to watch reruns of Survivor season 1 the same way they still watch The Simpsons season 1...
So while I can understand the whole cliche cop drama thing being run into the ground (Law and Order has been around for more than 10 seasons and still has a big audience. No wonder networks try to copy that), I get the feeling Fox, NBC, and all may end up shooting themselves in the foot in the long term by supporting too many shows that have little or no replay value whatsoever.
Am I right to believe this? Or am I underestimating the rerun value of Teen Idol and all completely?
One could easily surmise that the true audiences for these more thoughtful shows has already largely abandoned TV for the internet and games. Therefore the delivery media is out of sync with the potential audience.
One thing that the TV execs would rather fight than admit is that trying to chop the world up into geographical bits won't work any more. As soon as something is broadcast anywhere in the world it is likely to be available for download from some source or other.
The thing that pisses me off is that they decided to cancel it as they were filming the final episode of the season, which is no doubt a cliffhanger. Thus the series will be left hanging with no resolution. I find that disrespectful to the fans who've invested four years in this show. If they had decided to cancel it earlier, the writers could have at least thrown something somewhat satisfying together. Now my only hope is for a Farscape movie or maybe a novel that resolves things.
I reread my original post and was embarassed to see the title with the word "that" where the word "who" should have been. Let the snickering begin...
Tonight I was checking Fark.com literally as I was about to go out the door and saw that we'd been cancelled... my jaw just *dropped*. I couldn't believe it, the show was literally our lives for the last three years...
The mood at the party was pretty good, a lot of sadness - I mean sci-fi broke the news the DAY before the wrap party, everyone was still reeling. We'd all known that season 5 was an on-paper "lock" but we knew there was a chance it might not happen. But overall people were in a cool state of mind, nothing like this had ever been done in Sydney before and it's been a hell of a ride. Everyone involved with the show is so happy to have been a part of it, for me it was my first job in the industry after quitting the IT world, and even when it got tough I'm so grateful to have gotten the opportunity, and I've made a lot of good friends to boot.
Brain Henson explained that it had almost made it to at least 13 eps for season 5 but in the end he just couldn't sell it. Man, I'm numb (of course that could be the after effects of the party) It turned out to be a damn good party though, the gag reel had been hastily re-cut to include some nice moments in light of the news, but it went down well - Anthony Simcoe as D'Argo and Wayne Pygram as Scorpious bring the house down every year with their totally in-character bloopers, this year was no expection. I know the show was not to everyone's taste, hell sometimes I didn't go to the screenings myself, but it's a great offbeat show, and if you liked it enough; as Ben Browder, David Kemper and Richard Manning explained in the chat, send (polite!) letters to sci-fi, or call, and let them know.
Ok drunken ramble mod /off going to go watch the sun come up :-)
Too bad the money factor is so huge. Perhaps an actualy space alien could mind control Bill Gates into setting up the Open Source SciFi Entertainment Project (OSSEP)
The project wouldn't depend on conventional television for distribution -- too many entrenched traps even if you've got barrels of cash. Instead it would depend on streaming tech. Consequently there would also be a lot of R&D around this, perhaps initially exploring ogg formats.
Projects would be both those whose production was sponsored by OSSEP and independent. If you can make it, you can get it streamed, but OSSEP would prime the pumps with the sponsored projects. Sure, there would be a lot of dreck by kids with camcorders, but abandoning the conventional television distribution channel, there's room for everything, and if you don't like dreck, don't click on it. Perhaps there would be user ratings as well so the non-dreck could float to the top.
SciFi has a tremendously enthusiastic, creative, and active fan base who at the moment seem to be thronging below a small platform on which stands the network lords throwing biscuits down. Sometimes the biscuits are good, sometimes not, but it doesn't seem to matter, even the good biscuits can disappear on a whim. When the good bickies are withdrawn we whine like a pack of dogs.
It would be nice if the dogs could take control of the biscuit factory. Sadly, though, quality production costs money, and that's the old problem isn't it.
I'll program it off my VCR. They can show a billion Star Trek reruns and I still won't watch it. I'll leave that programming director bitch hate mail every day. If you do this I HATE YOU SCI FI CHANNEL.
Slashdot Eds Link Anonymous Posts With Logged Posts
They Are Vermin Feeding On Each Other's Feces.
I Hate \.
1) It is by far the most surreal show on TV. Ever try watching it high?
2) It makes fun of itself and all other sci-fi shows. I can not think of one episode that did not reference other pop culture sci-fi.
This absoluttely horrible. I'm calling comcast RIGHT NOW to cancle.
(blink)
The want the sci-fi channel to get away from those space shows.
Ah.
I can see it from a managers point of view though. Make a sci-fi show that requires almost no special effects, and it will be a lot more profitable that one with a lot of expensive special effects.
I bet "Crossing over" bring them a bundle of cash.
Democrats or Republicans. They are both taking us to the same place and they are not afraid of us anymore.
Yeah it's dumb. You have to spend money to make money. But it's the way business works these days. Investors see everything in terms of the quarterly bottom line. This was true even when the economy was booming and is doubly true now. The company I work for has been profitable for 8 quarters straight, has a huge amount of cash, and no long-term debt. And yet we have to jump through hoops to justify even tiny expenditures -- even ones that would obviously save us money in the long term.
The cash issue explains a lot of stuff at SciFi that had me puzzled. Their unwillingness to show Farscape episodes that supposedly had already been paid for. Their sudden disappearance of other shows because of "poor ratings". (Ratings that are poorer than the "Tales From the Crypt" reruns they used as filler?) I'm afraid the bottom line is this: SciFi's strategy of becomming a first-run entertainment provider is dead, and it's back to reruns of other networks' shows.
Is the last season how it is going to end? With Critton floating alone above the Earth? Does it get rescued? go back to Muya? Fall, burning, into the Earth's atmosphere? Maybe, with his new control and understanding of wormholes, space, and time, he becomes a God!
Question
http://www.ironfroggy.com/
I am trying any and all means of communication possible to spread the word and raise support for Season 5. However, I encourage EVERYONE WHO TRULY WANTS TO SAVE FARSCAPE to do EVERYTHING in their power as well. Don't just sign this petition! Send emails, mails, telegrams, telephones, etc! I don't think this should be our bastion of hope alone, I believe it should merely reflect our unity as we work towards our goal of Season 5. Please support the petition by signing but please do everything you can to help as well! Click here to sign the petition.
Farscape sucks. Let it burn!!!!
The aliens are all plastic looking and they have this kind of he said / she said script loop that never gets past "do we trust him" or "where is the enemy?!?! -- quick find it!"
Lexx is so much better. So is anything Star Trek... even Enterprise is better than Farscape (and we all know how much Enterprise sucks).
The Quantum Panda
Legend of the Rangers was stupid. JMS needs to get over the fact that while B5 was good, none of the B5 movies other than "In the Beginning" were good, and the one spinoff that managed to be created (Crusade) was a pile of Star Trek-wannabe shit.
Them killing Farscape on the other hand is gay.
I intend on writing a letter. Not an email. Not a fax. Not even a phone call. Something physical that they have to open. To prompt them to action on this, you must address their interests.
Sci-Fi Channel,
I have recently been made aware that the series Farscape has been cancelled. Farscape is quite possibly some of the best entertainment on television, and was one of my primary reasons for watching the Sci-Fi channel. Every episode would have me on the edge of my seat even before the opening credits ran. I would usually not tape the show and watch it live since I didn't prefer to wait, and I would often tune into shows both before and after the episode as a result. Due to the cancellation I will not be watching much Sci-Fi channel, and what I do will most likely be of lesser interest and recorded on my VCR to avoid commercials.
Sincerely...
Error: PANTS NOT FOUND. Press <F1> to continue.
Farscape is much more "realistic". It's not like Star Trek's "every alien looks like a human in a mask" implausible garbage. Farscape was cool because it had a relatable "human from our generation in space" kinda theme, not futureistic humans. They had the Henson company doing all the aliens and they did a kick ass job. No one knows what an alien may look like, but I bet Henson used creativity to come closer to realistic than humans in masks that roddenberry thought up. Provided aliens exist. Farscape was planned from the beginning with storylines to carry through several seasons. It would be hard to follow Farscape if you joined in the middle of the series or only watched the occasional episode, but that is what was cool! I looked forward to watching it every week and didnt miss it because I knew every episode ties to the next. Kinda like a soap. ;-) But they open the season with a good recap of the past and each episode with a recap of the previous few. That helps a lot.
Unfortunately the SciFi channel has no fucking clue what SciFi actually is all about. They fucking think John Edwards is SciFi for christ's sake! They really should have cancelled Lexx. Lexx sucked ass. It is goofy as shit and I know no one that even likes it.
Hey if MTV doesn't play music, why should the Sci-Fi channel show science fiction.
On second thought, I should not wonder because the truth may be rather depressing.
and if HB-Show doesn't play movies (what does the BO stand for?), then why Sci-Fi show science fiction? Actually, I was under the impression that the SciFi channel was changing its format to the 'cheesy not quite horror' channel.
Having just moved to Sunny Queensland, Australia, I have been reading the news (for a change). Last week there were several articles in the local rags about the tax breaks for studios being taken away (See: Small screen shattered over poor tax breaks
) .
This has made the probability of filming series and movies (Including, I think, the new matrix) very low and many productions, including Farscape have pulled the pin altogether.
So, it's not just the studios fault, it's also the Queensland (State) government who have withdrawn support for filming here. Apparently the projects have brought in around 600 million bucks worth of local work in te last ten years but that will probably all dissapear.
Perhaps they will film Farscape in a more dollar friendly place like NZ (mmm.. Xena the farscape ring bearing hobbit princess who likes sheep a lot)
"One could easily surmise that the true audiences for these more thoughtful shows has already largely abandoned TV for the internet and games. Therefore the delivery media is out of sync with the potential audience."
I can see that. When I got my own place, I didn't get cable, as I hardly watched it when I lived with my parents. Watched about an hour a week of broadcast TV, mainly episodes of Enterprise if I could catch them(the local station airs it on Saturdays at random times). Now, my house was broken into two weeks ago, with my TV and VCR stolen, and I've not bothered to replace them. Every new show I hear announced sounds worse than whatever was on before. I even thought "The Legend of the Rangers" was rather poorly done, and I've got every episode of B5 on tape. Crusade was pretty good, but TNT didn't give it a chance, and tried to dumb it down. They're driving intelligent people away from TV, and they've succeeded with me.
"Common Sense Ain't" -Unknown
I live for the day when you can order per channel or at least in groups and not this mass all or nothing crap packages like it is now. Sci-Fi rarely, UPN very rarely, Fox very rarely, History, discovery, et al frequently.
The speculation I've heard about Witchblade is that it was cancelled because this year they had to suspend production while Yancy Butler underwent alcohol rehab, and that cost them money and they didn't want to risk having it happen again.
Buffy is probaly going to end because the actors' contracts run out after this season.
Smallville getting cancelled seems unlikely to me, giving that they are advertising Birds of Prey as being from the same creators.
..FINALLY!!
I never did like that show very much, maybee they will replace it with something better, hell, they can't do much worse:)
History channel, while not original in the sense that stuff they show is factual (or based on facts) and already happened is actually original in its approach and its importance. Sorry, but another fucking episode of Darma and Greg, or any of that other liberal "recreate-reality to justify-our-small-minded-elitist-agenda" is not going to be anywhere as usefull as understanding the social causes and impact of the 100 days war.
Just tried dialing direct, and the free FAX service indicated the same thing.
The USA Networks FAX is also off.
-Scott Hutton
Guess we should create a new channel -- the "Horror Channel" with Science Fiction being shown on it 24 hours a day.
The SciFi channel is kind of like MTV. In the beginning SciFi showed SciFi (kind of like MTV used to show music videos). Now it doesn't.
Invalid Checksum. Retrying.
I suppose you enjoy those uber-cheesy demons. ( I wonder if they will ever have one with a cute red gotee, pitched fork and spiked tail) Geez. Its no wonder our country is going to shit.
Vivendi is the owner of Henson productions (producers of Farscape) and MP3.com in addition to other media properties. A quick googling indicates that they have been suffering financial difficulties, and are on the brink of bankruptcy. The rumor is, even with the 2-season deal that obligates Henson to the 5th season, they won't be able to produce it for the price of the original contract. Sci-Fi cannot afford the new price for the ratings the show drives, so as a result, they told Henson to stop the 5th season. So, even though I'm sending my letter to Sci-Fi channel, I doubt there will likely be a resolution unless Sci-Fi wants to buy Henson on the cheap in lieu of suing over the contract obligation. The actors in the show are more tenured and are probably driving costs to a certain extent. Furthermore, its unlikely to be picked up by another network who may be willing to pay more, due to the Henson obligation to Sci-Fi channel for the 5th season (Sci-Fi wants their eps at the original price if Vivendi picks up the pieces, or another company buys out Henson).
Error: PANTS NOT FOUND. Press <F1> to continue.
Their voice mailboxes were full!
And uhm, I think the default behavior for hitting "return" should be to preview. Going to hit the apostrophe key and hitting return instead and getting that posted... That is teh suck.
Actually, Enterprise is the methadone, it helps to eke things out till the real hard stuff becomes available again. I was pleasently suprised with Enterprise, if they weren't going to make a series out of Galaxy Quest, Enterprise was ok for trek. However, that only marked time until the next series of Farscape.
Despite the use of my super-secret SciFi ID, I am unable to contact fellow Scapers. The Farscape bboard appears to be suffering a melt-down. Too bad we can't get the C?Os email addresses. Oh, and those who didn't see the first seasons shows and are complaining about Farscape have only themselves to blame. Unlike most of the pap out there, Farscape didn't spend half the program bringing you up to speed (and waste half the program).
Man, Dark Angel fucking stunk. Jessica Alba is one of the worst actresses I've ever seen. She's hot but she can't act, do stunts or even talk clearly. The scripts were appalling - with dialog straight out of the worst teen-shows ("gotta blaze") and little in the way of chemistry (with the exception of Logan and Max... that was actually quite interesting).
Add to that a collection of really irritating supporting characters - original Cindy (need I say more), a strong anti-white male bias, and a pilot episode that was frankly dire. It all adds up... men didn't watch it... neither did women. Lesbians may have liked it because men got beaten up all the time, and a Cindy declared her sapphic predilictions every five minutes... but that's not much of an audience for an extremely expensive (where *DID* the fucking money go) show.
Step 1: Repeat ad nauseum same tired old joke again and again...
Step 2: ???
Step 3: Become yet another Slashdolt!
Thats a shame since the only 2 shows I watched on SciFi was SG-1 and Farscape. I thought they were trying to move into creating original show for themselves, now they just dump one and do what.
Euphemism, what is that a euphemism for something.
This only pisses me off more at the SciFi Channel, as I'm still annoyed at the mistakes they have made in the past. When they get a good show, they kill it. They produced a good fourth season of sliders before allowing Jerry O'Connel to leave and torpedoeing any chance at keeping the series running... however, rather than end it there, where it should have, they produced a sub-par fifth season. Lexx had good ratings, but after a poor third season (the quality went up immensely with the fourth) SciFi nuked it, once again pissing me off. The Invisable Man was a surprise to me. It was actually consistant and surprising, to my shock... as well as having laugh-out-loud moments more frequently than any other SciFi other than Red Dwarf. Boom, two full seasons, and it feels the SFC kiss of death.
Anyone else noticing a pattern here?
Also, I'm properly annoyed at the SFC's dropping the ball on carrying 7 Days, a show I and many of my friends quite liked. The science had holes, but it was more fun and less heavy then a lot that's on the SFC... however, the SFC let it slip into oblivion rather than rescue it like they did Sliders (which was the highest rated show on the network for both of it's two seasons with the SFC... right up until the last episode!)
The loss of Farscape is only the latest in a long string of stupid decisions made by the execs at the SFC. If they cancel any more shows, they won't have anything left worth watching.
I don't suffer from insanity. I enjoy every minute of it!
...but what the hell else do they have?
Well, at least they're doing a good job of the Dune series, although anything is better than Dino De Laurentis (sp?) and David Lynch's version (that got cut to hell to make it 'viable' for cinema).
But I wonder how many more they'll do, there are plenty of books after Dune Messiah, plus the excellent Prelude to Dune series.
Are you local? There's nothing for you here!
There's a heavy western/civil war feel (supposedly it's all inspired by The Killer Angels and Stagecoach), but it's not just old adventure stories in SF drag (anyone notice the similarity between Balance of Terror and The Enemy Below?). It's something new and original, and I'm looking forward to it a lot more than I ever did a Farscape ep.
This fan site has more info than does the official site, including a lot of good stills.
If you want to *really* get their attention, you need to (as Crieghton would say) "Hit them where it hurts -- Their spreadsheets".
If the Sci-Fi channel is killing off all of the really good shows, then cut them off -- even if it means cutting back on your cable subscription. Let them know that -- with the Sci-Fi Channel killing Farscape, you're fed up with shit cable, and this is your best way of letting them know that.
And do it in the next week -- before they destroy Moira.
OS Software is like love: The best way to make it grow is to give it away.
Meant to write "Fancy technology exists, but is expensive, so..."
The point I wanted to make was that quite a few shows were being cancelled even though in most cases they were getting acceptably good ratings. I suspect there is a driving force for this trend. If this force is demographically driven, its likely most of the *kind* of shows we like will soon be gone and more important, these shows will not be debuted in the future.
Smallville can very well be up on the chopping block. It has good rating, but hell, so did some of the shows I mentioned that have been canned. Smallville does not get MONSTER rating, but is popular to the 18-25 viewer category, which a lot of us do not belong to anymore. If you assume that category raised on videogames and computers are less loyalty driven to a particular show, ratings can drop precipitously, and in 3 months the trigger can be pulled. *Poof*, no more Smallville. It can happen as simple as that.
I was hoping that someone out there may have a better insight to this trend, but I guess I'll have to wait a couple of years and see this trend play out.
There is no America. There is no democracy. There is only IBM and AT&T and DuPont, Dow, General Electric, and Exxon
Then it won't last.
Sorry to sound pessimistic, but networks have already long since shown that they don't want anything that doesn't appeal to the lowest common denominator. T.V. is all about the ad revenue, not about decent programming, and "Firefly" with it's Hard Science Fiction bent doesn't sound like it would sell enough soap and beer. If it were something nice safe and brainless, just titties and explosions and laserbeams I'd hold out hope, but oh well. I'll certainly watch--for as long as it's on.
It seems to me that networks keep killing off the best shows (farscape, futurama, ...) in favor of brainless reality and cop shows. I don't blame them for that, they are just doing what they believe is in thier companies best interest, but it got me thinking.
Would it be possible to buy the show? If their are enough people, and they really like the show, how much money would we have to raise to pull something like that off? PBS already works under a model like this (hey maybe we could get them to pick it up). Granted it is a different beast completley but you have to admit it is an interesting idea. You could raise the money in several different ways, donation, you could sell a sort of "stock" in a show, or you could front money and then get money back from advertisment.
I was just curious if anyone had some thought on the feasibilty of this pipedream.
I never really got into the show, but based on recommendations from other slashdotters, I decided to rent the DVDs of the first several episodes. (2 episodes per DVD - what are they thinking?)
I found it rather dull, the science was an abomination, and the make-up for the aliens was over-the-top in the classic Henson way. I'm not going to bother to watch any others. Can't understand why it was on the air for so long.
I still maintain that B5 was our last, best hope. (for televised science fiction series).
Don't forget two quick kills - the hilarious "Special Unit 2" and "Dead Last" (which only survived 4 or so episodes).
Imagine how much money Sci-Fi spends to get Farscape. Imagine how much money advertisers spend to support it.
Imagine how those advertisers went white as a fucking sheet when they saw that freaky old woman piss in a bucket and then for the guy with the tentacles to drink it, as seen in an episode a couple of weeks ago.
Imagine how much money those advertisers won't be paying for Farscape anymore.
Imagine how many mommies called in/wrote in to Sci-Fi to complain about the piss drinkers and the damage done to their precious little rugrats.
Imagine theres no Farscape, its easy if you try...
And in fact the creator of Firefly is Joss Whedon, who's past master of this trick. It helps that he's actually good at the violence part -- he used to make a living writing fight scenes for other people's movies.
WORST SCENE EVER
/.ed. What a shame.
Why do they need to "rub in" the fact that Moya is undermanned!?
Bad costumes. Running from one side of Moya to the other. Even cheesy scripts. All of that, and now the Sci-Fi channel's mailbox is gonna be
Go figure.
You can't judge a book by the way it wears its hair.
I doubt it's a scam. The rumor has been around for every season of every orginal series on Sci-Fi. My take on the situation:
Sci-Fi is going at it ass-backwards. They're trying to appeal to the mainstream. Well, science fiction is a niche market, with few obvious exceptions like Star Trek. Sci-Fi should be trying to cater to all the sci-fi geeks. Stuff like Anime, imported shows (Dr. Who, Red Dwarf, Blake's 7), etc. Instead they follow the majors network's typical plan: Create show and if it isn't an instant hit, cancel and return to square 1. Also, instead of cowering from the major networks (the reason for the current 4 month hiatus of Farscape), they should market their shows as an alternative to the same old crap. But, that's just my opinion.
what
"Oooh, that's a pretty bad gash you have there. Here's some salt to pour on it."
again, smallville will go on for several years (at least five i predict) unless its ratings go completely into the toilet. the reason is that it is a warner brothers produced show on a warner brothers owned network. the broadcaster has a vested interest in seeing the long term success of the show. even the superman character is partly owned by warner brothers through their ownership of dc comics.
plus, the network only has to pay the real costs of producing the show rather than the cost of the show plus a profit for the producer.
when religion is no longer the opiate of the masses, governments will resort to real opiates.
Farscape was the only thing keeping me on cable at all. The only other show I'm interested in that's left is The ScreenSavers on TechTV, but not so much that I'd keep cable for it.
Everything else I watch is on broadcast TV (when I watch at all anymore). 500 channels of crap just doesn't interest me when I can get 5 channels of crap for free.
They're not that smart.
Channel content is there to get people to buy stuff the sponsors sell. Audiences for science fiction content tend to THINK, which is to say, they tend to be informed consumers. Which means that even when the advertisers get the demographic right (and who hasn't seen a wild mix of commercials with an SF show?), the audience still makes an informed purchase decision on the product. No kneejerk, no revenue. no revenue, no show. In order for there to be more shows with intelligent content, they're needs to be a different revenue stream beyond the usual advertising one. Yeah, the ADV DVDs are overpriced, but buy them if you like the show. Mention going to a pay-per-view approach in your write-in letters. Tell them you want stuff that doesn't rot your brain, and not only that you're willing to pay for it, but make suggestions as to how you could.
Yeah, this demographic does have another tendency towards self-concealment. But, there's at least one other reason they tend to be unappealing to advertisers: discriminating spending. It seems likely to me that this demographic is more likely to think before it buys, and thus is harder to sway by means of advertising.
Many advertising mind tricks only work on the weak-minded.
Consumer: Let me see your privacy policies, labor and environmental records, and audited financials.
Marketer: You don't need to see his records.
Consumer: We don't need to see his records.
Marketer: These are the goods you're looking for.
Consumer: These are the goods we're looking for.
Marketer: You should buy from this business.
Consumer: We'll all buy from your business.
Marketer: Next in line.
Consumer: Next in line, next in line.
"We reject as false the choice between our safety and our ideals." --The American President (20.1.2009)
1. Weekly/hourly repeats of "Back to the Future", etc.
2. Infomercials and paid advertisements on regular broadcast channels or cable channels one would have never seen a few years ago.
3. Dubbing overly done...watching "Midway" they dubbed it so badly I had to turn it off. Removing phrases like "Jap" and "damn" from the dialog. This was shown on AMC, American Movie Classics, where a Classic is just a rewritten bit of history, rewritten again by twitchy, underpaid, overworked...never mind. An email to AMC's complaint email even bounced.
4. As said before cop shows, cop shows, cop shows
5. Ditto...doc shows, doc shows, doc shows
6. Reality series? hah!
With the collaborative capability of the internet, it'd be interesting to see how long this tripe lasts where independent content producers can bring some new life into entertainment delivered through the internet. That, or maybe our fat, overindulged kids can learn to go out and play again...or get shot dealing drugs, which if made legal, would completely undermine that industry. Or do kids who watch a lot of TV go on a lot of killing sprees?
hmm, I guess I have issues. hehe
Real science fiction fans just relax and don't worry about it. They spend their time reading, watching, and listening to things they enjoy, be it labelled science fiction, sci-fi, sf, speculative fiction, fantasy, or children's stories.
The Sci-Fi Channel appears to please many people who identify with much of its programming and goals. What's the harm in it?
(That said, John Edwards is tripe. Ah well.)
Search 2010 Gen Con events
What's the harm in it?
Degeneration of the genre into mainstream garbage?
I'm not too worried about it, if sci-fi get too far away from the original intent, it will branch and expand, etc. Art isn't something that is every a static target, it's always evolving, my rant was mostly about the lack of "hard" sci-fi on the channel with the same name.
I've had enough abrasive sigs. Kittens are cute and fuzzy.
There are very few science fiction series that I like, with Farscape being one that I HATE. I like the Star Trek series (Original-so so, TNG-soso, DS9-so so, Voyager-love it, and Enterprise love it a lot) and I LOVE the whole Stargate epic (movie and series). I'm really picky when it comes to my sci-fi and now that I'm totally in love they are going to rip it from my arms?
The last time I felt like this was with ROBOTECH. Remeber the whole series, I was so in love I bought the whole book set and read each and every one of them. I still have the books.
Why GOD, why? We had a deal. Please keep Richard Dean Anderson, we love is humor.
It's probably mostly technical.. Far easier to block 1 or 4 sets of channels than to block 45 of 70 channels -- and probably get it wrong 5%of the time (which, in a city of 1 million subscribers, would be 50K upset customers demanding corrections)
Free Software: Like love, it grows best when given away.
I feel the same way about Witchblade.
:(
Season One could not possibly have been any better - until the last episode, where they whip out the Stupid Time Travel Gimmick and WIPE OUT THE WHOLE FSCKING FIRST SEASON!
Season Two was anxiously awaited. Alas, it is crap. Sort-of-refined crap, but notnetheless not anywhere NEAR the first season's level of quality.
As a result, after five weeks or so of Season Two Wichblade, I reprogrammed my VCR and remarked to my friends, "It's a sad day when Monday night Wrestling is more interesting that the current season of Witchblade."
On a side note, I like what I've seen of Farscape, but haven't been able to watch it much. Maybe ~8 or 10 episodes. However, I'm sad to hear it's being cancelled.
Networks need to be Beaten About the Head and Shoulders with Ye Olde ClueBat(TM).
.
.
== WolfriderV6 == I'm willing to admit that *I just might* be wrong... Are you??
Look, I'm sorry, but I can't seem to get excited about this. It's just a TV show. TV. That thing taking over your life and melting your brains out your ears while bombarding you with ads. TV.
Do yourself a favour - get rid of that thing. I don't own a TV, haven't even watched TV anywhere for the past few years. I'm much happier coding or even playing games - keeps me more mentally activa than that garbage on TV.
Free PC version of ChipWits at http://www.breueronline.de/klaus/chipwits/
I don't know how far afield they go, but you get the Farscape dvds over here in the uk:
4-5 episodes a box for 17.99 ukp, which is erm, probably around $27. They are region 2, and probably region locked which can be a problem, especially since americans tend not to multi region as much as us lot over here...
vol 3.9&vol 3.10 are currently due out next week..
Yep, I've bought every one so far. I am never able to see them on the television, so I get the dvds to save time...
But is this question not "nobody is buying season 5"? (Ie: bbc as well as sci fi?) Could it survive on dvd sales alone? I do doubt that...
Why must they make all these shows? There is ton of stuff (some crap, some good) out there. Just buy the rights to broadcast it. TV Land and Nick at Night seem to be doing pretty good based on this method.
This is simple resource consolidation like any merger. I mean, c'mon, two shows back-to-back about wormholes?
Here's what's going to happen: Sam's going to figure out how the Asgard stargate enhancer works, where dialing is extended to other galaxies. When they make a connection, the MALPS is going to pick up a NASA signal on the other side. When they go to investigate, they find it's the beacon from John Chriton's shuttle, and they signal to Moyia, whereby John travels down to the surface, and travels back to Earth with SG-1. Somehow, Dargo kills Jonas and O'Neil fills him with lead.
Now, John is a member of SG-1, and with his knowledge of wormholes from the Ancients (the race who actually built the StarGates), the G'oo'ou'ould are defeated by a strike force from the Asgard, the Tokra, and the Taree.
My God, it's Full of Source!
OUTSIDE_IP=$(dig +short my.ip @outsideip.net)
I think you misspelled Aeon Flux
Futurama (FOX: weak ratings)
I admit I'm not a faithful folower of the show so if they go into reruns I'm not gona notice.
But it's still on every sunday on Fox..
I don't actually exist.
John Edward's Crossing Over looks like, to me, to be the Profession Wrestling of Science Fiction. It's complete tripe, but I'll bet there are a lot of people who are not only entertained by it, but think that it's real.
Apparently, of the rich, by the rich, for the rich.
I was as sceptical as you. Every news and bb post regarding this story all referenced the one IRC chat, and we all know IRC channels can be hijacked. However, I just discovered solid proof of Farscape's demise--at least on the Sci-fi channel.
- 09/09/13.00.sfc
http://www.scifi.com/scifiwire/art-main.html?2002
---=+=---
"Now if I were a landing thruster, which one of these would I be?"
-- Londo in Babylon 5
man SciFI channel sucks anyway. Go watch Red Dwarf re-runs on the BBC they're better anyway.
Sci Fi is having a poll to choose which X files episode to air on Oct 1.
http://www.scifi.com/xfiles/poll/index.php3
It turns out there's a write-in section, so I wrote in Farscape.
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/09/09/business/media/0 9DEAL.html (free reg, blah blah blah)
Short of Cash, Media Giants Are Selling Assets
-snip-
Vivendi Universal, facing the most severe cash shortage...
-snip-
Vivendi Universal's debt soared to $18.6 billion, until it nearly ran out of cash this summer...
-snip-
Sheds more light on why SciFi (USA & Vivendi-owned) may be getting "cheap".
"Well, at least they're doing a good job of the Dune"
Wow, it doesn't look like you are kidding. I really thought they did an absolutely terrible job on that. It was alright on its own I guess, if you pretended the books didn't exist and it was some new creation. But it wasn't even close to the book(s). Except in the names of characters. The behaviors didn't really match anywhere, and the fremen looked like janitors.
Dark Angel: Sucked in Season Two
Witchblade: Sucked in Season Two
Futurama: Awful time-slot, and made fun of The Establishment
"Sci"Fi Channel: Doomed to die a painful death.
>I watch way too much TV
Get a PVR, never watch things live, subscribe to HBO.
"You might as well get your son a ticket to hell as give him a five string banjo." -unknown minister
Farscape was a pretty cool show, just when I thought having organic ships would be the norm in sci-fi.... But $1.4 million per episode, half paid by sci-fi channel, around 950K viewers, are you really surprised they are axing it? It's simple maths. People get in a routine, and things start getting better, no-one's thinking long term though, no-one ever did, people were clearly having a too good time. Who say's you need big budgets to make classic sci-fi anyway? Here in the UK we had Red Dwarf and Dr Who. I think we used $1.4 million for the entire show for ten years! Here in the UK we go back to old sci-fi shows and add better effects...! Shouldn't techology make production cheaper? They really should shoot more stuff in the UK and save money. Or get the fans involved, sure people would queue up to work for free... It's human nature you see it everywhere, we see it everywhere..we are very short sighted race.. Don't worry about it, the chances are there weren't be any humans left on this planet in 100-300 years time anyway. For the same short sightness. Have fun now, and fuck the future, you only live till 70 anyway...You'll have other things to worry about next week, do you really truly care? I really don't think so. I mean has anyone really delved into all those weird contradictions in the official story behind the Sept 9/11 event?