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December 20: Firefly and Buffy Toon Info
In a post to the Buffistas bulletin board Joss Whedon gives some more information about the state of things with Firefly after the cancellation. He talks about how proud he is of the show and how bad he feels that that after all the hard work they've done the crew gets fired at Christmas time. He also talks about what will happen now: ...don't think for a second that I have given up on this show. I think it has been mistreated shamefully, but the Fox network has indicated that they would not stand in the way (which they can) of my finding a new home for the show. That's no easy prospect. But I will do everything in my power, as always, to keep this bird in the air. We are very happy to hear that FOX has told Whedon that they will not stand in the way of his shopping Firefly to other networks. We believe that this is extrememly important, because TNT's effort to make it difficult for any other network to pick up Crusade was one of the main reasons Crusade failed to find a new home. So, we hope that without this kind of obstacle, Firefly has good chance of being saved. To help make that happen, we encourage you to write to UPN if you have not already done so. See the December 16th post below or the Firefly: Immediate Assistance website for addresses and more info on what to put in your letters. Also, don't forget to watch the two-hour original pilot episode of Firefly which will finally be aired by FOX tonight at 8 pm. It's going to be hard for us to watch it under these circumstances, but it's supposed to be an excellent episode, so we don't want to miss it. One other piece of Joss Whedon related news. According to a December 17th article on Sci-Fi Wire, Joss Whedon told syndicated columnist Marilyn Beck that the Buffy animated series would air on FOX beginning in January 2003. The last word we had heard was that the cartoon was definately dead, so we're not sure what's really going to happen. We will be happy if this new report is true, but what we really want is Firefly, so please get those letters out to UPN now!
FOX has officially announced that they are cancelling Firefly.
According to Tim Minear's official
website Joss broke the news to the cast and crew on Thursday
December 12th. An article today on
Cinescape.com says that Variety reports that FOX mentioned "low
ratings" as the reason for the cancellation. Whedon is quoted in the
Variety article as saying that Firefly has been "mistreated
shamefully".
This news makes us very sad and extremely angry. We have done our best
to support Firefly from the beginning because we believed that
Joss Whedon could deliver a good show. Although the first few episodes
were a bit lackluster, the last few have been excellent. "Ariel" and
"Objects in Space" were both enjoyable, well-written episodes. "War
Stories" was, in our opinion, the best episode yet. It was tightly
written, with excellent character moments, and those wonderful scenes
that you only find on Whedon's shows which simultaneously
move the plot forward and explore the characters by flipping
seemingly effortlessly between drama, humor, and horror. These
episodes showed us a series that had found its rhythm and its voice,
and so we are terribly disappointed and frustrated by FOX's behavior.
According to both Tim Minear's site and the
Firefly: Immediate Assistance
site, neither Joss nor the fans are giving up on Firefly.
They are hoping to convince UPN to buy the series. We think this is a
great idea. UPN has benefitted greatly from the addition of Whedon's
Buffy the Vampire Slayer to their network. Also, their most
sucessful shows currently are science fiction/fantasy - ie
Enterprise, Buffy, and Twilight Zone. Thus, there
is good reason to believe that they would be open to acquiring
Firefly. So, we encourage you all to please join in the
attempt to resurrect Firefly. There is too little good science
fiction out there these days, so we cannot afford to lose a show like
this.
You can support Firefly by sending letters or postcards to
UPN at the following addresses:
Les Moonves
Dawn Tarnofsky-Ostroff
If you'd like tips on what to put in your letters go to the
Firefly: Immediate Assistance
site. You can also download Firefly themed postcards
at the site to write your letters on.
After all we have been through with Crusade, we cannot just
sit and do nothing while a quality show like Firefly is
cancelled. We will be sending our letters off to UPN today.
We hope that yours will be joining them soon.
There was some hopeful news for Firefly toward the end of
November when FOX ordered two more episodes of the series. In an
interview quoted at
sci-fi wire, Joss Whedon indicated that although
Firefly had gotten off to a slow start, due in part to
preemtions for the world series and a lack of promotion,
"Fox is getting a good response to the episodes we're putting out,
and so they're looking to see, well, if they do give us a bit of a
push, can we build some and get a base that's big enough for them to
justify keeping us around." He said that the performance of the
December episodes would be key in determining the series' fate.
Unfortunately, it looks like FOX is continuing to behave in ways that
do not, at least at first glance, appear to be supportive toward
Firefly. According to
Cinescape.com, FOX is putting Firefly on hiatus in January.
This disturbs us because it doesn't seem to make sense for FOX
to try to increase the show's fan base in December and then, just when
people are hopefully finally watching it, make it disappear
from it's time slot. However, we do not believe that the announcement
that Firefly is going on hiatus means that FOX is actually
cancelling the series. They have been up front about the
other shows they've cancelled this season. Also, shows have indeed
reappeared after going on hiatus on FOX (for example Andy Richter
Controls the Universe reappeared this past Sunday after many months
on hiatus). Instead, we suspect that the move has something to do
with the details of scheduling and sweeps. One possibility is that
since they will be using up all of the original 13 episodes of
Firefly by the end of December, there is no way they could have
new episodes ready to play for all the weeks during the sweeps period
in February even if they give the show the go ahead for the remainder
of a full first season at the end of December. It would probably be
bad for the network, and perhaps even for Firefly, to air reruns
of Firefly during sweeps. Thus, it might be better for them to
play another show in it's timeslot through January and February, then
return Firefly with some fanfare to play out the remainder of
its first season - assuming, of course that it does well enough in
December for them to want to bring it back.
We can't claim to know for certain what's going on in the minds of the
suits at FOX, but it is our belief that the hiatus announcement is
really just another form of fence sitting. It gives the folks at FOX
the freedom to wait and see how Firefly performs in December
before making a final decision about it's fate.
So, despite this new development, we believe that Joss Whedon's
statement about December remains true: The ratings then will be
critical to deciding Firefly's fate. We will definately be
tuning in for all the episodes this month. They promise to be quite
interesting. The new episodes begin airing this Friday, December 6th.
The next week's episode (December 13th) is called "Objects in Space"
and was written and directed by Joss Whedon - usually a very good sign.
(see the
article on sci-fi wire for more details about this episode.)
Then, on December 20th, the original series pilot, "Serenity", also
written and directed by Whedon, will finally air. We are really
looking forward to seeing that one. We encourage you to check out
Firefly this month if you haven't already done so, and spread
the word to your friends to watch too. This month's ratings could make
all the difference.
According to TV Guide Online, the Buffy animated
series is now dead. Whedon told TV Guide Online, "We just couldn't
find a home for it, which will baffle me to the grave". We are equally
baffled. Just turn on your tv for a few minutes Saturday morning.
There is a serious need for some better programming and we think a
Buffy animated series would have been great.
Also from
TV Guide Online, Amber Benson, who played Tara, will not be appearing
on season seven of Buffy after all. After Tara died tragically
at the end of season six (causing many fans to cry - me included) Whedon
stated that Amber Benson would be back in season seven, but would be
playing a different character. According to Whedon, 20th century FOX
was unable to reach a deal with Benson. He told TV Guide Online, "It
was a question of negotiations, as it sometimes is. It's
sad, because I love Amber. But that's between her and Fox." Benson's rep
told the site,"She's very proud of her work on the show, but ultimately,
we couldn't work out the right deal." We were really looking forward
to seeing more of Amber, so this announcement is pretty nearly cause for
more tears.
Meanwhile, the fate of Whedon's new show Firefly remains up in the
air. The fans over at the
Firefly Immediate Assistance site are intensifying their efforts to
show fan support for the series and hopefully help convince FOX to give
it a chance. We believe that their efforts are worthwhile. The series
shows sparks of good things to come, and so we would like to see at least
a full season of it air before FOX makes any decisions. Since
Firefly has not been getting stellar ratings, and FOX continues to
put off a decision on commiting to a full first season, fans have good
reason to believe that the series could use their immediate assistance.
In addition to a letter and postcard writing campaign, the
Immediate Assistance site is
now also taking donations toward the purchase of an ad in "Variety". The
are also auctioning off autographed memorabilia from the show. If you'd
like lend your support to Firefly, we encourage you to go over to
the site and get some addresses to send letters to, make a donation,
or check out the cool auctions.
According to
TV Guide online, FOX has ordered three additional
scripts for Firefly. FOX had originally ordered only 13
episodes of the series. According to the article, Joss Whedon
believes that this is FOX's way of putting off making up their
mind about the show. They are neither cancelling it, nor comitting
to a whole season of it. They're going to wait a bit longer before
making their decision.
It's hard for us to say if this is good news or bad news. We have to
agree with Joss Whedon's reading of FOX's choice to order three more
scripts. We believe that this is FOX's way of sitting themselves down
squarely on top of the proverbial fence and not making any decision at all
right now. That's bad news because it means that Firefly is still
in danger of being cancelled. It's good news, because hopefully the show
now has at least a few more weeks to try to prove itself.
We have really enjoyed the last couple of episodes of Firefly.
Last week's was an especially good one. It included some
interesting flashbacks about the origins of Serenity's crew.
Also, the story addressed the question, 'what does it really mean for
a ship to be alone out on the fringes of colonized space?' in a
thoughtful and realistic manner. It was real science fiction.
We hope that if you have not yet given Firefly a chance, you'll
check it out. This series has potential and the most recent episodes
have begun to convince us that it's going to be really good. If you're
already a Firefly fan and you'd like to show your support for it,
we encourage you to go over to the
Firefly: Immediate
Assistance website. This site has been set up by fans to support the
show and is encouraging all fans to do some things that we believe might
make a difference since FOX is now sitting on that proverbial fence:
The site is asking fans to write to FOX and to write to the companies
which buy advertising space during Firefly. It even has postcards
that you can download, print out, and use to send your messages to them.
Firefly's fate is uncertain right now. We are sad about that
because we believe this is a show that deserves a chance, and we are
sad that there is so little that we can do as fans to try to insure that
it gets that chance. But there are a few things that we can do that may
make a difference. So, please take a few minutes to send out a couple
of letters or postcards. Since FOX is sitting on the fence, it's worth
doing what we can to create a breeze that might just cause them to
tip over onto the right side of it.
The ratings are in for Firefly's second week. The show got a 3.6, which put it last in it's timeperiod. Although a drop of this magnitude between the premier and the next episode is not unusual for shows, we are concerned that since the premier's performance was disappointing any drop in the ratings at all may be enough to convince FOX (not the most patient of networks) to give up on the series.
As we did last week, we encourage you to give this show a try. We hope that FOX will give Firefly a chance to develop. Although the first two episodes have only been so-so, we will continue to tune in to see where Joss Whedon is going to go with this show. After six years of Buffy (and two very nice opening episodes for this seventh season) we have good reason to believe that he will turn Firefly into something special if FOX gives him the chance.
We are sad to report that the premier of the new Joss Whedon series, Firefly, did not do very well in the ratings. The series premier got a 4.1 rating which put it third place in the 8 pm timeslot (behind "48 Hours" on CBS and "America's Funniest Home Videos: The Battle of the Best" on ABC). On the positive side, the show did get a 3.0/11 for adults 18-49 which is an 11 percent increase over Fox's 2001-'02 season average in the time slot according to Sci-Fi Wire.
Although we were not blown away by the Firefly premier, we do think that the show has potential. The varied cast of characters and the show's premise provide plenty of space for Joss Whedon to work in. Much like JMS, Whedon's skill is not so much in creating single episodes (although both of them have written some great ones), but in developing his characters and story consistently within large arcs. We would like to see how Firefly will develop, and so we hope that FOX will not be hasty and decide the shows fate based on these initial weaker than hoped for ratings. Of course, FOX is not known for their patience in such matters, so we ask that if you did not check out Firefly last week, please do so this coming Friday, and tell your friends to check it out too. A little boost in the Firefly ratings could help keep this show from suffering the same fate as so many other science fiction programs cancelled before they were given a fair chance.
There are a number of new science fiction programs coming to network television this fall. We look forward to these new programs with a combination of hope and dread. This is the time of the year for hope because this is the time when our images of the new shows are our imagined visions of how great they could be based on brief descriptions and a few short promos for them. We are especially hopeful about a few of the shows which look quite promising based on their concept and/or pedigree. And, of course, you never know when a great show might unfold unexpectedly from the concept that seemed least interesting (Who knew what an incredible story Babylon 5 would turn out to be when early indications were that it was "the United Nations in Space"?).
Dread taints our hope because even if some of these new programs turn out to be wonderful shows, you can never underestimate the uncanny ability of the tv suits to twist and distort the shows that would be great if they were just left alone (for example, Crusade) and to cancel shows that could be long term hits if they were just given a chance (Did I mention Crusade?).
Despite the misgivings we have based on our past experiences, we'll try to focus on the hope right now, always the better choice, if you can do it :) Below is a list of the new science fiction shows we are looking forward to which are premiering in the next few weeks. We've included a bit of information about the shows and the times and networks where you can find them.
Happy viewing!
This is the show that we are most excited about. That's because its creator is Joss Whedon, the man who has brought us six great seasons of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Firefly will be a space based show about the crew of a small transport spaceship called "Serenity". It is set 500 years in the future in the wake of a universal civil war.
This is the show FOX has put in the slot after Firefly and because of that we'll probably check it out. (It's amazing what you can end up watching when that oh so very comfortably settled on the couch inertia sets in :) ) The show is about an amesiac who wakes up knowing every fact in the world except who he is and why he knows all that stuff. It's not the greatest sounding premise we've ever heard, but as we said above, you never know what might come from even a not very promising sounding premise.
This is UPN's attempt to remake the classic science fiction anthology show. We've been watching some of the reruns of the classic Twilight Zone episodes on the Sci-Fi Channel, and it's hard to imagine that UPN will be able to match the excellence of those wonderfully written, wondefully acted, eerie, fanciful, suspenseful, fun shows that said so much about human nature. But as we said above, this is the time in the tv season when there's still room to hope.
This show is about a detective who becomes able to see ghosts after a near-death experience. It's too early to tell if this will be just a detective show thinly veiled in the supernatural or something more.
Birds of Prey is about a trio of female superheros: Oracle (who was Batgirl, but she is now confined to a wheelchair), Huntress (the secret daughter of Batman and Catwoman) and Dinah (a teenage girl with meta-human powers). The executive produces of this show are Mike Tollin, Brian Robbins, Joe Davola (Smallville) and Ron Koslow (Beauty and the Beast). There will be a lot of pretty faces on this show, but there is a wealth of great mythology to draw on and if the show goes for a serious, darker tone in dealing with it's superheros (ala Batman: The Animated Series), then it could be one to watch this year.
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