I thought I would talk about something else, because I am afraid that Tim is perilously close to the first diagnosed case of a Schadenfreude overdose. At any rate, I tried to watch some tv last night, and there was NOTHING on.
So I popped in Firefly, watched an episode, and got so upset I went to bed. Firefly was killed after one partial season, but there are multiple versions of CSI after 5 years?
We deserve this administration.
Pb
That’s the difference between Fox and CBS…
srv
I can not wait for Season 4 DVD release of The Wire.
Zifnab
There’s always BattleStar.
RSA
I was watching a Tivoed Star Gate last night, and I remarked to my wife that the episode contained actors who played central characters in four different TV scifi universes: Star Gate, Farscape, Star Trek, and Firefly. Pretty cool.
b-psycho
I like CSI. Though I do agree all the spinoffs is overkill (I only watch the original).
Never saw Firefly, but I’m not into Sci-Fi anyway.
*prepares to be pelted with rocks*
b-psycho
Apparently “*” turns into bold code. Odd…
Shinobi
I get sad every time I watch Firefly.
Why, why is there no more? It’s just not fair!
Cyrus
I’ll bite. Ben Browder/Colonel Mitchell was from Farscape, I remember reading that; and Vala’s daughter, the hyper-evolved Ori mouthpiece, is played by Morena Baccarin. But who was from Star Trek?
Although maybe I shouldn’t ask, if the answer would be a spoiler. Is the Star Trek actor a regular of whose background I’m apparently ignorant, or a guest star? I used to be a pretty big Stargate fan, but my interest was halved when the Ori were introduced, and I haven’t gone through the trouble of tracking down and downloading the last episode or two.
ThymeZone
So far in 2.5 years, it’s been pretty predictable that whatever show is considered wonderful around here is going to be an absolute “don’t fail to miss” it member of my Don’t Watch List.
So I now know that I never have to watch Firefly.
Wasn’t “Lost” once highly touted around here? As if a fourth grader couldn’t figure out that the extraordinarliy dumb premise of that thing would be lucky to last a whole season. Haven’t they lost over half of their original viership now? Ergo, the title of the show?
ZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.
demimondian
Aren’t you the person who has the totally misguided opion of people named ‘Paul’, too?
Yeah, that’s what I thought.
ThymeZone
Well, here’s what I’m thinking. Just about every show touted around here ends up cancelled because nobody wants to watch it. Cancelled or oughta be for low ratings.
So just making a list of BJ hits is sufficient, apparently, to keep the worst of tv off your screen. I recommend it as a strategy, it’s a lot easier than QQing around and reading a lot of tv reviews, when you can get the hottest list of surefire duds right here, all in one place.
jg
mmmmm Inara. shwiiiiing!
CDB
Your Star Trek Actor is….
ROBERT PICARDO Aka. The Doctor from Voyager.
Pb
Because, ah, network cancellations and/or low ratings are the end-all/be-all arbiters of quality for idiots like ThymeZone.
P.S. Firefly is a great show, and the movie was pretty sweet too.
Redleg
Now I dislike Bush as much as the next guy but I don’t blame the proliferation of CSI and the demise of Firefly on him. Everyone knows it’s KKKarl Rove’s fault, not Bush’s.
metalgrid
meh..
I miss Farscape..
sidereal
Hmm. . tough to call him ‘central’. I was very happy to see Browder and Claudia Black make it from Farscape. That show carried sci-fi while Star Trek was turning into a joke on Enterprise.
ThymeZone
… sort of like, uh, Democracy, eh Pb?
Who cares if everybody hates it and nobody watches it? Hell, that just proves how good it really is!!
It’s what I might call the BJ Principle: The fewer people who watch a show, the better it probably is!
If nobody at all watches it, it’s the best show ever!
I tell you, those Founders had it all backward! They should have designed the country so that the candidates with the fewest votes always win. Since most truths are only known by a few people, getting a lot of votes is a sign of something really bad!
We’ve invented a whole new paradigm!
jh
TZ,
I’ll put it very simply.
The masses are for the most part stupid, and they like crap.
Lots and lots of crap.
The more crap the better.
Keep the crap coming……you get my drift.
Witness, the popularity of “reality” TV, “Dancing with the Stars” and the steaming vortex of awfulness that “American Idol.”
Likewise, most of the world’s best art is not appreciated until long after its creator is dead.
Somewhere in the middle lays excellent, but underappreciated TV like Firefly (and the Wire).
bs23
true that. Firefly was good, and don’t miss the movie! Another quirky show cancelled by Fox was wonderfalls. pretty good; you can get the whole season on dvd. and I can’t fail to mention how awesome The Wire is, but you’ve probably heard that song before…
jh
Two Words.
Chewitel Ejiofor.
One of the best villains ever.
jg
Everybody? Nobody? Whats with the absolutes? You know this stuff is based on subsets of the population. The people they chose to evaluate the show didn’t like it. So what? Doesn’t mean the show has no value to everybody. American Idol is flying, gets great ratings. So everyone likes it then right? Nobody hates it.
ThymeZone
By far the greatest paean to Democracy I have ever seen!
God Bless America!
ThymeZone
You mean (cough) …. the viewers?
I agree, what the hell do THEY know?
Buncha stupid rednecks, all of ’em.
Billy K
Firefly: Best. Show. Ever.
“There’s good people in the ‘verse. Not Many, Lord knows, but you only need a few.”
jh
Hardly.
More like
‘xactly what was Ben Franklin taumbout when he said “A republic if you can keep it”?
Besides,
It’s not like like TV shows live and die by impartial Democratic process. Ratings, which are the product of a for profit entity that polls a very, very small percentage of viwers, are just one factor in determining which shows stay on and which ones get cancelled.
But don’t let me spoil your One Man Curmudgeon-off.
sidereal
Wow. Are you actually attempting to assert that taste is democratic? That the only products that are enjoyable are those that the majority approves of? I suppose you must necessarily believe that the single best album of 2006 was Some Hearts by Carrie Underwood. Don’t dare disagree, ace. The polity has spoken.
JohnTh
Totally feel your pain – Firefly rocked. And completey agree with jh that Chewitel Ejiofor took Serenity to another level.
ThymeZone
.
You guys couldn’t win an argument if your fucking lives depended on it. Last time we did this, it was about “The Wire” IIRC.
The only coherent argument made in about two days of this crap was that I had watch two seasons of the show in order to really get how good it was. Because, you know, you couldn’t “get it” at first.
Amazing. I should watch 30-40 hours of tv to “judge” a show!
Unfucking believable, you guys. Stop embarassing yourselves. Do you actually have an argument, or what?
THE FUCKING SHOW BOMBED.
The end.
Oh my god, you can’t be serious. No, I am going to assert that democracy is democratic. When masses of people don’t care about something enough to show up and buy, watch, or vote, that something fails.
But I feel your pain. The idea that yet another tv show about fictional space travel didn’t last ten seasons is really heartbreaking. Oh, the humanity!
Tsulagi
Millions of people in democracies eat Chicken McNuggets too, but I think I’ll continue to pass after once eating one.
Firefly is/was great! Loved that show. BSG is good too, but Firefly is better.
As far as CSI and American Idol, I’ve watched parts of maybe two or three episodes each for a combined total under an hour. They’re McNuggets. Yeah, call me elitist.
jg
Was that a serious reply? Seriously dude you argue like Darrel. Maybe that’s why you hated him so much.
Lets try again. The people they chose to evaluate the program (which you, being the master of the obvious that you are pointed out are called viewers) are a subset of the population in this country. Just because the members of that subset think its not a good program doesn’t mean that group of people outside the subset (also called viewers, again thank you) won’t like it.
I ask again, since American Idol gets great ratings does that mean everyone watches it? Nobody thinks its dumb? Is it proof that its a good show or just proof that the small group of viewers who are asked to give their input like it?
Rex
The show that used to be on after Lost, ‘Invasion’ was a freaking brilliant show…a little campy but generally awesome. Its reward: cancelled. And that piece of shit Lost is still on.
Good on ya for being a Firefly fan–one of the few shows where the opening song never gets old. There are still groups of Firefly fans that get together around the country…I think they are called something with ‘browncoats’ in the name but it evades me.
jg
BUT ITS STILL A GOOD SHOW. Just because they ashats who pick shows didn’t find it entertaining does not in any way mean that someone else won’t find it entertaining. If you could possibly understand that you wouldn’t have to embarass yourself but shouting obvious but hightly irrelevant facts no one is disputing. You really are Darrel. That’s what he does. Ignores the responses and continues to shout his talking point.
Frankly I judged it on the first episode but its not the type of tv show where plot points are begun and ended in that hour. If you can’t deal with that who really fucking cares. Go watch Matlock or some other ahow that wraps up its plot points to coincide with your constant bathroom breaks.
Formerly Wu
You know, TZ, there were a lot of ways you could have defended not watching Firefly. You could have said sci-fi wasn’t your thing, or that Joss Whedon is a hack, or that you don’t watch series that are canceled halfway out of principle. Any of those could have provoked the same amount of querulous screeds from Firefly fanboys, who need very little provocation whatsoever to leap to the defense of their favorite space western.
You really didn’t need to reductio ad absurdum yourself quite so hard.
jh
And I am going to assert that crap is crap-o-cratic, and that masses of people have been conditioned to like the most banal, ribald and vulgar forms of entertainment possible.
Thus they prefer crap.
pharniel
Just the browncoats. THey’re all over dragon con. and a few others.
shows I also MIss: Man and Machine
I’ll note that Stargate also has Alexia Douge, from Andromada who is apperently whoever plays danial’s wife.
Firefly had promise, and it was sadly killed short, but so did “greg the bunny” and a ton of other shows on fox. Because fox wants “instant hit now” syndrome, which just doesn’t happen.
Especially if you are not taking risks, though to be far WB obliterated the Oblongs, and other shows.
The problem is the ratings system. it’s innacurate and pretty horrible, and nelson is just worthless.
which is why you ahve a ressurection of family guy, because the ratings system was so utterly wrong. it’s the star trek song all over again.
and i miss my galaxy rangers goddamnit.
Zifnab
See: Britney Spears/Paris Hilton/, COPS, FOX News, the Home Shopping Channel, everything Andrew Llyod Weber has ever produced, Pokemon, McDonalds, every game show made in the last ten years, the new Star Wars Movies, televangelists, and George W. Bush
I think these examples prove empiricly that things that “do well” are in no way relational to things that “have quality”.
sidereal
Way to dodge the question. Was Some Hearts by Carrie Underwood your favorite 2006 album release? By the way, the concept you’re incompetently groping for isn’t ‘democracy’, it’s ‘capitalism’. Taste in television programming has nothing to do with government.
Did I say it was heartbreaking? Did I say you had to like it? Did I imply that it was not the case that a vast percentage of the country probably wouldn’t like it? Do I care what you watch? Why are you being such a douche? Why do you take time out of your day to piss and mewl at people you already know don’t share your taste in entertainment? These are important questions.
srv
ppGaz is like all those other folks in AZ. Right now he’s sitting in a smelly 20 year old lazy boy with a tin tray dinner and watching a rerun of Lawrence Welk while the lawn sprinkler waters the sunny side of his house.
Oh, and Matlock? Way too recent. Last time I was in Tucson, they had Perry Mason reruns on.
Jay C
Uhh, pharniel: please make sure you get the important things right: It’s Lexa Doig who was the ex-“Andromeda” star on “Stargate SG-1”.
Being married to Michael Shanks probably didn’t hurt her casting chances, either.
Neither, I guess, did being Canadian: the “Stargates” – along with a crapload of other stuff – are filmed North of the Border: it’s fun to play spot-the-Canadian from show to show. For some reason, sci-fi series seem to be especially prone to “outsourcing”.
Scruffy McSnufflepuss
Never saw “Firefly,” have no opinion of it.
I think “The Wire” is alright, the missus hates it with a pure passion. The truth, as usual, probably lies somewhere in the middle. I don’t care enough to argue about it, though. What pisses me off is the Fox network in general.
Frankly, I’m still pissed at Fox for cancelling “Get a Life.” That was back in 1992. Those fuckers canceled “Futurama”, too.
Fox is the network where really creative shows are strangled in the cradle. If it weren’t for “The Simpsons,” that whole network would’ve died a sordid death 10 years ago.
Tom Hilton
Maybe people told you you had to watch two seasons of the show to get it because you never once gave even the slightest indication that you had watched a single episode. Your whole argument amounted to: “The Wire sucks.” Why does it suck? “Because like all cop shows it’s totally unrealistic”–at which point you listed characteristics of cop shows in general that were in no way applicable to The Wire.
It’s kind of hilarious to see you claim nobody made any coherent argument why you should watch The Wire when you proved completely incapable of making a coherent argument why you disliked it.
ThymeZone
Actually, yes I did. But don’t let that fact throw off your otherwise outstanding bullshit rant.
Of course I did. Quite succinctly so. Again, though, your post is otherwise really good.
ThymeZone
Really? What does it have to do with, then?
Apparently by BJ Rule it has nothing to do with whether anyone ever actually watches the program.
Very mysterious!
Rex
The one exception to Fox’s impatience for ratings success was Arrested Development which was critically acclaimed for years but just couldn’t get viewership no matter how they tried. Malcolm in the Middle is another example.
tBone
I can’t wait until TV networks are just another conduit for programming, rather than the arbiters. A show like Firefly is perfect for Internet distribution.
Oh, and I had a mental bet with myself about how long it would take for TZ to come in and crap on this thread. I lost.
Scruffy McSnufflepuss
True. They did give “Arrested Development” a fair shake. Have to give them credit for that one. But their worst crimes were in the nineties. This decade, maybe they’ve shaped up a little. Canceling “Get a Life” is a mortal sin, though. Fox can go to Hell for that one.
Scruffy McSnufflepuss
Mind you, before they cancelled it, they moved it from prime time to midnight, too, so that no one could watch it. THEN they canceled it for lack of viewership. That’s the kind of back-stabbing shit the Fox network does when it wants to whack a show.
Tom Hilton
Shorter TZ: “Did too.” (Not much shorter, actually.)
I will let your witty and devastating takedown stand as Exhibit A in support of my earlier comment.
The Other Steve
Was Firefly as bad as Bablyon-Five?
I’m a huge fan of science fiction, and most Sci-fi I can’t stand.
BTW, I bought “Deja Vu” on DVD recently.(got it cheap when I bought the Queen, or maybe it was the other way around… hmm) It was actually surprisingly good. I liked how they handled the time travel.
ThymeZone
Welp, the thread is out there, anyone can read it.
Knock yourself out.
Aren’t you the guy who told me I had to watch two seasons of the piece of crap show? I may be wrong, but I think it was you. If not, whoever it was lost your argument for you by proxy, by rule. The rule is, if the argument is about whether a tv show is good, and somebody says “You gotta watch two seasons,” then that person and anyone who agrees with that person loses automatically on the spot. “You gotta watch two seasons” was by far the funniest nonsense argument I ever saw here, even inluding the firehose of righty gaffes we’ve witnessed over the years.
BTW, when you are poring over the Wire thread to find where I watched the show and why I thought it stunk, don’t look for refutations of my criticisms as a way to lead you to them. There weren’t any. Nobody refuted my complaints at all, as I recall. Maybe you will find something when you analyze that thread ….that’s where you are headed now, right?
Tim in SF
You can kill any show, even the BEST show, by sticking it in a shitty time slot and marketing it incorrectly (or not at all), which is what happened with Firefly.
{sigh} I loved that show. :-(
Also, there’s no accounting for taste. To wit: Dancing with the Stars, American Idol, morning-teevee, mid-morning teevee, local teevee news, Everyone Loves Raymond, and a thousand other steaming piles of broadcast poo. Whenever anyone makes the argument to me that popularity=superiority, I mention Windows OS, the fact that Velveeta is the number one selling cheese in America, and that there’s always a line at Sizzler.
BTW, John (and other fans) :
If you want to experience the magic of new Firefly episodes, find someone who has never seen the old ones and invite them over to watch a couple episodes. Seeing it for the first time—vicariously through your friend—is nearly as good an experience, though in a different way. Plus, it’s a good excuse to have a bottle of wine.
Andrew
Babylon Five: Couldn’t stand it.
Firefly: It’s really a Western, and it’s awesome.
An aside: I think COPS is the most educational show in television history.
tBone
It taught me to put my shirt on before I smack my bitch up, I’ll tell you that.
ThymeZone
Awwww, Tim, now you went and let the cat out of the bag!
Plenty o’people here are going to be embarrassed and pissed now.
You just threw out the entire basis of their arguments!
Zombie Santa Claus
Personally, I think the Fox News Channel is the best comedy in television history. That O’Reilly guy cracks me up every time.
(He’s spoofing, right?)
ThymeZone
Word up!
Zombie Santa Claus
Unless the Bible says your tastes are evil, in which case you must answer for them at the time of reckoning.
Ho ho ho, bitches! See you fuckers in Hell!
ThymeZone
Good choice, I think that’s where reruns of The Wire run around the clock …….
Paul Wartenberg
Let me just state that I preferred American Idol back when they used the Gong.
BRING OUT GENE GENE THE DANCIN MACHINE!!! ;)
Zombie Santa Claus
I think Satan can find worse things than “The Wire” to torture people with. Obviously, it would vary according to the sinner. Some of the Hellbound crustacean-crunchers around here might actually enjoy that kind of thing, you know. And that wouldn’t be fair to the other folks in Hell, now, would it? So the shows have to vary from viewer to viewer.
In my personal Hell, it’d be endless reruns of Christmas movies. Wall to wall screens. Demons prying your eyeballs open, so you can’t look away.
That level of Hell is actually worse than the one Satan lives on. It’s lower than the one with Judas and Cassius and all, it’s about level with Satan’s ass. Even Dante was afraid to write about the theatres of Hell. That’s why he left that shit out.
tBone
I’ve think you’ve forgotten the Carrot Top movie. Put that on continuous loop and you could destroy anyone’s soul.
Zombie Santa Claus
What about Carrot Top himself? If he goes to Hell, he might enjoy watching his own movie.
That fucker’ll probably have to watch “The Godfather” and “Casablanca” for all eternity. That’ll learn him!
Tom Hilton
I’m pretty sure I didn’t say that. As for making up idiotic bullshit rules–hey, why didn’t I think of that? Okay, I just made up a new rule. The rule is: I win, you lose. ;-) It’s approximately as risible as what you’re saying here.
You didn’t actually make any coherent criticisms for anyone to respond to. (Yes, I know: “Did too!” Your content-free response is anticipated and duly noted.)
ThymeZone
Beats me. But if you can’t support a rule that says “You gotta watch two seasons” is an automatic argument loser, then you and I are not going to see eye to eye on much, amigo. Sure you don’t want to revisit that one?
As for criticisms, I made two specific ones. Neither was refuted. Nor has been since. And I also addressed the issue of whether I watched the show. Let’s just say, my two criticisms were based on the answer to that one, so you might guess it. But then, you might not.
You DID scour that earlier thread, right? Pore over it?
Surely you wouldn’t assert that I made no criticisms without scouring the thread to make sure I did or didn’t? Tell me you wouldn’t do that.
BARRASSO
There may be good reason to give a show two seasons to get going, if you think of any really long running, popular, high quality show (those are rare) the first season or two of it suck. I can’t watch the first year of the simpsons, or family guy, even Mash.
ThymeZone
Beats me. But if you can’t support a rule that says “You gotta watch two seasons” is an automatic argument loser, then you and I are not going to see eye to eye on much, amigo. Sure you don’t want to revisit that one?
As for criticisms, I made two specific ones. Neither was refuted. Nor has been since. And I also addressed the issue of whether I watched the show. Let’s just say, my two criticisms were based on the answer to that one, so you might guess it. But then, you might not.
You DID scour that earlier thread, right? Pore over it?
Surely you wouldn’t assert that I made no criticisms without scouring the thread to make sure I did or didn’t? Tell me you wouldn’t do that.
(reposted because my first attempt typoed the email address and the thing went into moderation. So another copy will probably eventually surface. Send all complaints to Tom Hilton, Thanks, ppG).
Rome Again
While I admit I used to watch Stargate, it wasn’t because I wanted to. I enjoyed it for the first few seasons, but I agree that the introduction of the Ori lost me too.
CSI (the original)has been a fairly good show (and the introduction of the model builder was really quite ingenious). I don’t turn it on each time it’s on, but I will watch it if I come across it.
Never watched any of the CSI spinoffs though.
As for the rest, I don’t watch any of them, never have.
I’ve never liked a lot of what the rest of America calls good tv, but then, I have a tendancy to watch documentaries more often than anything else anyway.
Carry on with your argument, I know too little to argue about it, and my only feeling is that most of television these days is just plain boring.
ThymeZone
Tom will be a while, he is currently making a list of all my posts in which I did not state that I had actually watched The Wire.
(Now THAT was funny. I swear, I do crack myself up).
Tom? You are checking, aren’t you? Tell me you are, man.
David
Has anybody pointed out that Fox, for all practical purposes, guaranteed that Firefly would get bad ratings by changing its timeslot at least twice a month and airing plot-important episodes out of order? (Yes. Skip the gorram pilot. That’ll draw a crowd!)
When executives go into panic mode after two or three weeks of ratings that fall anywhere below “smash hit,” you get a lot of prematurely dead shows. Also see “Drive.” (Another Fillion project, cancelled after what, one episode? Did he run over Murdoch’s dog or something?)
Krista
There are definitely some great shows that were underrated and didn’t last long. I was quite intrigued by “Drive”, and am very disappointed that it’s been cancelled. “Dead Like Me” was also a very interesting, quirky little show. There are some shows that are very popular that are also very good (i.e. The Office). So AFAIC, popularity (or lack thereof), has absolutely no correlation with quality. Some really good shows get good ratings. Some don’t. And if a show you love gets canned, raise a stink and buy up every copy of the DVD you can find. Hey, it worked for Family Guy.
Pb
Judging from the past six years? Yeah, I’d say it’s exactly like Democracy–or, to paraphrase John Cole, you deserve this administration. That’s what your beloved Democracy has wrought.
ThymeZone
Wow. Well, sorry you have soured on democracy, dude.
Are you going to be starting your own country, or moving to Denmark, or something?
“I” deserve this administration? Why, because I voted for the other guys?
Dang.
Hyperion
this is the only show i ever watch on fox.
otherwise i just feel dirty!
Pb
Well obviously you have horrible taste, because the other guys lost, right? According to your reasoning, we have the best of all possible administrations now thanks to our amazing Democratic system which weeds out the losers and gives us the best our country has to offer. Therefore, yes, you deserve it.
So you can now go thank the infinite wisdom of the American people that Bush is President, but I, on the other hand, will watch Firefly.
MNPundit
I have been in love with Jewel Staite since I was 16 (she is 6 months younger than I am), but man did I ever hate Firefly.
Give me a sixth season of Angel instead!
grumpy realist
1. The fallacy of democracy (taken to its logical limit) is that it assumes the group wisdom of 10 guys-off-the-street are better at taking out your appendix than one surgeon. It does however somewhat protect against revolutions.
2. On the other hand, read “Class” by Paul Fussell for a highly entertaining rant against the taste of the proles and how it’s taking over everywhere. (He’s not any kinder about the Muffys and Buffys, either.)
3. Me, I’m lazy and prefer to let time do the filtering, where what is considered “the good stuff” will finally bob up to the top. Yeah, love for particular artists will come and go, but for the most part “undiscovered past Masters” remain that way for a bloody good reason. The 17th century equivalent of pictures-of-Elvis-on-black-velvet has not survived down to today. Vermeer has.
annie's granny
I never could get into Firefly. Did Fox pull the same “Follow the Bouncing Time Slot” stunt they did with Futurama?
Of course, I’ve got my network grudge against NBC for the stunts they pulled with Freaks and Geeks. Also Quantum Leap. Oh well. At least ER, which hasn’t produced a really good episode since the turn of the millennium, still staggers on.
tBone
Yeah. First, they decided the 2-hour pilot “didn’t have enough action”, so at the last minute the creators had to go back and write a new pilot over a weekend that had to 1) contain more action, 2) still set up the universe and characters, and 3) fit in a shorter 1-hour timeslot.
Under the circumstances I think they did an admirable job, but the original pilot was a much better introduction to the show.
So the show limped onto the air with a new, somewhat underwhelming pilot, and then the geniuses at Fox decided that following episodes should be aired in a different order than originally intended. Since Firefly, like all of Whedon’s shows, is a serialized storyline, this completely ruined the pacing and coherence of the show.
Then it was preempted for several weeks by baseball, and Fox started screwing around with the timeslot, and it all ended in tears. As a final, parting shot, the last episodes aired were parts 1 and 2 of the original pilot.
annie's granny
Yeah, Fox has a nasty habit of doing that and then wondering why no one watched the shows.
Pb
Well, if it got low ratings, then obviously it was a bad show, and deserved to be cancelled! I know because ThymeZone told me so, and he’s got the ratings on his side–just like he’s got President Bush on his side as a triumph of the American Democratic system.
annie's granny
Is TZ’s family a Nielsen family or something? If not, I think that some people may be taking his thoughts on prime time a little seriously.
Of course, if the Zones are a Nielson family, things may start getting interesting. We’ve been overdue for a remake of “The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis” for a while now.
YellowJournalism
You know, one reason I never watched “Arrested Development” was because I was scared off by all the hype from critics and fans. The way they tried to cram that show down my throat was overwhelming. I just resisted because I hated being told what I HAD to watch.
Now I’m catching it on reruns, and I find the show is goddamn hilarious. You know, I prefer it this way. No pressure. Just time to enjoy without all the fuss. This is also why I have not read a single Harry Potter book.
As far as Fox goes, that network is going to shoot itself in the foot by depending on “American Idol” year after year and expecting instant mega-hits after doing the time slot shuffle. They have no idea how to market shows that are not AI or “House.” “Drive” would have been a perfect dumb-fun summer show, but Fox threw it into a Sunday night timeslot and now are running off the last episodes on a national holiday when few people are home and tuning in for anything other than background noise.
demimondian
For my part, I’m expecting a remake of “My Favorite Martian” called “My Favorite Jackalope”.
JDRhoades
Brrr. That is one scary mofo.
John Cole
At least we know the executives at Fox that made those decisions landed on their feet.
They are heading the Iraq reconstruction team.
Andrew
The pre-Chewitel Ejiofor version of the Operative guy, Jubal Early, in Objects in Space, was AWESOME.
I think one of the best scenes of any show ever is when Early confronts Simon:
Zombie Santa Claus
That show has lousy ratings, too.
You’d think people would be interested in extreme violence, fraud, corruption, drama, and political intrigue, but for some reason “American Idol” still trounces “The War In Iraq” in the ratings, season after season.
At this rate, I expect the War show to be canceled soon, although it may live on for a few more years in syndication if can hang in there until 2009. Also, there may be spin-off shows, like “The Bloody Civil War in Iraq,” “The Genocide of the Kurds and Sunni Iraqis,” “The War Between Saudi Arabia and Iran,” “The U.N. Gestures Emptily While the the U.S. Continues to Shirk Is Financial Obligations,” and “The Nuclear Showdown Between Israel and the Holy Shiite Union of Iran, Iraq, and Syria.”
I’m guessing that last one might be a TV ratings success, depending on whether it lasts longer than 20 minutes, and whether the human race survives it in any recognizable form.
Billy K
Just a few days ago I blogged about all the great shows Fox has killed prematurely. Look at this lineup and tell me this wouldn’t be fantastic:
Firefly
Greg the Bunny
The Tick
Keen Eddie
Arrested Development
Wonderfalls
Andy Richter Controls the Universe
Family Guy
All killed prematurely.
I should also mention that Tim Minear produced both Wonderfalls and now they’ve killed his newest show, Drive (which I haven’t seen yet, thanks to Fox’s ridiculous “programming”). When is he gonna learn?
Zombie Santa Claus
You forgot “Get a Life.” Also, “Futurama.”
RSA
Ejiofor has been excellent in the few movies I’ve seen him in. Dirty Pretty Things for example, which shows off Audrey Tautou as well.
John D.
TZ, that’s a totally retarded argument, right up there with “whatever show is considered wonderful around here is going to be an absolute “don’t fail to miss” it member of my Don’t Watch List.”
The rule is “watch the show, make an opinion based on the show.” Anything else is pure bullshit.
The Kid
CSI truly sucks but Firefly was evn worse!!!
jg
I think Grissom is the miniature killer on CSI.
caustics
“Monsieur Walletboy? Here is your unbaked pizza with no toppings sauce or cheese.”
Me too…I haven’t thought of that show in years, even though I have a friend we still call “walletboy”. Too bad the original Rhino DVDs are OOP/eBay fodder.
Apparently FOX suits are being a bunch of dicks with Chris regarding “rights” for a new DVD release.
Zombie Santa Claus
That makes sense, since they’ve been dicks all along.
dagon
here’s the deal:
TZ, i dig your politics but when it comes to quality drama, you are a frelling idiot!
farscape was cancelled because sci-fi deemed it too expensive
the wire is still on.
firefly wasn’t given a chance because fox had it in for whedon, after some MUCH publicized differences regarding the direction of “buffy” and “angel”.
ALL of these shows were critical darlings and much beloved by the people who actually saw them. it is incorrect to say that “nobody liked” these shows.
go back to talking about stuff that you actually have some credibility in commenting on, like how much bush sucks. you have my attention there every time but on this subject you’re in the weeds.
peace
Rome Again
Grissom wouldn’t hurt a fly, unless he had to dissect it, of course.
RSA
I can never see this phrase without thinking of Psycho (which may be what was intended; if so, it’s an interesting direction for his character to move in).
tBone
Not all of them. I’m sure FEMA got a few.
Rome Again
So, you think it’s possible they planned that shit out from the beginning? Sort of like I heard Babylon-5 did? I never watched B5 much, but my ex told me how they tied in long forgotten crap from season 1 with season 4 and such. If bugman Grissom was intended to be a killer all along, that’s some serious planning right there.
BlogReeder
I know this thread is about Firefly and I must take some responsibility for it’s demise because I’ve never seen it. :(
I’m trying to atone by watching every damn episode of Heroes.
But I can’t let this pass:
That’s on top of his case of BDS. Poor guy.