You will be that excited, Brian, once you finally get your hands on the DVDs and get to ogle the fine women of Firefly.
Inara’s (Morena Baccarin) sponge bath scene in “Serenity” and pretty much any scene with Kaylee (Jewel Staite) are definitely worthy of drool.
Some people also find Gina Torres really hot. Particularly the spot where her legs meet her back ;)
SAFFRON: I do know my bible, sir. “On the night of their betrothal the wife shall open to the man as the furrow to the plow. He shall work in her again and again, til she bring him to his full. And rest him then upon the sweat of her breast.”
MAL: Whoa. Good bible.
“Can I shoot 'em?”
“Not till they tell us where the stuff is.”
“Yeah, tell us where the stuff is. So I can shoot ya.”
I dunno… I’m worried about that one. They have started to show them in the wrong order, and at unpredictable intervals. That’s what they do when they are gearing up to give a great show the axe (it happened to Firefly!).[/quote]
Well, Fox renewed Arrested Development…
Fox, which unveils its fall lineup on Thursday, has renewed its critically acclaimed (yet Nielsen-challenged) gem Arrested Development, Variety reports.
…but I still wonder why Fox cancels so many shows Cedric The Entertainer, Cracking Up, Luis, A Minute With Stan Hooper, Oliver Beene, Playing It Straight, Skin, Wanda At Large, Wonderfalls just this season, and Andy Richter Controls the Universe, Fastlane, Firefly, girls club, The Grubbs, John Doe, The Pitts, Septuplets the season before that. And that’s not even counting reality shows like Joe Millionaire, which obviously has a limited ability to continue for long. This is even more incredible when you consider that Fox runs a pretty abbreviated prime time to begin with (8-10 EST, 7-9 CST).
As a consumer, it’s to the point that I don’t watch Fox because why should I bother watching a show that’s going to cancelled at any minute.
As the network, there has to be startup costs for a new show that would seem to make ditching so many shows just to introduce new shows that’ll also be cancelled after a few episodes a bad business decision.
And as a creator, I’d think twice about selling out to Fox. Look at the Greg the Bunny guys. They worked thanklessly on their creation on NYC public access, matured the property on IFC for a while, then sold it to Fox. Fox half-heartedly ran the show, then ditched it. Now the creators are back at square one with no rights to their property, and have to develop a whole new idea if they want to stay in the business.
They had some biz guy on NPR last week talking about that, and his answer was basically “it’s all driven by ratings.” Networks will cancel even a highly critcally acclaimed show in a heartbeat if they think they can wedge something in that slot that will get an extra point or two. The problem, as many critics have pointed out, is that networks no longer give new shows an opportunity to find an audience. Cheers had mediocre ratings in it’s first year; so did Mary Tyler Moore. If the networks then were run like networks today, those shows never would have made it.
I think Firefly could have become a Buffy-like behemoth, if Fox had given it half a chance. But they sent it straight to the worst possible timeslot from episode one… or episode two, I guess, since they didn’t even air episode one, out of order, until after they had cancelled the show. Sometimes I think that these guys do this for a living, and probably know way more about it than I do. But then I think, maybe not…
I have no doubt that programming execs have likely found a couple formulas that guarantee mid-to-high level ratings right away, since that’s what they feel they need. Therefore, we see lots of reality shows, lots of wacky neighbor home renovation shows, and lots of weekly stand-alone crime dramas in new cities with familiar names.
I wonder if similar analysis has been done for long-term sustainability of these kinds of shows. If they took a chance to let a series build, network execs may not get 1 or 2 blockbuster years, followed by crappy 3rd year ratings; they may get a nice steady revenue stream lasting 5 or 6 years. Once people settle into a long-running show, they may stick with it even after it’s passed its prime. I know I continued watching ER for 2 or 2.5 years before I realized I hadn’t been enjoying it, simply because I had followed it so long. In contrast, after having fun with the first and second season of Survivor, I stopped watching the 3rd season by the third episode, and have never gone back to reality shows.
Did the NPR feature say anything about whether networks are still interested in developing potential long-running franchises, or are they looking at a new model where, perhaps, they go for a series of limited-run shows that reflect variations on a theme? (i.e., Bachelor for 2-3 yrs, Bachelorette for 2-3 yrs, Gay Bachelor for 2-3 yrs, Transsexual Bachelor(ette) for 2-3 yrs…)
I can accept that it’s all driven by ratings. But Fox’s obsession with dumping shows before they can build an audience is like Nebraska for firing Frank Solich (9-3 record in his last season) for Bill Callahan. There’s no guarantee that the new guy is going to be any better. Fox canned The Pitts for what? Luis? Some ratings upgrade there. And Fox’s constant schedule tweaking so no one can remember when the show is even on can’t help either. Even the news would lose ratings if they had it on at random times during the day.
Well, NBC never cancelled Homicide and it never had great or at times even moderate ratings, but it was critically acclaimed.
Fox decided to cancel Wonderfalls a week after they proved to themselves it got much better ratings on Thursdays rather than Fridays. Duh.
The Practice debuted on Saturday nights at never did well at all, yet it lasted eight seasons and now a spinoff, a spinoff warranted on a show that still didn’t have great ratings.
— Alan
Jesus, did you actually watch all of those shows? I think I’ve heard of about three of them. In the case of Stan Hooper, though, I really can’t argue with Fox. Norm is great and all, but that show was a waste of his Normitude.
:D God, no. Thank god. Honestly I only rememer seeing promos for maybe half of them. I caught Oliver Beene once or twice, and Andy Richter once, the rest I never watched at all. (Excepting Firefly of course.)
Best cop drama on TV, ever. Fuck, I loved that show. An entire episode devoted to Andre Braugher’s Frank and Kyle Secor’s Bayliss interrogating the Araber in “the box” over the murder of Adina Watson. You’ll notice that, for the rest of that season, all of Bayliss’ victim names on the board were in black except hers. Ned Beatty’s Felton, driving Richard Belzer’s Munch to solve a difficult crime all by himself, sitting in the office, just by repeating to him over and over “Detective Munch”. Crosetti giving his theory on the Lincoln assassination, sounding more philosophical and intelligent than any supporting cast member I’ve ever heard on any TV show. Steve Buscemi, playing a a self-described super-genius, driven to reveal his bigotry by a taunting, grinning Frank in his face. Yaphet Kotto as the boss who was more intimidating when he smiled than when he frowned. One of the best ensemble casts in TV, period (possible exception the Fat Baldwin). No gunplay (except one cheeseball office shooting, cheap but shocking for that show), no action, a female lead who wasn’t inapporopriately hot (as good as NYPD Blue can and has been, does anyone buy those women as cops?), even the opening spooky, pounding theme with the haunting images: a car racing around a corner, a German Shephard barking and charging a fence, the cast in heavy shadow. Fuck, I loved that show (until it bounded the Hammerhead by losing half the cast, replacing them with the slap-me-please Reed Diamond and a couple of hot actresses, and yet worse, giving Frank a fucking stroke). True fact: the woman who played Andre Braugher’s wife in the show is his wife IRL. Second true fact: Reed Diamond was the cop who got smoked in the first season of The Shield. Third: Clark Johnson, who played Lewis on Homicide, directed several of the episodes and is a regular director of The Shield episodes. This show rules forever and now I must blow some cash on the DVDs. I’ll read this in the meanwhile.
Do you ever watch “The Wire” Bill? It’s the spiritual heir to “Homicide” and quite excellent.
It’s written by the same guy right? The Wire is even better than Homicide, IMO.
David Simon, yes - he was integral in Homicide as well as The Corner for HBO.
The Wire is simply the HBO extended version of Homicide - you take all the great elements, than you add all the stuff you couldn’t show, and you have The Wire. And, of course, it takes place in Balto.
By the way - Season 3 production has just started. Fuck yeah.
— Alan
Welp, I finally got the boxed set, and while I have currently no time to sit down and watch it, I watched a few moments of “Serenity” of the first disk. After hearing this quote, I already really like the show:
“You know why we’re not going to die? Because we are so…very…pretty.”
Yeah, back on topic!
JAYNE: So like, never?
BOOK: Well, no.
JAYNE: Not ever never?
BOOK: Some orders allow Shepherds to marry, but I follow a narrower path.
JAYNE: But, I mean, you still got the urge. They don’t… cut it off, or nothin’?
BOOK: Mm, no, I’m more or less intact. I just…direct my energy elsewhere.
JAYNE: You mean like masturbating?
That said…derail time! This gives me bad vibes:
Nathan Fillion has said that the film deal precludes a revived TV series. If the film does well enough, however, a trilogy is possible.
Which leads me to think that they’ll leave some plotlines hanging at the end of the movie, and that means that if the movie doesn’t do well…more never answered questions.
Hopefully, by the time the movie has rolled around, we’ll have lent enough DVDs to enough friends to spark interests, then. START LENDING!
Oh, yeah. It took me awhile to get into it - I didn’t care for the characters as much as I did the ones from Homicide, but Season 2 was ridonkulously good. I love cable, cable is my bestest friend. Except the channels that rerun Homicide like, when the fuck ever and never consistently.
Sounds like you need TiVo. I’d say it’s almost as good as Firefly.
Okay, I just sat down and watched the entire two-part episode, “Serenity” and all I can say is…WOW was that fucking impressive. The story was well done, the characters are fabulous, and the writing is astonishing. That was some of the most amazing TV I’ve ever seen. I can’t wait to watch the rest of the series. Thank you so much for turning me on to this show, folks. I owe you all a drink.