If you love the firefly TV show please help!

[Johnnk]

As anyone who has seen an episode of Firefly can tell you. Firefly is undoubtedly one of the most brilliant television series ever created. How else could a television show which only aired for nine episodes, in the wrong order, aired on Friday night, was prempted by baseball, was given little to no marketing, and was pulled from the air so quickly, managed to draw in such a dedicated fan base that the dvds sales numbered among the highest of all time, a major feature film was produced, and the series is still, to this day, the highest rated television series on tv.com three years after the last episode was aired. There's a reason why the feature film based on the franchise has recieved very positive reviews from virtually every major publication, though it's still not nearly as brilliant as the television show. Furthermore, the brilliant characters and the rich universe that the franchise immerses you has so many possibilities for storylines since each new world that the crew manages to find themselves on can very plausibly be like no other world they've been on before. Each could have a wholly distinct ruling body, a very different set of rules and beliefs, and could each expose the audience to a wholly novel experience.

 

Sign the petition!

[Pangloss]

Uh, the movie was two years ago and Whedon has long called this a dead horse. Whedon even has a interesting new SF series called "Dollhouse" beginning in January. I liked FF too, but it's time to move on.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dollhouse_(TV_series)

[Rakdos]

That show won't do much better that FF or any other non-reality show, unfunny sitcom or Sports ever has on FOX.

[Pangloss]

I don't know why you'd say that. Fox has had many successful programs.

[ecoli]

yeah, they cancelled Dark Angel (after 2 seasons) to put on Firefly (my favorite show of all time).

 

Was slightly disappointed with the movie though, and am willing to let it go.

[Rakdos]

I don't know why you'd say that. Fox has had many successful programs.

 

It seems to me that the only thing that stays on Fox longer than 2 seasons are: sports, "reality" tv, and sitcoms that rely on toilet humor and sex appeal. All while shows like Firefly, Dark Angel get canned with almost no hope of return.

[ecoli]

in regards to Dark Angel though, the second season started getting weird, so perhaps that show was right to go. What executive moron would cancel Futurama and Family guy (twice!), though?

[CDarwin]

The future of science fiction is on cable, I'm inclined to think. Networks just don't have the courage and the sticking power to do really ground-breaking work in that genre. I'm thinking of Battlestar Galactica big time, here. That show wouldn't have lasted two episodes on any network but Fox, where it would have played for a season before they canceled it for no reason.

[Sayonara]

But BSG runs on Sci Fi, which was part of Vivendi when the backdoor pilot aired and has been part of NBC since the serial began...

[Pangloss]

It seems to me that the only thing that stays on Fox longer than 2 seasons are: sports, "reality" tv, and sitcoms that rely on toilet humor and sex appeal. All while shows like Firefly, Dark Angel get canned with almost no hope of return.

 

Well it is known for short runs when ratings is low, you're right. I was just surprised at the suggestion that it hasn't had any hits to speak of, or hits in the science fiction field. The X-Files ran for 9 seasons, after all. But they've historically given more green lights to SF type shows which the majors wouldn't touch, so it's kind of a pros-and-cons deal.

 

The current picture is different from the historical picture, though. As noted above, with the rise of original programming on "cable" networks like SciFi, Bravo, Turner, etc, there's a lot more opportunity (it's stunning how much entertainment we've come to consume in this country). And the hallmark for those networks is a much lower tolerance for ratings, since their expectations weren't as high to begin with, and they have DVD sales to look forward to.

 

Sometimes cancellation is a good thing, though. Just look at how long SciFi dragged out Showtime's old Stargate franchise. You wouldn't think they could manage ten seasons, two movies and two spinoff series out of a single faded photocopy of a rejected Star Trek script.

[Sayonara]

Three movies and three spin-offs, if you count everything which has been green-lighted and/or released.

[Phi for All]

Sign the petition?! Firefly was great beyond mere words but I would hope it now serves as a warning to all network execs that proper diagnosis and a little resuscitation effort can help them avoid malpractice responses to the expediency of just pulling the plug.

 

But resurrection, after all this time? I think that would take more chemistry than the show ever had to keep it from smelling terrible and being more than a bit, you know, creepy. I'll stick to bringing out all the DVDs once a year, watching them all in their proper order, with Serenity at the end (which I liked).

 

Btw, did you catch Chiwetel Ejiofor in Kinky Boots? It took me a while to place him, actually. He put the edge in Serenity for me, scarier than any Reaver.

[Pangloss]

He was also interesting (though underutilized) in Ridley Scott's American Gangster, as one of Denzel's brothers. And of course the very creative Cuaron SF flick Children of Men. Yes, he was impressive in Serenity, both stealing the scenery and chewing it up at the same time.

 

Just glancing at the Wikipedia, it looks like Ejiofor is staring as Thabo Mbeki of the ANC in the upcoming Endgame, about the last days of Apartheid. That might be interesting.

Edited July 1, 2008 by Pangloss