ChrisHicks

http://www.news-journalonline.com/co...TWEN020205.htm

don't you think?

TheNightFlier

It just amazes me how many good shows Fox had and then just dropped them for more of the reality shit.

The DVD sales for Family Guy alone make them look like complete morons.

nny

I'll never understand why people pick on Fox so much for cancelling shows. Nobody beats ABC who've been cancelling absolutely amazing shows since at least 20 years ago with Police Squad. Matter of fact, the article writer's little idea about saving The Inside before it even airs was already done last summer for Lost.

Also, at least Fox cancels their low rated stuff. UPN, WB, and Sci-fi seem more than happy to cancel some of their highest rated shows.

Adam Tyner

I have to admit that I do like the fact that Fox is willing to give fairly far-out concepts a shot, even if they do pull the trigger way too soon. I'd have a hard time seeing any of the other broadcast networks greenlighting a show like Firefly or Wonderfalls, and even in the event that they did give it a shot, I can't see them having stuck with them for more than a season. I'd rather have eight episodes of a unique show without much of a shelf life than seventy episodes of something tedious, safe, and predictable.

critterdvd

I agree that ABC cancels great shows (like "Life as we Know It," "My So Called Life," and "The Days"), but then again ABC usually gives these shows a better chance, none of them have been scheduled on a Friday (although putting LAWKI against The OC wasn't very smart), but ABC aired all the episodes of these series (with the final 2 LAWKI scheduled for April), while Fox cancells shows before they have even a fighting chance (Wonderfalls had 9 unaired, firefly had 3, and tru calling has 6 to name a few)... Just the price we pay for wanting intelligent TV.

kevin75

if we are bashing networks for cancelling great shows, then i HATE nbc for getting rid of ed.

Jackskeleton

Sorry, but fox didn't cancel Angel. WB did.

I love firefly, but I disagree completely. There was a reason why Firefly didn't get the audiance off the bat. They were using Joss' name and trying to appeal to the buffy/angel crowd by putting this show as "Buffy in space". That it was not. Also the air dates were messed up. They did want to appeal to the buffy crowd by having it open up big. A mistake on fox's part. But shit, you are getting a full film out of it. Atleast be thankful for that.

there's a reason why Futurama wasn't top priority for Fox. And it has to do with creative control of the series. With Simpsons success, matt got the ability to control the way Futurama was going as well as racking in a lot of the profit. So Fox really didn't bother to push it to any degree.

20th TV put it's production budget into other stuff this season so that when it came time for Tru Calling, shows they thought would be canceled, weren't (Arrested development and a few others that managed to beat the axe). So that cash they thought would be around for these other shows wasn't there. They just ran out of money so they offered it up like they did with Buffy, to UPN, WB and any other network so that they can pay part of the bill and get the shows produced for the second season. No one wanted it and so it died. It wasn't some evil fox exec wanting to cancel it. They were just tight on production budgets for all the shows and thems the break.

The OC is a WB production and is syndicated to FOX. I'm sure the moment the ratings dip for it they will stop ordering them. This shouldn't be in this article since 20th Century doesn't pump these dvds out for a quick buck.

Like another poster pointed out. Atleast fox gives these shows the green light and they do save some shows every now and then. Arrested Development was pumped out quickly on DVD and was very close to getting the axe come down on it. Emmy awards saved that show and look at it now. Still not high in ratings, but it does get a lot of critical praise.

Now I don't see why there is any bitching about "quick to dvd". Those rabid fans are loving it when they can have the collection in a non-convention-bootleg version of the shows complete run

But hey, Fox just likes to cancel any and every show they ever produce right? King of the Hill, Bearnie Mac Show, Malcolm in the middle, reba,

Shit, just thinking how many years the following shows: The Practice, NYPD Blue, Cops, X-files, Buffy, M*A*S*H were on the air (sure on different networks, but shit, article writer brings up angel, I can bring up a 20th TV production) makes me wonder why there is so much hate for fox when it comes to show variety and production.

Has Fox had a lot of reality crap? Yes. But nothing more than any other network. Just like any other network, if it's not working out or the ratings don't warrent it, then they cancel it.

ABC is named in this thread a lot. Lets see... Extreme Make over House Edition and then the "How did they do that" episode. Add in any of those The Bachelor/Bachelorette shows and ABC isn't free from the Reality TV taint. Now does ABC also give anything a chance? No. Buena Vista (owner of ABC) offered it up to ABC and they passed on SCRUBS. We are lucky that NBC decided to pick it up or else it would have been dead in the water.

Ok, lets see one final example on fox keeping a show on the air for a while.. The Simpsons.

clemente

Seriously, when did internet TV geeks get letigimate writing jobs at newspaper? That could have seriously been a rant post here, even managed to get Star Trek mentioned!
And he actually refered to it as "Friday Night Death Slot"!

Bill Needle

Unfortunately there is a lot more to whether a show stays on the air than "is it a good show." Advertisers (revenue - not just driven by audience numbers alone), actors (costs of production), and creative control/studio politics have far more to do with it. Maybe it should be stunning that quality shows make it on the air at all.

Tommy Ceez

A friday night death slut sounds good right about now.

Michael Corvin

yes, but Fox gets the the most slack b/c they air the bottom of the barrel reality crap. "Who wants to marry a gay, jewish, KKK midget?" They have essentially turned episodes of Jerry Springer into full season reality shows. It is sad. I mean, COME ON!, in between all this mucky-muck, they could give some of these shows a better chance at finding a following.

I thought the article was a good read.

Jackskeleton

The thing is, this is a free market. The moment folks stop watching those bottom of the barrel shows, the sooner they will stop showing them. But like Jerry Springer, everyone wants to watch it for the simple matter of talking about it.

As lisa said "Just don't look". Poster already said it. This market is run by rating share. Those crappy shows are getting the ratings for some god unknown reason.

chowderhead

I actually think Saturday night is the death slot. Friday nights have been used by networks to protect shows from tougher competition and to grow a show. There have been many many successful shows that started out on Fridays. There is an audience on Fridays if the show is decent (not that I am saying I enjoy all of these shows but they have been bonfide hits).
CSI
Everyone Loves Raymond
X-Files
L&O: SVU
the entire TGIF ABC lineup (80s and early 90s)
Joan of Arcadia
I think I will add Numb3rs

Giantrobo

Anyone remember that cool Werewolf show Fox had on when they first came on the air?

RKillgore

When I got the Family Guy set a few months ago, there was a booklet in it, proclaiming, "Fox knows TV DVDs!" My reaction was, "Too bad Fox doesn't know TV programming." The majority of the series sets were from shows, as the OP article states, cancelled before their time, many of them including previously unreleased episodes.

So maybe Fox intentionally abuses and cancels some of these shows so the DVD set will have the draw of never-before-seen episodes to make the set more appealing.

BTW, Fox, when ARE you going to release a Brisco County Jr set?

Jackskeleton

What other studio releases all their canceled shows on dvd? Atleast be happy about that.

calhoun07

By this point, if you are a producer of a witty, original, fresh and great TV program and you are marketing it to FOX, it is YOU who is the moron, not FOX.

Michael Corvin

True dat.

clemente

Fox doesn't always stick with shows, but at least they give them a shot.

Wonderfalls, Firefly, Family Guy, Tru Calling...all on Fox, all canceled early, all on DVD. What else do they have in common...no other network would have taken a shot in hell on these shows.

Neeperando

Is there nothing to be said for letting a show find a groove, though? I give Fox credit for trying things that have never been tried, but it's like won't stick with them unless they're instant hits. What do Fox shows in their second+ season have in common? They were all big hits from day one. Malcolm, Simpsons, King of the Hill, 24, etc. You have to give a show a year or so to find its audience. They don't look at the long-term. Although, I guess when your goal is to make short-term profits there's not much you can do. A TV show is at its best (IMO) when it can develop long-term plots and characters (see Buffy, Lost, anything on HBO). However, the visible results of a long-term TV addiction are harder to see and harder to predict. Anyway, 24 is starting now and that's WAY more important that talking to you nerds.

duganrm

I have been waiting for this too. Last I read about it, is that it was supposed to be out in 2002.

BTW: you sure fox owns this? not warner?
http://www.tvshowsondvd.com/showinfo.cfm?ShowID=558

Jackskeleton

Nope, Warner owns it. Much like The OC, WB produces the show and fox shows it for first run syndication. Much like Buffy was made by FOX but shown on WB.

calhoun07

I don't feel Fox gave any of those shows a chance. A death slot on Friday night is not a chance, and pitting an episode of Wonderfalls against a season premier of a #1 show on CBS on a Thursday night line up then cancelling it when the episode doesn't pull in the desired numbers is even worse. And Family Guy was shot around their schedule so often, but mainly was put on at 7:30 on Thursday night. Who was watching it then? And even if they were guaging online opinions at the time, most people who talked about Family Guy online hated the show, saying it was a rip off of the Simpsons (which amazed me when the love for the show poured out AFTER it was cancelled.)

And for Firefly...it was freaking JOSS WHEDON. I would think, or at least hope, that somebody else would have picked up that show if Fox hadn't picked it up, but wasn't that show originally supposed to take the slot of the X-Files? I seem to recall reading that Joss Whedon was preparing a new series for Fox that would take over the Sunday night X-Files time slot. If they had it on Sunday night, I get the feeling we would all be watching season three now, but it got the death slot on Friday.

Every innovative and interesting show Fox brings on the air usually winds up on Friday or Thursday night, pitted against shows that do far better in the ratings. I don't call giving those shows a chance. I guess they have to put something on in those time slots, but if they really want to build audiences for those shows, why not put them on in prime slots and promote the hell out of them. All I can say is thank God they did that for Arrested Development. They put it on after American Idol a time or two and had some airings of the series in prime slots during the week and it really got some good attention to the show, and I am sure the FX marathons helped out. That show was given a chance. Your list from above? Never, and you can add Lone Gunmen to the list as well. When you cancel a show at the end of a season with a cliffhanger, there should be no arguement that at least you gave the show a chance. (Though I would give you that probably no other network would want Lone Gunmen as a series.)

HBO and Showtime seem to be eating up innovative programming. In fact, Dead Like Me had a decent run on Showtime, and that is a series that is often compared to Wonderfalls. But I also read that Dead Like Me often beat out network shows in it's time slot for ratings, so obviously the audiences for these shows are out there. Most of them who watch the shows on Fox, however, don't have Nielson boxes to tell the network they are watching. Instead, they buy the sets on DVD when they come out and suddenly Fox is wondering where all these sales came from. Word of mouth is undoubtedly the excuse they use, but I dare say the people buying those DVDs were watching it on TV all along, but had no way of letting the network know they were there.

Jackskeleton

I can not tell you the amount of people that I hear from that did not know of firefly or even bother watching it on tv. Same goes with firefly, greg the bunny and other fox canceled shows. You shouldn't be surprised that word of mouth is a major factor of a show doing well on dvd. That and the price of the dvd.

How much was wonderfalls? How much is arrested development? the price alone is just about the amount for a full movie.

As for firefly, like I said, they pimped it out as Buffy in space. That is what fox was expecting and when it got something that wasn't Buffy in space, then it lost audiance members and it lost a lot of viewers because it was being shown out of order to try to attract those buffy converts.

There is a lot of factors that come into play in these situations.

duganrm

Let me start by saying that I never got around to reading that link at the top. It has been my opinion that shows I like get cancelled too quick on any network. There are also shows that have gone too far past when they should have been cancelled. This is just something we can't control since we don't run the networks and my view don't agree with the normal viewer.

It was my understanding that Firefly was to replace Dark Angel (another show I thought died too early).

Let me start by saying, I loved the Lone Gunmen on X-files. What they put on as a tv show was bad though. It deserved to die quickly. Why did they have to ruin the show with the jock that was working with blind kids playing football? It just didn't feel like the same characters from X-files anymore. (I still plan to pick up the dvds because they were the best characters on X-files)

Dead Like Me also died too quick. I am still waiting for Season 2 on dvd. Anyone hear of an ETA of that?

I haven't had cable, dsl, or even rabbit ears in 6 months. Prior to that, I barely watched anything on the cable we did have. I buy dvds though (but I did say I am not normal). I can barely name all the tv shows on dvd that I have bought without ever seeing one episode or even a commercial (24, Alias, Angel, Babylon 5, Beastmaster, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Crusade, Dark Angel, Dead Like Me, Everybody Loves Raymond, Firefly, Forever Knight, Jeremiah, Lost World, Millennium, Profiler, Roswell, Taken, Will and Grace to name a few). I also plan on buying other shows that I have not seen before but seem like something I like (4400, new Battlestar Gallactica, Wonderfalls to name a few). My point is... well, the hell if I know. maybe I should get back to watching MacGyver....