aynrandgirl

Fox stops production on 'Amsterdam'

I just love it when network execs spend millions on advertising and production without ever airing a single episode. Sunk costs, anybody?

Dr. Henry Jones, Jr.

haven't seen any advertising on that one

Jadzia

They were promoting it during the summer because it was orginally part of Fox's fall line-up. Then I think they decided to premiere it mid-season.

I am not surprised they would cancel production after 7 episodes. Most Fox series don't even make it that far anyway.

aynrandgirl

Why spend the money and (as is most likely) not air any episodes? You've already spent the money, so you might as well air the episodes instead of spending even more money hoping its replacement will do better. I thought Fox was in the business of pleasing audiences, not pleasing its own executives. How does Fox know if the audience will hate it without airing it? If network executives are the real paying audience, they should stop broadcasting entirely.

Jadzia

It doesn't make sense at all, but Fox is notorious for starting a series and then yanking it after a couple of episodes. Usually the unaired episodes are left in the can never to see the light of day.

I would be surprised though if Fox never airs the show at all. They will likely schedule it into a crappy time slot in the off-season and then cancel it after a few airings.

stingermck

Man, canceled before airing! Next they will have to cancel while in development.

DJariya

It sounds to me the show is having some creative problems and the network is not liking the current direction of the series. Plus, there isn't even a set timeslot (for midseason) for this yet and that's not a good sign either. At least the Sarah Connor Chronicles has now occupied the Monday at 8pm slot in January. Oh well, I was willing to give this a try, but if it never airs I won't really care.

Also, Peter Liguori was the one who green lighted this series before FOX hired Kevin Reilly to take over as FOX President. Maybe Reilly doesn't like the series and that's why he killed production.

Draven

You do realize you are trying to make sense out of what Fox executives do with their television programming, right?

DJariya

The Futon Critic reports the show order has indeed been cut to 7 episodes. The show is most likely DOA.

Dr. Henry Jones, Jr.

If airing something else will make them more money, then there's no reason to air this, even if it has already been produced.

aynrandgirl

How will they know it will make them more money? This question is impossible to answer without airing it! Ergo, anybody acting on this premise is insane.

aynrandgirl

That's very possible. Now if my boss told the owners that he cancelled a project, not because the customers said they won't buy it (the customers haven't even seen the finished product yet), but because he personally didn't like it, my boss would probably be canned in a heartbeat. As I said, is the purpose of a media business to satisfy its managers or its viewers? Perhaps Reilly is cleaning house just to clean house rather than because New Amsterdam is a bad show. It seems unlikely they'd have approved production if the pilot was terrible, and I'm sure they watch the finished episodes along the way.

Mysteryfan

Could it have something to do with the fact that Moonlight is not doing very well?

Jadzia

Knock, knock.

--Who's there?

Amsterdam.

--Amsterdam Who?

Amsterdam sick of Fox cancelling shows!

aynrandgirl

Sure it could. I would argue that was bad thinking, however. For example, if my new cop procedural was a dud, does that mean viewers don't want to watch cop procedurals? Hardly, they are perennially popular. Just because some other show with a supernatural premise goes bust doesn't mean mine will. Ghost Whisperer is still on the air, isn't it? Plus Moonlight is a vampire show, and as I recall the main character in NA is immortal but not a vampire.

DJariya

I think Reilly probably watched most of the completed episodes and probably thought the show stunk and that's why he canned the project before they wasted anymore money.

Cusm

So let me understand this, the guy responsible for revamping ABC and actually getting ratings (Lost, DH, Greys Anat, etc) for them is fired, but the monkeys at FOX keep plodding away.

DJariya

Huh? Not sure if I understand your comment. But, Stephen McPherson is the man your talking about at ABC and he's still employed there. Reilly use to work at NBC.

Quatermass

This was in our local paper today in an article about Shows that are coming on despite the strike:

“New Amsterdam” (sneak peek, 8 p.m. March 4 on Fox; time-slot premiere 8 p.m. March 10): John Amsterdam (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau) is a New York homicide detective with a perk that might allow him to skip the bulletproof vest: He’s immortal.

Sorry if this is a repost. I checked the "strike" thread but it was too long to see if this has been mentioned.

DVD Josh

It doesn't surprised me that FOX held this back. It's a similar premise to Moonlight.

Drexl

I bet if they would change the title to "Old New York," people would just like it better that way.

rfduncan

Vampire and Immortal are two very different things - as they have killed vampires on Moonlight... plus Moonlight won the People's Choice Award for best new drama!

Groan....

DJariya

The fact that they cut this from 13 episodes to 7 is not a good sign.

pinata242

DVD Josh

Hey man, you can kill immortals. Just ask all those Highlanders that lost their heads!

And they might be two different things, but in reality, the are the same - make believe.