New start date for S2

Just saw this at JMS news:

>It's been almost two years since the first season of Jeremiah ended - have
>the plans to film season two been shelved?

First, the statement above is not correct. The season finale aired July 19,
2002, so it's less than one year since the season ended.

Second, last I heard the show was going to run starting the first week in
September so that it could conclude with the last four shows in November
sweeps.

jms

So ShowTime wants to put Jeremiah up against the Novemeber Sweeps. Is that a good thing or a bad (trying to kill it) thing? Hard to say, but I think Showtime sucks.

Cerberus

I am puzzled And befuddled. The pretext of Sweeps is for the networks to set the rate they charge advertisors for each timeslot. Showtime, like HBO, doesn't have advertisors -- it draws its revenue from subscriptions. Therein lies my confusion (and befuddlement) -- why would Showtime care about Sweeps?

Then again maybe they don't and we're misreading that message.

(Rambling)
From a Save Jeremiah standpoint, Showtime would be easier to manipulate than your average advertisor-based network. Showtime cancels Jeremiah -- Jeremiah viewers cancel their subsciptions and let Showtime know the source of their discontent. Then it's up to Showtime to decide whether they like the cost-to-benefit ratio of cancelling Jeremiah. Of course the more people are subscribed to Showtime just because of Jeremiah, the more effective the tactic.

In all honesty, I'm not sure that many people are subscribed to Showtime just because of Jeremiah...

Granted I know absolutely squat about the American TV system, except that it makes the UK system seem positively utopian at times.

However, I was always under the impression that even the subscription channels carried advertisements. When Jeremiah was shown over here, it was an hour long show, including advert breaks - are you saying that it was only 43 minutes per episode on Showtime?

Also, don't I remember that JMS said a while ago that Showtime would be looking to putting the show into syndication at some point. Perhaps this is a first step on that road.

As I say I don't know much about USTV, so I could be way off base, but I don't see why putting the show into the sweeps period is a negative or irrelevant thing.

Cheers,

In the US, channels can be broken down into the following categories:

1) "air" networks (NBC, ABC, CBS, FOX, UPN, WB, independents)
2) public television (PBS)
3) "basic" cable (ESPN, Sci-Fi, TBS, USA, Bravo, etc)
4) "premium" cable (HBO, Showtime, Starz)

Channels in categories 1+2 are available through an antenna or through cable. Channels in category 1 show commercials, while category 2 (public television) doesn't show commercials during programming.

On the cable side (categories 3+4)... when you purchase cable you get all the channels in category 3 with the purchase of basic cable and they show commercials. Category 4 are "premium" channels which are an additional fee per channel in additional to the basic cable bill. These channels typically do not show commercials during programming.

I hope this clarifies as a basic explanation.

-Tim

Just wanted to throw in my .02 cents and say that I am one of those people who subscribed to Showtime JUST for Jeremiah. Not the most economical of decisions to keep a pay channel subscription year round for just one show, but I guess that is how important good television programming is to me. There isn't much I watch anymore, so I'm dying to hold on to and support the shows I do enjoy.

If they kill Jeremiah after season 2, I will cancel my subscription and let Showtime know why.

-Haze

I haven't followed any behind the scenes info on Jeremiah, but surely the fact that it only has, what, 13 episodes in S2 rather than a full 24 or so can't be a good sign of confidence from the channel who funds it?

Right on!

Premium cable doesn't work like that -- they can order how ever many episodes they want and they can show them whenever they want. Just look at the episodes orders and showtimes for "The Sopranos" or "Sex and the City" and you'll see what I mean.

As for confidence -- I believe it was either MGM or Showtime that insisted JMS write most if not all of the eps of the second season

Well I for one hope that the show does go on, it just seemed worrying, but them as I said, I don't know much about the US TV network system!

Im subscribing to Showtime in July just for Jeremiah in August. There is one other show premiering either this month or next on Showtime I might check out. I can't remember the name off hand but it is about a girl how is killed and then becomes a Grim Reaper. Her job is to escort souls or whatever to the other side. Look like a little dark humor there.

In the beginning my husband and I got showtime for Stargate SG1 then we began watching Jeremiah -- unfortunately, we had to move and with S1 ended we felt that there wasn't a good enough reason to get Showtime back, however, now that we know season 2 will be starting, we will subscribe to Showtime again. If Jeremiah does get cancelled, we will unsubscribe to Showtime and make sure they know why.

I can't remember the name off hand but it is about a girl how is killed and then becomes a Grim Reaper.

Click to expand...

Dead Like Me

I haven't followed any behind the scenes info on Jeremiah, but surely the fact that it only has, what, 13 episodes in S2 rather than a full 24 or so can't be a good sign of confidence from the channel who funds it?

Click to expand...

Season two has 15 episodes in it and as I have stated before, it was one of the highest episode commitments that I could find on Showtime. Queer as Folk, which is a much more popular and higher rated show, only got a 14 episode renewal this year.

Also, what CelleDuSoleil said too about premium channels doing things differently than the "norm".

Oh and for the person who was interested, Dead Like Me premieres next Friday June 27th (my bday) so if you want to subscribe for that show, you better do it soon.

MGM just made a bid of 11 billion dollars for 80% of Vivendi Universl (Vivendi owns Scifi and USA networks along with Universal). Maybe Scifi could be the new home for Jeremiah.

What you all think?

Thanks,

Cerberus

I think SciFi had better keep its skeezy mits of my Jerry! Haven't they ruined enough good SciFi already?

Don't you think that before Vivendi Universl bought out Scifi it was a better channel, once VU bought Scifi, Scifi went down hill. This also happened at the same time a decision about LOTR was being made. I don't know if you can say because VU owns Scifi now, if it got sold to MGM it will still suck. Maybe it would but if Scifi is owned by MGM and MGM makes Jeremiah, I don't understand why you would still hate Scifi. O'h well everyone has a right to their opinions.

Thanks,

Cerberus

I think it all depends on what MGM does with SciFi if they do indeed purchase it. Persoanlly, I like having Jer on Showtime because there are no commercials and it doesn't have to be edited for basic cable. I would like Showtime to show more support and interest in the show but I nothing in life is perfect.

Hey, if Jeremiah makes it to SciFi maybe they would get some more exposure and fans.

Don't get me wrong, I love Jeremiah on Showtime, it's just they seem to be screwing with it a lot as far as showing S2. My main point was if there is a problem with MGM and Showtime (as I recall, JMS said something like S2 was given the green light because of some prior commitments Showtime had with MGM) or something like that. Also JMS has just made a quote at JMSNews saying

"...my experience with Marvel has been terrific, Showtime was great to work with,...."

If you take that literally it says to me that he currently has a terrific working relationship with Marvel and Showtime WAS great to work with in the past tense.

I may be reading WAY to much into this but my main point was:
If MGM wins and owns the Scifi Channel and Showtime decides not to renew S3, it would open an option to show their own Science fiction show on their own entertainment asset, the Scifi Channel.

Also, I think that Showtime had started the contract negotiations for S2 by July or August of last year, I would think if S2 is not to air until August or early September it may not be over until November or December. Granted I know nothing about how TV works; however, this seems like a long time for the actors to wait and if this is uncertain, they could go to another project depending how their contracts are constructed.

Bottom line, it seem that Showtime is taking their good old time showing S2 and if they don’t reshow S1, this to me is not a good sign. If MGM wins the rights to Scifi then they will have a vehicle to show their show on their channel if Showtime opts out. It is kinda like if WB had owned Scifi, I think Legend of the Rangers would had been turned into a series, because they would not have to negotiate with Universal for the rights.

Thanks,

Cerberus

To gauge the quality of Showtime's treatment of Jeremiah, you'd have to study how they treat all of their other series. Remember: premium cable is a vastly different ballgame from advertiser-based TV.

Also, don't mistake the distributor for the broadcaster -- they are distinct entities even if they share the same coporate parent. There will always be negotations between distributor and broadcaster, otherwise all broadcasters would be airing all of the products of their respective distributor siblings which is obviously not the case.