Firefly, WTF!

[KoshN]

Hmm, that's a pretty good list, here's mine:

#8 -- Brimstone

Check out Sci-Fi Weekly - Letters (June 9, 2003 issue)

**************************************************
"Brimstone Lacked Crusade's Wow"

In Nathan Brazil's letter ("McTrek Will Rot Your Mind") he says, "There is no room for shows chock full of wow, such as Prey, Brimstone or Crusade."

Putting the dark and boring Brimstone in the same sentence as the mystical Crusade is like putting a rusty can of worms next to a golden goblet. Brimstone had no "wow." Its appearance begged the question, "How did this depressing pile of crap make it to television?"

While in the case of Crusade, the question was, "What were the execs thinking when they canceled this gem after one season?"

Ann E. Bermingham
**************************************************

I just had to post a reply. Evidently, the person hasn't seen:

Repentance
Slayer
Ashes
or
It's A Helluva Life.

I found Brimstone to be poignant, bittersweet, and sometimes uplifting. To call it dark and boring, and depressing, is to truly never have "seen" the show.

I have corresponded with the author of the post and she says she'd like to see Brimstone again. I've offered to lend her my tapes, since Sci-Fi's airing rights have lapsed and not been renewed. She hasn't responded yet.

[zootle]

Ah, if we're talking about shows we'd like to see renewed, but almost certainly wouldn't be, then I'd have to say, in order of preference:

1. Farscape

2. Futurama

3. Family Guy

4. Odyssey 5 (started to show promis toward the end).


Oh, and how about bringing back Doctor Who, Blake's 7 and Space: 1999!

LOL

[raisincajuns]

My list would be:

1. Crusade
2. Brimstone
3. Farscape
4. Space: Above and Beyond

[CelleDuSoleil]

While were making lists, here's mine:

1. Crusade & Firefly (don't ask me to choose -- I worship at the twin altar of Joss and JMS)
2. EZ Streets
3. Earth 2
4. Dark Angel (from the 1st season, the 2nd season was the creative equivalent of the last 2 season of the X-Files I just pretend it never happened. Save yourself the typing, Antony, we're not having that discussion again.)
5. Cupid (the one with Jeremy Piven not that reality drivel)
6. Witchblade
7. Brimstone

... there are some others but they escape me, I'll probably be adding "Keen Eddie" to that list if I know Fox.
Actually, I'll give Farscape an honorary mention because whilest I never got into it, I still believe SciFi behaved abominably and the fans should get closure.

(editted to add Brimstone)

[Mindwalker]

1. Crusade
2. Firefly
3. Space: Above and Beyond
4. Family Guy
5. Futurama

[AntonyF]

WE Americans didn't LET it get cancelled! The powers to be don't give a flying frell what the fans want. They just want big bucks, no matter what we (the fans) say.

Erm... I dunno, I think the blame could be laid at your door. If 37% more viewers than Dark Angel had tuned in, rather than 37% less, Firefly would still be here. Simple as that.

[CelleDuSoleil]

Blaming all Americans for the demise of any show is ... inaccurate. We have seen time and time again that the actual opinions of the actual American public don't actually matter -- the only ones whose opinions do matter are those blessed with Nielsen boxes. Everytime a show is cancelled fandom is reminded how powerless they are because they don't have enough of those magic boxes. It's hardly fair to hold anyone responsible for that over which they have no control.

[PsionTen]

I gotta go with Ant on this. It's simply not feasible to give every household in America a ratings box, so the Nielsens take a cross-representation of society and gives them boxes to get some sort of idea of what America as a whole is watching. Granted, I'm not sure how accurate that system can really be, but I'll assume that it's somewhat accurate for the simple fact that there are billions of advertising dollars at stake. Besides, I don't think that the system is so out-of-whack that virtually no Nielsen people were watching Firefly, yet everyone else was watching in droves.

[CelleDuSoleil]

Just to clarify: When one says that set X is to blame for action Y this implies that every member of set X is responsible for action Y.


Go find yourself an American fan of any show Farscape, Firefly, Crusade, whatever that's been cancelled because of low rating. And by fan I mean a person who watched and hoped and agonized and written letter after letter to anyone in the business that maybe, just maybe might be in a position to save the show ... and tell that person that they are to blame for their show's cancellation. Be my guest. Take Antony with you.

[PsionTen]

Just to clarify: When one says that set X is to blame for action Y this implies that every member of set X is responsible for action Y.

Well, aren't we all responsible? Even the few of us who did watch Firefly apparently did little to nothing to spread the word to get others to watch... apparently that's what you have to do nowadays to get a good show to last longer than 13 episodes. We all know that networks will cancel a show in a second no matter how well written or acted it is... if you really like a show and the ratings suck,then you pretty much have to take it upon yourself to get others to watch.

Go find yourself an American fan of any show Farscape, Firefly, Crusade, whatever that's been cancelled because of low rating. And by fan I mean a person who watched and hoped and agonized and written letter after letter to anyone in the business that maybe, just maybe might be in a position to save the show ... and tell that person that they are to blame for their show's cancellation. Be my guest. Take Antony with you.

You can write all the letters you want, but if you don't get others to watch then it is partially your own fault. Instead of gathering together with other people who love the show and writing letter after letter to a godless network, maybe you should do the unthinkable and approach someone who's never heard of the show and ask them to watch. If they're hooked, they can get another person to watch and so on... if someone had started a grassroots movement like that for Firefly it might still be here.