Hammer strikes again

[ElScorcho]

As we are all fairly familiar with the circumstances of the demise of Farscape, I'll be brief. SciFi can't continue the series because it's way too expensive, unlike Steven Spielberg's Taken or the next adaptation of the Dune series. Whatever. But - I've just run across something at a news site called SyFy Portal.

"We wanted to do 13 new episodes of 'Farscape' to end the series the way we felt it should be ended properly, and have the proper finale we would have loved to give it," Hammer said. "The bottom line, we couldn't come up with the financial deal that made sense."

From accounts I'd read and heard from the actors and production staff, I was under the impression that the series was cancelled after the season finale was already filmed. How could SciFi have planned to add two extra episodes to the season if it was already finished? And would those two episodes have really broken the bank?

Bonnie Hammer is evidently backpeddling to cover f*cking over the channel's best show and its fans. Either that, or the SciFi execs had planned to cancel Farscape well before they told anyone.

 

[KoshN]

She may have meant 13 new episodes beyond the remaining 2nd half of Season 4, in other words, a short Season 5 of just 13 episodes.

Season 1 - 22 episodes
Season 2 - 22 episodes
Season 3 - 22 episodes
Season 4 - 22 episodes (We're on the 2nd half, now. 2 down, 9 to go)
Season 5 - 13 episodes

Personally, I don't believe a word she says. It is probably always a combination of spin, her being generally confused, and/or her speaking in "TV Suit Language."

So, I just take everything she says with a 1-ton block of salt.

 

[AntonyF]

Yeah... there was talk of 13 episodes for a fifth season being offered. I believe the producers said no... because established shows don't do 13 episodes, that's what beginning shows do. Pride.

 

[hypatia]

Does anyone know how the Sci-Fi channel has been doing in the ratings department lately? I thought December was a big month for the Sci-Fi channel.

 

[Emfeeli]

Yeah, I'm interested to see how these last few Farscape episodes have done.

Phil

 

[KoshN]

Yeah... there was talk of 13 episodes for a fifth season being offered. I believe the producers said no... because established shows don't do 13 episodes, that's what beginning shows do. Pride.

Pride and COMPLETE STUPIDITY. They'd rather have it be chopped off with no ending rather than do 13 more episodes and end it in a much better fashion? If the producers were offered 13 new episodes at their current budget, and then turned it down, I say let it end the way it has.

 

[PillowRock]

From what I have read the problem was that producing the series has both fixed costs for the season and ongoing production costs for each weeks episode. Therefore, making a shorter season increases the average cost per episode.

Henson (and / or their parent company) were unwilling or unable to increase the level of "deficit financing" to get eps 89 -> 101 produced.

SciFi (and / or their parent company) were unwilling or unable to increase their average payment per episode.

Actually, so far as I know, noone has made the details clear about who was willing to move up or down how much. We just know that the minimum Henson would take was more than maximum SciFi would pay.

 

[A_M_Swallow]

Yeah, I'm interested to see how these last few Farscape episodes have done.

RATINGS: Top 10 SCIFI Channel Shows: Stargate SG-1 1.5; 13th Warrior 1.2; Route 666 1.0; Amityville III 1.0; Wishmaster 0.9; Clash of the Titans 0.9; Kull 0.9; No Escape 0.8; Wishmaster 3 0.8, and Warlock 0.8. Source: Nielsen Galaxy Report, 12/23/02 - 12/29/02.


SCIFI FRIDAY RATINGS: Friday night brought back two favorites to SCIFI. FARSCAPE earned a 1.35 rating and its second airing at midnight a 0.78. While that is not bad, it is far from what was expected. STARGATE scored a 1.78 rating. The premiere of TRACKER was decent, with a 1.45 rating.

I took these from www.isnnews.com

 

[KoshN]

The thing is, the first batch of numbers covers the period of the Farscape Marathon, and those were repeats. Granted, that's when I got to see them (and I recorded the entire marathon), but then again, I've never had the priviledge of contributing to any Nielsen Ratings, either through diary or machine. Also, who's going to sit through 11 hours of a marathon, watching it live (which is what people would have to do, to give Farscape an overall high rating)?

Regarding the 1.35, well, people already know that "Farscape" is dead. That may have hurt turnout. Similarly, it may have hurt the "Crusade" turnout when TNT called it a "Limited Series," because people already knew that it was dead, before it even aired. Then, on Sci-Fi, when they aired "Crusade," it was a similar situation, only worse. People knew it was dead, that it wasn't going anywhere, and that they were reruns.

I've had people tell me that they wouldn't watch "Brimstone" or "Crusade" because they know they're dead, and have no chance of coming back. Now, if somebody would say they were going to re-start the series, show the first episodes and then continue on, that'd be different. Then, they'd watch. But, they're not going to watch a show that's already cancelled, and that they know, ends with no resolution. That's the boat that "Farscape" is in.

 

[GaribaldisHair]

But, they're not going to watch a show that's already cancelled, and that they know, ends with no resolution

Yeah.

Odyssey 5 was on my "Don't go out of your way, but watch it if at all possible" list - which is pretty good for me, only B5 and 24 have ever made the "Do whatever you have to, just make sure you don't miss it" list.

Now, I find it hard to raise the enthusiam, knowing it is going nowhere once the next 5 eps are done.

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