This is a rhetorical question actually, because I know why it was cancelled. A buddy lent the DVD's to me last week, so far I've seen about half of them. Now this is one great series. Hell some are actually real funny. The funniest so far is when the captain got 'married'. This whole series is full of good story tellin. Plus it is just very different. It's set in the future, yet it's so wild west. It just boggles my mind how something like this can get pulled from TV. Hell there is so much CRAP on the other channels. Law and Order has three or four shows going, and it has yet to give us any ORIGINAL plot lines in a few years. All these BS reality shows seem to survive as well. When we finally do get something original, with good stories, it gets cancelled. The powers that be really need to relook into this series. It will get my vote to make a comeback.
Sadly, FOX still hasn't learned. This year they cancelled a season long serialized mysery before the end. We got 9 episodes of what was basically 24 in reverse. It was supposed to be 20 years in the lives of this cast, which each episode being set in a different year. It was called Reunion, and "Who shot Sam Brewster?" is going to be one of those questions that will never be answered from a TV show.
The way it sounds piecing together what Joss has to say in the commentary track is Fox had a commitment from him for a show but gave no real specification for what they wanted so he made the show he wanted and Fox didn’t like it.
Fox fucked up, basically. They started airing the show with "The Train Job", because they wanted to jump straight into the action; they didn't air the pilot until a few episodes later. Unfortunately, Joe Average Sci-fi Viewer didn't know who the hell anyone was because of this, and the ratings suffered. Firefly was an amazing series; fresh, original and extremely well written and acted. And because Fox execs don;t know their arses from their elbows, we lost it. All I can say is thank fuck for Serenity.
They ordered The Train Job as a scorned pilot wanting more action and humor then Serenity (not the move), that’s why Train has so much redundant exposition. Serenity was show as series finally and three episodes never aired.
Wonder if there's some kind of connection between these two possibilities... Honestly, I can't see the network airing the show out of order causing that much of a problem. Sure, it would be a little disorienting for viewers, but no more so than coming in to watch any ongoing dramatic series in the middle of a season. If a show is well-written, viewers should be able to get an idea for the characters and events and follow what's going on even if they don't start at the beginning.
I personally blame the Friday night death timeslot it was in. What surprised me more was that no one else picked it up (Sci Fi, UPN, etc.)...I guess either the budget was just too high or FOX wasn't letting go of the rights cheaply.
Quoted for truth. It was the Friday night death spot that killed the show. It was not necessarily airing the show out of order but that may have hurt the show with some big sci-fi fans. The people at Fox didnt "get" the show. So they put it somewhere where they put shows they dont like: Friday night. The Friday night spot was the real killer, airing it out of order was just the small but of icing on the cake.
I agree with the time slot contributing to the demise. I loved the show, but forgot about it all the time. TV just wasn't high on my priority list for Friday night.
Why was Firefly cancelled? Hell if I know. I haven't been impressed with a science fiction television show in a long time and Firefly really surprised me. It's amazing storytelling, the execution of the gags and the plot is handled very well and the series - when watched in the appropriate order - is magnificent. Sad that we'll likely never see much more out of this series.
I really don't get Fox sometimes. The exact same thing happened with Keen Eddie. I'm glad Bravo decided to air the rest of the season after Fox dumped it. I loved that show. Also, I believe Sci Fi did pick the show up for a bit. I seem to remember them showing the entire series in a marathon.
I sort of figured that. It just sucks that somewhat original/different TV gets cancelled for the same mind numbing crap. Oh well, at least we still got BSG on scifi. At least until the athiests decide to sue to get it cancelled due to it's religious content. I'm curious, do all the TiVo users get included in on the Nielson ratings? I mean, does Nielson only count those that actually watch the show or does it include those that record and watch later? Hmmmmm...
1st.) I seem to recall not only was Firefly on a Friday, not only was it run out of order, but I think it was preempted a few times, for the world series or hockey or something like that. 2nd.) Holy cow Gryph! They're airing Keen Eddie on Bravo!?! Damn when? Day/Time? (it's probably already off that chanel too.) 3rd.) I don't know if this is the case in all markets, but NBC in NY is the same chanel that you have to leave your TV on if you're gonna hook up Cable/VCR/Tivo/etc. Everytime I hear about how Friends/Cheers/Law&Order is the top rated show, I get visions of an improperly hooked up Nielson box.
It was cancelled due to low ratings, same as most series. Now, WHY did it get low ratings is up to debate. Some just won't give up front SF a chance. Others were turned off by the mix of space and western. Firefly fans will say that FOX screwed it up by: 1) Not airing the pilot (until it was too late) 2) Airing the shows out of order. 3) Airing them on Fridays (the day its target audience is typically not home). 4) Pulling the series for baseball
You know, after watching Serenity, I'm going to go out and pick up Firefly for when I go on Holiday in July. I thought Serenity was very good. As to Fox, I don't believe they know what they're doing half the time. Still running the Simpsons? It hasn't been funny in YEARS. The most watched program EVER on UK's Sky One, the Ricky Gervais penned episode was rubbish. It had one good gag in it, and it was all downhill from there. In years to come, The Simpsons will be the prime example of how to flog a dead horse.
Everytime I see the dvd set Im tempted to grab it. But then I see the Thundercat sets and can never decide Serenity was pretty good but It didnt grow on me like I hoped it would. I guess cause the ship sorda looked like a cooked turkey and I never cared for teenie girl ass kicker types. Plus I felt like I seen those reavers many times before in other movies. I still watched it 3 times though as it was a pretty good movie.
