Learning From the Farscape Campaign

nerd4hire

nerd4hire

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Everybody remembers Farscape, right? It was a quirky, innovative, sci-fi, television show that was cancelled in spite of decent ratings and a large, radical fan base. Does that remind you of anything?

So what did Farscape fans do? Did they petition the network? Did they try to get other networks interested? You bet they did. Here's the results of a petion on one site.



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In The First 24 Hours: 6,500 Signatures

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In The First 44 Hours: 10,000 Signatures

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In The First 49 Hours: 11,000 Signatures

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In The First 72 Hours: 16,500 Signatures

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In The First 94 Hours: 20,000 Signatures

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In The First 123 Hours: 25,000 Signatures

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In The First 144 Hours: 30,000 Signatures

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Current Tally: 45,297 Signatures
(Manually Updated as of 12/20/03 04:30 EST)

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Did it work? Well... if you check here

http://filmforce.ign.com/articles/440/440604p1.html

you'll see a production is under way for a four part mini-series.

Is that good enough? - I doubt any Farscape fan would think so.

Did the petition have any real effect? - Personally, I doubt it. The fact firefly had an active fan base was no real surprise to the networks.

So why was the series cancelled anyway? As far as ratings go, it was doing what a series was supposed to do. - No one seems to know the answer to that one. Here's my best guess. Farscape was a quirky unique show. I'm thinking you don't get that way without having a certain determination to remain as such. What probably happened was the sci-fi network for whatever reason decided to go in a more mainstream, dumbed down direction. The producers of the show probably hesitated to comply. I personally think successful shows like Farscape and Angel are cancelled as an example to the other shows on the network.

Well why didn't they just go to another network? - I don't know if this would apply in Angel's case, but here's what seems to have happened in the case of Farscape:


Many fans hope that another network will have the good sense to pick up the show, and there have been a number of rumors that various other networks may be interested.

But much may depend on whether or not SCI FI is willing to sell the rerun rights to the existing episodes. Without these, it may not make financial sense for another network to invest in the show. If it has been decided that SCI FI can make the most money by milking the rerun rights while killing the show itself, there may be little that fans or anyone else can do about it.
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I think you'll find its the fact that there was also a campaign to send Bra's to the lady at Sci fi that cancelled the show... perhaps that had a touch to do with the return of Farscape... besides Farscape ended on a horrific cliffhanger!!! an EVIL cliffhanger... Joss wouldn't do that to us 😛
 
Here's something I can't figure out. OK, Farscape couldn't be sold, because the Sci-Fi channel owned the rerun rights, correct?

Who owns the rerun rights to Angel? For that matter who owns Angel? Twentieth Century Fox appears to own the intellectual property rights. Does that mean Mutant Enemy has to get an OK from Fox before it does anything?

TNT bought rerun rights to Angel last year. Did it buy "the" rerun rights, or just rerun rights? Isn't TNT the sister station of Warner Bros, since the Time/Warner/Turner Broadcasting merger of 96? Would that mean Warner Bros in effect also owns the rerun rights to Angel now?
 
Oh boy, I was just thinking about the Farscape Campaign to bring back the show too. Farscape, I dare to say, may be the strongest fandom I've ever seen. Farscape didn't seem to have a chance after it got cancelled - and now it's going to return to tv in a mini-series... my excitement over Angel will be 10 times the amount over Farscape.

It took Farscape fans over a year to accomplish what they did, though. Do Buffy/Angel fans have that kind of power and enough interest?

And if you check out www.savefarscape.com and take a look at the Campaign section of the forums, you'll see it took a lot more than just a petition to bring back a show. It's all about time, patience, and obviously money.
 
The reason I think Farscape was cancelled was because it was too expensive to run, they spent so much out on S4, it caused problems for S5.
I really really think we have not seen the last of Angel!!!
 
Lilah said:
I really really think we have not seen the last of Angel!!!
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I really, really, really hope you are right Lilah.

I think I am suffering from Angel Depression (thats what my mates are saying I have) 🙁

This is all just so sad......... ::crying::
 
Let's try something. Let's pretend you're in charge of programing at say UPN, and a representitive from ME, or 20th century Fox walks in the door trying to flog Angel. What's going through your head.

Pretend you're not an Angel fan for a sec. Pretend you're a hard nosed business man or woman. What would you see?

Well the first thing you'd see is an aging series with aging stars.

Problem 1: an established series has a more expensive budget.

Problem 2: It's got what, 2 years left?

Problem 3: The franchise end has already been sold (the lunchboxes, the comics, the albums, the books etc.)

Problem 4: Another network owns the intellectual property rights, and they're not likely to give them up.

Problem 5: Another network owns the rerun rights, and they're not likely to give them up.

Problem 6: If you wanted the show for spinoff potential, there are so many fingers in the Angel pie right now, you don't even know who you'd have to payoff first to get the rights. You only know they would probably be expensive. Plus an established production company and actors costs more than the meat you could snatch off the streets of Hollywood for a new non-spinoff series.

OK...so what do you do?
 
That's true Magui. 20th century fox owns the intellectual property rights. Last year TNT bough rerun rights. Are those "the" rerun rights? I don't know. In any case other companies own these things. Those companies are not going to give those rights away.

True 20th century Fox is part of the effort to shop Angel to another network. That doesn't mean they're willing to just give their property rights to Angel away. It just means there's someone else for whoever wants to buy Angel to pay off.

Here's what I don't understand. I've been researching a little in my spare time over the last few days, but I haven't got to this last little bit yet.

20th century Fox can't be connected to the Fox TV network. Is it? I don't know yet.

The reason I bring that up is, because when I saw 20th century Fox owned the intellectual property rights to Angel I immediately thought, "well why not just sell Angel to Fox TV then". I think the answer must be, they're not the same company.
 
20th century fox is connected to the Fox network, but the network is a different branch that is merely owned by 20th century fox. It's the heads of the network that says wether it will pick a show up or not, 20th century fox can't just go to the network and say "pick up this show or else". Plus, Fox has never been known for putting an effort behind certain TV shows, let us not forget Firefly, the Lone Gunmen and several other shows that fox screwed over. Honestly, I think the best place for the show to go would be UPN, they already have two other franchises under their belts: Star Trek and Wrestling. They might as well go out as the Buffyverses messiah.

But to answer your question, yes, Fox and Twentieth century fox are the same company. That's why Buffy reruns are aired on FX.
 
Actually another advantage to UPN is the Buffy deal included a 2 year option for 1st bid on Angel should it ever leave WB.

Personally, I'm still doubtful for the reasons above. Also UPN is in a lot of trouble right now from what I hear. They have nothing with any kind of future potential. I don't think Angel helps them out there.

It would sure be nice if Angel could move to another network, but when you look into it, it's hard to be optimistic. Luckily ME and 20th century Fox are smarter than I am. They'll find a way (I hope)
 
Wow...this is pretty depressing...I read all the problems and I think....well I doubt teh possibility of it getting picked up more than ever now. 🙁 ::crying::

nerd4hire said:
Luckily ME and 20th century Fox are smarter than I am. They'll find a way (I hope)
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And your a pretty smart person. They must be able to find a way....maybe....hopefully....
 
Well one thing we learned from the Farscape campaign is that you need to go the distance. Don't get discouraged about the odds. That's for lesser beings than us. We may get our hearts desires but if we do nothing we sure as heck won't get anything. In the words of the New York Lottery, You gotta be in it to win it. So are you in or out ? By the way, even though the WB is probably the worst place to expend effort on, it wouldn't hurt to let them know that you will NOT be watching Dark Shadows if they are pulling the plug on Angel. Also, if they reconsider about renewing Angel, tell them you'll give Dark Shadows a chance.
They don't even take into account how insulting it is to us to assume any cheezy substitute will do. Blechhh ::bbat::
 
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