Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

Changing how SciFi TV programs are done

Collapse
This topic is closed.
X
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

    Changing how SciFi TV programs are done

    This idea comes from thinking about all the programs that I have watched that was canceled early.

    Since SciFi creates stories with major changes to the world it lends itself to long story arcs as seen by the numerous SciFi book series. However TV is notorious in canceling programs before the story gets done often with very unsatisfactory ending if they are lucky to get an ending at all.

    So instead of TV trying to come up with series which are intended to last 3,4 5 or more years how about instead just writing a series that fit’s the amount of episodes that are paid for. So FOX would pay Josh Whedon for 13 episodes of FireFly and he would write and direct the story so that there was a conclusion at the end of these 13 episodes. Instead of Fox just canceling and the series being left in mid story.

    The advantage to this are many. Everyone on the production side knows where they stand and on the fan side they know they will get a story with a thought out conclusion and on the money side the producers have a complete product that they can sell to both syndication and to the fans using DVD’s. I believe that sales of FireFly would have been higher if they could have sold a complete story rather then a cancelled series with a ending left in the air. Also since the program would not be canceled since the program was only scheduled for 13 episodes it would look better on everyone’s resume, including the FOX executives. Instead of being the producer, director, writer, star etc of a canceled program they were the producer, director, writer, star of a short series which might not have had great ratings but sold a significant amount to syndication and DVD.

    This does not mean that you cannot have a continuation of the story but instead of being a second season you would have a sequel which could be done not only in the next year but in any of several years later. This sequel would not necessarily be another 13 episodes, it might be a just a mini-series, it might be 22 episodes, it might be a TV or even theatrical movie release, But once again it would be written as a stand alone with a conclusion so that it could be sold in the aftermarket.

    I also think that people would buy into a series if they knew that they would get a conclusion to the story at the end of a season. I must admit that I have great reluctance to start watching a series knowing that it is very likely to be canceled just when I get involved with the story and characters and I will be left with no conclusion. Also with a sequel system instead of a series system the chances of a sequel are higher then restarting a canceled series so the chance of my favorite story being continued would be higher since it has a better chance of aftermarket sales and of being sequeled in different formats and different distributors and not just relying on one networks decision based on the original broadcasting market share.

    There are problems with this, one being getting actors back for sequels, they might have moved on. But being a sequel you can use this as an opportunity to get some new blood in the story. Or you can mix things up for both actors and stories. Summer Glau for example might not come back for the third sequel to TSCC but instead do a season on The Big Bang Theory. However the third sequel to TSCC might have a story arc where the conclusion is that they recover Camerons chip and then build a new body for her (maybe with a few guest appearances by Summer). If there is a fourth sequel then Summer can come back as the Terminator.

    Another example is with the TV program Enterprise. Instead of being a multi year series it would have been 22 episodes of “The First One Year Cruise of the Enterprise“, where it would have concluded with the Enterprise limping back to Earth after its first year with various lessons learned. If there was a sequel it would be the second cruise of the Enterprise, with some new crew and equipment based on what they had learned the first cruise. The second group of actors would depend on how the story went, whether the actors wanted to come back or if the producers wanted the actors back. For example the first cruse might have had a crew of civilians but after running into problems the second crew might have a more military cast.

    So that is my proposal, a new way of doing such long stories while giving producers a complete story to sell in the aftermarket, taking away some of the stigma for cast and crew when the series gets canceled and giving fans stories with thought out conclusions while increasing the possibly that a story which might not have good initial ratings could be sequeled later if fans watch it enough in syndication or buy it in DVD.

    That is the end of my crazy rant and back to reality

    #2
    some shows try this, leaving as few loose ties at the end of season 1 heroes for example, or sg-1 even, if you stop watching at "politics", but most writers understand that having a cliffhanger at the end of the series is more likely to cause fans to want another series and therefore producers can gauge how financially viable another season would be. if all seasons finished all tied up, there would be less demand for more seasons.

    the biggest irony is that every season of a show (except perhaps season 2 or 3) the likelyhood of being cancelled increases every time. however the stories must get bigger and bigger to keep people interested, and making it harder to tie up every plot line in time for a finale, some shows like the x-files for example required the better part of season 9 to tie up the plot lines from 8 years of seasons, and they could only do that because they KNEW it would be the last season, SG-1 was given half a season headstart before they knew they were cancelled and they still had to have a movie to tie up the story arcs, and people still aren't satisfied for the most part!!

    thats the way i see it anyway.
    Last edited by AvatarIII; 24 July 2009, 05:43 AM.
    Spoiler:
    Disclaimer:
    I have been using this username since 1998, it has no connection to "The Last Airbender", or James Cameron's movie.
    Quotes!
    - "Things will not calm down, Daniel Jackson, they will in fact calm up!"
    - "I hope you like Guinness Sir, I find it a refreshing alternative to... food"
    - "I'm Beginning to regret staying up late to watch "Deuce Bigalow: European Gigalo" last night... Check that, i regretted it almost immediately"
    sigpic

    Comment


      #3
      It'd be interesting to see some people take the Japanese TV approach....you do a single season with a main story running through, and then it just ends. If people want more of it, they do another series with the main character starring as his/her first character's son/grandson/whatever.

      It wouldn't work for a lot of things, but there are interesting possibilities there.
      "A society grows great when old men plant trees, the shade of which they know they will never sit in. Good people do things for other people. That's it, the end." -- Penelope Wilton in Ricky Gervais's After Life

      Comment


        #4
        Avatar III

        but most writers understand that having a cliffhanger at the end of the series is more likely to cause fans to want another series and therefore producers can gauge how financially viable another season would be. if all seasons finished all tied up, there would be less demand for more seasons.
        Thanks for the reply.

        Maybe that is my problem, I dislike season ending cliffhangers. I don’t mind cliffhangers from one week to another but six months is too long to hang from any story cliff. Also I fear that the series will be cancelled with me hanging on that cliff. If I liked a program, its story and characters, I will watch it the next time its on whether next week or next year so I don’t need a cliffhanger to get me to watch.

        Also I don’t mean that everything should be tied up but that the major story arc be concluded. There are probably a huge number of stories you can tell about a Firefly universe for example, some that focused on FireFly itself, some that did not. It just that for the 13 episodes that were ordered there should a conclusion point which covers things. For example, ending at the point where the Firefly crew and passengers become a team instead of hired crew and passengers. This would set up the sequel if there was one with them working toward a common goal

        DigiFluid, writes

        It'd be interesting to see some people take the Japanese TV approach....you do a single season with a main story running through, and then it just ends. If people want more of it, they do another series with the main character starring as his/her first character's son/grandson/whatever.
        Sounds like I need to watch some Japanese TV since from what you say at least they get a story ending with the possibility of further sequels.

        Comment


          #5
          You don't even necessarily need to go as far as Japanese TV, it has been done on this side of the pond as well. The original Kung Fu starred David Carradine; and then years later in Kung Fu: The Legend Continues, David Carradine starred again--as the grandson of his character from the original series.
          "A society grows great when old men plant trees, the shade of which they know they will never sit in. Good people do things for other people. That's it, the end." -- Penelope Wilton in Ricky Gervais's After Life

          Comment


            #6
            Originally posted by Grapple View Post
            Thanks for the reply.

            Maybe that is my problem, I dislike season ending cliffhangers. I don’t mind cliffhangers from one week to another but six months is too long to hang from any story cliff. Also I fear that the series will be cancelled with me hanging on that cliff. If I liked a program, its story and characters, I will watch it the next time its on whether next week or next year so I don’t need a cliffhanger to get me to watch.
            There designed that way to entice viewer back next (season if there is one). Not everyone will automatically tune back in.

            Comment


              #7
              Oh anything would be better than ending on a cliffie with no possible resolution

              I HATE CLIFFIES....TSCC ended on a humdinger of a cliffie then they cancelled it, also Primeval ended on a cliffie then that got cancelled too. Personally I won't buy a DVD set that ends like this. I bought the Primeval DVD set but that was before I knew it got cancelled I would have got the TSCC set too but I ain't buying a show that leaves us hanging like that

              Now I am reluctant to get into a show for fear that it'll be cancelled I don't see the point anymore
              sigpic

              Comment


                #8
                Originally posted by Linda06 View Post
                Oh anything would be better than ending on a cliffie with no possible resolution

                I HATE CLIFFIES....TSCC ended on a humdinger of a cliffie then they cancelled it, also Primeval ended on a cliffie then that got cancelled too. Personally I won't buy a DVD set that ends like this. I bought the Primeval DVD set but that was before I knew it got cancelled I would have got the TSCC set too but I ain't buying a show that leaves us hanging like that

                Now I am reluctant to get into a show for fear that it'll be cancelled I don't see the point anymore
                I very much agree, its bad for the fans and its bad for business. I bet they lost a lot of sales for TSCC both DVD and rebroadcast rights because of how they ended it.

                Comment


                  #9
                  Originally posted by Grapple View Post
                  I very much agree, its bad for the fans and its bad for business. I bet they lost a lot of sales for TSCC both DVD and rebroadcast rights because of how they ended it.
                  Oh probably, if TSCC ever done what Farscape done and gave us a TV movie to give us a proper ending then I would buy the set but I won't buy it without any sort of resolution. There's bound to be loads of other people out there that feels this way too
                  sigpic

                  Comment


                    #10
                    Eh. As much as they frustrate me, I do like cliffhangers. Every last one from TNG, DS9, and especially new BSG have had me going out of my head waiting for resolution. If it's something like TSCC....just book it, done. Odds are you don't get a resolution, and on the off chance that you do, it probably ends up amazing a la Peacekeeper Wars.

                    Essentially: expect very little and your only surprises will be pleasant.
                    "A society grows great when old men plant trees, the shade of which they know they will never sit in. Good people do things for other people. That's it, the end." -- Penelope Wilton in Ricky Gervais's After Life

                    Comment


                      #11
                      Originally posted by DigiFluid View Post
                      Eh. As much as they frustrate me, I do like cliffhangers. Every last one from TNG, DS9, and especially new BSG have had me going out of my head waiting for resolution. If it's something like TSCC....just book it, done. Odds are you don't get a resolution, and on the off chance that you do, it probably ends up amazing a la Peacekeeper Wars.

                      Essentially: expect very little and your only surprises will be pleasant.
                      I don't mind cliffies so long as we get a resolution at the end of it. It's when a show ends on a cliffie then gets cancelled and we're left with it stuck in limbo that infuriates me.

                      Now Farscape, they cancelled that but at least whoever it was that was behind the idea of Peacekeeper wars gave us a resolution to it so we didn't end up with a cliffhanger forever
                      sigpic

                      Comment

                      Working...
                      X