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
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
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