Sam Carter/Amanda Tapping Discussion/Appreciation

[SunKrux]

<snippity do da>

My theory on this Carter/Mitchell command mess is that TPTB didn't originally intend to have Mitchell in command because they knew how much trouble it would cause, but SciFi or Sony wanted a male lead or Browder's fan base or both and told them to put him in the lead. The writing of Mitchell as so green is probably representative of their original idea for him and is possibly their form of protest. One thing that doesn't make sense to me, however, is why Sony or SciFi would care so much about a male lead when SciFi's also airing a show like BSG which totally disregards all those old rules and stereotypes and is the best show I've seen in a long time.

While Ben has a decent fan base, I'm pretty much willing to guess that the "suits" don't give a tinkersdang about what the fans want.

One good thing, however, about the co-lead thing is that it frees TPTB up to do a lot of different things with Sam and the position she occupies in the Stargate universe. Maybe with more changes coming and the rumored crossovers with Atlantis they'll do just that.

Exactly, by having them "co-lead" it can give TPTB more options on how to further develop Sam. That's not a bad thing in my book.

[Skydiver]

I was about to say that.

It's a body double. Apart from the back shot. That's real AT back!Porn. But that's about it.

yeah. she talked about it how she was given polaroids of boobies and buns and got to choose which ones would stand in for hers.

if you'llwatch the film closely you'll see that every time you see boobies or buns there's a clear edit between them and amanda.

basically, they're stunt boobies

[SunKrux]

Yeah, perhaps. But I think that getting a role as a lead these days, especially when it's an ongoing series and you're a replacement, does depend on what sort of fan base can you bring to the show.

Don't buy it, but hey, that's ok. We don't all have to agree.

[Skydiver]

in the case of rda, his name was above the credits because, in the beginning, they needed a 'big name' actor to anchor the show. and that actor was rda. because of that, he got his name first (for many years scili would not give thire approval to another season until they knew that rda signed. his willingness to be a part of it decided whether there was a s6, 7,or 8.

now that scili doesn't feel that an actor is more important than the show so there is no name in front of the credits. if ben were to decide that he didn't want to continue, they'd find another 'well known' actor with a decent sized fan base to take his place, probably someone of the trek fame would be my guess

[SunKrux]

I'm actually not sure that would be the case. On Charmed this season Brian Krause is only in about half of the season but he is still considered a lead actor on the show. They could split AT's time in half and she could still be considered a lead actor on SG-1 and possibly on SGA too depending on how it's negotiated. If this is the case it would certainly be a good thing for AT's career.

Bingo, give ColonelSamOneill the fluffy bunny!

[ChopinGal]

Happy birthday two ewes
Happy birthday two ewes
Happy birthday dear mini
Happy birthday two ewes!

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y11...nns0605028.jpg

[Tracy Jane]

in the case of rda, his name was above the credits because, in the beginning, they needed a 'big name' actor to anchor the show. and that actor was rda. because of that, he got his name first (for many years scili would not give thire approval to another season until they knew that rda signed. his willingness to be a part of it decided whether there was a s6, 7,or 8.

now that scili doesn't feel that an actor is more important than the show so there is no name in front of the credits. if ben were to decide that he didn't want to continue, they'd find another 'well known' actor with a decent sized fan base to take his place, probably someone of the trek fame would be my guess

I was thinking the same thing myself. Bravo to that girl! You still want to attract Sci-Fi fans cos they're the obsessive con going lot that bring in the money. I'm going for Trek for the next lead too.

[SunKrux]

This is where they lose me. The ratings numbers have not really changed significantly, accounting for the increased number of households that have scilie this year the ratings have been pretty much stagnant from last year except the slight increase because of household numbers.

I have to believe FS had more than 200-250,000 fans that BB and CB would bring in, plus they have 2 pretty big mainstream names in Bridges and Gossett and still the numbers went relatively nowehere. My guess, and my money, would be on the the ratings having been the same or better in S9 without all this new stuff and keeping the original Stargate dynamic, sans RDA.

The ratings argument for Browder is not cutting it for me because the numbers are not there. I have to believe that the suits spending all of this money on all of these new so-called "stars" with names that are apparently bigger than Tapping, Shanks and Judge, was going to garner a lot more viewers and a lot higher ratings than they are getting thus far. Where are all of the BB FS fans that are supposedly throwing themselves at the scilie channel to geta glimpse of their "leading man"?

To be honest when I heard about the new additions to the cast, BB, CB, BB2 and LG, I thought, based on the numbers (2.4 IIRC) they got for last years (S8) premiere and first few eps, that the ratings for S9 would be out of the park - I do not see it - I do not see the streams of BB/FS fans rushing to watch.

Two guesses as to why you're not seeing the BB/FS fans rushing to the show...
1) The current ratings system is way to frellin' old and doesn't take into account the folks who TAPE shows to watch later or the folks who gather with fellow fans at one place to watch.

2) A lot of Ben fans don't surf the net.

[Tracy Jane]

Every one heres a big At fan right

Of course I'm a big AT fan. I'm just trying to somehow rationalise TPTB's thinking. It might not be worth the pain, though.

[SunKrux]

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MINIGEEK!!!!!!!

It's your birthday, it's your birthday!

Hope you have/had a frellin'tastic day! May you continue to be blessed with joy, peace and wonder!

[JuliaR]

Or we could present it to her at Gabit and offer to mail it to her in Vancouver if it's really big. It couldn't possibly cost that much to mail it and I'd be willing to donate to the postage fund. I'm sure Mini would carry it in a poster container on the trip over or it would be destroyed by the time it got to the con, so then it would only be a matter of putting a label on it and shipping it to Amanda in Vancouver.

Just delurking. As you know I lurk mostly when I get time away from Gabit.

Thought I'd jump in here and say that I'm sure we could come to some sort of arrangement to help you guys and if you gave us a postage paid tube, I would personally guarantee to send it over to Amanda when she returned rather than her have to take back a bulky item, which one of you pointed out wasn't a good idea. Just get in contact with me prior to the Event and I will ensure it happens, as I sit with Amanda for the autographs and can ensure that I put it to one side for my attention once she's seen it.

With regard to presenting to her. That would have to be done at the autograph session, by perhaps a nominated two of you, when your turn comes for your autograph, so I would ask Becky, who is the Director in charge of the autograph/photograph room, to ensure that the two nominated members were together in the autograph queue. All items to be handed to Amanda are subject to checking first so you would have to ensure that it was handed in on the Saturday so that it could be looked at and then given back to you to hand to her on the Sunday. Because of copyright issues you would be better doing the hand-drawn (which sounds lovely btw) picture with signatures and a central message rather than actual photos of Amanda. Either that, or you could perhaps make it a poster of small pictures of all of you with your signatures overprinted on one poster as a souvenir of what her fans look like on this thread.

These are purely suggestions to help you, but whatever you do I'm sure it will be a lovely item for her. Amanda appreciates her fans dearly and I'm sure it would serve as a great reminder to her of how much loved she is by all of you, even though in reality she doesn't need one! The number of fans who travelled to the Gabit Event was a great testament to her popularity and how much affection she is held in by her own fans, and there aren't many actors/actresses who could hold an entire weekend on their own. She's fantastic.

Julia
Guest Services Director, G4

[Strix varia]

Poor CG, I hope I didn't scare you with the little misunderstanding. Blame it on me not being a native English speaker.

And Lys, your English is so good it's very easy to forget that sometimes.

((((Lys))))

[Tracy Jane]

Thank you Julia, that's really sweet.

[Skydiver]

Two guesses as to why you're not seeing the BB/FS fans rushing to the show...
1) The current ratings system is way to frellin' old and doesn't take into account the folks who TAPE shows to watch later or the folks who gather with fellow fans at one place to watch.

2) A lot of Ben fans don't surf the net.

the ben/claudia fans can also be counterbalancerd by the sam/jack and the jack ones that are no longer watching.

I believe that FS average rating was about a 1, which does have to include folks that also watched stargate (in fact i think that scifi's ratings went up when sg and atl were on hten back down when fs was on...which isn't necessarily a comment on the quality of the show but the fact that a 3 year old show is hard to get into)

given that ratings have gone up a little you could probably assume that if 1000 fs fans have joined the show, they are counterbalanced by 900 jack, sam/jack ones that have left.

there is also the fact that the neilson ratings are horribly unreliable. for the most part they are taken from 5000 house holds. that's it, 5000 out of hte whole us (there is some other methods in bigger cities, but those are just for overnights, not the normal ones)

what are the chances that a good portion of those 5000 folks are stargate fans???? or farscape fans???? not many.

often the success or failure of a show has less to do with its popular appeal than it has appealing to that small group of black box owners

[Strix varia]

*Please remember, I am not in the least bit defensive nor am I defending Ben. I am just sharing my OPINION.

D

SunKrux, is it wrong of me to laugh now when you preceed your posts with disclaimers? Eventually we'll figure out that you're not being defensive. Really!!!