According to a Yahoo article I just read: For the record, I LIKE Firefly. It boasts interesting characters, decent acting, and snappy dialogue (eye candy doesn't hurt, either), all of which is expected from a Joss Whedon show. The problem is, FOX is killing this series. Many predicted this from the get-go, and they couldn't be more right. Much of the problem lies in airing the episodes out of order. The first ep (actually 1.3 in the series) left many confused. Because the original pilot wasn't aired first (due to a lack of action, according to the FOX brass), the viewer had no backstory to begin with. Sure, the original pilot will be broadcast later this season, but... Firefly might not be around for that, which would suck. The last episode was actually 1.7, not 1.3. FOX continues to befuddle the viewer with out of order episodes. Their explanation is that the episodes can stand alone, so it doesn't matter. While this may be somewhat true, FOX is not taking into account one of Whedon's specialties: character builidng. Whedon likes to build each character little by little, revealing big scraps occasionally (usually at the end of the ep in a form of a shocker). For this to happen, the episodes must be in order. Otherwise, the revelations will not have the intended effect if we ALREADY know what they are. I also do not like Firefly's timeslot on Friday night. What is it with sci-fi and Friday? Do they think geeks have nothing better to do than watch Firefly (FOX), Farscape (Sci-fi... canceled ), Stargate:SGI (Sci-fi), Dead Zone (Sci-fi), and Odyssey 5 (Showtime)? (Um, don't answer that.) Granted, there's not much competition from other shows, but Friday has been notoriously bad for network shows and ratings. If FOX felt they had a gem on their hands, they would debut the show in a much better timeslot and THEN shift it to Friday once they established a fan base. Debuting the series on Friday seems to be a death sentence from the start. An unfair one at that, too. It's clear that FOX has no idea how to build a show (unless it's on Sunday night ), and because of that, we'll always be stuck with crap specials like "Zany Forest Fires!" and "Buried Secrets of Starr Jones' Kitchen!" So I say again: FOX is killing Firefly, and it's a shame. Most of you probably don't care because it doesn't interest you at all. I think that if you were to watch an episode, however, you might just like it. People tend to dismiss shows without even seeing it. Please give Firefly a chance. Or face the terrible wrath of "When Cows Attack During Police Chases!" You've been warned... Anyone agree? Anyone actually watch the show? Anyone care at all?
Man I am so totally with ya on this! I love this show, kinda like a sci-fi western with tons of tasty eye-candy. Like the girl from last week, she was hot! and then there's the "Companion" (sorry, I don't know all the names yet). Fox hasn't got a clue about sci-fi. If they did, they would have never cancelled Dark Angel or Deadly Games(that was on Fox right?).. but then again, I have weird tastes..shows I really like get cancelled...and I don't like shows that are massively popular (Friends,Seinfeld anyone) Have faith, if all else fails Sci-Fi Channel may pick it up.
FOX should just produce the show and sell it to either the WB or UPN, just like the other Joss Whedon shows. Of course that means the ratings will be horrible and the effects budget would probably need to be slashed, but those channels have done a fine job handling Buffy, and to a slightly lesser extent Angel. About the show, I can see some good characters. Like his other shows, I don't think the main star (the captain) is the best. I like Jayne and the pilot so far, and the companion seemed interesting until she went all goo goo for the captain. The genious behind all of his shows are that they are genre busters. You really can only look at his other shows to find similar stuff on TV. That is why Dark Angel failed IMO. It seems similar to Buffy, on the surface, but it wasn't funny, it didn't have strong supporting characters, it was very one dimensional. Another show that has the potential of being another Dark Angel is Birds of Prey. I think that it looks great (visually, not neccessarily that it will be a good show) but if it is a one-dimensional show driven by a single character, I don't hold out much hope for it.
I don't have much hope for Birds of Prey. I see it as similar to Dark Angel (girls kicking ass without levity), and we know how that turned out. It's also similar to Smallville, but at least that show has humor and the whole "teen angst" angle (that Roswell also exploited). What angle will Birds of Prey use? As for Firefly, I don't see Sci-Fi picking it up if FOX decides to dump it. They already dropped their best show, Farscape (I hate them for that). The WB and UPN would be candidates, but the payroll and budget would have to be severly slashed, and Joss might not like that too much (i.e. dump some characters). Hopefully it can beat the odds and stay on FOX (provided the brass doesn't mess with the show). Oh, yeah, and Firefly is totally a live Cowboy Bebop without the whole bounty hunter thing. That would be a good thing.
