I never caught this show first time around. I bumped into it recently on netflix and for the past few days have watched all the episodes and last night the film Serenity. How the hell did I miss this show. Its brilliant. Why was this cancelled? Its quirky, amusing and well written. What a great show. I want more.
General / Off-Topic Firefly - why was it cancelled
- Thread starter bootsam
- Start date
Sure it has shaky moments but its TV and you can see a limited budget in action, however they did well considering. Most TV is dire and I struggle to get attached to TV shows these days. But I thoroughly enjoyed this show for all its quirks and strange cowboy sets. The characters were amusing at times and I loved that they put humour into it. I want more dammit 
I want more dammit
That's how I felt too, so much so, I went out and got the box set in the hopes . . . .
Harbinger
Volunteer Moderator
I only caught it on Netflix recently myself, I have to admit at first I wasn't sure with the whole cowboys in space premise but by the end I was hooked. Sad to see that in this day and age where people don't generally watch shows at the time they air that US TV networks are still using the antiquated Nielsen ratings system in order to determine which shows are successful. Too many good shows get cancelled ahead of their time.
The answer is in your own post, you missed it.
Bad PR / commercial work and so to few viewers and thus cancelled.
Really to bad I love that show.
If only ED had a hard mode so you really get that same "barely able to keep your ship flying and having to do shady jobs to survive" vibe of the series.
Bad PR / commercial work and so to few viewers and thus cancelled.
Really to bad I love that show.
If only ED had a hard mode so you really get that same "barely able to keep your ship flying and having to do shady jobs to survive" vibe of the series.
The main thing people seem to like about Firefly is the way the characters play off against each other, with a particular brand of snark.
You might recognise that same sort of character interaction in Buffy The Vampire Slayer (all 7 series), Dollhouse (2 series) and more recently in The Avengers and Avengers: Age of Ultron movies.
That's Joss Whedon for you.
You might recognise that same sort of character interaction in Buffy The Vampire Slayer (all 7 series), Dollhouse (2 series) and more recently in The Avengers and Avengers: Age of Ultron movies.
That's Joss Whedon for you.
The men in suits didn't like it. They disliked the fact it was focused on the 'bad guys' and not the cops. That was the first issue they had, but the main issue was they showed the episodes in the wrong order which made things confusing for views combine that with (as mentioned above) scheduling times got messed with almost week to week meaning even the fans missed shows. 2am isn't a great time for anyone I'd guess. [Citation needed ]
It wasn't until someone else thought it might be a good DVD that it really found it's true market. However by that time, it was too late.
While the series was tight, the film was at best okay. The actors obviously had lost a little of the chemistry, but the worst thing was the script. They changed the whole Simon and River history of how they got her out, the dynamics between Simon and Mal etc. Don't get me started on the pointless bit near the end, the surprise no one could have saw coming and served no purpose to the plot - obviously I'm not mentioning it for spoilers.
Useless fact 1: 'Jayne' still uses that voice for his children..
]It wasn't until someone else thought it might be a good DVD that it really found it's true market. However by that time, it was too late.
While the series was tight, the film was at best okay. The actors obviously had lost a little of the chemistry, but the worst thing was the script. They changed the whole Simon and River history of how they got her out, the dynamics between Simon and Mal etc. Don't get me started on the pointless bit near the end, the surprise no one could have saw coming and served no purpose to the plot - obviously I'm not mentioning it for spoilers.
Useless fact 1: 'Jayne' still uses that voice for his children..
Useless fact 1: 'Jayne' still uses that voice for his children..
Useless fact 2: Adam Baldwin plays essentially the same character in SG1...
[video=youtube;UnZW5UKo_6U]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UnZW5UKo_6U[/video]
There was another popular program with quite a respectable viewer average.
The station decided it wasn't drawing in their target demographic. (Their words).
Initially, the format was changed, getting rid of some of the key actors and replacing them with eye candy. When that didn't work, the series was cancelled.
Such are the realities of modern TV.
Confess I thought the same.
Sort of Cowboys in Space. Though the inclusion of a Space prostitute, especially with such a key role, perhaps did tend to exclude some important potential audience.
But everyone to their own.
The station decided it wasn't drawing in their target demographic. (Their words).
Initially, the format was changed, getting rid of some of the key actors and replacing them with eye candy. When that didn't work, the series was cancelled.
Such are the realities of modern TV.
Confess I thought the same.
Sort of Cowboys in Space. Though the inclusion of a Space prostitute, especially with such a key role, perhaps did tend to exclude some important potential audience.
But everyone to their own.
It's people like you that caused it to fail! You didn't watch it when it was on!
What happened was Fox didn't know how to market the show, they were completely puzzled by the concept of Space Western. They lost confidence, didn't promote it, stuck on at odd hours and showed it out of order. Not surprisingly, nobody watched it.
What happened was Fox didn't know how to market the show, they were completely puzzled by the concept of Space Western. They lost confidence, didn't promote it, stuck on at odd hours and showed it out of order. Not surprisingly, nobody watched it.
I didn't know Firefly was rated, I didn't catch it until it was all over, so those rating must have been local?
I spose I also saw it with fresh un influenced eyes, I'd never heard of it, so it was quite refreshing for me.
When I see what some of the key actors are doing now in the so called "popular" shows, it makes me cringe, now that's sad.
That was another part of the show I enjoyed - the twisted morality. That a hooker, albeit high class, was considered an "ambassador" and the most respected person on the ship. And the fact that a shepherd (a religious man in the show) was less well respected.
Anyway, it's still too soon to discuss the show's demise, the memories are still too strong.
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That was another part of the show I enjoyed - the twisted morality. That a hooker, albeit high class, was considered an "ambassador" and the most respected person on the ship. And the fact that a shepherd (a religious man in the show) was less well respected.
Anyway, it's still too soon to discuss the show's demise, the memories are still too strong.
Appreciate your point, but I think you missed mine.
Program makers have to sell their product to TV stations. TV stations seek to make money from advertising to pay for programming and profit.. Advertisers put their adverts in slots where there is likely to be an audience that will buy their products.
The days of artistic integrity are long gone, if they ever existed. That applies as much to movies as it does to TV. It certainly applies to novels.
Inventing a new sub-group within a given cultural set is just not going to happen. Advertisers will spend huge amounts and want a return.
Like it or not, including a practising prostitute in a TV series, especially one with prominent roles in the story line, meant the target demographic was unhappy men, between 18 and 40.
The space cowboy theme emphasised this. The nasty elements in the story lines, with gutsy, gung ho crew saving each day, further.
Now, what you going to sell to sad lonely men between 18 and 40?
Cigarettes? Beer? Sex chat channels on the internet? Buxum girls eager to chat over the phone for £3.50 per minute?
This is one of the reasons I hate advertising.
I've never subscribed to television services. I didn't know anything about Firefly until I saw the Serenity movie. I enjoyed it so much I looked up info on IMDB and rented the box set of the series. I was amazed to see that the television series was superior to the movie. Each episode was a polished gem containing the blood sweat and tears of Joss Whedon.
If the show had been picked up by HBO instead of a bunch of executives who are too stupid to understand what order numbers go in, employed by Rupert (it's norks week in your super sensationalist Rebekah Brooks-employing Sun) Murdoch... Firefly would probably still be on our tellies today.
It would be into it's umpteenth series and we'd be watching the same plots and dialogues recycled over and over again.
If the show had been picked up by HBO instead of a bunch of executives who are too stupid to understand what order numbers go in, employed by Rupert (it's norks week in your super sensationalist Rebekah Brooks-employing Sun) Murdoch... Firefly would probably still be on our tellies today.
It would be into it's umpteenth series and we'd be watching the same plots and dialogues recycled over and over again.