# Firefly, Wonderfalls and FOX **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 14, 2006, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/firefly-wonderfalls-and-fox/348350 "2006-03-14T19:24:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![ddgryphon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/8c91f0/32.png) [@ddgryphon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ddgryphon)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2006, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/firefly-wonderfalls-and-fox/348350/21 "2006-03-15T15:16:24Z")
> [@Musicat](#): > > Doesn’t almost EVERY show gather a cult following of a sort after being cancelled? Are the ones mentioned here so exceptional in that regard? Where are the cults worshipping The Michael Richards Show Fridays House Calls Delta House Tales of the Gold Monkey In short, yes, they are. ---
**Author:** ![foolsguinea](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foolsguinea/32/14751_2.png) [@foolsguinea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foolsguinea)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2006, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/firefly-wonderfalls-and-fox/348350/22 "2006-03-16T21:00:18Z")
I loved _Jonny Zero_. I think Fox ran the introductory episode first, at least. But then they ran it out of order. A real mess. I think there’s a reason there are no daytime sitcoms on Fox. ---
**Author:** ![iamthewalrus\_3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/258eb7/32.png) [@iamthewalrus\_3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamthewalrus_3)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2006, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/firefly-wonderfalls-and-fox/348350/23 "2006-03-16T22:32:16Z")
The decision to not give certain shows a chance may not make a lot of sense to the network as a whole, but I’m willing to bet that because of network politics, each decision makes a lot of sense to those making the decisions. With the big egos that producers and network execs are likely to have, it makes things even more complicated. In the case of _Futurama_, it makes perfect sense for Fox to kill it. They needed to support it half-heartedly to keep Groening happy and producing more of _The Simpsons_, but they (probably) assumed that _Simpsons_ would suffer from the split effort, and they weren’t making as much money on _Futurama_ anyway, since they didn’t own it. In the case of shows that are never given much of a chance, I’d guess that either an exec doesn’t particularly like either the show concept or doesn’t like the people involved. This exec isn’t high up enough to just cancel the show from the get-go, but is influential enough to undermine it to the point of quick failure. This helps the exec by making his influence more important than his literal job responsibilities might suggest, and by fulfilling his original claim that said show wouldn’t do well, thus making him a good predictor of future shows’ successes. I still don’t know why anyone puts up with shows being run blatantly out of order, though. There’s just no good reason to fuck up the storyline like that. Doing so is pretty obviously sabotage. ---
**Author:** ![Phantom\_Dennis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/51bf81/32.png) [@Phantom\_Dennis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Phantom_Dennis)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2006, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/firefly-wonderfalls-and-fox/348350/24 "2006-03-16T22:38:36Z")
> [@Musicat](#): > > Doesn’t almost EVERY show gather a cult following of a sort after being cancelled? Are the ones mentioned here so exceptional in that regard? Of course I haven’t seen every show that was ever cancelled in its infancy – that would probably take a lifetime. But based on word of mouth, critical acclaim, DVD sales, and my own enjoyment of said shows, I’m willing to stand by my opinion that they are indeed exceptional. ---
**Author:** ![foolsguinea](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foolsguinea/32/14751_2.png) [@foolsguinea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foolsguinea)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2006, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/firefly-wonderfalls-and-fox/348350/25 "2006-03-16T23:45:40Z")
> [@foolsguinea](#): > > I think there’s a reason there are no daytime sitcoms on Fox. I mean, there’s a reason there are no daytime _soaps_ on Fox. Which is, soaps can’t be run out of order! ---
**Author:** ![ISiddiqui](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/97f17d/32.png) [@ISiddiqui](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ISiddiqui)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2006, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/firefly-wonderfalls-and-fox/348350/26 "2006-03-17T00:24:05Z")
This is also not unusual to FOX. Though they tend to introduce a lot of new, quirky shows that gain cult followings and then cancel them quickly. The ones I, for the life of me, can’t understand are the shows that are canceled after ONE EPISODE. I didn’t like the new Heather Graham sitcom (“Emily’s Reasons Why Not”), but it should have been given more than one episode before it could be accurately judged, IMO. ---
**Author:** ![Merijeek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f05b48/32.png) [@Merijeek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merijeek)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2006, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/firefly-wonderfalls-and-fox/348350/27 "2006-03-17T01:44:59Z")
> [@ISiddiqui](#): > > This is also not unusual to FOX. Though they tend to introduce a lot of new, quirky shows that gain cult followings and then cancel them quickly. The ones I, for the life of me, can’t understand are the shows that are canceled after ONE EPISODE. I didn’t like the new Heather Graham sitcom (“Emily’s Reasons Why Not”), but it should have been given more than one episode before it could be accurately judged, IMO. Yeah, I kind of wondered about that one. I watched the first episode because I just love Heather Graham THAT much - but I found it to be a pretty terrible show. But one episode? The only thing I can imagine is that there were some big backstage problems that meant that it had to do fantastic out of the gate or it was getting the axe… -Joe ---
**Author:** ![medstar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f07891/32.png) [@medstar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/medstar)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2006, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/firefly-wonderfalls-and-fox/348350/28 "2006-03-18T23:58:44Z")
> [@Santos L Halper](#): > > The success of shows like Firefly, Wonderfalls, Futurama and Family Guy on DVD indicates that they _do_ have audiences, no matter what Fox thinks. Creators may be able to eventually create their shows and get them to the audience without being stuck in a particular time slot, controlled by a network. The producers of Futurama are working on new shows available directly on DVD. A number of network shows are selling very well downloaded from the 'net. So far they’re “re-runs” of shows that’ve already aired, but before too long there’ll be original material too. > > Cable TV systems are offering more and more movies and shows ‘on-demand’. High speed fiber optic internet is starting to become available, and it’ll also offer hundreds of cable channels and on-demand programs. A report today in [PRNewswire](http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=104&STORY=/www/story/03-14-2006/0004319736&EDATE=) says that there are now nearly _100 million_ home broadband users in the US. More and more of those people are going to be downloading shows rather than just watching them via airwave, cable or satellite. > > **We’re getting to the point where people can access shows without relying on the networks to deliver them. I think it’d still be difficult for a creator to introduce an all new TV show this way (without the neworks to front the tens of millions a season of an average TV show costs), but some will be able to do it. Sure, they’ll start with low budget stuff, but as it demonstrates that they can do it successfully, there’ll be more expensive productions. Hopefully shows that networks cancel because they’re not mainstream enough can continue with new downloadable and on-demand episodes.** > > It’s probably not coming soon enought for Wonderfalls or Firefly to be re-born, but maybe future promising shows will have somewhere to go when they get cancelled. Heck, Tim Minear’s working on a new show for Fox. How many episodes do you think they’ll actually broadcast? Three? four? Heck, he’d probably consider it a success at this point if they ran the whole thirteen episode contract… Based on the above high-lighted paragraph, do you think that broadcast TV will serve as an introductory medium? Creators of shows will produce a two hour pilot and four or five episodes for a guaranteed day and time slot. Then, viewers will have the option of going to the website and purchasing the aired material and contracting for future blocs of episodes and other merchandise. There are a whole lot of details to iron out but I think my basic idea has merit. What do the other Dopers think? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/firefly-wonderfalls-and-fox/348350.md?page=1)