The other thing fans fail to realize is that Firefly’s popularity came AFTER the show aired. Fox essentially killed it by:
a) airing the show out of order, making it practically impossible to understand
b) failing to air some episodes that contained some key information
c) shuffling it around all over the place and never giving it a slot of its own
d) not giving it any promotion
e) not giving it time to find its place
Joss didn’t help his own cause in many ways – while the show had a hell of a lot of potential, its multi-arc system is NOT one that can easily survive on broadcast. It does BRILLIANTLY in small fandoms – truly does – but those numbers are too small for survival on network television. That’s just the nature of the business. The average television viewer is just not smart enough to figure out the storylines and hold onto them for that long. Sorry. Trust me, I’ve fought long and hard with network execs over this crap. Hell, we do that weekly. But in the end, it’s NOT what people want or what people watch. I mean, why do you think popcorn-for-the-brain crime shows do so well? CSI and its spin-offs? Criminal Minds? NCIS (bless its cotton socks, it’s kicking ass this season and doesn’t even HOLD the demos)? Because there’s no arc to speak of.
There IS a niche for shows like Firefly. Those shows live on USA Network right now. They used to live on SciFi until Bonnie Hammer (don’t let me go there, I’ll talk your ear off) killed us all. Let’s all pray she doesn’t do the same thing to USA now. But that’s not where the money is. HBO is another good home for shorter-run series. This is where some other, gutsy, small-fan-base shows are going with some really interesting pilots for next year. Stay tuned, GRR Martin fans.
But Joss is after a big big market. Unfortunately, he’s always struggled to keep it. He got the time, with Buffy (up to a point, then got punted). He struggled, with Angel (and got punted around eventually). Dollhouse is suffering the same fate. The show he sold Fox is not what Dollhouse is actually turning out to be. He had to rewrite and reshoot his pilot. He had to change the feel and arc structure of his show for a more action-packed, less long-arc style. He had a Monday night slot, originally, but then got paired up with TSCC and both got punted to the Friday Night Death Slot in favor of House and 24 (I believe), because the Golden Child (American Idol) is taking over Tuesday/Wednesdays.
Dude. Think of the Whedon demographics. Friday Night Deathslot? Oy. Fanbase or no, I’m worried about survival for Dollhouse.
Firefly was a good little show. It had its problems, and it never had a chance to spread its wings. Fox never gave it a chance. That said, there’s also a LOT of romanticized crap going on from the fanbase – all in hindsight at this point. The show’s ratings were crap when it was on the air. So Fox pulled it. The movie DIDN’T do very well, from a business standpoint. It also wasn’t meant as a “let’s rekindle this puppy!” effort but rather as a tribute to the fans and the show. And a way to recoup a few bucks 