# If "Firefly" is so great, why hasn't it been resurrected? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 30, 2008, 12:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-firefly-is-so-great-why-hasnt-it-been-resurrected/479207 "2008-12-30T12:36:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Bridget\_Burke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7cd45c/32.png) [@Bridget\_Burke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bridget_Burke)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2008, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-firefly-is-so-great-why-hasnt-it-been-resurrected/479207/61 "2008-12-30T22:17:09Z")
> [@LawMonkey](#): > > Somewhat tangentially: Is there any hope that that the Firefly/Serenity-verse could be further explored in novels or comics? The setting has its own value, IMO, even if authors chose not to follow the further adventures of the original crew (sadly diminished by the loss of Wash and Book :(). There’s at least one ‘respectable’ sci-fi author who has done an unauthorized fanfic novel already, but I’m not sure whether licensing would be unworkably difficult, given FOX’s “cold dead hands” approach. [Serenity–Those Left Behind](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Those_Left_Behind) & [Serenity–Better Days](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serenity:_Better_Days) were two comic series–both available in omnibus form, I believe. These stories are set in the period between the end of the series & the movie. Not as good as more TV–but at least cast availability & special effects costs don’t matter. ---
**Author:** ![Justin\_Bailey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justin_bailey/32/8792_2.png) [@Justin\_Bailey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Bailey)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2008, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-firefly-is-so-great-why-hasnt-it-been-resurrected/479207/62 "2008-12-30T22:22:39Z")
> [@Bridget\_Burke](#): > > But Fox had already invested in _Firefly_! They wasted that money by handling the show so badly. This is the $64,000 question. The fact that they seem to have learned their lesson with Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles at least gives me hope for the future. I’m not happy with its move to Friday (or Dollhouse’s slot on that day as well), but oh well. They’ve at least proven they’re not so quick to pull the trigger on a show they want killed anymore. That’s prgress. ---
**Author:** ![Annie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/858c86/32.png) [@Annie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2008, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-firefly-is-so-great-why-hasnt-it-been-resurrected/479207/63 "2008-12-30T22:45:46Z")
> [@Troy\_McClure\_SF](#): > > On a related note, now that I have a big new awesome TV, I realized that I’m going to have to spend another ~$50 to re-buy on Blu-Ray. Some would say that such a purchase is optional, but they would be wrong. It’s on sale for $30 at [Amazon.ca](http://www.amazon.ca/Firefly-Season-1-Blu-ray/dp/B001EX9YIQ/ref=pd_bbs_1?ie=UTF8&s=dvd&qid=1230676951&sr=8-1) -75% off! It’s $58 on [Amazon USA](http://www.amazon.com/Firefly-Complete-Blu-ray-Nathan-Fillion/dp/B001EN71CW/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=dvd&qid=1230677084&sr=1-2) Canada is Reg 1, BTW ---
**Author:** ![Raguleader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/258eb7/32.png) [@Raguleader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Raguleader)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2008, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-firefly-is-so-great-why-hasnt-it-been-resurrected/479207/64 "2008-12-30T22:49:57Z")
> [@Annie](#): > > It’s on sale for $30 at [Amazon.ca](http://www.amazon.ca/Firefly-Season-1-Blu-ray/dp/B001EX9YIQ/ref=pd_bbs_1?ie=UTF8&s=dvd&qid=1230676951&sr=8-1) -75% off! It’s $58 on [Amazon USA](http://www.amazon.com/Firefly-Complete-Blu-ray-Nathan-Fillion/dp/B001EN71CW/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=dvd&qid=1230677084&sr=1-2) Canada is Reg 1, BTW Yeah, but those are _Canadian_ DVDs! They only have 66% as much Firefly as the American ones do! Yes, it’s an old joke. I still like it. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Jayn\_Newell](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Jayn\_Newell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jayn_Newell)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2008, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-firefly-is-so-great-why-hasnt-it-been-resurrected/479207/65 "2008-12-30T22:57:47Z")
> [@Annie](#): > > It’s on sale for $30 at [Amazon.ca](http://www.amazon.ca/Firefly-Season-1-Blu-ray/dp/B001EX9YIQ/ref=pd_bbs_1?ie=UTF8&s=dvd&qid=1230676951&sr=8-1) -75% off! DVDs are on the list of things that Amazon ships internationally–not sure about Blu-Ray though. I would think so. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2008, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-firefly-is-so-great-why-hasnt-it-been-resurrected/479207/66 "2008-12-31T00:08:33Z")
> [@Elenfair](#): > > 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. > 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. ) Right, although the show was brilliant in many ways, it really wasn’t Great. It had problems, and some of those problems mean that it really wasn’t a great show for broadcast TV in the first place. I’d say HBO, but HBO has recently done poorly IMHO with Deadwood, so I don’t know if even Cable would be an answer. But yes, Firefly would have done much bettter as a Mini-series than on broadcast TV. The SF channel is _dead to me._ I have to say that I am not a huge fan of story arcs myself all the time. Sure, they can be good, but miss one of two shows and you’re lost, and it’s hard to attract new viewers like that. This is why NCIS is doing better than Heroes- Heroes can only lose viewers, while NCIS gets new viewers every week. There’s quite a few “Brilliant But Cancelled” shows out there, Firefly is hardly the only one: > **[Trio (TV network)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trio_(TV_network))** > > Trio (stylized as TR!O) was an American cable and satellite television network owned jointly by USA Networks and NBCUniversal. > Trio went on the air in 1994, then originally owned and operated jointly by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation and Power Broadcasting Inc. (a subsidiary of Power Corporation of Canada) along with 24-hour international news channel Newsworld International. The channel served as a venue for airing the CBC's arts, culture and entertainment programming in the United State... - Brilliant But Cancelled This was the umbrella title under which Trio aired repeats of series that had very short lives on mainstream broadcast television, yet were still considered to be programming that “broke the mold” of what was normally expected from the “Big Three” networks. Series that appeared under the Brilliant But Cancelled umbrella included\*… ---
**Author:** ![Annie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/858c86/32.png) [@Annie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2008, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-firefly-is-so-great-why-hasnt-it-been-resurrected/479207/67 "2008-12-31T00:20:10Z")
> [@Jayn\_Newell](#): > > DVDs are on the list of things that Amazon ships internationally–not sure about Blu-Ray though. I would think so. I tried putting it in the checkout with a US shipping address, and it let me. Go for it, Yankee browncoats! ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2008, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-firefly-is-so-great-why-hasnt-it-been-resurrected/479207/68 "2008-12-31T00:52:32Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > It had problems, and some of those problems mean that it really wasn’t a great show for broadcast TV in the first place. How so? ---
**Author:** ![sovtawen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/7ab992/32.png) [@sovtawen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sovtawen)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2008, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-firefly-is-so-great-why-hasnt-it-been-resurrected/479207/69 "2008-12-31T01:22:01Z")
> [@KneadToKnow](#): > > Because Fox’s goal isn’t happy, invested viewers, it’s goal is happy investors keeping the stock price up. If a television network could maintain reasonably growth and profit numbers and keep Wall Street happy by airing a test pattern 24 hours a day, it would. Television network executives don’t give two craps for the content of their broadcasts unless it gets them in trouble. I understand that there’s a high turnover rate among these execs too, and they’re under a lot of pressure to generate immediate results – it really doesn’t matter if a show becomes popular in two years – the exec probably won’t be around then. The show has to be popular _right now_, which means no long story arcs or any depth that might scare away the casual viewer. Like **KneadToKnow** said, the execs don’t care about producing good shows. They care about getting a lot of people in the chair for 30 minutes or 60 minutes to watch the commercials. It doesn’t matter if these people are devoted fans or casual viewers (or zombies, for that matter). ---
**Author:** ![Frostillicus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Frostillicus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frostillicus)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2008, 3:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-firefly-is-so-great-why-hasnt-it-been-resurrected/479207/70 "2008-12-31T03:57:30Z")
> [@Prelude\_to\_Fascination](#): > > [unintentional semi-hijack, so pre-emptive apologies are offered] I watched some of the Buffy episodes, and while my daughter absolutely loved it, I felt it was a bit…young…for me (I’m now 47, and so almost out of the hallowed “prime demographic”). > > I’ve never seen Firefly or any other Whedon product. Just who is the demographic for these shows? I’m three years older than you and I loved **Firefly**. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2008, 4:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-firefly-is-so-great-why-hasnt-it-been-resurrected/479207/71 "2008-12-31T04:05:13Z")
> [@Raguleader](#): > > Yeah, but those are _Canadian_ DVDs! They only have 66% as much Firefly as the American ones do! Yes, but the international community likes them better. ---
**Author:** ![Raguleader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/258eb7/32.png) [@Raguleader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Raguleader)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2008, 5:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-firefly-is-so-great-why-hasnt-it-been-resurrected/479207/72 "2008-12-31T05:56:41Z")
> [@Bryan\_Ekers](#): > > Yes, but the international community likes them better. Only because they’re so _polite_. Everyone assumes that they can push them around, never suspecting that which every Canadian secretly plots towards: World Domination. :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Annie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/858c86/32.png) [@Annie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2008, 6:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-firefly-is-so-great-why-hasnt-it-been-resurrected/479207/73 "2008-12-31T06:33:15Z")
Dominating the world would interfere with valuable curling time, so really, those are just scare tactics 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Raguleader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/258eb7/32.png) [@Raguleader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Raguleader)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2008, 7:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-firefly-is-so-great-why-hasnt-it-been-resurrected/479207/74 "2008-12-31T07:05:19Z")
> [@Annie](#): > > Dominating the world would interfere with valuable curling time, so really, those are just scare tactics 😃 That’s where the Spectre-esque freeze ray satelites come in handy. ---
**Author:** ![Hellestal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/3ab097/32.png) [@Hellestal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hellestal)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2008, 7:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-firefly-is-so-great-why-hasnt-it-been-resurrected/479207/75 "2008-12-31T07:21:09Z")
> [@sovtawen](#): > > I understand that there’s a high turnover rate among these execs too, and they’re under a lot of pressure to generate immediate results – it really doesn’t matter if a show becomes popular in two years – the exec probably won’t be around then. The show has to be popular _right now_, which means no long story arcs or any depth that might scare away the casual viewer. In addition to that, there’s no real incentive for a corporate suit to support and nurture a project that was approved by a predecessor. Even if the show succeeds, the new guy won’t get credit for it since it was the old guy’s baby. Better to shit on all those old projects to make them look like terrible ideas while you give all your time and attention to projects for which you will receive full acknowledgment of your good sense and judgment. Why would a suit care if the network has already sunk millions into the project when it’s somebody else’s reputation and ego at stake? ---
**Author:** ![Kaio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/c68b51/32.png) [@Kaio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kaio)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2008, 7:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-firefly-is-so-great-why-hasnt-it-been-resurrected/479207/76 "2008-12-31T07:32:30Z")
> [@Jillyvn](#): > > Not to mention, how many people will catch it [Dollhouse] online? Is Fox going to be making _Dollhouse_ available online? I haven’t been able to find any news on that. I’d be pretty happy to be able to watch it on Hulu or somesuch. Hell, season 3 of _Heroes_ was made available on Netflix Watch Instantly, which I thought was brilliant. I’m planning to watch this. I’d generally prefer not to wait a year for the DVDs. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Bosstone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/22d042/32.png) [@Bosstone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosstone)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2008, 7:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-firefly-is-so-great-why-hasnt-it-been-resurrected/479207/77 "2008-12-31T07:41:15Z")
> [@Kaio](#): > > Is Fox going to be making _Dollhouse_ available online? I haven’t been able to find any news on that. I’d be pretty happy to be able to watch it on Hulu or somesuch. Hell, season 3 of _Heroes_ was made available on Netflix Watch Instantly, which I thought was brilliant. > > I’m planning to watch this. I’d generally prefer not to wait a year for the DVDs. 😉 It’ll probably be on Hulu. Most of FOX’s shows are, and all of Joss’s (that I’m aware of), although Buffy is only partially available. Hulu has seriously made life without cable TV pretty darn easy. Most stuff I’d want to watch is on there. ---
**Author:** ![LawMonkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d6d6ee/32.png) [@LawMonkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LawMonkey)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2008, 9:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-firefly-is-so-great-why-hasnt-it-been-resurrected/479207/78 "2008-12-31T09:07:28Z")
To those of you who’ve mentioned Better Days/Those Left Behind: I’m aware of them, and even have at least one of the two sitting around here somewhere. What I’m curious about are the further adventures of our Big Damn Heroes/the survival of the Firefly-verse in non-screenplay form. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2008, 9:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-firefly-is-so-great-why-hasnt-it-been-resurrected/479207/79 "2008-12-31T09:19:22Z")
Also, Nathan Fillion has been busy with plenty of other work, and has a new TV series coming out right away. Adam Baldwin has a regular starring role on the fairly successful ‘Chuck’. Alan Tudyk’s star as a movie actor has risen quite a lot. So these people are probably getting lots of offers and are commanding pretty good salaries. On the other hand, if they all become available again, their larger celebrity could be a drawing card for a second Firefly movie. I’d put more stock in that than in a new series, but I don’t think either are likely at this point. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2008, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-firefly-is-so-great-why-hasnt-it-been-resurrected/479207/80 "2008-12-31T17:29:58Z")
> [@Bosstone](#): > > Off-topic: the amount of Buffy spoilers casually thrown around on this board is unbelievable. I’ll be reading along a completely unrelated thread when wham! a Season 4 spoiler comes out of nowhere. Yeah, and you know what?\* It’s his sled\*, and _the boat sinks_.😛 Once a reasonable time has passed, it’s now history and we can discuss it freely. Psst- Hitler isn’t assasinated. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-firefly-is-so-great-why-hasnt-it-been-resurrected/479207.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-firefly-is-so-great-why-hasnt-it-been-resurrected/479207.md?page=5)