Publicity Stunt

[UnrealTear]

Maybe it is the conspiracy nut in me but who else thinks that Farscape being cancelled is one of the biggest publicity stunts ever. Scifi channel has taken a show that had an almost fanatical following, "Canceling" it only to bring it back a little over a year later. We have since brought more publicity to the show then SciFi Channel or The Henson Company could ever dream of. Think about all the extra revenue spent on DVDs alone because of the cancellation. Now Farscape is going to come back with bigger ratings then ever and its all because of the “cancellation”

[Judith]

Maybe it is the conspiracy nut in me but who else thinks that Farscape being cancelled is one of the biggest publicity stunts ever. Scifi channel has taken a show that had an almost fanatical following, "Canceling" it only to bring it back a little over a year later. We have since brought more publicity to the show then SciFi Channel or The Henson Company could ever dream of. Think about all the extra revenue spent on DVDs alone because of the cancellation. Now Farscape is going to come back with bigger ratings then ever and its all because of the “cancellation”


I doubt anyone could have predicted this kind of unwavering reaction from fans. :D

[Moks]

Judith, was quoting really necessary, yours being the first response? :D

And, Unreal, I don't think SciFi would have the marketing nerve to try a stunt like that. It's a fact, Farscape's ratings were sinking. And it was pretty pricey to produce. The problem with SciFi is that the execs up there aren't sci-fi fans. If they were, they'd have realized Farscape was worth it. ;)

[Judith]

Judith, was quoting really necessary, yours being the first response? :D




I've sort of been on automatic quote tonight. Does it really matter?

[Moks]

No it doesn't. Just poking ya.

[Judith]

Just poking me, you say?

Why sir, I barely know you!

[Darth Buddha]

Poke... poke.... poke...

I think the last time I tried this was on the DOM, and Judith summarily spanked me...

Oh, wait, suddenly I'm having flashbacks to the spacemonkey's thread about the Lexx preferring bozo.

[SabaceanBabe]

Judith, was quoting really necessary, yours being the first response? :D

And, Unreal, I don't think SciFi would have the marketing nerve to try a stunt like that. It's a fact, Farscape's ratings were sinking. And it was pretty pricey to produce. The problem with SciFi is that the execs up there aren't sci-fi fans. If they were, they'd have realized Farscape was worth it. ;)

Actually, Moks, if you check out Cosmic Theorist's threads in the Campaign forum, you'll find that Farscape had a pretty consistent 1.3 average throughout its first run. The ratings were not sinking, but, unfortunately for us, they weren't growing faster than skiffy itself (the 1.3 average remained constant even though skiffy was in more households - meaning that more and more people were watching 'Scape, but not enough for skiffy).

[RydraWong]

Maybe it is the conspiracy nut in me but who else thinks that Farscape being cancelled is one of the biggest publicity stunts ever.

Hardly.

SciFi didn't "bring back" the series, for a start - the miniseries was independently produced and financed, as Brian Henson's explained, with SciFi only agreeing to buy the US airing rights after it had been made, once it was a fait accompli. If it was up to them, it wouldn't have been made in the first place.

Frankly, given how much bad PR the cancellation brought to SciFi, it would be an incredibly dumb PR stunt.

Think about all the extra revenue spent on DVDs alone because of the cancellation.

Which doesn't affect SciFi at all - they only hold the US airing rights, they don't have any share in DVD sales.

We have since brought more publicity to the show then SciFi Channel or The Henson Company could ever dream of.

Indeed. This has been one of the largest fan campaigns ever. There's no way SciFi could have predicted that, or that the campaign would go on for so long - most fan campaigns seem to die down after a few months.

Beyond that, you'd have to assume that Brian Henson, Rockne O'Bannon, David Kemper, Ben Browder, Claudia Black and co. were all in on the stunt and prepared to lie massively to the entire fandom and exploit us just for the sake of of a cheap publicity stunt. Which I just don't buy.

[Egraine]

This was brought up right after the cancellation and summarily dismissed. As Rydra said...if this was a stunt, it would have been a really dumb one. SciFi got raked over the coals in a very big way by the media.

The facts and the high emotion of the cast and crew show it to be what it was.....a cancellation perpetuated by personal agendas within SciFi after the change in management. The organized efforts of FMD and Brian Henson's tenacity are the reason it's back.

Hugs,
Egraine

[Scaper-Wannabe]

Long Live Farscape!!!!!!!!!!

[RydraWong]

Heck, just watch the extras on the 4.5 DVD. Watch the cast and crew crying openly on the last day of filming as DK reads them Matt Roush's column about the cancellation. Watch Claudia and Ben's faces.

Those are not people engaged in a publicity stunt.

[JrMissToughChick]

Heck, just watch the extras on the 4.5 DVD. Watch the cast and crew crying openly on the last day of filming as DK reads them Matt Roush's column about the cancellation. Watch Claudia and Ben's faces.

Those are not people engaged in a publicity stunt. that was the best special feature they ever added to the DVD's IMHO

[Athlantis]

Heck, just watch the extras on the 4.5 DVD. Watch the cast and crew crying openly on the last day of filming as DK reads them Matt Roush's column about the cancellation. Watch Claudia and Ben's faces.

Those are not people engaged in a publicity stunt.


:rolleyes: You don't happen to know if it's someplace on the web??? (the clip) or at Kazaa lite or something??????? :D


SciFi didn't "bring back" the series, for a start - the miniseries was independently produced and financed, as Brian Henson's explained, with SciFi only agreeing to buy the US airing rights after it had been made, once it was a fait accompli. If it was up to them, it wouldn't have been made in the first place.

So, basically :sniper: scfi didn't lift a finger, didn't financed, didn't pay the crew to make the scrip, didn't contact the actors, or provide with the sets, and they are getting the same money they did, what am I saying more!, when they WERE supporting it :grr: ????

:eek4: Unbelievable

[sny]

Judith, was quoting really necessary, yours being the first response? :D


Hey, sometimes other people beat you to the "submit" button while you're composing your brilliant response... quote to be safe.

In response to the first, I doubt it was a publicity stunt. You don't take a chance on losing all the cast to other projects for a publicity stunt. SciFi gets absolutely squat from the DVD sales, so why would they really want to boost them? SciFi Channel's parent company was going broke at the time, and so was Henson's. No one could afford to foot the bill for a series that was produced with movie-quality special effects most weeks and high production values. You don't gamble the future of one of your flagship series on the possibility that the fans will organize and do your work for you. Never count on the predictability of human behavior. You always get fooled. And as others pointed out, SciFi had nothing to do with actually financing the miniseries. Their rights on the show itself run out fairly soon, too.

Besides, this is the channel that thinks Scare Tactics, Octopus 2 and Mad, Mad House (or whatever their weirdo version of Big Brother is called) is cerebral, high class entertainment. Bonnie Hammer had the gall to say that all the fans who wrote weren't actually watching the show and that the show demanded too much of its viewers in the way of thinking and remembering. Do you really think they were smart enough to engineer this? When they couldn't even pull off their craptastic "unauthorized biography" of M. Night Shyamalan without getting busted by the press?

[Boron]

Skiffy definitely didn't plan any of this to happen. They hoped that FS would just die quietly, and they could produce some cheaper shows. Well, they got a surprise.
Personally, I think there are a lot of people out there that are simply tired of being told what they are going to like and not like on television these days. Farscape isn't the only SF show to get this treatment. Space: Above and beyond, and Firefly are two that come to mind. All of these were original, character based science fiction shows with enough believability to attract a following. Unfortunately, This kind of class production DOES come with a price tag. That's what got in the way of most of them. Love of the almighty dollar.

[scaperbuddy]

Hey Boron you changed your avatar, it looks nice. But back to the subject. Back when Farscape was cancelled it was reported that supposedly Stargate was their #1 show and Farscape was the #2 show at the time.

From what I read they (sci-fi) didn't want to keep two costly shows on board. So they cancelled Farscape. Farscape was doing well at the time.

So we ended up with some other shows that were cheaper and inferior quality Scare Tactics and Tremors. Are they still even on? So Sci-fi made a very bad decision.

[Verlon]

Marketing nerve? Skiffy wouldn't have the BRAINS to think that deep. Remember Tremors: the Series? Scare Tactics? Whatever the hell that worthless "reality show" was called?

Someone should figure out a way to shoot some skiffy management through a wormhole DEEP into Scarren space.

[faustus]

in a word no.

[Anubis]

:rolleyes: You don't happen to know if it's someplace on the web??? (the clip) or at Kazaa lite or something??????? :D

It's available through Bittorrent at great quality.


And no this was not planned, just have that feeling..

[BritAngie]

It wasn't planned. Believe me!

[Athlantis]

It's available through Bittorrent at great quality.





isn't that the clip from comic con????
btw, I meant this one

Heck, just watch the extras on the 4.5 DVD. Watch the cast and crew crying openly on the last day of filming as DK reads them Matt Roush's column about the cancellation. Watch Claudia and Ben's faces

is that the one on bittorrent????

Thanks for replying :D

[RydraWong]

scfi didn't lift a finger, didn't financed, didn't pay the crew to make the scrip, didn't contact the actors, or provide with the sets, and they are getting the same money they did, what am I saying more!, when they WERE supporting it

No, SciFi are paying Henson's and Hallmark for the rights to air the mini in the US. They're not getting any money directly from it - they make their money from the advertising slots.

Exactly what they paid for the mini, no-one knows. But they pay Henson's, not the other way round.

Which is the same way it's always been - Henson's produce the show and pay for the script, cast, sets, etc. etc. They then aim to get their money back from sales of the airing rights, DVD sales, etc. etc.

[Athlantis]

No, SciFi are paying Henson's and Hallmark for the rights to air the mini in the US. They're not getting any money directly from it - they make their money from the advertising slots.

Exactly what they paid for the mini, no-one knows. But they pay Henson's, not the other way round.

Which is the same way it's always been - Henson's produce the show and pay for the script, cast, sets, etc. etc. They then aim to get their money back from sales of the airing rights, DVD sales, etc. etc.

ups! sorry :D

but still, btw so it's Henson's the company who always produced the show, then what does exactly scifi do in the process????

[Shipscat]

I don't think that's the same way it's always been Rydra-Scifi put money into production before. This time the production was paid for, and Scifi paid money to air it *after* the fact. It might be just a matter of timing, but it's an important matter of timing!

And Egraine, it's the efforts of the entire Scaper community. There are many people not at FMD who have contributed much effort and money.

[Egraine]

I was making the mistake of generalizing. I guess I have a stong admiration for those at this site and their organizational skills. Kansas and other websites, local groups, etc have all been active all along. Bad me for considering FMD as the fanbase. It's just one part of it.

Hugs,
Egraine

[Shipscat]

No Problemo. I just don't want to leave out anyone. :)

:hug:

Ships

[Scaper-Wannabe]

I want to see this extra....

[RydraWong]

Good point, Ships - yes, the difference this time is that SciFi only bought the US airing rights after the miniseries was produced, they didn't commit to funding it in advance. That's why Henson's and Hallmark needed to get independent financing to enable them to actually make the mini in the first place.

But either way, SciFi's role is largely limited to handing over money. When they were funding the show upfront, they did have some scope to steer it and and say "we'd like more of this" or "you can't show that". Whereas with the mini, they had no creative control at all.

But all along, it's been Henson's who've done the actual producing of the show.

[waltersgirl]

I was making the mistake of generalizing. I guess I have a stong admiration for those at this site and their organizational skills. Kansas and other websites, local groups, etc have all been active all along. Bad me for considering FMD as the fanbase. It's just one part of it.

Hugs,
Egraine

i would venture a guess that the large majority of financial support came from folks who have no "affiliation" with any one site at all. FMD is just a source of information. the "fanbase" exists absent any location.

[sny]

I don't think that's the same way it's always been Rydra-Scifi put money into production before.

Somebody correct me if my memory's faulty, but I seem to recall this figure being tossed around in a lot of our local analysis here on the boards... didn't SciFi pay approximately half the upfront per-ep production cost on seasons 1-4? And of course, on the mini, they simply purchased firstairing rights after production was complete. I seem to recall the 50% figure because it surprised me they footed that much of the cost without getting a chunk of DVD sales. I thought that sounded high. (Not that I know anything about television production...)

Technically, any channel anywhere could have outbid Scifi and aired the mini instead. It's just that SciFi was the most logical network and probably had the greatest stake in airing it. And since Farscape reruns are currently airing on SciFi and SciFi alone, I imagine Henson might have preferred that SciFi air it first. Once rights revert to Henson, I imagine the show will go to whoever is willing to fork over the most dough.

[RydraWong]

didn't SciFi pay approximately half the upfront per-ep production cost on seasons 1-4?

Yup, but that was in the form of upfront license payment for the US airing rights.

I seem to recall the 50% figure because it surprised me they footed that much of the cost without getting a chunk of DVD sales. I thought that sounded high. (Not that I know anything about television production...)

Nope, from what I've read that's pretty standard, even on the low side.