Variety Rumors??!

[Under A Dying Sun]

i head that in the recent issue of variety Scifi has picked up Firefly and John Doe???

WTF.

is this true or some unfounded rumor??

that would be frelled up if scifi did. what a punch in the nose.



long live scapers.

[Shipscat]

I hadn't heard that- they turned down firefly before. Perhaps it's the reruns?

[Under A Dying Sun]

http://www.variety.com/index.asp?layout=upsell_article&articleID=VR1117883729&categoryID=19&cs=1

ok. so i just found this on variety's site.

is that THE scifi channel or something else? i can't read it because i am not subscribed...anyone else a member?

[Under A Dying Sun]

ok. i admit it. i am dumb. you can get a free 24 hr membership.

unfortunately this is part of what i just read.....

Sci Fi web said it paid a "seven-figure sum" for "John Doe," "Firefly" and "The Visitor" but declined to reveal a figure.


i'm a little confused though. is this the US scifi channel??

[jadeshand]

Are you sure its USA Sci-Fi or the UK Sci-Fi. Sounds to me like it's the new Sci-Fi Channel in the UK that is buying these.

[Shipscat]

I think it's the UK. And I believe they're talking about runs of old (relatively) stuff, not new eps.

Not a subscriber, though.

[TenDeuChen]

I'm pretty sure that it's the UK Scifi channel...

check out http://www.fireflyfans.net...

they're going to be showing the 3 unaired eps as well...

[StarsGoBlue]

Yep, it sez the UK Sci-Fi Channel in the teaser for the full article.

***Stars :cool:

[Kyntio]

Neither of you is dumb, this is not Skiffy but the UK SciFi Channel! Not the same company, just a misunderstanding. Here's the whole article:


Sci Fi drops coin for action trio
Mip TV deals fly as confab nears end

By DEBRA JOHNSON, JOHN HOPEWELL

CANNES -- The U.K. Sci Fi channel, backed by Universal Studios Networks, has outbid entertainment satcaster Sky One for the TV premieres to three U.S. drama series from 20th Century Fox, it was revealed at the Mip TV program mart here on Thursday.
Sci Fi web said it paid a "seven-figure sum" for "John Doe," "Firefly" and "The Visitor" but declined to reveal a figure.

U.S. sleeper hit "John Doe" stars Dominic Purcell and is executive produced and directed by Mimi Leder. Sci Fi acquired 22 one-hours of the series about a man who knows everything but his own identity. It has a first-look option on the second series currently in production.

"Buffy" creator Joss Whedon's futuristic action adventure series "Firefly" will air in May.

"The Visitor" stars John Corbett as a pilot who returns to Utah after being lost in the Bermuda Triangle for 50 years.

Skedded for weekday primetime slots, the three series are aimed at 16-34-year-olds viewers who "demand high quality entertainment drama with a futuristic theme," said the channel.

Other deals closed before Mip wraps today include:


U.K.'s Celador Intl, distributor of the "Millionaire" format, has picked up distribution rights to 19 Entertainment's latest format "All American Girl," which is being broadcast on ABC in the U.S.
Deal covers all markets outside of U.K. and U.S., which 19 retains.

Devised by "Pop Idol" creator Simon Fuller, the show is a talent search for a woman aged between 18 and 25 who can sing, dance, act and looks good enough to represent the nation.

This is the third format that Celador Intl. has picked up from indie producers after Chris Evans' "Boys & Girls," and Tiger Aspect's upcoming reality show "My New Best Friend."


Spanish pubcaster Radio Television Española has sold the format of fiction series "Ana y los siete" to Portugal's TVI which has also taken out a remake option on drama "Cuentame como paso."
Spanish prodco Europroducciones has taken Italian remake rights to "Ana y los siete."

'60s family drama "Cuentame" averaged a 32% share in 2002, per Media Planning. Featuring Ana Obregon as a nanny by day and stripper by night, "Ana" took a 30.4% share last year.

Playing off Pedro Almodovar's second academy award, RTVE has also licensed "Matador" to Non Stop for Scandinavia and closed French DVD rights.

Expanding its third party pick-up to enrich its slate, RTVE has acquired sales rights to the Victor Ebner language course.

The deals come as RTVE Thematic Channels has struck carriage deals with AT&T to expand its overseas channel feed from Florida to all of the U.S. It will soon launch niche services in Canada via Videotron, said RTVE Thematic Channels director Javier Martin Dominguez.

Mip "went better than we thought, given the last minute cancellations," RTVE business affairs director Eva Zalve said, echoing many exhibitors' final Mip verdict.


U.K. distribber Fireworks Intl. announced a raft of sales for its "Andromeda" action series.
Sony's AXN/Japan channel has picked up season three and renewed its license for the first two seasons.

A second season has been sold to Foxtel Australia, a third season has been acquired by Gulf DTH in the Middle East and Holland Media Group has picked up a fourth season for the Netherlands and Luxembourg.

HMG has also bought a third season of "Mutant X" as well as the fourth season of "Blue Murder." Sky Network TV New Zealand has picked up the second season of "Mutant X" and the third season of "Andromeda."

Sri Lanka's Carlo Entertainment has acquired all three seasons of "Relic Hunter," while PT Indosiar Visual Mandiri in Indonesia, IBA in Israel and Kiet Tuong in Vietnam have snapped up season three of the popular series. RTE in Ireland has picked up the first season of the show.

PT Indosiar has also acquired Fireworks' $25,000,000 event TV miniseries "A Wrinkle in Time," season one of the children's series "Black Hole High," and season one of new action-adventure show "Adventure Inc," starring Michael Biehn.


***********************************************

[Harveylives]

whew!! There for a second I thought I was going into hyper rage.

[DentArthurDent]

>>>So Kyntio's totally faster on the draw, I'll just delete that chunk of my post...oh well you get the picture<<<


yeah this is NOT SciFI it's in the UK. So I guess somewhat lucky for our Brit friends if they like these shows...
AFD

[Under A Dying Sun]

i apologize for that un-needed scare. :(

well luckily i was wrong. ;)

too bad the US still has assblasters.


long live scapers.

[Kyntio]

Ooops sorry AFD! *snicker* Well at least I finally get to watch Firefly, I keep hearing good things about it?

[Under A Dying Sun]

what exactly is the uk scifi channel?

why can't they buy farscape? ;)

[Copperblue]

Firefly, that is. It was... just not very good. At least to my way of thinking. Seems like it had a following of some sort, but for me, I think I like things that take a bit more brain power to watch. Or something.
Maybe something that isn't a SciFi western. I just don't know how to sum this one up well.

[Stargate2077]

I understand how you felt. I was put off by the western feel. I perhaps judged the show a little too harshly. I don't know. I do know that the first episode, one of the few that I saw, was the worst Firefly episode. FOX basically wanted to dump the series from the beginning. Friday night time slot 'o death...not airing the original piliot until after the series was cancelled...

sigh

It has been a bad year for the Sci-Fi genre

Maybe we should have a mourning day for the Sci-Fi shows that are cancelled in their prime? Something to think about in the future.

[RobinC]

Fox kinda killed Firefly by showing the slowest episodes first. There was something about it that kept me watching, and I ended up in love with the show. The later episodes were fantastic, and didn't have all that western feel to them. The characters were great, too. Oh, and the pilot which they didn't show until the show was cancelled would have been a much better first episode to hook people (which is of course why they held it back, I'm sure).

I'm missing Firefly almost as much as Farscape!

Robin

[Kaylumi]

I didn't like Firefly much in the beginning. I'm not really that big on Westerns, but I kept watching. Each show got better and then the episode called "Out of Gas" blew me away. I was totally hooked after that. If they'd shown the pilot first, I think more people would have gotten into it.

I didn't like Farscape, either, the first episode I watched. Actually the very first epsode, I got one look at Rygel and switched the channel. Couldn't get past the muppet thing. (Can you ever forgive me?) But then I luckily got snookered into a three-parter and by the end I was a fan. That was during a chain reaction they showed just before season 4 started.

[Kyntio]

Kaylumi: I didn't like Farscape, either, the first episode I watched. Actually the very first epsode, I got one look at Rygel and switched the channel. Couldn't get past the muppet thing. (Can you ever forgive me?)

:rollin: :rollin: :rollin:

Don't worry, that's exactly how I reacted at first! Well I'm glad to read all this before I start watching Firefly or by the sound of it I might have given up after watching the first ep. Now I'll make sure to watch more eps. before I decide to switch channel.

[RustySlinky]

I also didn't like my first episodes of Firefly. But I soon discovered that like Farscape, Firefly was another show that had to be watched multiple times to extract meaning. There was a lot more going on than met the eye.

The episode "Out of Gas" is widely considered the best of the lot, and IMO, easily on-par or better than any episode from Farscape Season #4. I thought "Out of Gas" delivered the darkness of "Farscape", the energy of "E.R.", the tension of FOX's "24", and the emotion of "Touched By an Angel" all rolled into one. In short, it was everything that "Star Trek Enterprise" isn't. This episode single-handedly eliminated doubt over the potential for "Firefly" and galvanized the fandom to commit themselves to fight for their show.

I think most Firefly fans however, would agree that overall, the series started off weak and didn't achieve critical mass until later in the season, as Joss Whedon and company struggled to find the right formula.

It is said on the Firefly boards that FOX advertising misportrayed Firefly as a sex and action sci-fi drama, enticing people to watch for the wrong reasons. The network also affected the content of the initial episodes, which alienated those who would later be drawn to the show. FOX pre-empted the show for baseball, then for sweeps which preventing fans from getting into a weekly routine. In the end, Firefly could not overcome the shadow of James Cameron's "Dark Angel" which had delivered higher ratings for FOX.

Many of the 13 Firefly episodes had three levels of meaning, sort of like college english reading courses. One episode explored the meaning of Faith, in oneself, in God, in Fate. Another episode delved into to the true natures of heroism, courage, and altruism, from various perspectives.

Compared with Farscape, Firefly was subtle, a flutter of an eyelid, a caress of a finger, the use of mood and color. The producers of the show actively communicated with their audience with a human-to-human, verbal and nonverbal way, to a depth and sensitivity not usually associated with science fiction TV. In hindsight, I now believe this would not have been as easily achieved, had the show been encumbered with the relative baggage of outer-space alien mannerisms and culture, intergalactic laws of physics, or a focus on snazzy special effects and live action.

But Firefly was also in many ways a historical allegory. From the 1850's to early 1900's, the American Civil War, conversion to an industrial economy, centralization of government power, and the taming of the Western Frontier, marked some of the most turbulent times of our nation. Producer Joss Whedon had an interest here, and built-in some of the social themes and issues from these periods directly into Firefly.

To conclude, IMO: :)

Strengths: Joss Whedon style of dialogue. Characters and character interplay, especially when all nine of them are gathered around the dinner table, something magical happens that doesn't occur on Farscape.

Weaknesses: Overemphasis on character development at the expense of plot cohesiveness and originality. Lack of what is normally considered popular Science-Fiction, (i.e. lack of non-stop action, high-tech gadgets, or intellectual foundation).

---

Update: Earlier in the week, fans were notified that FOX eventually intends to release the series on DVD. The fans recently gathered in various cities across the United States to meet and spend time with each other, face-to-face. They are writing fan-fiction, and currently looking forward to getting (Kazaa, etc) the un-aired episodes coming to Great Britain later this year.

[MediaSavant]

It wouldn't be shocking for the U.S. SciFi to purchase the rerun rights for John Doe or Firefly. They've certainly done so with similar series.

>what exactly is the uk scifi channel?

why can't they buy farscape?<

They are a satellite channel. I believe they already have the rerun rights to Farscape.

I don't believe they do any original productions on their own, but the UK people here might know if they do.

They appear to purchase only reruns of stuff other people made.

[LadyCrais]

Goodness but we've been through these Firefly discussions before.

ANYHOO..... something I have been looking into but haven't managed yet is to make a list of the shows offered on the various science fiction channels and compare them to Skiffy's line-up. I'm thinking fodder for my further complaints. This is a good example of how much better other companies are doing in the genre programming department. I've only collected Canada's SpaceCast so far and despite them also carrying Tremors, I was impressed with not only their line-up but their non-fiction emphasis on space news and documentaries. I wish I had a channel that did that.

As an aside, is this the same Universal supporting this great Sci-Fi station in the UK that is Vivendi Universal that ultimately owns the US Sci-Fi channel that is in the midst of self-destruction? I am totally confused on that!

[Chaym]

Rusty Slinky - WOW!!! APPLAUSE!!! and HELL YEAH!!!

Aside from agreeing with EVERYTHING you so eloquently wrote, I LOVED the (forgive me if I've gotten the language wrong) Korean language and influence (costuming, folks using chopsticks at meal time, etc.) used throught the show. It was wonderfully refreshing twist no one (that I know of) has ever done before. Josh Wheadon (and DK of course) is a god. If Firefly does indeed come out on DVD, I'll be in line first thing to purchase them.

As a side note: my husband couldn't get into Firefly, just couldn't get "past" the "wild west influence." And I didn't like Farscape at first either, then got totally frelling hooked with a Chain Reaction.

[Under A Dying Sun]

firefly+joss= no frelling thanks.

no magic on FARSCAPE????

you have to be kidding me.

[Demonique]

Originally posted by Under A Dying Sun
what exactly is the uk scifi channel?

why can't they buy farscape? ;)

UK SciFi channel used to be the UK version of SciFi, have the same logo and everything.
SciFi US sold them to someone else or they bought themselves off the US version

Have nothing much to do with US SciFi now, except for buying the rights to show US SciFi shows.

They would LOVE to fund FS, but unfortunately lack the funds to do so.

At the moment they're showing The Twilight Zone (old b&w version), The Lost World, Farscape, Sliders, Witchblade, The Outer Limits, The Chronicle, Dead Zone, Wonderwoman, UFO, Sci Factor, The Burning Zone, anime movies on Thursday night, ...

They mave a movie at ten every night, usually followed by a later movie and show 3/4 movies on Sunday.

They're showing reruns of FS at the moment (haven't got the rights to show season four yet), they'll probably start showing S4 before the summer. FS reruns are show at 8pm Monday-Thursday.

They also showed the first Dune mini-series

[shaith]

Originally posted by Under A Dying Sun
firefly+joss= no frelling thanks.

no magic on FARSCAPE????

you have to be kidding me.

No kidding.

Scarier: farscape+joss.

Sikozu, the leviathan slayer...

No, just doesn't work.

[BritAngie]

Originally posted by Under A Dying Sun
what exactly is the uk scifi channel?

why can't they buy farscape? ;)
They *used* to be the sister channel to the US sci fi channel...so similar in content just in GMT times and Uk adverts...But then they were split off and now report directly to Universal so are no longer connected with the Us sci fi channel anymore..( I found this out ages ago when asking them about another show you guys had and would hte uk channel be showing it.. )They are a *tiny* outfit and I would imagine that 7 figure sum is a HUGE bite of their yearly budget and has huge amounts of rerun rights..

Don't get me wrong.. Sci fi UK *LOVE* Farscape and advertise it all the time and do Farscape weekends and play eps on many days of the week.. but they do not have the overall money to help fund sci fi US's missing chunk.. :(