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]

Originally Posted by 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”

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

[Moks]

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

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]

Originally Posted by Moks

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

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]

Originally Posted by Moks

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

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]

Originally Posted by 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.

that was the best special feature they ever added to the DVD's IMHO

[Athlantis]

Originally Posted by 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.

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

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 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 ????

Unbelievable

[sny]

Originally Posted by Moks

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

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?