Arrested Development Returning!
Of the many cancellation atrocities committed by Fox, the termination of Arrested Development is one of the worst (next to Firefly).
After nearly six years off the air, the Bluth family is returning with new television episodes and a movie, with their very specific brand of uncomfortable humor. In doing so Arrested Development will join the ever-growing list of excellent shows that Fox prematurely cancelled, only to bring them back in some form. That list includes:
- Firefly
- Futurama
- Family Guy
“Series star Will Arnett seconded Hurwitz’s pledge on his Twitter feed, @arnettwill, while, er, standing next to co-star Jason Bateman: ‘I’m peeing with @batemanjason at the moment … and we can confirm that we are going to make new AD eps and a movie.’”
Maybe one day we will see new episodes of The Tick, Dollhouse, Human Target & Terminator the Sarah Connor Chronicles… But I’m not going to hold my breath.
At the moment, Fox isn’t confirming the resurrection of Arrested Development. If this doesn’t happen, I will be pissed.
(Source)
Dollhouse Sent to the Attic
Apparently Fox announced the cancellation of Dollhouse five days ago and I missed it.
Boobs increase readership... sometimes you've got to pander to your audience
I’m annoyed. Not because Dollhouse was canceled; I expected this.
What really bothers me is that this show never had a chance, and they kept it instead of giving Terminator The Sarah Conner Chronicles an opportunity to shine. Terminator had a devoted and growing fan-base, much like that of Firefly. Dollhouse, while it has devoted fans, they don’t have the same passion, simply because it isn’t as good as Firefly or Terminator ever were.
Making this even sadder, is the fact that Dollhouse finally started hitting its stride in the last three or four episodes; it was starting to shine. Too little too late.
Fox should have canceled Dollhouse last season and let Terminator live for a little while longer.
Dollhouse will eventually air its remaining episodes, then it will be sent to the attic.
A Glimmer of Hope for My Favorite Robot Assassins
As I’ve mentioned a few times before, I really want Fox to renew Terminator the Sarah Connor Chronicles because it rocks the proverbial socks.
After winning the E! Online “Save One Show” vote with ginormous 53% (Chuck came in second place with 25%) it seems that in spite of Terminator’s generally poor ratings, there might be a little bit of hope. Every once in a while the networks will actually listen to the rabid fans.
The show isn’t back yet, but there is a little bit of hope.
Have hope! (And if you don't get this, go read Green Lantern!)
If you haven’t seen it yet, don’t miss the boat, check it out on Hulu or buy the DVDs. Join the fun and help remind Fox that this show has serious value.
Fox Please Don’t Terminate Terminator
My splendid vacation came to an end today. The trip was concluded with a shockingly long journey filled with unexpected landings, delays, and turbulence (For the record, US Airways is a total waste of an airline).
Upon arriving home and crashing on my couch I finally watched the season finale of Terminator the Sarah Connor Chronicles and I have to say once more… the show rocks!
Oddly enough, during my long journey (prior to seeing the finale) I came to the conclusion that I hadn’t had a real attachment to a show on the chopping block since Aaron Sorkin’s Sports Night (1998).
So I was stunned to see that Joshua Malina (of Sports Night) appeared in the finale of Terminator the Sarah Connor Chronicles. Isn’t that odd?
Anyway, my point is that Terminator the Sarah Connor Chronicles is an amazing and brilliant show. Watch it on Hulu. Get the DVDs. Just watch this brilliant show in a manner that lets Fox know that it is worth saving. You won’t regret it.
Down with Heroes. Up with Terminator.
I’ve been watching Heroes since the pilot.
I’ve been watching Heroes out of habit since Fall 2007.
Each week I tune-in and think to myself , “This week it will be good.”
Each week I am disappointed.
The characters never grow and the plot barely ever changes. I would write more but why bother?
Terminator the Sarah Connor Chronicles is an excellent character driven show with great writing, superb acting.
It is also on Fox’s legendary chopping block for great shows. If you are watching Heroes, I implore you to go onto Hulu or pick up the DVD’s for Terminator the Sarah Connor Chronicles. You won’t regret it. Maybe you will even save the show!
Too hell with saving the stupid cheerleader. Save Terminator the Sarah Connor Chronicles!
Fox Marketing Strategy – Dollhouse & Terminator the Sarah Connor Chronicles
I just got back from a night out and the first thing I did was watch my DVRed Dollhouse.
I really enjoyed it. It raised a lot of intriguing plot lines and introduced some cool character with a lot of morality problems. I know that Joss Whedon writes character driven stories, so I can’t wait to see how he creates a character driven show with so many characters who’s personalities are regularly wiped clean.
I haven’t watched Terminator yet… it’s really late and I wanted to write a post before I go to bed.
Earlier today I had a brief dialog on the comment board for Occasional Superheroine (one of my latest favorite geek blogs).
I wrote:
Now that I am thinking about it, I think Fox realizes that Joss has such a loyal fan-base that they might be able to turn these shows into successes through them alone, even on a Friday night.
They probably figure that the crazy Firefly crowd will rally around the show regardless of the night/time, and then they will stick around to watch Firefly alum Summer Glau on Terminator.
That’s the only explanation for this that makes any sense to me at all.
After seeing the way that Fox was advertising both shows together during Dollhouse using short commercials featuring Dollhouse’s Eliza Dushku & Terminator (formerly Firefly’s) Summer Glau, I am convinced that Fox is trying to squeeze a hit out of two Friday night shows by using the notoriously loyal Joss Whedon fan-base (In a future post I will write more about Joss Whedon’s fans, the Firefly revival, and the Browncoats. It is an amazing story… but I think I’ve written enough about Joss & Firefly in the past three days to last for a while.).
I couldn’t find the actual commercials, but here are the outtakes:
Personally, I still think it sucks that Fox is slotting these two shows on a Friday night, but if it keeps both on the air I will be content.
DVR rocks my socks!
Fox Gears-Up to Repeat History
Joss Whedon’t new show Dollhouse starts tonight and I really want it to live a bit longer than Firefly did.
One of the big reasons that Firefly died so quickly was mismanagement by Fox.
Joss & co. shot an exceptional two hour pilot for the show. It properly introduced viewers to the Universe, its complex character, and the main plot lines. Sadly, Fox decided not to show the pilot until the day it cancelled the show. Instead they showed other episodes. They were great, but viewers never had the chance to properly get to know the characters and were constantly confused even though they enjoyed the show.
To further add to the confusion, Fox’s pre-airing marketing blitz used key footage from the pilot. When viewers started watching the premier, it didn’t look like what they had seen in the commercials and trailers.
Dumb, right?
Well checkout this commercial for Dollhouse and Terminator the Sarah Connor Chronicles:
Seriously, WTF are they thinking?!?!
This is how I imagine the pitch for this playing-out:
“OK, so we have these two modern sci-fi epics. Let’s just ‘Charlie’s Angels‘ them up. I mean make them look really 1970′s cornball! Let’s washout the colors, set it to outdated music, misrepresent the shows, and use quaint marketing language that was abandoned two decades ago for good reason. That ought to appeal to a demographic that will be utterly uninterested in the show while simultaneously pushing away the people who will actually want to watch it!”
Please Fox! You’ve already dug the both of these shows a grave by slotting them for Friday night. Don’t slay them with stupidity.
