 Scully and Mulder confront a witless network executive. (Fox) |
By FLAtRich
[From the October 9, 2002 Edition of eXoNews.]
Hollywood October 9, 2002 (eXoNews) - No, I'm not one of those people who
"never watch TV" ranting about what Bucky Fuller once labeled as
"chewing gum for the mind." Regulars here at eXoNews know that
I'm quite the opposite - I'm a passionate fan of genre TV shows present
and past.
I've lived with TV since we were both black and white infants and I still
love settling down in front of my Sony with a bowl of corn chips to watch
Buffy protect folks from the denizens of the hellmouth, or Captain Archer
and his crew explore a new world, or Johnny Smith puzzle out a Dead Zone
vision, or Mulder and Scully do it again on Sci Fi Channel.
Hell, I'm such a long-time fan that I can laugh out loud at the stupid TV
questions on Beat The Geeks. I was a TV Geek before that kid was even
born! Go on, TV Geek, tell me who played Colonel Edward McCauley in the TV
series Men Into Space? (No clicking!)
But things have changed in TVLand, buckaroos. The thinking audience has
left the living room. The Big Networks have malformed our TV young. They
only care which Barbie or Ken gets voted off the island. They don't see
that there are no winners. All is lost.
Forget what Bucky Fuller said. Today's audience can barely chew gum and
watch TV at the same time. The short attention span of yesterday has been
replaced by the no attention span of today. The vast wasteland has
expanded off into the Twilight Zone.
No wonder Firefly hasn't flown and Push, Nevada has no pull!
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Today I stumbled across the ultimate solution, folks. Well, maybe, maybe not, but here it comes: why even bother trying to woo the mass majority network audience with carefully scripted, beautifully acted, expensively produced, complex genre programs when there is an easier alternative?
Why not produce
genre series directly for DVD and VHS? That's right! Bypass the little
tube and its quiz show and sitcom Nielsen families, 18-49 demographic
driven sponsors, witless network executives, Puritan network censors, and
clueless TV Guide critics. Shoot the 13 episodes and put them right up
there on the video store racks in a boxed set, man!
Zap! Broadcast/cable TV eliminated from the equation!
Can it be done? Why, sure, Video Ranger! Anyone who rents tapes or DVDs
occasionally comes across a "direct to video" feature. Those
movies never make it into theaters because they either suck too bad to get
a theatrical distribution deal or because they were only a tax shelter in
the first place (ala "Springtime for Hitler" in The Producers.)
Very few series are created directly for the DVD and VHS audience. There
is kids stuff, sure, and the history of surfing and Anime and other
specialty sets, but not quality genre drama. Shows like Trek and Buffy and
Sopranos and Farscape only come out on DVD after they run on TV in the
USA.
So why wait? I'll bet those box sets sell pretty well, don't they? Not
just in the USA, either. I bet they sell in places where they've never
even seen Farscape on TV.
"But what about sales?" Big Bad Executive Producer says.
"You still have to get the audience!"
Is that really more difficult than getting people to find your show on USA
Network or TNT or UPN or Sci Fi? Current ratings for almost all network
genre TV shows seem to prove otherwise. Enterprise had lousy numbers for
its season premiere. So did Buffy. Angel was lower than expected.
Newcomers like Firefly and Push and Twilight Zone have failed to grab the
overnights. Haunted is almost on the chopping block.
 If Spidey can sell, so can Angel or Farscape |
Only Smallville really pulled its own, but nothing genre is flying high on TV this season - not even Clark Kent. The genre numbers began dropping off last season, and they haven't made a comeback.
Funny, because
people sure flocked to Spiderman. Folks are buying Lord of the Rings and
renting science fiction and horror movie DVDs every day. It's not like
they aren't out there.
You gotta wonder if it's TV that's turning them off.
You gotta wonder what would happen if, say, Warners tried a little
experiment and released the next season of Angel, or even Smallville,
direct to DVD without ever airing it on the WB? You gotta wonder if The
Lone Gunmen would still be around if Fox had done that two years ago. Or
Harsh Realm. Or Invisible Man. Or _________________ [fill in your own
favorite cancelled show here, any era.]
The time has come for creative producers to take a chance at alternative
routes into the genre living room. Broadcast is trashed. Basic cable is
trashed. Pay cable - well, it's mostly those same old movies month after
month, isn't it? - nearly trashed.
This year's Emmys made Fraser the "most honored program in TV
history". With all due respect to those lovable old codgers still
limping around the Fraser sets, doesn't that tell you something?
TV is a dead horse, man. Time for a new ride.
Agree? Disagree? Opinions to
And for the TV Geek, the answer is here - Men Into Space (1956) - http://us.imdb.com/Details?0052493