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From scifi.com:
Fox’s John Doe garnered good ratings for the network and won its time slot in its Sept. 20 debut, but the much-anticipated Firefly took off much slower, coming in third place in its time slot an hour earlier, according to The Hollywood Reporter….
But Firefly was slower out of the gate at 8 p.m., averaging 6.3 million viewers and a 3.0/11 in adults 18-49. The action-drama beat Fox’s 2001-’02 season average in the time slot by 11 percent in adults 18-49, but it also took a dip at the half-hour mark in total viewers and some key demographics, the trade paper reported
This doesn’t sound too good.Maybe the Sci Fi channel will pick it up when Fox cancels it in three weeks
Wasn’t that what happened to Sliders? I have some dim memories of something like that…
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Wasn’t that what happened to Sliders? I have some dim memories of something like that…
The first three seasons of Sliders were on Fox, another two were ressurrected on Sci Fi. Given their current fiscal management, though, I expect Firefly will prove to be too costly to revive if it is indeed cancelled prematurely (or not, given another season).
At least Sliders had a proven track record (however modest) and I expect Wheedon and co would cost a relative fortune to re/produce. Then again -the current backlash against Sci Fi might require some financial back peddling…
Significantly, if Firefly got these ratings on the networks that screen Buffy and Angel, I doubt everyone involved would feel so deflated. I’m not sure about the exact comparative figures yet, but these ratings are pretty much reflective of how Whedon’s other shows have tended to perform on their respective ‘smaller’ networks. If he had gone with either of UPN or WB, Firefly might have been allowed to premiere with the intended pilot and even been allowed to thrive in relative ‘obscurity’.
For the record, the Firefly premiere permormed better than the Buffy premiere (although I’m not sure what this might mean across such distinct networks).
I’ll let you find the needles in the haystack
Prime-Time Nielsen ratings
The Associated Press Tuesday, September 24, 2002
——————————————————————————–
(09-24) 12:36 PDT (AP) —
Prime-time ratings compiled by Nielsen Media Research for Sept. 16-22. Top 20 listings include the week’s ranking, with rating for the week and season-to-date rankings in parentheses.
An “X” in parentheses denotes a one-time-only presentation. The rating is the percentage of the nation’s estimated 105.5 million TV homes. Each ratings point represents 1,055,000 households.
1. (X) “Emmy Awards,” NBC, 13.5, 14.4 million homes.
2. (X) “Survivor: Thailand,” CBS, 13.2, 14.1 million homes.
3. (7) “NFL Monday Night Football: Philadelphia at Washington,” ABC, 11.8, 12.6 million homes.
4. (X) “8 Simple Rules for Dating My Teenage Daughter,” ABC, 11.0, 11.7 million homes.
5. (X) “Life With Bonnie,” ABC, 10.5, 11.2 million homes.
6. (9) “Law & Order,” NBC, 10.3, 11.0 million homes.
7. (17) “CSI: Crime Scene Investigation-Monday,” CBS, 9.5, 10.1 million homes.
7. (15) “NFL Monday Showcase,” ABC, 9.5, 10.1 million homes.
9. (2) “CSI: Crime Scene Investigation,” CBS, 9.3, 10.0 million homes.
9. (3) “Friends,” NBC, 9.3, 10.0 million homes.
11.(65) “Big Brother 3-Thursday,” CBS, 9.0, 9.6 million homes.
12. (7) “Everybody Loves Raymond,” CBS, 8.8, 9.4 million homes.
12. (18) “Will & Grace,” NBC, 8.8, 9.4 million homes.
14. (18) “60 Minutes,” CBS, 8.3, 9.0 million homes.
15. (9) “ER,” NBC, 8.1, 8.7 million homes.
16. (X) “Push, Nevada,” ABC, 7.8, 8.3 million homes.
17. (X) “Miss America,” ABC, 7.5, 8.0 million homes.
17. (X) “My Wife and Kids,” ABC, 7.5, 8.0 million homes.
19. (13) “Becker,” CBS, 7.1, 7.5 million homes.
19. (18) “Law & Order: Special Victim’s Unit,” NBC, 7.1, 7.6 million homes.
——————————————————————————–
21. “Fox NFL Sunday Post-Game,” Fox, 7.0
22. “West Wing,” NBC, 6.723. (X) “Christopher Reeve: Courageous Steps,” ABC, 6.6
24. “Judging Amy,” CBS, 6.5
25. (X) “Cosby Show: A Look Back,” NBC, 6.4
25. “Yes, Dear,” CBS, 6.4
27. “JAG,” CBS, 6.3
28. “Bernie Mac,” Fox, 6.2
28. “Cedric the Entertainer Presents,” Fox, 6.2
28. “Frasier,” NBC, 6.2
28. “My Wife and Kids-Wednesday,” ABC, 6.2
32. (X) “Big Brother 3,” CBS, 6.1
32. “Fastlane,” Fox, 6.1
32. “King of Queens,” CBS, 6.1
35. “20/20-Friday,” ABC, 6.0
35. “The Guardian,” CBS, 6.0
35. “John Doe,” Fox, 6.0
38. “That ’70s Show,” Fox, 5.9
39. “America’s Most Wanted: America Fights Back,” Fox, 5.7
39. “My Wife and Kids,” ABC, 5.7
39. “Primetime Thursday,” ABC, 5.7
42. (X) “Fox Movie Special-Sunday: The Fugitive,” Fox, 5.6
42. (X) “National Geographic Pyramids Live,” Fox, 5.6
42. (X) “Regis and Kelly in Primetime,” ABC, 5.6
45. “7th Heaven,” WB, 5.5
46. “Push, Nevada,” ABC, 5.4
47. “48 Hours,” CBS, 5.3
47. (X) “ABC Big Picture Show: Armageddon,” ABC, 5.3
47. (X) “World’s Funniest Movie Outtakes,” Fox, 5.3
50. (X) “60 Minutes Special,” CBS, 5.2
50. (X) “Countdown to Emmys,” NBC, 5.2
52. “Big Brother 3-Saturday,” CBS, 5.1
52. “Grounded for Life,” Fox, 5.1
54. (X) “Becker-Sunday,” CBS, 5.0
55. “Cops 2: Coast to Coast,” Fox, 4.9
56. “Everwood,” WB, 4.8
56. “Fear Factor,” NBC, 4.8
58. “Dateline Friday,” NBC, 4.7
59. (X) “America’s Funniest Home Videos: The Battle of the Best,” ABC, 4.6
60. (X) “Carol Burnett Show: Show Stoppers,” CBS, 4.5
60. “CBS Sunday Movie: Tomorrow Never Dies,” CBS, 4.5
60. (X) “Just Shoot Me 9/17,” NBC, 4.5
63. “Cops: Coast to Coast,” Fox, 4.3
64. “The Drew Carey Show,” ABC, 4.2
65. “Ed,” NBC, 4.1
66. “Firefly,” Fox, 4.0
66. “Providence,” NBC, 4.0
66. (X) “Push, Nevada,” ABC, 4.0
66. (X) “Survivor: Thailand,” CBS, 4.0
70. “Third Watch,” NBC, 3.9
71. “Whose Line is it Anyway?,” ABC, 3.8
72. “Charmed,” WB, 3.7
72. “Crossing Jordan,” NBC, 3.7
74. (X) “Favorite Stars: Then and Now,” ABC, 3.5
74. “WWE Smackdown!,” UPN, 3.5
76. “The Agency-Saturday,” CBS, 3.4
77. “Reba,” WB, 3.3
78. “Enterprise,” UPN, 3.2
79. (X) “Fox Movie Thursday: The Rats,” Fox, 3.0
80. (X) “Latin Grammy Awards: 3rd Annual,” CBS, 2.9
80. “NBC Saturday Night Movies: LA Law: The Movie,” NBC, 2.9
80. “The Twilight Zone,” UPN, 2.9
83. “Smallville ,” WB, 2.8
84. “One on One,” UPN, 2.6
85. “Girlfriends,” UPN, 2.5
85. “Girlfriends 9:30pm,” UPN, 2.5
85. “WB Wednesday Movie: Blue Streak,” WB, 2.5
85. “What I Like About You,” WB, 2.5
89. “Sabrina the Teenage Witch” WB, 2.4
90. “Family Affair,” WB, 2.3
90. “Greetings From Tucson,” WB, 2.3
92. “Do Over,” WB, 2.2
93. “Gilmore Girls,” WB, 2.1
94. (X) “Meet My Folks,” NBC, 2.0
95. “Jamie Kennedy,” WB, 1.9
95. “The Parkers,” UPN, 1.9
95. “UPN’s Movie Friday: Set It Off,” UPN, 1.9
98. “Gilmore Girls,” WB, 1.8
99. “Buffy the Vampire Slayer,” UPN, 1.7
100. “Diagnosis Murder-Thursday,” Pax, 1.5
101. “Doc-Sunday,” Pax, 1.4
101. “Off Centre,” WB, 1.4
103. “Just Cause-Sunday,” Pax, 1.3
104. “Diagnosis Murder-Wednesday,” Pax, 1.2
104. “Enterprise Tuesday,” UPN, 1.2
106. “Diagnosis Murder-Friday,” Pax, 1.0
106. “Diagnosis Murder-Monday,” Pax, 1.0
106. “Diagnosis Murder-Monday 8pm,” Pax, 1.0
106. “Doc-Wednesday,” Pax, 1.0
106. “Just Cause-Tuesday,” Pax, 1.0
111. “Body and Soul-Monday,” Pax, 0.9
111. “Body and Soul-Sunday,” Pax, 0.9
111. “Candid Camera-Wednesday,” Pax, 0.9
114. “Weakest Link-Pax,” Pax, 0.7
115. “America’s Favorite Movies: Gigi,” Pax, 0.6
115. “Candid Camera-Sunday,” Pax, 0.6
115. “Friday Night Flix: Omega Code,” Pax, 0.6
115. “It’s a Miracle,” Pax, 0.6
119. (X) “America’s Favorite Movie Trailers,” Pax, 0.4
The ratings beign higher then opther Wheedon series is a good sign. ANd so is that it performed btter then the tiem slots previous occupant. But ratings did fall at the half way point, and not everyone who wathes the pilot stays for the rest of the series. Remember that Greg the Bunny was not renewed for similar reasons.
As for scifi picking it up, I doubt it. Scifi is movign away from its core audiance who loves space dramas. Personally I’ve lost all confidence in scifi after they cancelled farscape. It was the last straw after cancelling The Chronicle and not picking up another B5 series.I don’t think they’ll be able to even conteplate the demise of a show until it’s had at least 5 shows aired.
Firefly is only set for 13 episodes and its such a big budget show that it’ll surely run for a while yet. The second (and the pilot) were MUCH better than the first, so I’m hopeful.
Then again, as sci fi shows go, Crusade wasn’t that bad! And that lasted for a few shows. And yet, the producer of Firefly (Ben Edlund) had terrible luck just as his show (the Tick (live action) was starting to pick up – it was cancelled after much less than 13.
Hey, I liked Crusade!! Or at least – a couple of episodes were fantastic whilst others were obviously quite the stinkers. That Merlin, character, though, was a real liability (as performed by Woodward anyway)and it didn’t help that Straczynski had such creative conflicts with TNT over the content and direction of the show. A shame that Sci Fi decided not to pick it up – it would have been interesting to see it develop the way Straczynski intended over the projected 5 year arc. Come to think of it – season 5 of Babylon 5 (the Byron snooze fest) was often awful, so maybe it was the audience who was spared a fate worse than death.
As for my Firefly cancellation/revival remark – I was just being a smart ass of course. Its obviously premature to talk of a show being cancelled after a couple of (poor) showings. With Fox, though, you never know – didn’t the more commercially viable Chris Carter experience similar problems with Harsh Realm and Lone Gunmen?
But then, the wonderful Millennium was allowed to survive despite poor ratings (the kind Buffy gets on UPN), even though Millennium wasn’t renewed for the all important (and promised) final millennial season. Good lord, I watch way too much tv
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