Posted on 07/18/2007 2:48:40 PM PDT by KevinDavis
As the Internet continues to make significant strides in gaining respectability among mainstream media, more and more attention has been focused on the true power of the World Wide Web.
Some of that power was felt just a couple weeks ago when Web-savvy viewers of the CBS series "Jericho" convinced the network they were not paying enough attention to how the show was being distributed through non-traditional means -- you know, the Internet -- and in the end, had vastly miscalculated the audience for the show. On top of that, the campaign to organize the "Save Jericho" campaign came almost completely through the Internet, and CBS is poised to return the show either later this year or early 2008.
Other genre shows, however, have tapped into the raw energy of the Internet, whether it be the well-marketed and fan-produced "Star Trek: New Voyages," or simply by accident like SciFi Channel's "Battlestar Galactica."
(Excerpt) Read more at syfyportal.com ...
Back in ‘78-’79, a sizable group would gather in my dorm room to watch “Battlestar Gallactica” on a new, 19” RCA ColorTrak color TV, which I’d paid for with the sweat of my summer job.
I’m not sure I ever got used to seeing Ben Cartwright in space.
Thanks for the trip down memory lane.
Actually that was the first time I saw Lorne Greene on tv for me..
I wish.
Presently, the only downloadable purchase of episodes of favorite series is in the "IClod" format. Not buying that.
Disagree.
i think we're seeing the end of the Nielsen rating system, and other such monitors of viewing habits in favor of download statistics.
Unfortunately, even for SciFi, Bonnie Hammer is married to an out-moded rating system even more faithfully than she is to her husband.
What Ronald D. Moore could have done with a full five years...
Rachel dear, i think you probably want to be a part of Kevin's two ping lists.
I think they’re talking about the new Battlestar Galactica, with Edward James Olmos, not the old show with Loren Green.
I watched the old show too, in first run. It doesn’t hold a candle to the current show.
House, 24, 2 and a half men, numbers and so forth.
I happen to agree with Phsstpok... I still like the old one only for nostiglic reasons.. Nothing else.. Plus I had a crush on Maren Jensen and Anne Lockhart....
I think they are talking cable shows only.
Kathy Griffin and the D list is good.
Obviously the Real World on MTV was going for years.
Monk
Not as many, but they are doing good.
I guess there would be less viewers on cable to begin with, so some shows are not going to be able to pay the expense of making episodes with little money.
With the DVD sale of TV series (both old and new) these guys have a whole new and lucrative revenue stream. I can see the day when a TV is just used as a means to introduce people to a series they can only get on DVD or by download.
This thing has been bleeding viewers. The reason it didn't get that extra year is due to Moore's storytelling choices.
This show is boring.
IMHO, of course.
i agree that there was a substantial viewer bleed. Much of that can be attributed to SciFi management.
The should have done the show in 3 seasons, maybe even 2. The amount of filler that was stuffed into the show in season 2 and 3 was why I stopped watching.
I didn't find it intense, but I did find it unrelentingly GRIM. Shows like The Sopranos have the advantage of being able to have humorous subplots and such without altering the flavor of the show. Not an option here, and while some would say the show has maintained its integrity, the show is made in such a way that a sameness prevails.
Incidentally, it was Moore and Eick's choice to end it after four seasons. The alternative was the uncertainty of getting a fifth season, because Bonnie Hammer is still living in the 50's with her reliance on Nielsen ratings as authoritative, and an accurate measure of a show's popularity.
I don't believe that, but neither of us was in the room. Moore seems to be spinning this situation, since when one of the actors talked about this being the last season, Moore denied it at first, then weeks or months later admitted to it and then said it was HIS idea. Of course, he was saying a shortened final season was a good thing, until the season was allowed to be a full one, then he said THAT was what he wanted. So I don't put much stock in his word on this.
Sci Fi's managment is screwy, I agree, but at the same time all the efforts to promote this show have resulted in it losing viewers. That's a simple fact, and the kiss of death. If it would be financially advantageous for them to continue, they would. That the show is making money for the makers doesn't really change the fact that it's bleeding viewers--the issue isn't the structure of the DVD and syndication reruns plans.
The bottom line is not the Nielsen numbers, rather, the bottom line is how much money the show bring to the network. After all, it exists to make money.
Sure, but the bottom line in terms of popularity, which is what I was refering to, is viewers, and this show is losing them, not growing the fan base. And I think that monotony is the number one reason for that.
I am GLAD he won’t get 5 years.... only the first 18 months are worth watching.
The first time I ever saw Lorne Greene on TV was in commercials for Alpo. Just as I know Martha Raye from Polident, Rosemary Clooney from Coronet Paper Towels, and James Whitmore from Miracle Grow.
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