Excellent Read About FOX

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New on DVD: Whatever show you didn't watch last year

By C. A. BRIDGES

TWENTY-FOUR/SEVEN

Last update: February 02, 2005

Are you ready to save the new television show "The Inside"? Ready to join all the e-mail drives, boycotts and letter campaigns to demand that this quirky, intelligent show be kept on the air? OK, granted, "The Inside" won't actually debut for two more months or so, but having seen how the Fox Network operates I figured starting the petitions early would just save time.

Alas, it's doomed from the start. "The Inside" is being produced by Tim Minear, co-producer and writer for such weird and wonderful shows as "Angel" (canceled too soon), "Firefly" (canceled even sooner), and "Wonderfalls" (canceled almost before the opening credits). So you know he'll bring some familiar faces to both sides of the camera and it'll be witty, surprisingly dramatic, and almost impossible to describe.

See? Doomed. But I'm not worried because I've finally figured out Fox's cunning plan: obviously they want people to stop watching television altogether. It's a radical method of beating the other networks once and for all, in a we'll-all-go-down-together sort of way, but it's the only possible answer.

Why else would they keep moving shows around faster than the eye can see? "Family Guy," "Wanda at Large," "The O.C." and "Tru Calling" are recent ping-pongees but nothing matches "Greg the Bunny," which debuted on a Wednesday, moved to Sunday, then back to Wednesday for a while, then to Friday, then finally back to Sunday. It was cancelled after exhausted viewers collapsed, TV Guides still in hand.

Why continue to consign promising shows to the dreaded Friday Night Death Slot, the pit of programming despair that's been sucking down and grinding up shows ever since the original "Star Trek"? "Wanda at Large," "Boston Public," "John Doe," "Millennium," "Playing it Straight," "The Adventures of Brisco County, Jr." and "Wonderfalls" all fell under the Friday Night Sentence of Summary Execution.

Clearly there are some benefits to creative rescheduling and abusive handling. For one thing it turns a large amount of casual fans into a small, core group of rabid, diehard fans who will devote their lives to trying to keep the show alive, and that's always fun. Plus you get truckloads of mail, which really saves on the heating bills.

And if you pre-empt a show with every strong gust of wind that comes along, you might even save back enough unaired episodes to make a whole other season the way Fox did with "Futurama." Incredibly cost effective, and certainly worth a few network executive effigy burnings.

But Fox's crowning glory is "Firefly," the poster child for malicious programming.

Created by Joss Whedon of "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" and "Angel" fame, "Firefly" was well written, funny, exciting, and original. The characters were multilayered and perfectly cast, the plots were intelligent and utterly lacking in TV cliches, the look and feel were perfect. Had it appeared on a Monday night it would have disappeared without a trace after only nine or ten excellent, groundbreaking seasons.

Instead, canny Fox executives took the bold move of skipping the first episode and then broadcasting the rest out of sequence, on Friday night, to prevent viewers from accidentally becoming interested in it while searching for reruns of "That 70's Show." But, after the cancellation and the massive fan outbursts and the zillions of DVDs sold and the resultant motion picture deal, did anyone thank the plucky, forward-thinking executives that made it all happen? Ha!

They kicked "Futurama" around and it won Emmys. They cancelled "Family Guy," twice, and it outsold both "Friends" and "Sex in the City" in 2003. "Wonderfalls" was cancelled after only four episodes but the DVD set, which came out yesterday, was the fourth highest selling DVD on Amazon.com yesterday afternoon.

And that's what's in store for "The Inside." Its inevitable destiny is to flare, get pre-empted every other week for local high school basketball games, die young, and come out next fall in a box set.

Why fight it? Between show-shuffling and endless episodes of "The Swan" and "Marry Some Schmoe for Money," Fox has won. I'm canceling my cable; no longer will I search in vain for new shows on network television. Instead I'll just wait six months and pick 'em up at Best Buy.

But write Fox anyway. They get a kick out of it.

[Psicosis]

You think Minear would be smart enough to stay away from Fox, given he signed AFTER Wonderfalls was cancelled.

Guess he is just after making a quick buck.

[Guest Ringmaster]

You think Minear would be smart enough to stay away from Fox, given he signed AFTER Wonderfalls was cancelled.

Guess he is just after making a quick buck.

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[Ananas]

I was gonna say "The Inside" would almost certainly suck because it wasn't good enough for Peter fucking Facinelli, but I guess there's hope if he was booted from the show instead of left on his own accord. Wonderfalls was a good show that fell apart after the pilot IMO. Never saw his other two shows though. I should mention that article forgot about "The $treet", another bad ass FOX dramedy that got the axe after a couple months.

[Godfatha]

What about that David E. Kelley show about all female lawyers that came on after Ally McBeal was canned? Forget what it was called but it was on for like 3 episodes.

[naiwf]

And don't forget about Skin, a show that was hyped INCESSANTLY and cancelled after 3 episodes as well. I don't really bother with Fox anymore since they'll only keep the shows I hate, and cancel anything I could get into at any point.

[Miami Vice]

FOX is inconsistent, foolish and latly lacking in quality. But most of us already knew that anyway. I guess this guy doesn't get CBS, ABC or NBC.

[Guest Ringmaster]

What about that David E. Kelley show about all female lawyers that came on after Ally McBeal was canned? Forget what it was called but it was on for like 3 episodes.

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[Fitzy]

The only thing that Fox really did that pissed me off was cancel John Doe. That show was very original and interesting. It had a good storyline going, and then they cut it short without a real explaination as to why he was like that. How he could know everything. And then of course they had Digger turn on him and be the man under the mask, and would have liked to see that unfold. Stupid Fox.

I also thought Fastlane was a pretty good show, but wasn't really that pissed when it was cancelled. While it was something I watched, it wasn't really something that bothered me if it was cancelled or not.

[Ananas]

Fastlane's ratings were actually pretty good for a Friday show if I remember. It was just way too high budget, although I'm sure they could have had success by pairing it with 24. It was nothing revolutionary, or even that good really, but perfectly watchable.

FOX is definitely trigger happy, although Arrested Devlopment's season 2 ratings are certainly not going to convince them to change their ways. Is the show's numbers even up from last year?

[Guest Ringmaster]

The average viewership for AD last season was around 6.2 Million, this season it's been going between 7-9, so yes there is an improvement. Basically, the show's first season had ratings that were lower than shows like Threat Matrix and The Brotherhood Of Poland, but the show was only kept on the air because Gail Berman likes the show. It is kind of sad though, because a show like Undeclared, which was better IMO, did get better ratings than AD, yet it's gone.

Edited February 4, 2005 by Ringmaster

[oldskool]

Don't forget Titus...

Any guesses on how well their DVD set will sell come September?