MovieChat Forums > Night Visions (2001) Discussion > Wait, FOX destroy a show??

Wait, FOX destroy a show??

posted 20 years ago by Quiet_Tiger
26 replies | jump to latest

Why would they let that... oh yeah, it's FOX!!! I'd never even heard of this show until I saw a marathon of it on SCI-FI, then came on here to learn something about it. From what everyone has been saying, it was on FOX for about half of the episodes made, then it got, shall we say, misplaced, then SCI-FI eventually picked it up. FOX has had some good shows that it has just destroyed for whatever reason. Take this show, which seems like a good Friday night show (I don't know when it was originally on), and think about similar spooky shows that the network for some reason hated and still picked up: American Gothic (at least, I think this was on FOX), Freakylinks, Beyond Belief, Firefly, The Lone Gunmen, etc, etc. Between time shifts, night changes (Bernie Mac), that lovely word "hiatis" (Boston Public), and line-up changes (anyone else think The X-Files should have just left well enough alone and ended before they got rid of Mulder?), I just don't don't understand why FOX picks up these shows, or in the case of The X-Files, kept them on so long (I love the X-Files, I just hated what they did with it). Or other shows that it screws around with (Futurama, Oliver Beene, anything else that got destroyed due to being preempted by sports). It's like the executives at FOX have a big roulette wheel and put bets on how long they can keep certain shows on the air with the changes they make. As I mentioned on the Quintuplets board, I've learned to not get too attached to a show that airs on FOX.

~ "So the compass needle keeps spinning, and the world gets murkier and murkier..." -Spike on AtS ~

[–] jacarico 20 years ago

Boy, I was surprised not to see my name attached to this post! Quiet Tiger, you are the same page with me concerning FOX's position on new shows. I have written FOX a few times to show my displeasure for canceling a show (after not giving the new show a chance). And I always tell them that I am not going to get suckered into another new show until it has been on at least one full season. But they did it to me again...got suckered into watching Wonderfalls and then, what a surprise!, FOX cancels it.
I hate the programming execs at FOX...although I have to give them credit for bringing Tru Calling back for another season (I was really setting myself up to see two new show canceled this season...lol).
And like you...I saw this show on SCI-FI and I didn't know it was on FOX. They must've canceled this one after airing one episode.

[–] Quiet_Tiger 20 years ago

Hey, I'm glad I'm not the only one! I think I continued this rant on the Freakylinks board, and someone suggested that we revolt against FOX, or something to that effect. I just... it kills me that all these shows have such great premises and yet get no chance. Or like I said, they get their chance but FOX pulls them before anyone can actually see them or they develop a fan base. I've never seen Tru Calling, though I am very surprised that it was renewed (heck, that it lasted a full season); it must be really good. Maybe they got your letters, or they'll see this and similar posts, and get some people there who know what they're doing and actually want to make good tv shows!

~ "So the compass needle keeps spinning, and the world gets murkier and murkier..." -Spike on AtS ~

[–] EvadRepus 20 years ago

Let's go back, WAAAY back to a long lost year called 1994, when Fox cancelled a promising show called "The Adventures of Brisco County, Jr". That show (if anyone is "old" like me (mid-30's) and remembers it), was a great mix of western/sci-fi/drama, and was well written, well acted, the works! So, did Fox renew it? Of course not!! Fox can't keep a descent show on long enough to develop any kind of following. X-Files? A fluke (for Fox to stay with it until it bacame a hit). Tru Calling? I'm absolutely SHOCKED that it wasn't cancelled mid season, let alone renewed for a second season (see: Wonderfalls). The closeset they have come to staying with a good show in the last few years was "Boston, Public". At least they let that one end gracefully. Oh, wait, THEY CANCELLED THAT AFTER 4+ YEARS WITHOUT A FINALE!!!!!! If you're lucky enough to have the "WE" Channel, you might catch the last 3 produced episodes, but there was NO FINALE! Wow, I've gone off on such a rant here that I forgot that this was a board for "Night Visions". What's the lesson here kids? FOX SUCKS!!! Here endith the lesson.

<INSERT HUMOROUS QUOTE HERE>

[–] Quiet_Tiger 20 years ago

I've heard of Brisco County, Jr. I thought it was picked up by another network (but I've never seen it so I wouldn't know). I just really don't understand why they bother picking up shows of a sci-fi/horror nature if they aren't going to let them, you know, be on the air for more than a premier. The X-Files was definitely a fluke (though one I am grateful for). And yeah, I'm really surprised about Tru Calling. It means it's either a great show, or just the type of crap that FOX likes to keep on the air. I was really upset about Boston Public (why the heck did they move it to Friday nights?? exactly what demographic were they shooting for with that one?). And that it just petered out for no reason, and that even the producer wasn't sure if it was coming back or not (they stripped the set before it was officially cancelled). And that it happened MID-SEASON!!!! It just... stopped being on. And the last episode I saw was one with R.E.M. so if they were on it couldn't possibly have been a show worth cancelling.
And I started this board on this show just becuase I was so upset at what I had been reading about what people said FOX did. I probably should have put it on a more popular show, but I have left little rants here and there. Maybe someone from FOX will wake the hell up and realize that the programming sucks. We shouldn't be able to name 20-odd shows that FOX has destroyed in one way or another, and yet we can. I can't even remember watching that many shows on other networks. It's really quite depressing.
Everyone, thanks for picking up the thread, it's nice to know that there are more people who feel the same way.

~ "So the compass needle keeps spinning, and the world gets murkier and murkier..." -Spike on AtS ~

[–] stingblade 19 years ago

After seeing 2 episodes of this show(which i thought was good)I amdisappointed that they did that, but far from surprised. every great science fiction series except for two(X-files and Star trek: Voyager) have been cancelled by thier network before the stories were told(not even Farscape survived this insanity).

Star Trek: The Next Generation, Babylon 5, and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine never made it to network television. Sliders started on Fox but finished on Sci-Fi, another show FOX did not care for(not to mention the producers had to fight the Network tooth and nail to make the kind of show they wanted and if you seen the first three seasons....). I think in the end the good ones dont last long because they either dont make them enough money or the Networks like being in control.

[–] 19 years ago

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[–] 19 years ago

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[–] MovieMilhouse21 19 years ago

I remember some of my favorite shows that were brutally murdered: Undeclared and The Opposite Sex. Both great shows but not given a chance. Lest we forget Oliver Beene, The Pitts, and The Tick. But worst of all was Night Visions.

Cody

The Mexican Milhouse []
I will finish what I s

[–] Quiet_Tiger 19 years ago

When I wrote that original message, Oliver Beene had yet to be officially cancelled yet. Assuming it ever was and didn't just sink into the Forgotten Show Wasteland that all FOX shows seem to find too soon. I've never really watched any of the others, but given that they were on FOX, they most likely weren't given enough of a chance. So many of the best shows barely made it past a first season, then found their groove in the second. Oliver Beene was damn funny at times, too.

~ "So the compass needle keeps spinning, and the world gets murkier and murkier..." -Spike on AtS ~

[–] den-f 19 years ago

I agree with all of you 100%! We should have a big "Networks SUCK" board. Freakylinks was the best show on in a long time and they killed that one pretty fast. I can't believe great shows all get shoved aside these days for 'reality' crap like Temptation Island, Bachelor and Mad, Mad House. Every once in a while you hear about a show being saved by viewers (Angel) or one that somehow makes it past the original axing (Arrested Development) but those are few and far between. After that, they don't give a hoot what we have to say.

[–] Quiet_Tiger 19 years ago

Freakylinks was *so* good. I just can't understand why FOX spends all this money on developing shows that they only air four times. If even that. Wasn't there some weird plastic surgery drama called Skin or something that lasted one episode? I mean, what the hell is that? FOX sucks.

~ "So the compass needle keeps spinning, and the world gets murkier and murkier..." -Spike on AtS ~

[–] EvadRepus 19 years ago

"I just can't understand why FOX spends all this money on developing shows that they only air four times"

In 2002 there was a show called "girls club" that aired twice. That's right, is was cancelled by Fox after they aired 2 eps. Week one, week two, gone. WTF??? I don't even know if the show was any good, because it was cancelled after TWO EPS!! That's Fox.

BUT, I do have to give them credit for bringing back "Family Guy" after a 3 year absence. So, that's one show out of 999,999,999 that they've made the right call about. A trend, maybe?

<INSERT HUMOROUS QUOTE HERE>

[–] Quiet_Tiger 19 years ago

I just really can't understand putting the money and energy into developing shows and not even giving them a chance.

Family Guy really is something else, hehe. Did you catch the first new one? Specifically, where Peter lists off all the shows we've been discussing here and then some? Priceless. Maybe FOX should take the hint.

~ "So the compass needle keeps spinning, and the world gets murkier and murkier..." -Spike on AtS ~

[–] libra113 19 years ago

I don't really agree with all of Fox's decisions concerning what to air and what not to air (personally I hate all 'reality' shows with a passion and wish they would just go away), but all of the shows you named, while good (I personally hated "American Gothic", which I THINK was actually on CBS)and the "Lone Gunman" was just a bad idea (hey lets take the comedy relif geeks and give then a whole show to carry, wow genius)suffered from poor ratings. True some where moved around and stuff but that is NORMALLY done to try and find an audeince. Many people said (and rightly so) that "Freakylinks" for example was aimed to the young and hip who are out and clubs and partying on a Friday night and NOT home watching TV. The sad truth is that while you or I or someone may love a show if there aren't enough people watching it's not going to stay on. At least now everything that was ever on tv is going on DVD and in the case of "Family Guy" for example that helped show there WAS and audience and it came back, who knows what the future may hold, I just hope they replace the host, or not have one at all, he was all wrong for the job.

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[–] Quiet_Tiger 19 years ago

By host do you mean Henry Rollins? He's an awesome guy, saw one of his spoken word performances, he rocks. But yeah, he was odd for the part.

But as to what else you said, it's as if the network execs didn't even give the shows in question a chance. I mean the shows that literally only ran for a handful of episodes and then got pulled, like Freakylinks. They didn't give that a new time slot. And what was that show, Skin? That ran for two episodes I think before they cancelled it. And if the show was produced for a certain age group, why even show it on whatever night is bad anyway?

There is a lot of competition on TV now, and ratings for a few episodes are not a fair basis to cancel a show. Take, for example, Fox's recent hit House. From what I can tell, very few people actually watched the first several episodes. They, like me, are now huge fans of the show.

Hits are not produced over night. Seinfeld barely made it past the pilot, and now look. And it's not as if FOX has replaced all of its shows with good shows. If FOX ever put any of the shows discussed on DVD, then we could get an idea of who liked what, and whether or not the fanbase was as small as FOX thought it was for a particular show. I'd definitely buy Freakylinks. I think Firefly has had good DVD sales. The rest I dunno.

And what happened with Point Pleasant? It premiered on a Wednesday, so I taped it and watched it that weekend, only to find that I already missed the second episode, because the show was supposed to be on Thursdays. Way to already lose a potential veiwer with the first episode, FOX. It's things like that that make me lose even more faith in the corporation.

But yeah, reality TV sucks.

~ "So the compass needle keeps spinning, and the world gets murkier and murkier..." -Spike on AtS ~

[–] libra113 19 years ago

I just thought his parts were way too intense for a lot of the narriation he was doing, it worked when it was supposed to be intense but there were parts where he was just setting the scean and it was almost comical how over the top it was, maybe they should have just let the stories speak for themselves, a lot of the time his narriation was very short and didn't seem to add much anyway. As for letting shows grow that is true networks should, but Fox isn't the only station guilty of this they all behave this way except to sertain 'pet projects' that can limp along in ratings hell for a lot longer (useally because crditis love it, such as NBC's "ED" which never got great ratings but the cridits were always going on about it)but that's the nature of the beast these days, it's like comics in the 90's if it's not a instant hit it's gone (which is why I don't read comics anymore). Anyway, I don't recall if I posted it here or another part but I think I heard somewhere that when they aired the show it was already cancelled they were just viewing what they had filmed to have something to show during the summer (as I recall), which why as got into fall it was gone. Too bad the ratings didn't end up surpasing their expitations then, I can bet if they had they would have changed their minds. Oh well like I said before shows have been released on DVD and been saved by that ("Family Guy" for example, or even "Firefly" now getting a movie) who knows maybe if it were released on DVD and the sales where really good they MIGHT bring it back (I think maybe specials would be cool, hour or two hour long specials every few months then maybe build an audience and increase the number). BTW, Fox has ended another show in favor of a reality show: the evil "So you think you can dance" has killed their suprisingly intresting "Silence of the Lambs" clone "The Inside"... a shame it was actually much better than I thought it would be and now I miss it.

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[–] Quiet_Tiger 19 years ago

Henry Rollins is definitely a bit intense ;)

I know that FOX isn't the only network to do the things we've been discussing, but for some reason I just seem to notice it more. Maybe because the shows I've been thinking about I liked a lot, or they were different than the shows other networks typically buy. It just seems that FOX rips things out of the lineup without giving shows a chance (letting something limp through full seasons is different than taking a show off the air after only three or four episodes).

I dunno. It's a tough subject with no immediate solution.

I'm simply shocked and disgusted that something called "So You Think You Can Dance" was given any consideration. But since reality tv is infesting everything, i guess I shouldn't have felt that way. And it killed The Inside? I've never seen it but I heard it was good. That's unfortunate. See what I mean? FOX kills good stuff with crap. I guess we can take comfort in the length that The Inside did run, but it's still depressing.

~ "So the compass needle keeps spinning, and the world gets murkier and murkier..." -Spike on AtS ~

[–] libra113 19 years ago

I liked "The Inside", it was kind of weird sometimes (espcially the lead guy the one that was their boss, he was an odd one for sure) but it was fun to watch (when it wasn't being creepy). Anyway, I don't recall how long it ran, seems like a few months, they are going to run the last few episodes sometime in the next couple of months but there is no hope for the series since the lead actor and actress have moved on to other shows. Yeah I HATE reality shows, from day one they bumped off promising new shows to make room for them (I know ABC canned a lot of shows to make room for "Millionare" every night of the week, the only good thing about that is that it allowed it to burn itself out much faster, but I wish they would get rid of all of them, NONE of them have proven to be any good). Oh well things are kind of turning around, it says a lot about tv that "Lost" and "Medium" have not only made it to season two but have done as well as they did in the ratings, maybe it's a slow turn in the tide.

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[–] 19 years ago

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[–] Quiet_Tiger 18 years ago

Hmm... you may have something here...

~ "So the compass needle keeps spinning, and the world gets murkier and murkier..." -Spike on AtS ~

[–] localdummiesguy-1 18 years ago

LOL yeah i guess FOX figures all they need is The Simpsons(which is bound to end sometime)and FOX sports to keep their network up.

[–] Quiet_Tiger 18 years ago

Heh, yeah, between those and reality shows, I guess Fox has it good.

Stupid FOX.

~ "So the compass needle keeps spinning, and the world gets murkier and murkier..." -Spike on AtS ~

[–] Smuffo 18 years ago

wow i just read all theses posts and im not a big sci-fi fan but i have to add in Fox doesnt just cancel sci-fi they cancelled or about to cancel one of the greatest comedys on network tv Arrested Development. If you havent seen the show its probably because there were never promos for it on fox. Bah, I hate fox for cancelling Arrested development and Futurama that makes me so mad!! arrg i need to vent my rage come here kitty ARRRGH !!! !ARGH

[–] Quiet_Tiger 18 years ago

Yeah, Fox does cancel other shows, too, like Head Cases last season (I really liked it, too). I've seen Arrested Development, but I really couldn't get into it. I know a lot of people liked it, though. Cancelling Futurama was definitely a mistake, at least it lives on on Adult Swim. The football/baseball games were what really screwed Futurama over, pre-empting it all the time.

FOX is just awful to shows sometimes, and it's unfortunate.

~ "So the compass needle keeps spinning, and the world gets murkier and murkier..." -Spike on AtS ~

[–] flexiblogic 13 years ago

Didn't Fox also abort Firefly?

The more I think, the more I am?

[–] shred-com 12 years ago

At Temptation Island. That was so horrible haha and feels like so long ago.
Who knew American Idol would still be on in 2012.