Recently Lord Maim blogged about a show called "Day Break". It was one of those high potential shows that didn't make it. Within the comments others were mentioned, such as "The Nine". And always when GOOD shows that don't make it are mentioned I think of "Firefly"(because I like it). It was thinking of Firefly that made me stumble onto this thought-Short sighted producers are missing a golden gravy train.
We live in a world where DVD sale's can bring new life and financial gain(which is what they are concerned about) to a failed show(see Family Guy) or get a cancelled show turned into a motion picture(there's Firefly/Serenity again). These production companies have no problem pumping their failed network wares onto DVD for a quick buck(that's not the missed opportunity) hoping to find new life(and financial gain) from the release. I think that they are limiting their potential yield by being shortsighted, though.
Here's my thought--A show airs on network TV-It doesnt pull the numbers the network was hoping for right away(they don't allow shows to build an audience anymore, which means if Xfiles or Simpsons or King of the Hill had aired in todays market they would have disappeared within their first seasons. Love 'em or hate 'em all three of those shows grew an audience large enough to sustain them into double digit seasons. Buffy the Vampire Slayer is another that would not have survived its first season were it to air in todays market)-network pulls show from schedule-network dumps it onto DVD as is. What I think they should be doing in the new age of life after cancelation is this- a show gets canceled but instead of just wrapping the makers of the show get 88 minutes to tie up their show. 88 minutes the viewer can only see if they buy the dvd set, I think their sales would be huge(much bigger than what they get with their just dump it mentallity). An ex: Threshold was a science fiction show that only aired 8 episodes(had a total 12 shot) then was pulled. It wasn't the best show out there but it wasn't too bad and showed signs of getting better. They were in the middle of shooting the 12th episode when they were cancelled so the creators quickly wrote a scene to try and give the show some closure, but really what could they do? When it was cancelled the show had approximately 7 million viewers weekly(numbers Space or Sci-fi or other specialty cable channels would kill for but inadequate by broadcaster standards). IF they had given 88(or even 44) minutes to the creators to "close" the show, and those 88 minutes were only available on the DVD set how many of the 7 million would have bought it? not to mention people who were not part of the 7 million that would have seen it in the store and knowing it had a conclusion picked it up. I don't know how many copies of this show have sold on DVD but I am guessing it is well below 7 million(maybe I'm wrong, who knows). Also if the show is good and has a cool ending it is more likely to grow a dvd audience as word spreads(Firefly's sales shot up after the release of Serenity-for those who figured out they were related products).
A show I had always wanted to check out on DVD was Invasion, another was Kidnapped, but I never did because if they didn't have some sort of closure it would have just pissed me off. If they had had those conclusions(that extra 88 minutes) I definately would have picked them up, but nobody wants to be left hanging indefinatley.
If you were a fan of The Nine wouldn't you be more likely to pick it up on DVD if you knew it had closure?
Of course I dont have a marketing or business degree so what do I know about entertainment?
Later
Comments
20:04 Mon May 12th, 2008
It'll never work. I actually agree with a lot of what you say, and I too am not in marketing or business. What I believe, however, is that when the producers/networks/studios realize the project is done they instantly see it as a pit they are dumping money into, and no matter the potential for greater gain down the road they do not wish to see one more dollar thrown at the deceased than they have to. Who are we to tell them about what we like and what we would buy?
20:17 Mon May 12th, 2008
Actually, there are several examples (that I'm too lazy to think of) of sitcoms that have been renewed over the last 5 years or so simply because the shows are doing well in syndication and the studio wants to make more episodes to sell into syndication. (This only works when the network and the studio are part of the same company, but that's not uncommon.) So, I don't think it'll be too long before execs start smartening up and apply the same logic to DVD sales as they have to syndication.
20:17 Mon May 12th, 2008
It is a gamble, and sometimes shows fail for a reason. However, occasionally there are those shows that warrant additional attention, and I wish that studios had the wherewithal to be aware of the differences.
20:36 Mon May 12th, 2008
These days you can often tell how rabid a fan base is by the number of websites and blogs, etc. that pop up devoted to the show.
20:43 Mon May 12th, 2008
Excellent point, genrewriter. See my new model blog for some further thoughts. Thanks for bringing the topic up, Mek!
21:01 Mon May 12th, 2008
The big problem is the Nielson (sp?) rating system. The few homes that have a monitoring box are supposed to represent the country. I don't know who these people are, but they don't watch the same shows I do. I'm so disgusted with television that the only series I've watched as new episodes were aired was Entourage. Otherwise I'm watching movies or glued to the History Channel. The "wrap up" idea, while it may drive DVD sales, would require additional money in production and advertising - the cost of which may outweigh the potential profits. I'd certainly enjoy it and the DVD release of Firefly included one episode that was never aired and commentaries (I love commentaries, except for the Val Kilmer commentary on Spartan - he puts me to sleep, though the movie was awesome).
04:24 Tue May 13th, 2008
Heya Mek; I would buy The Nine, if there was some conclusion, but hey, I'm just one. I do think producers are shortsighted -- there's tons of ways to reach a market these days and broadcast tv isn't the only way. One day, the Holly-world will catch up to these brilliant thoughts.
11:19 Tue May 13th, 2008
Probably when we're in a more firmly established digital distribution mindset, where production costs are reduced, and advertising can be targeted.
03:07 Wed May 14th, 2008
'They' don't have to increase the budget per show just give the creators an episode or two to wrap up. An "expensive" tv show like Firefly was $1 million dollars per ep. If you have seven million following the show weekly(I am not talking about suck fests that air one or two eps before they disappear but Invasion, The Nine, Threshold, and numerous others had followings in the millions), plus any "impulse"(for lack of a better term) buys, you would easily get that investment back in the increase in units sold, hence me calling them short sighted. The market is still being viewed as traditional (with standard ratings and scales for measuring success of shows) but the market has already shifted/changed. They all know it but they cling to the old way of thinking all the same. Safer, perhaps, in the short term but the best way to be a success in a market is to be ahead of it. Proactive not reactive.
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genrewriter
20:00 Mon May 12th, 2008
I agree with you 100%. And in this day of booming TV-on-DVD sales, hopefully it'll only be a matter of time before studios clue in to your logic.