Thursday, May 28, 2009
a correction for the dictionary....
pundit- someone who bases his or her opinions on whether or not they get to use a pun.
Friday, May 8, 2009
Why FOX sucks donkey balls
`There are a lot of networks that have earned my scorn over the years but none can reach the pinnacle of suckitude forever held by that much maligned network known as FOX. Yes, I hate FOX, and when people ask me I'm almost at a loss for words. Why do I hate FOX? What has FOX ever done to me? Well, let me tell you.
Profit
Profit starred Adrian Pasdar and aired for 9 episodes in 1996. Pasdar played Jim Profit, a sociopath climbing the corporate ladder by day and living in a cardboard box by night. This was a brilliant show not only for the writing and dark humor, but for Pasdar's excellent performance. Why did FOX cancel Profit? Because they're evil. And stupid.
Arrested Development
Lots of people give FOX credit for allowing Arrested Development more than one season. I guess that's fair. However, the fact that AD even had to worry is ridiculous. Arrested Development had one of the best comedy ensembles I've seen in years and was consistantly hilarious (aside from the weak first half of s3). On one hand I'm glad FOX gave AD 3 seasons and a chance for some closure, but a show like that should still be on. Had it been on NBC I'm fairly certain it *would* still be on.
Wonderfalls
After Dead Like Me died at Showtime, Bryan Fuller tried his hand at another show. This one starred Caroline Dhavernas as a girl named Jaye who can hear the voice of some divine being through nick knacks sold in a Niagra Falls gift shop. Also notable is Lee Pace as Jaye's brother and, towards the end of the first and only season, Jewel Staite of Firefly. This show had a great cast, a funny story, and excellent writing. Unfortunately it started around the same time as another similarly-themed show, Joan of Arcadia. The fact that Joan later got cancelled as well does not sate my need for divine revenge against FOX. Any day a Bryan Fuller show gets axed is a day that lives on in imfamy.
Firefly
This is the one that pisses me off the most. The cast was perfect. The writing was perfect. The stories were all great. It would have been great except FOX mucked with the episode order, changing the air date of the actual pilot, and then cancelled it before it even reached a normal season length. The movie answered a fair number of Firefly questions but that universe has so much more room to grow.
Futurama
Ok, it got 4 seasons. It even got movies later on. There's a slim chance it might get that Family Guy revival but I doubt it. Why does Futurama get cut short while Simpsons lasts forever? Because FOX likes mindless comedy and hates anything sci fi related. I mean Simpsons rules but even big fans of the show have to admit it should have died out long ago.
Harsh Realm
I've never seen any of this show and it stil pisses me off. This was Chris Carter playing his hand at the virtual reality area of sci fi. Yeah, X-Files was convoluted, Millennium was incredibly dark, but at least you could see he was trying something new every time. To me the most notable thing about Harsh Realm was Terry O'Quinn, best known nowadays as Locke from Lost, but DB Sweeney is also pretty decent. Harsh Realm was doomed before it even started, getting piss poor publicity from FOX and cancelled because no one even knew it was coming. This is one of those cases where FOX intentionally kills a show. Not only is it infuriating from a fan perspective, it's confusing from a financial standpoint since it seems like a waste of an investment. Course maybe they pull off some scam like The Producers and actually make more money off failed pilots. Dunno.
Reaper
Yes, I know Reaper isn't on FOX. Reaper airs on the CW and rules. It's about a guy who, on his 21st birthday, finds out his parents sold his soul to the devil. At that point he's forced to be the devil's bounty hunter collecting souls that escaped from hell. Basically it's Brimstone-lite. Reaper had a great first season and continued it's fun stosries through season 2. Everything seemed fine. It's on the CW where it's easily the best show. So why blame FOX? Well, the creator producers left CW to make a show on FOX. So no more Reaper. I'm blaming that one on FOX. It might sound petty but oh well. Oh and I'm fairly certain whatever show those two people create on FOX, it'll get cancelled within a season.
Dollhouse
Another show basically doomed before it even started, there was actually a Save Dollhouse campaign before the show aired this winter. Nothing official has been announced about Dollhouse yet but I'm sure come May 18th FOX will do the predictable thing and cancel it. And just like with Firefly, they reordered the episodes and left the original pilot unaired. Didn't Joss Whedon learn his lesson with Firefly? Why the hell didn't he go to other channels like Sci Fi, Showtime, HBO, or FX? I think I'm almost as infuriated with him as I am with FOX when it comes to Dollhouse. Especially since the show started to rule about halfway through.
Sarah Connor Chronicles
I'm kind of surprised this show got two seasons and to that I give FOX a modicum of credit. Still, with the imminant success of T4 on the horizon they would be idiotic to cancel Sarah Connor Chronicles. Just like with Dollhouse, nothing official has been announced, but I'm sure it's only a matter of time. While the cliffhanger ending of SCC s2 could be interpreted as an actual ending, it was never meant to be one. The story that continues from that point could be so awesome if given the chance. But no, chances are FOX will not give it that chance.
Virtuality
Virtuality is a show created by Ronald Moore starring Sienna Guillory, Clea DuVall, and a lot of other people I've never heard of. The story takes place on a deep space vessel equipped with virtual reality to ease the boredome of the crew. Basically every week is like a holodec episode of TNG. FOX had the pilot for Virtuality for months and chose not to air it. They asked Moore to chop the 2 hr pilot down to 1 hr and get rid of the "controversial elements" (two characters are gay OMG RUN!). I'm not sure if he did that or not but I'd have to assume he didn't because FOX is going to air his pilot on the night of July 4th. That's a saturday btw. And while I haven't seen Virtuality it sounded quite cool (and I loved Moore's work on BSG and the Caprica pilot). Why didn't Moore just bring this to Sci Fi? The world may never know. And in fact much of the world will never even see this pilot, or any other episodes of the show since it will probably air once and be immediately cancelled. Thanks again, FOX.
Profit
Profit starred Adrian Pasdar and aired for 9 episodes in 1996. Pasdar played Jim Profit, a sociopath climbing the corporate ladder by day and living in a cardboard box by night. This was a brilliant show not only for the writing and dark humor, but for Pasdar's excellent performance. Why did FOX cancel Profit? Because they're evil. And stupid.
Arrested Development
Lots of people give FOX credit for allowing Arrested Development more than one season. I guess that's fair. However, the fact that AD even had to worry is ridiculous. Arrested Development had one of the best comedy ensembles I've seen in years and was consistantly hilarious (aside from the weak first half of s3). On one hand I'm glad FOX gave AD 3 seasons and a chance for some closure, but a show like that should still be on. Had it been on NBC I'm fairly certain it *would* still be on.
Wonderfalls
After Dead Like Me died at Showtime, Bryan Fuller tried his hand at another show. This one starred Caroline Dhavernas as a girl named Jaye who can hear the voice of some divine being through nick knacks sold in a Niagra Falls gift shop. Also notable is Lee Pace as Jaye's brother and, towards the end of the first and only season, Jewel Staite of Firefly. This show had a great cast, a funny story, and excellent writing. Unfortunately it started around the same time as another similarly-themed show, Joan of Arcadia. The fact that Joan later got cancelled as well does not sate my need for divine revenge against FOX. Any day a Bryan Fuller show gets axed is a day that lives on in imfamy.
Firefly
This is the one that pisses me off the most. The cast was perfect. The writing was perfect. The stories were all great. It would have been great except FOX mucked with the episode order, changing the air date of the actual pilot, and then cancelled it before it even reached a normal season length. The movie answered a fair number of Firefly questions but that universe has so much more room to grow.
Futurama
Ok, it got 4 seasons. It even got movies later on. There's a slim chance it might get that Family Guy revival but I doubt it. Why does Futurama get cut short while Simpsons lasts forever? Because FOX likes mindless comedy and hates anything sci fi related. I mean Simpsons rules but even big fans of the show have to admit it should have died out long ago.
Harsh Realm
I've never seen any of this show and it stil pisses me off. This was Chris Carter playing his hand at the virtual reality area of sci fi. Yeah, X-Files was convoluted, Millennium was incredibly dark, but at least you could see he was trying something new every time. To me the most notable thing about Harsh Realm was Terry O'Quinn, best known nowadays as Locke from Lost, but DB Sweeney is also pretty decent. Harsh Realm was doomed before it even started, getting piss poor publicity from FOX and cancelled because no one even knew it was coming. This is one of those cases where FOX intentionally kills a show. Not only is it infuriating from a fan perspective, it's confusing from a financial standpoint since it seems like a waste of an investment. Course maybe they pull off some scam like The Producers and actually make more money off failed pilots. Dunno.
Reaper
Yes, I know Reaper isn't on FOX. Reaper airs on the CW and rules. It's about a guy who, on his 21st birthday, finds out his parents sold his soul to the devil. At that point he's forced to be the devil's bounty hunter collecting souls that escaped from hell. Basically it's Brimstone-lite. Reaper had a great first season and continued it's fun stosries through season 2. Everything seemed fine. It's on the CW where it's easily the best show. So why blame FOX? Well, the creator producers left CW to make a show on FOX. So no more Reaper. I'm blaming that one on FOX. It might sound petty but oh well. Oh and I'm fairly certain whatever show those two people create on FOX, it'll get cancelled within a season.
Dollhouse
Another show basically doomed before it even started, there was actually a Save Dollhouse campaign before the show aired this winter. Nothing official has been announced about Dollhouse yet but I'm sure come May 18th FOX will do the predictable thing and cancel it. And just like with Firefly, they reordered the episodes and left the original pilot unaired. Didn't Joss Whedon learn his lesson with Firefly? Why the hell didn't he go to other channels like Sci Fi, Showtime, HBO, or FX? I think I'm almost as infuriated with him as I am with FOX when it comes to Dollhouse. Especially since the show started to rule about halfway through.
Sarah Connor Chronicles
I'm kind of surprised this show got two seasons and to that I give FOX a modicum of credit. Still, with the imminant success of T4 on the horizon they would be idiotic to cancel Sarah Connor Chronicles. Just like with Dollhouse, nothing official has been announced, but I'm sure it's only a matter of time. While the cliffhanger ending of SCC s2 could be interpreted as an actual ending, it was never meant to be one. The story that continues from that point could be so awesome if given the chance. But no, chances are FOX will not give it that chance.
Virtuality
Virtuality is a show created by Ronald Moore starring Sienna Guillory, Clea DuVall, and a lot of other people I've never heard of. The story takes place on a deep space vessel equipped with virtual reality to ease the boredome of the crew. Basically every week is like a holodec episode of TNG. FOX had the pilot for Virtuality for months and chose not to air it. They asked Moore to chop the 2 hr pilot down to 1 hr and get rid of the "controversial elements" (two characters are gay OMG RUN!). I'm not sure if he did that or not but I'd have to assume he didn't because FOX is going to air his pilot on the night of July 4th. That's a saturday btw. And while I haven't seen Virtuality it sounded quite cool (and I loved Moore's work on BSG and the Caprica pilot). Why didn't Moore just bring this to Sci Fi? The world may never know. And in fact much of the world will never even see this pilot, or any other episodes of the show since it will probably air once and be immediately cancelled. Thanks again, FOX.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
