30 Days of TV Meme -- Day 1
Day 1 - A show that never should have been canceled.
No question about it. The Dresden Files.
(Pictured, left to right: Paul Blackthorne as Harry Dresden, wizard and private investigator in Chicago; Valerie Cruz as Lt. Constanza "Connie" Murphy of the Chicago Police, Homicide Division; Terrence Mann as Hrothbert of Bainbridge, the cursed ghost of a millennium-dead necromancer--or as Harry calls him, Bob; and Conrad Coates as Donald Morgan--wizard, Warden [think magical cop, judge and executioner rolled into one] and Harry's magical parole officer.)
This was a show the Sci-Fi channel hated from the beginning.
The Dresden Files had the very Harry Dresden-like bad luck to come along when then-CEO of the Sci-Fi Channel Bonnie Hammer and her minions were doing their damnedest to remake the channel's image into "getting away from all that stuff that only geeks like." I'm sorry, Bonnie, but science fiction and fantasy ARE inherently geeky. This is the demographic that your channel (pardon me, your former channel, since you're now the president of NBC Universal Cable) is supposed to be geared to.
Now, if Hammer and her underlings had had the sense that God gave an earthworm, they would have realized that geeks buy a lot of merchandise which is related to TV shows, books and movies. Many geeks are obsessive about collecting stuff. The logical thing to do, the SANE thing to do was to look at the Star Trek and Doctor Who franchises--which are still going strong after forty-odd years and which are practically industries in themselves--and think, "You know, we could work this system. We can turn this channel around--stop pushing the Grade Z giant animal monster movies, and market TV shows and movies that geeks like. And then we can push the spin-off merchandise. We can make a mint here!"
Instead, the Sci-Fi channel embarked on a process that I can only describe as "anti-marketing." I've been told by fellow sci-fi fans that other shows that season suffered from this insanity, but The Dresden Files is the only one I was watching. This was what the programmers were doing:
1) Not showing the show's two-hour pilot--which would have explained a lot of what was going on in the show itself to people who weren't familiar with the books--until after the show had gone off the air. And no, they didn't release it in the initial DVD set either.
2) Scheduling episodes and canceling them without notice. Because THAT'S the way to build an audience.
3) Showing episodes earlier than scheduled.
4) Showing episodes later than scheduled.
5) Advertising episodes as being shown on a particular day and time and then postponing them at the last moment for "an unscheduled special"--i.e. a bad monster movie or a sports show--stating that the episode would be shown at a time "to be announced," and then shoving the episode into a random time slot in the middle of the week...again without advertising that the episode was on.
I never saw a channel try so hard NOT to have a hit.
It surprised few people when the show was canceled. But then Hammer and her ilk decided to explain WHY it was canceled.
The first thing they claimed was that the show just didn't have the ratings. Bad thing to tell a bunch of fangeeks, who immediately starting looking up the Nielsen ratings for Sci-Fi for that season.
The channel's ratings were not brilliant. Far from it. However, fans were quick to note that one show which was being highly praised for doing remarkably well that season and which was renewed because it was doing well actually had a million fewer viewers than The Dresden Files. Which, please note, had been canceled due to low ratings.
And out in Sci-Fi's audience, Miss Clavel turned on her light and said, "Something is not right!"
The fans began e-mailing and writing to Hammer and her ilk about renewal, about the fact that there was an audience for the show, that there was an established fandom for the books already, and that the numbers just flat didn't add up. None of this made any impression on Bonnie "Captain" Hammer. However, she and an associate of hers changed their story a few days later, saying that the show had not been canceled because it lacked decent ratings...but because the wrong demographic liked it.
The show was being marketed to young men 18-24.
The people watching it were largely women of 18-45.
Which, to my mind, adds up to a larger demographic.
It didn't matter to the Sci-Fi channel, though. The people running it appeared to be horrified by the prospect of women liking a show that wasn't specifically marketed to them. I'm sure that if the Sci-Fi channel HAD gotten the demographic they wanted, the people in charge would have found some other reason to cancel the show...but as it turned out, they didn't need to find another reason. The concepts that women were an undesirable demographic and that women's money wasn't just as good as men's money were all but impossible for the fans to fight. No one knew how to battle such misogynistic idiocy. Or should that be "idiotic misogyny"?
So that is the saga of a well-written, well-performed show that dealt with friendship, love, loyalty, responsibility, taking chances, the law vs. justice, imagination, and magic with limitations. A show which was deliberately murdered by cupidity and stupidity, corporate style.
***
THE DAILY ROSTER FOR THE MEME
Day 1 - A show that never should have been canceled.
Day 2 - A show that you wish more people were watching (or that you wish more people had watched).
Day 3 - Your favorite new show (aired this TV season).
Day 4 - Your favorite show ever.
Day 5 - A show you hate.
Day 6 - Favorite episode of your favorite TV show.
Day 7 - Least favorite episode of your favorite TV show.
Day 8 - A show everyone should watch.
Day 9 - Best scene ever.
Day 10 - A show you thought you wouldn't like but ended up loving.
Day 11 - A show that disappointed you.
Day 12 - An episode you've watched more than 5 times.
Day 13 - Favorite childhood show.
Day 14 - Favorite male character.
Day 15 - Favorite female character.
Day 16 - Your guilty pleasure show.
Day 17 - Favorite miniseries.
Day 18 - Favorite title sequence.
Day 19 - Best TV show cast.
Day 20 - Favorite kiss.
Day 21 - Favorite ship.
Day 22 - Favorite series finale.
Day 23 - Most annoying character.
Day 24 - Best quote.
Day 25 - A show you plan on watching (old or new).
Day 26 - Season finale that made you say, "OMG WTF?!"
Day 27 - Best pilot ever.
Day 28 - First TV show obsession.
Day 29 - Current TV show obsession.
Day 30 - Saddest death of a character.
***
No question about it. The Dresden Files.
(Pictured, left to right: Paul Blackthorne as Harry Dresden, wizard and private investigator in Chicago; Valerie Cruz as Lt. Constanza "Connie" Murphy of the Chicago Police, Homicide Division; Terrence Mann as Hrothbert of Bainbridge, the cursed ghost of a millennium-dead necromancer--or as Harry calls him, Bob; and Conrad Coates as Donald Morgan--wizard, Warden [think magical cop, judge and executioner rolled into one] and Harry's magical parole officer.)
This was a show the Sci-Fi channel hated from the beginning.
The Dresden Files had the very Harry Dresden-like bad luck to come along when then-CEO of the Sci-Fi Channel Bonnie Hammer and her minions were doing their damnedest to remake the channel's image into "getting away from all that stuff that only geeks like." I'm sorry, Bonnie, but science fiction and fantasy ARE inherently geeky. This is the demographic that your channel (pardon me, your former channel, since you're now the president of NBC Universal Cable) is supposed to be geared to.
Now, if Hammer and her underlings had had the sense that God gave an earthworm, they would have realized that geeks buy a lot of merchandise which is related to TV shows, books and movies. Many geeks are obsessive about collecting stuff. The logical thing to do, the SANE thing to do was to look at the Star Trek and Doctor Who franchises--which are still going strong after forty-odd years and which are practically industries in themselves--and think, "You know, we could work this system. We can turn this channel around--stop pushing the Grade Z giant animal monster movies, and market TV shows and movies that geeks like. And then we can push the spin-off merchandise. We can make a mint here!"
Instead, the Sci-Fi channel embarked on a process that I can only describe as "anti-marketing." I've been told by fellow sci-fi fans that other shows that season suffered from this insanity, but The Dresden Files is the only one I was watching. This was what the programmers were doing:
1) Not showing the show's two-hour pilot--which would have explained a lot of what was going on in the show itself to people who weren't familiar with the books--until after the show had gone off the air. And no, they didn't release it in the initial DVD set either.
2) Scheduling episodes and canceling them without notice. Because THAT'S the way to build an audience.
3) Showing episodes earlier than scheduled.
4) Showing episodes later than scheduled.
5) Advertising episodes as being shown on a particular day and time and then postponing them at the last moment for "an unscheduled special"--i.e. a bad monster movie or a sports show--stating that the episode would be shown at a time "to be announced," and then shoving the episode into a random time slot in the middle of the week...again without advertising that the episode was on.
I never saw a channel try so hard NOT to have a hit.
It surprised few people when the show was canceled. But then Hammer and her ilk decided to explain WHY it was canceled.
The first thing they claimed was that the show just didn't have the ratings. Bad thing to tell a bunch of fangeeks, who immediately starting looking up the Nielsen ratings for Sci-Fi for that season.
The channel's ratings were not brilliant. Far from it. However, fans were quick to note that one show which was being highly praised for doing remarkably well that season and which was renewed because it was doing well actually had a million fewer viewers than The Dresden Files. Which, please note, had been canceled due to low ratings.
And out in Sci-Fi's audience, Miss Clavel turned on her light and said, "Something is not right!"
The fans began e-mailing and writing to Hammer and her ilk about renewal, about the fact that there was an audience for the show, that there was an established fandom for the books already, and that the numbers just flat didn't add up. None of this made any impression on Bonnie "Captain" Hammer. However, she and an associate of hers changed their story a few days later, saying that the show had not been canceled because it lacked decent ratings...but because the wrong demographic liked it.
The show was being marketed to young men 18-24.
The people watching it were largely women of 18-45.
Which, to my mind, adds up to a larger demographic.
It didn't matter to the Sci-Fi channel, though. The people running it appeared to be horrified by the prospect of women liking a show that wasn't specifically marketed to them. I'm sure that if the Sci-Fi channel HAD gotten the demographic they wanted, the people in charge would have found some other reason to cancel the show...but as it turned out, they didn't need to find another reason. The concepts that women were an undesirable demographic and that women's money wasn't just as good as men's money were all but impossible for the fans to fight. No one knew how to battle such misogynistic idiocy. Or should that be "idiotic misogyny"?
So that is the saga of a well-written, well-performed show that dealt with friendship, love, loyalty, responsibility, taking chances, the law vs. justice, imagination, and magic with limitations. A show which was deliberately murdered by cupidity and stupidity, corporate style.
***
THE DAILY ROSTER FOR THE MEME
Day 1 - A show that never should have been canceled.
Day 2 - A show that you wish more people were watching (or that you wish more people had watched).
Day 3 - Your favorite new show (aired this TV season).
Day 4 - Your favorite show ever.
Day 5 - A show you hate.
Day 6 - Favorite episode of your favorite TV show.
Day 7 - Least favorite episode of your favorite TV show.
Day 8 - A show everyone should watch.
Day 9 - Best scene ever.
Day 10 - A show you thought you wouldn't like but ended up loving.
Day 11 - A show that disappointed you.
Day 12 - An episode you've watched more than 5 times.
Day 13 - Favorite childhood show.
Day 14 - Favorite male character.
Day 15 - Favorite female character.
Day 16 - Your guilty pleasure show.
Day 17 - Favorite miniseries.
Day 18 - Favorite title sequence.
Day 19 - Best TV show cast.
Day 20 - Favorite kiss.
Day 21 - Favorite ship.
Day 22 - Favorite series finale.
Day 23 - Most annoying character.
Day 24 - Best quote.
Day 25 - A show you plan on watching (old or new).
Day 26 - Season finale that made you say, "OMG WTF?!"
Day 27 - Best pilot ever.
Day 28 - First TV show obsession.
Day 29 - Current TV show obsession.
Day 30 - Saddest death of a character.
***