How To: Resurect Your Favorite Show
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Arrested Development, Firefly, Futurama… These are just a few of the TV shows that were canceled before their time. When word came down of the shows’ impending doom, fans hit their collective heads against their collective television sets. Why are priceless gems yanked from the schedule, only to be replaced with shows like “Watch Billy Eat a Whole Hog’s Head?”
But what is a fan to do? With rare exception, shows don’t get picked up just because a few fans protest. Petitions are signed, letters are written, tons of nuts are bought and sent to executives, all to no avail. Well, actually the nuts worked, but we think that was a fluke. Surely today where entertainment is becoming more and more a participatory industry (heck, in some cases fans get to help write a show), isn’t there a better way to save our shows? I think there is. And you only need to know 2 great secrets.
Let’s look at Firefly. My wife finally agreed to sit down and watch the series on DVD. After two episodes she turned to my with her puppy dog eyes. “Why was this canceled?” she asked. Why indeed?
We’re not sure why it was canceled. It’s easy to say Fox is run by morons (and it feels good to say that), but the simple fact is that somebody at Fox thought there weren’t enough viewers, and there never would be enough viewers. But what exactly does that mean? Was Fox losing money on the venture? Were they breaking even? Were they making money, but not as much as they would like?
I have seen estimates that put the price tag of each Firefly episode at roughly one millions dollars. That is a lot of money. Fans could get together and try to raise that money, but that is a daunting amount. But here is the great secret number one. You don’t need to raise that much money. Firefly had sponsors. They ran commercials during the episodes. But Fox didn’t think they were making enough money. Or perhaps they were just breaking even, or losing a little. Fans would only have to raise enough money to make up the difference between what the network is getting from sponsors, and what they would like to recieve.
Let’s say commercials bring in $850,000 per episode. And it costs 1 million to produce. That means Fox is out $150,000. So instead of fans needing to raise 1 million plus, now you’re looking at only needing to raise $150,000 just to break even. A bit more to turn a profit. I don’t know what the magic number would be to convince Fox, or better yet, the SCIFI channel, or ANYBODY to bring this show back, but the key is that it’s not as daunting as it may seem. And remember, a lot of viewers are good, but a lot of devoted and passionate viewers are even better. If Firefly were to be brought back, they’ve already got a huge fan base to grow from, instead of having to build one from scratch.
But TV is supposed to be free, right? Or rather you pay one cable bill, and then all of the programs are brought to you. Who wants to pay $1, $5, or even $10 a show? Remember, you’re not getting a DVD, you’re not getting commercial free stuff, it’s just a regular episode. Therein lies the second great secret. You won’t have to ‘donate’ forever. Firefly was killed after 12 episodes. And the marketing was horrible. It never had a chance. I am willing to bet that if the show was brought back it would quickly gain a larger following (in part because it would be unique for fans to be paying directly for episodes). Suddenly, the $300,000 or $400,000 paid by fans becomes unnecessary. Think of it as seed money. More viewers means more can be charged by the network to run a commercial. Once the show becomes popular, you no longer would need to pay. You might end up paying for 2-3 episodes before the thing pays for itself.
And don’t forget, whichever network brings back the show can go to sponsors and say, “We’ve got a great fan base, folks who are helping to fund the cost of the show. They are passionate about the show, and ready to buy whatever product you put in front of them.” OK, that might be pushing it, but hey, I’m willing to bend the truth a little bit, just bring back Serenity and the crew!
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