It’s not been a great week for Rupert Murdoch (what a shame eh?) with his satellite station BskyB losing exclusive rights to the Premiership as of 2008.
His network Fox are also in danger of making a major cock up, by cancelling 5 time Emmy winning show Arrested Development, as Tom has already mentioned.
Fox have something of a tradition when it comes to cancelling much loved shows. They cancelled Family Guy before a spectacular climb down in the face of massive DVD sales forced a rethink.
Seth McFarlane’s Simpsons-esque cartoon became the first network show to be brought back to the air recently, although it’s still getting mucked about in terms of the schedules.
They also cancelled another favourite of mine, Firefly, after 11 episodes, having constantly moved it around while refusing to air the episodes in the correct order (!)
Now Arrested Development, the best American comedy since Seinfeld, is in danger with the 3rd season looking like it will air only 13 episodes.
The reason is money. None of these shows have a big TV audience, despite the obvious fact that they sell. Fox have failed to find the market that so obviously exists for the shows I’ve mentioned and have essentially failed to do their jobs properly. DVD sales of all three shows I’m talking about have been or are massive. The audience is there. Fox execs have failed to find it. Should they not be “cancelled” for failing to do their jobs?
Hollywood and the TV world used to be an industry; now it’s a business. The difference is that in industry, the first priority is production, selling your product is secondary. In business, it’s all about the bottom line.
Fox aren’t interested in Emmys and quality programming, they are interested in ad revenue and any show that doesn’t get it straight away is binned. Fuck the people who liked the show, there should have been more of you.
Like I say, the idiots who have failed to market Arrested Development correctly should be sacked. The evidence that they have screwed up is staring them in the face. Arrested Development sits and Numbers 1 and 4 in the Amazon best sellers list on DVD. Tens of thousands of people want to watch it.
I’m a bit more optimistic about the future of the show than Tom. I see a real future, as I’ve already said, in broadcasting shows on the internet. The technology is in place; all it needs is some brave producers and business people to take advantage. All you need is the show, a website and a fan base. It could be that simple.
Another feasible option is to produce the show straight to DVD. This model has worked for a number of artists including prog-rockers Marillion, whose fans pay for album production in advance via subscription to their website and are then credited in the sleeve notes on release. A deliciously simple and effective idea, no?
I hope the fans keep Arrested Development alive.
In the meantime, the axe set to fall on it has two meanings.
It represents the possible death of an innovative show but more significantly it gives another indication that TV networks are starting to lose control of the medium.
If you fail to embrace new technology and fail to market an obviously bankable commodity, you will fall behind and eventually die. Networks must get on top of this next stage in Television evolution or risk going the way of the dinosaur.
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