Whedonesque : Comments on 16826 : TheWB.com adds Angel and Firefly to its slate.

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July 09 2008

TheWB.com adds Angel and Firefly to its slate. Beginning August 27th, TheWB.com will mark its official rollout with Angel and Firefly added to the lineup. Apparently newly licensed episodes of Veronica Mars will be added too, though I'm less sure of this.

They will also add several original webseries, most of them directed towards teen-aged girls from the looks of them.

Hopefully this link will last as I couldn't find the news anywhere except my TheWB.com email. This is the "can't see the graphics?" link.

[ edited by cabri on 2008-07-09 21:03 ]

cabri | AtS | 11:20 CET | 20 comments total | tags: firefly, angel, thewb

By new episodes of Veronica Mars, I believe you mean they're adding more of the old episodes, right?

Knuckleball | July 09, 11:51 CET

I don't get it?

Zoic_Fan | July 09, 11:51 CET

Yes, new to TheWB.com. Apparently they've had a limited number of episodes available on the beta for several different series.

The WB is trying to become an internet 'channel' with both old and new content and a 'TV' style, as opposed to Hulu and others which are just viewing/downloading sites.

cabri | July 09, 11:59 CET

US only, I assume?

mjwilson | July 09, 15:15 CET

US only, I assume?

If you use windows/mac you can use Hotspot Shield which will fool sites like WB/Hulu into thinking your actually viewing the content in America. Unfortunately the program isn't available for Linux :(

shesmyeverything | July 09, 15:34 CET

Well, if you're using Linux, one imagines you might also know other ways to proxy yourself :) You can really do it on any OS without Hotspot Shield.

zeitgeist | July 09, 16:13 CET

It doesn't say anything about new episodes of VMars....I think we would have heard something about that ;)

lax01 | July 09, 17:18 CET

Hi all, This is my first post here, but I have a question and maybe someone here can help me out.

How can the WB run episodes of Firefly? Doesn't 20th Century FOX own the rights and didn't they lease those rights to Universal?
Is it common practice to lease properties to multiple sources?

Thanks folks, I hope that this isn't to much for a first post.

shepherdbookshair | July 09, 18:19 CET

shepherdbookshair, I don't know the answer to your question, but I do like your handle! Welcome aboard.

pillboxed | July 09, 19:01 CET

I thought that was odd too, sheperdbookshair, but I also don't know the answer. Good eye!

Re: Veronica Mars, I don't think they're "new". They specifically say "fresh" and not "new". In order to pull off such an effort, that would mean putting the team back together, and at the moment the cast is busy doing other things (Heros, Moonlight, V's dad is coming on a new show on A&E I think).

I think it'll just be a replay of a good series, to "freshen" up their bracket.

korkster | July 09, 20:11 CET

Re-run rights (which these presumably qualify as) can be a bit messy. In the UK for instance at one point 3 or 4 different channels were showing Buffy repeats but of different seasons. And i'd imagine non-exclusive repeat rights can also be sold so that it doesn't even need to be different seasons being broadcast.

(and welcome shepherdbookshair ;)

Saje | July 09, 20:22 CET

It is simply licensing out the shows to different licensees using different distribution models. Universal shows Firefly on cable (SciFi and UHD), WB.com shows it on their website, and Hulu continues to show it as well. As long as there is no exclusivity in the contracts, then it is no problem and 20th continues to make more money off of Firefly. This is not a bad thing.

TamaraC | July 09, 20:26 CET

I really, really think the phrase "new episodes" needs to be changed to something less false-hopey.

RaisedByMongrels | July 09, 22:35 CET

I think Firefly is in syndication... I could be wrong.

BrownCoat_Tabz | July 09, 22:52 CET

Syndication is just a fancy word for licensed, BrownCoat_Tabz.

TamaraC | July 09, 23:40 CET

Ah, see, I was just wondering the same thing. So 'syndication' is no seperate state of affairs? I'd always assumed it was a kind-of new legal status where (cable) networks would be able to buy rights at maybe lower cost than they would be able to during the original run of the show. Whedonesque: learn something new every day :).

GVH | July 10, 04:19 CET

Well it is at a lower cost since it isn't first run, but it is just re-licensing the same product to a different distributor.

TamaraC | July 10, 04:30 CET

Oh, syndication is as old as the hills. Syndication is what filled the schedules of UHF stations before there was widespread cable, back when mastodons were your basic protein. ;)

cabri | July 10, 04:44 CET

They're still talking about 'fresh' episodes. I remember how angry that made me after they canceled Angel. Every week they'd tout 'Fresh episodes of Angel'. It pissed me off then and it still does. They get nothing from me ... but scorn. (yes I do carry grudges)

resa | July 10, 05:49 CET

I agree with you, resa. It is very misleading, and on both accounts they cancelled shows when there could have been more greatness.

This is why the CW won't make great strides towards success.

korkster | July 10, 05:52 CET

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