This is not a petition asking HBO to reverse its decision about not going to series but asking it to allow a transmission of the pilot .
We, the undersigned, call on HBO and Brillstein Entertainment Partners to release the pilot so that the work and effort of everyone involved with this production will see the light of day
Thanks to Simon for permission to post this.
Butler | May 12, 11:40 CET
Fred_Sonja | May 12, 13:14 CET
Matt_Fabb | May 12, 14:07 CET
Simon | May 12, 14:14 CET
shiner | May 12, 14:48 CET
roadi | May 12, 16:11 CET
chazman | May 12, 18:18 CET
No executive wants to see a pilot that they passed on catch on like wildfire. It makes them look very, very bad. If it happens enough times, it's simply an excuse to fire someone even if they are (on the whole) good at their job. It's like the use of the internet for pesonal reasons at the office. Do most bosses care? No. But will they use it as an excuse to fire you because they may not like you but can't "prove" anything worse? I think most people have seen this done.
Here, same issue. Most executives realize that some shows will find an audience even if best guesses would pick against it. BUT, if you don't like an executive, you now have ammo to use against even if most people within the industry would consider it suspect.
My response as an owner would be "get over it." Still, I don't think this will ever happen. And if it does, it probably won't have the results we would like.
[ edited by azzers on 2010-05-13 04:32 ]
azzers | May 12, 19:30 CET
It might've sucked, but at the time, I was still Firefly-obsessed/watch-anything-the-cast-members-do, so was annoyed that the episodes were unreachable (guessing they've made their way online, since ?).
Kris | May 12, 21:25 CET
I believe the main reason pilots that aren't picked up to series aren't released to the public has to do with copyrights and intellectual property.
The commissioned and filmed pilots belong to the network, and even if they don't pick up the show this season, they basically own the rights to order more episodes and produce it at any time in the future, if they choose to do so.
If a pilot like "Wonderful Maladys" is leaked (or legally released), it damages the show's profit potential (for the network and interested advertisers), and invokes a ton of complicated legal issues regarding residuals to writers, actors, etc, for a show that wasn't even picked up.
It's not uncommon for pilots that are ordered but not picked up to series to get series orders later on. Veronica Mars and Till Death are examples of shows that were passed on to go to series initially, but later were picked up by the network.
Basically, if this petition somehow works, and we're given the opportunity to view the pilot episode now, the chances of the show ever being picked up decrease dramatically. I'm still interested in seeing the Wonderful Maladys pilot, but from working in the television industry I've learned there is usually a good reason why a show doesn't get picked up to series, and Wonderful Maladys may disappoint.
glorificus314 | May 12, 21:27 CET
It's the simplest explanation to understand why HBO turned it down .
But as a fan you're willing to take the occasional bad with the good .
garda39 | May 12, 22:03 CET
Hellmouthguy | May 13, 05:10 CET