Not to mention the 'boo-boo' with Firefly. Too little, too late.

Madhatter | July 29, 03:41 CET

don't you mean The Inside?

eddy | July 29, 03:42 CET

Sorry Eddy, I was watching The Insider on the tv at the same time I was writting this up.

Brain is on the fritz these days.=)

Or hmmm Family Guy, Dark Angel, Tru Calling, Wonderfalls and John Doe.

FalenAnjl | July 29, 03:46 CET

How did these people get their jobs? They are profoundly stupid.

[ edited by electricspacegirl on 2005-07-29 01:58 ]

electricspacegirl | July 29, 03:56 CET

At least they admitted making mistakes....rather than deny they ever made one, as they did in the past.
They're still fools

impalergeneral | July 29, 04:18 CET

Well, in the spirit of honesty, I likewise admit they made a mistake....confession is good for the soul!

Calledon | July 29, 04:33 CET

Calledon, I admire your honesty and I must say, the spirit is catching (if I may mix metaphors so). I feel comfortable getting something off my chest here for all to read: I too admit that Fox made a mistake!
Hopefully this won't be merely their latest mistake but in fact their last (note the clever wordplay - points for identifying the Buffy reference there).

gorramit | July 29, 04:39 CET

there is an easy solution fox, if you believe in the show, just don't cancel it so quickly.

SerenityScape | July 29, 04:54 CET

Well, at least it says that they will air the rest of the episodes. that makes me happy... or very gullible.

Knuckleball | July 29, 05:19 CET

I'm not sure about how Firefly relates to this, but I feel the same way about "The Inside" as I felt about "Cinderella Man." They're both good respective formats that they are, but in the summer, people just don't want to think at all. Trying to debut intelligent programming in the summer is really difficult.

Though, I think that fox should have just waited for the numbers to pick up in the Fall. Year-round programming is optimistic at best; years of fall-spring programming have already "programmed" the masses to not be receptive to intelligent summer programming, I think...

mchan | July 29, 05:20 CET

Oh thank god they'll air the rest of the episodes. I still don't forgive them for Firefly though.

Mack | July 29, 05:23 CET

While the apology is nice, you would think that they would've realized their mistake long before now. If they believed in the show, they would have corrected it before it was too late. I think they saw that they just cancelled another show that had a following and are using this "apology" to satisy the fans.

two_guns | July 29, 05:24 CET

Well, I'll believe it when I see it if they air the rest of the episodes. Seem to remember hearing that song and dance in the past one time to many. And they pulled the same "we made a mistake" thing with Firefly. I don't buy it at all. The mistake is cancelling a show before it's even aired a handful of episodes and not giving it a chance to find an audience.

Firefly Flanatic | July 29, 06:18 CET

Exactly, bl. Methinks this is the way they do things, now. Show a handful of eps, get people interested, then on to the dvd, suckers!

My opinion is that networks don't even care about making shows with any longevity any more. They give us a taste, cancel it, then make us buy the dvd to get the rest of the series. And 13 episodes is the standard now, not 21 like it used to be.

What about arcs? Intensity? Quality? Art? These things need to be played out for us to FEEL anything about the show. We need to have time to form viewer relationships with the characters. We need to care about them and their fictional world. Nobody in charge gives a ding-dang any more about that. I'll remind us of an oft-repeated mantra here: Would we all be so passionate about Joss and Buffy the Vampire Slayer if we'd only gotten FOUR episodes?

I'm betting nope.

Willowy | July 29, 06:48 CET

Wait, shows with story arcs shouldn't be cancelled? Serialized television ISN'T the wave of the future? Smart TV can be loved and appreciated by the masses?

Have I accidentally stepped into Bizarro world?

GrrrAargh | July 29, 07:40 CET

Well said, Willowy.

FalenAnjil: I changed the link a little. From what I read, Liguori regrets not airing it sooner, rather than later.

SoddingNancyTribe | July 29, 07:43 CET

Art is all well and good, Willowy, but the thing is, the masses want dancing midgets in boot camp eating scorpions who can be voted off the airborne circus by cellular, parachuting into a swamp filled with starved alligators.

And until that changes, we'll just have to read more, or prove that we are willing to buy 8 times as many jugs of laundry soap and obcenely large trucks as the audience tuning in for midget parachutes.

We're just not commanding the numbers, and so networks will keep throwing the Minears of the world at the wall with no backup and hope he eventually sticks. And then they'll pretend it was all part of the plan.

It's not so much reality programming as it is reactionary programming. The FOX network has no long-term game plan. If I were a stockholder, I'd be wondering about the stability of my investment. Once Idol fizzles (as Who Wants to Be a Millionaire did before it) they'll have nothing to fall back on, nothing in development, no steady earners.

I don't understand their business model at all, but I think I could beat Ligouri at Monopoly.

Allyson | July 29, 07:46 CET

Well I know I do ...

vera | July 29, 07:51 CET

The thing that really gets me is that I hear about all these good shows premiering in the States, then I hear the networks screwed them up and cancelled after four episodes and we never see them over here. However somehow four weeks after a really bad reality TV show premiers, we're already showing it here, crappy truncated season and all. All the more reason to just go buy the DVDs.

vera | July 29, 07:55 CET

I agree Allyson. That IS the nature of the beast now. And isn't it unfortunate? Your 'midgets' comment isn't far off the mark. So how can we make it different? How can we get it back to televison entertainment that thinking people actually want. What is the solution?

I feel like such a frickin wallet to the networks now. How do we force them to think of us as PEOPLE again? How do we get them to honor the true artists out there?

I feel so ... powerless. Abandoned. Used.

Willowy | July 29, 08:05 CET

Apologies don't mean a damn thing to me. Just give us more of the show, for heaven's sakes!

I agree with Allyson and Willowy about the current state of programming. Apart from Gilmore Girls, Grey's Anatomy and House, I can't think of any other shows that I would want to watch on a regular basis. The Inside is currently one of my favourite shows, and if not for the fact that Tim Minear said "a SOS campaign is unnecessary", I would've signed the petition.

I hope that they keep their promise and air the rest of the eps, but I'm not counting on it, considering their record. I love Buffy beyond anything else, but I doubt I would've become such a fan if it hadn't gone beyond the first season.

This is pathetic - they know they made a mistake, and can't correct it by giving the show a chance? Cancelling it obviously won't help what they did.

non sequitur | July 29, 09:31 CET

I've just recently realized while planning my academic week how many shows I watch (all of which I enjoy on some sometimes minor level.) Admittedly, my favorite show currently airing is the new Battlestar.

I love The Inside though, the show has been strong since the beginning, but has slowly become terrific, it's too bad that there's no chance for more.

[ edited by rabid on 2005-07-29 07:46 ]

rabid | July 29, 09:37 CET

The way the programming model exists today, the only shows that truly have a chance are the reality shows. I'm not certain which came first: did the reality shows beget the programming model or vice versa? In any case, until the current standards of what constitutes a success in TV changes, until we get away from the film model of the show's having to garner high ratings its premiere night, we are not going to get anything different.

I agree that in the summer, most people do not want to tune into shows that force one to think. And, because people are so active, they don't really want to tune into a show that requires them to be there the same time the next week. But the sad thing is, apart from the big "boo-boo" the network did with The Inside, that the networks are training viewers not to watch thoughtful TV.

Is it just about the money? Or is this a sad cultural trend. Our school systems have taken the arts out of the schools, our arts institutions have become institutions of edutainment, and so forth -- where are the younger generations to learn to appreciate anything requiring thought? Where are they to learn to demand complexity? If students have to read anything more involved than People magazine today, they complain loudly, because it cuts into their (party) time. (The younger members of the Whedonesque community are the exception, rather than the rule, it seems.) We are getting what we pay for, I guess, in a culture with a short attention span and a greater emphasis upon consumption and immediate gratification than upon things that provide the mind with food for thought.

palehorse | July 29, 14:41 CET

Also, his name is Peter Ligouri, not Steve.

Allyson | July 29, 20:20 CET

Tim says "Well. No matter what, all episodes will NOT air. [..]"

gossi | July 29, 20:50 CET

Tim just posted:

"Always listen to Uncle Tim. The network just informed me that the dance show is going to be expanded and that no more episodes of "The Inside" will now air.

Which means there will be six unaired original episodes."

Allyson | July 30, 00:19 CET

Yup, knew they were lying. Of course they aren't going to show the rest of the show - it might just get stronger numbers and that's just not how Fox does things!

Firefly Flanatic | July 30, 00:29 CET

Well, at least I now have something to look forward to on the DVDs.

electricspacegirl | July 30, 00:54 CET

Ta, Allyson. And also: I look forward to never seeing dancing monkey arses.

gossi | July 30, 00:55 CET