Simon - I hope this comment is allowed...
Main Entry: blo·vi·ate
: to speak verbosely and windily
- blo·vi·a·tion /"blO-vE-'A-sh&n/ noun

ruthless1 | January 18, 21:39 CET

OMG, not one word out of that guy's mouth meant anything! "Well, we're talking to them, and they're not cancelled, but they're not coming back." Worst. Weaseling. Ever. I bet this is exactly what Joss had to hear from them every day about Firefly. Sux. :-(

billz | January 18, 21:56 CET

God, that's ridiculous. Not one word out of his mouth was anything truly definitive. His reasons for "Kitchen Confidential" getting axed? ... Sorry, were there any reasons??! It was certainly getting stronger by the ep, so I don't know why he's babbling on about the creative team either... As for "Arrested Development" and its poor showrunners, they've had to put up with that crap for 3 years. Almost makes you thankful that Joss only had to get jerked around by them for one year...

hrlo | January 18, 22:02 CET

The problem is they had to look around for their attitude. They didn't know where it was. Now I'm usually more concerned about what my attitude is but then I'm not a Fox exec.

Lioness | January 18, 22:08 CET

Their treatment of Arrested Development is really getting annoying, "Erm, we're almost definitely not bringing them back, but we don't care enough about these people having jobs next year to tell them that officially."

I know he means end as in actually get to finish the story, but this quote totally sums up Fox:



[ edited by Ghost Spike on 2006-01-18 20:13 ]

Ghost Spike | January 18, 22:13 CET

Reading this guy's verbal tapdancing made me think of politicians. Which made my head hurt. That happens when you try to find logic and intelligence where there is none. Grrr Arghh!

Syren | January 18, 22:14 CET

I'm thinking(no, hoping) that in the next 5 years or so, Fox will implode on itself for making all these bad decisions. Everything will come back and bite them in the butt. It's getting so predictable to start liking a show on Fox, meanwhile counting the episodes until it's cancellation, starting from episode one. A lot of them don't even make it to the double digit eps! Grr Arghh is right!

Danica | January 18, 22:18 CET

They should just come out and say it: "We and the WB made a pact many years ago: to hurt Joss Whedon, to hurt everyone who has ever worked for Joss Whedon, and to crush all independent and/or creative thought in the process. If you turn in the name of Mr. Whedon's dry cleaner, we will increase your chocolate ration to 10 grams, because we want to whack that guy, too."

Sorry, still bitter.

Ocular | January 18, 22:22 CET

I love the part where he has the gall to claim that FOX actually has a sense of humour about itself.

I also chortled at the way he consistently refers to Arrested Development as merely "Arrested" (a shortening of the title which the cast and crew abhor, and which they mock, in their S1 DVD commentary).

chickenbird | January 18, 22:35 CET

You know, there's this great thing that you can try if you want ratings to improve. I know, it might be a bit extreme but it's worth a try.
In the common tongue it's called "actually airing the episodes at all".
Oh, what a radical suggestion, right?

Djungelurban | January 18, 22:40 CET

Djungelurban, that's crazy talk! You know the best way to develope a fan base is to run the show on different days, out of order, and than cancel it as fast as humanely possible. It's just common sense.

Danica | January 18, 22:47 CET

*grawr* Fox just drives me batty. I almost hope they don't bring back Futurama, just so I can hate them all the more certainly!

kishi | January 18, 22:57 CET

These are the people who are moving Bones to Wednesday, up against Lost and Veronica Mars.



[ edited by zandra on 2006-01-19 01:02 ]

[ edited by zandra on 2006-01-19 01:02 ]

lycoming | January 18, 23:13 CET

Sort of nice to hear that there is a possibility of Futurama coming back. I certainly think it was much more healthy than The Simpsons has been for a long time.

But I totally agree, his answers are composed of generic rhetoic and have little substance or firm decision behind them. Just tell the truth!

Razor | January 18, 23:50 CET

I think the most you can hope for from these guys is the occasional soupcon of truthiness. Actual non-dissembling is just asking for the stars and the moon.

bobster | January 19, 00:38 CET

I’m sort of relieved that this article shows it is not just Joss projects these TPTB seem to cut down. Ever since OMWF was snubbed for any awards in the USA I’ve been skeptical and a bit paranoid. But this interview proves it is nothing personal, they are just completely unaware of the public’s perspective. Of course I’m sure its hard to even see us in their glass towers.

progirl | January 19, 00:59 CET

To be fair, "Kitchen Confidential" was neither amassing good ratings nor universally praised. It was a creatively iffy show that wasn't finding an audience. You just can't expect those to last.

Now, with that said, the quotes from Fox's Entertainment Prez are certainly filled with backtracking and doublespeak and pussyfooting. If he would have just come out and said, "We didn't think the show was as good as it could have been, and not many people watched it," I'd sure respect the guy a lot more. And he could very well say that, since it would be the truth. But network execs seldom, if ever, speak the truth.

And I do think Fox pulls shows too quickly. Although I'm not sure "KC" would have improved much if given more time, it's incredibly unfair for a show to be expected to come close to reaching its creative potential in so few episodes. I wish network execs would be a little more selective about the shows they make and then promise a 13-episode commitment to any show that's picked up and put on the air. Oh, what a better world we would live in.

Oh, and one more thing...

BRING BACK "FUTURAMA" NOW!!!

rbt | January 19, 01:37 CET

"We didn't think the show was as good as it could have been, and not many people watched it,"

How can you know how good it could have been if it had only four episodes? Not to mention that they have changed the show with every episode. Every part of the show, including some of the characters, was finding its way along every episode of the four that had been aired. I have no idea where the show would have settled itself and what the standard of how good it could be is. Remember that BtVS added another gear after its first season.

As for the ratings, it's a new show that was placed against baseball and against another comedy on a bigger network which was pratically a clone of the hitseries Friends. In that way a show will never find its audience. The show was cancelled before it was even aired as they were gambling on a miracle which didn't happen in three episodes.

Koos | January 19, 03:45 CET

So, what about "Stacked"? Is that show making "major improvements" and can it "address its weak spots"? I know it's on the shelf right now, but good lord, how many episodes did FOX give that show? They boot stuff that has potential, and show countless episodes of other shows that UPN would cancel in a heartbeat. I just cannot understand the devious, insane minds of the network execs at FOX.

Dizzy | January 19, 04:09 CET

To be fair, Kitchen Confidential's problems may have not been just ratings. I imagine that restaurants may not have been eager to run their ads during the show. One moment everyone's searching all the plates for the hacked-off thumb of one of the chefs, and the next minute, "Come to Applebee's for our great chicken fingers!" Great show, but the subject matter might have helped to doom it.

But yeah, politicians and TV executives have this amazing ability to talk at great length while saying absolutely nothing.

deanna b | January 19, 12:07 CET

It's when I read something like this I am immensely glad that Buffy and Angel were able to amass twelve fantastic seasons between them. I shudder to think what would have happened if Buffy's first season had shwon up in the past couple of years.

Razor | January 19, 16:40 CET