AHC: Keep Firefly Flying

Obviously broadcasting the episodes in order will help greatly. But what about starting the season later, so that the broadcast schedule isn't modified to avoid conflict with the MLB playoffs? In fact, running ads for the show during the playoffs would be possible in that scenario. In OTL, the irregular schedule meant that viewers could never get into a weekly flow. Have Fox instead decide to hold off on the show so they have something after the playoffs are over.
 
Another interesting angle on the POD could be the following. Due to their success with character driven "edgy" and non-traditional science fiction a la Firefly, UPN might offer the re-imagined Battlestar Galactica a time slot!

Having two "edgy" science fiction shows on the docket might also influence Star Trek Enterprise as it might not "fit" with the rest of the shows leading it to become "grittier" than it was in OTL.

:eek: A scifi-wank!
 
What if Joss Whedon just said: Look, I'm incredibly busy running two shows, one of which ends this year. What are the chances of starting production next season then I can really focus on it. At which point Fox agrees and then has a look at its schedule for 2003-2004 and decides that it would work well in the 9pm slot on Thursdays with Tru Calling as the lead in, well better than Reality Show re-runs would anyway.

Even in that slot it's going to be nowhere near CBS and NBC's offerings of CSI and Will and Grace/Coupling and The Apprentice respectively, but with a good wind, some decent promotion and doing something as insane as showing the episodes in the right order it might make the top 100.
 
:eek: A scifi-wank!

At the risk of being too "wanky" let me continue the scenario somewhat...

...

After two (okay, really 1 and a half) seasons of Firefly, the show has become a major success and is one of UPN's main attractions by the end of the 2003/2004 season. The idea of having a gritty character driven science fiction show is seen as a real possibility and a way to bring in more fans. The success of the recent Battlestar Galactica miniseries thusly, attracts real attention from the UPN execs who are eager to add another "hit" show to their lineup. Whereas other networks are wary of picking up the expensive show, UPN jumps on the opportunity and does so slightly earlier than OTL. Thus the show will be ready for the beginning of the 2004-2005 season.

Galactica makes it's debut replacing Star Trek Enterprise on Wednesday nights at 9:00. Echoing the marketing of Firefly it does quite well considering it is up against stiff competition from both Alias, American Idol, and the West Wing. Nevetheless, Galactica quickly ends up averaging between 5-6 million viewers (more than it ever had on Sci-Fi and similar to what Firefly is getting in TTL). Galactica's success further increases UPN's favor towards science fiction shows. Furthermore both Firefly and Galactica gain considerable critical acclaim and attract significant interest to the station.

The success of Firefly and Battlestar Galactica however is not shared by UPN's other flagging science fiction show, Star Trek Enterprise. Despite attempts to "go dark" in Season 3, and a renewed focus on the Temporal Cold War in Season 4, the ratings just aren't there. However, given UPN's success with science fiction shows, the execs aren't ready to completely give up on Enterprise.

When deciding what to do with the show, someone notes one of the initial draws towards doing a prequel. Early on in the development of Enterprise, someone pointed out that if the show wasn't doing well, that they could end the story arc with that ship and that crew and move forward to another incarnation of the Enterprise (an OTL concept IIRC). Noting that this concept is especially pertinent to Enterprise's current format with the ongoing Temporal Cold War, this person proposes that the current season of Enterprise focus on ending the Temporal Cold War with the intent of "rebooting" the series in 2005-2006. Though many are not enthusiastic about the developments, the decision is made and the latter half of Enterprise season 4 is focused on ending the Temporal Cold War (the driven nature of the plot actually leads to an increase in viewership). Furthermore this last half of season 4 is used to test out new directors and writers resulting in several excellent episodes.

With the finale of Season 4 the Temporal Cold War is brought to an end and the Star Trek timeline reverts to "normal". At the very end of the episode a glimpse is given into what fans quickly term "Enterprise 2.0" a much grittier, low tech version of the previous show with an almost completely different cast. This creates significant buzz which continues throughout the summer as through Battlestar Galactica and Firefly, UPN has discovered the value of using the internet to connect with fans. That being said many Star Trek purists revolt against the direction of the new show dubbing it "Battlestar: Enterprise" or "BSG Lite".

The 2005-2006 season sees UPN debut it's new line up anchored by 3 major science fiction shows makes it the new go to Sci-fi channel effectively out competing it's predecessors. Both Firefly and Galactica get off to strong starts the latter beginning the story arc involving New Caprica. Yet for many fans the biggest hype is over the relaunched Enterprise which hearkens back to classic "Trek" (no cheesy pop song at the beginning) while incorporating many new elements brought in from experiences with Firefly and Galactica. Season 5 sees a totally new cast in the much more primitive EES (Earth Exploration Ship) Enterprise. The two-part pilot episode wastes no time getting into the thick of things with the EES Enterprise witnessing the beginnings of the fabled Earth-Romulan War. Due to considerable hype, ratings for the new show are quite high and remain so for the rest of the season. Though many fans complain about the season's new direction, most applaud the choices made and see Season 5 as "The Way Enterprise should have been".

Yet despite the success of Firefly, Battlestar Galactica, and Season 5 of Enterprise, UPN is still hemorrhaging money (albeit less than OTL). Viacom ends up making a similar decision to OTL to quietly merge UPN and the WB into a new network known as the CW. As none of UPN's hit sci-fi shows fit into the new direction for the new network they are all let go. However the flagging Sci-fi channel sees an opportunity and immediately jumps in beginning production of the shows next seasons. The Sci-fi Channel is immediately revitalized as it's viewer ship skyrockets.

In 2006-2007 Battlestar Galactica comes to an end, however a prequel series is planned, Caprica, set prior to the Cylon War to debut in the future. Both Firefly and Enterprise continue on just as before. As mentioned previously Firefly ends in 2009 after it's seventh season. Enterprise 2.0 follows the Romulan War to the beginning of the Federation. A season portraying the first voyage of the recommissioned USS Enterprise (with alien crewmembers) is a dud leading to it's cancellation at the same time as Firefly.

Thoughts?

"You may call me a dreamer, but I'm not the only one..."
 
*Standing ovation*

I nominate Fearless Leader for President of Fox!

Can I get a 'second' to the nom? :D


FL: please go on, if you can! I'm curious if we'll see a Firefly spinoff ITTL. How about Shepherd, the dark hidden backstory of Shepherd Book?
 
*Standing ovation*

I nominate Fearless Leader for President of Fox!

Can I get a 'second' to the nom? :D


FL: please go on, if you can! I'm curious if we'll see a Firefly spinoff ITTL. How about Shepherd, the dark hidden backstory of Shepherd Book?

Seconded! Move for confirmation by acclamation?
 
At the risk of being too "wanky" let me continue the scenario somewhat...

...

After two (okay, really 1 and a half) seasons of Firefly, the show has become a major success and is one of UPN's main attractions by the end of the 2003/2004 season. The idea of having a gritty character driven science fiction show is seen as a real possibility and a way to bring in more fans. The success of the recent Battlestar Galactica miniseries thusly, attracts real attention from the UPN execs who are eager to add another "hit" show to their lineup. Whereas other networks are wary of picking up the expensive show, UPN jumps on the opportunity and does so slightly earlier than OTL. Thus the show will be ready for the beginning of the 2004-2005 season.

Galactica makes it's debut replacing Star Trek Enterprise on Wednesday nights at 9:00. Echoing the marketing of Firefly it does quite well considering it is up against stiff competition from both Alias, American Idol, and the West Wing. Nevetheless, Galactica quickly ends up averaging between 5-6 million viewers (more than it ever had on Sci-Fi and similar to what Firefly is getting in TTL). Galactica's success further increases UPN's favor towards science fiction shows. Furthermore both Firefly and Galactica gain considerable critical acclaim and attract significant interest to the station.

The success of Firefly and Battlestar Galactica however is not shared by UPN's other flagging science fiction show, Star Trek Enterprise. Despite attempts to "go dark" in Season 3, and a renewed focus on the Temporal Cold War in Season 4, the ratings just aren't there. However, given UPN's success with science fiction shows, the execs aren't ready to completely give up on Enterprise.

When deciding what to do with the show, someone notes one of the initial draws towards doing a prequel. Early on in the development of Enterprise, someone pointed out that if the show wasn't doing well, that they could end the story arc with that ship and that crew and move forward to another incarnation of the Enterprise (an OTL concept IIRC). Noting that this concept is especially pertinent to Enterprise's current format with the ongoing Temporal Cold War, this person proposes that the current season of Enterprise focus on ending the Temporal Cold War with the intent of "rebooting" the series in 2005-2006. Though many are not enthusiastic about the developments, the decision is made and the latter half of Enterprise season 4 is focused on ending the Temporal Cold War (the driven nature of the plot actually leads to an increase in viewership). Furthermore this last half of season 4 is used to test out new directors and writers resulting in several excellent episodes.

With the finale of Season 4 the Temporal Cold War is brought to an end and the Star Trek timeline reverts to "normal". At the very end of the episode a glimpse is given into what fans quickly term "Enterprise 2.0" a much grittier, low tech version of the previous show with an almost completely different cast. This creates significant buzz which continues throughout the summer as through Battlestar Galactica and Firefly, UPN has discovered the value of using the internet to connect with fans. That being said many Star Trek purists revolt against the direction of the new show dubbing it "Battlestar: Enterprise" or "BSG Lite".

The 2005-2006 season sees UPN debut it's new line up anchored by 3 major science fiction shows makes it the new go to Sci-fi channel effectively out competing it's predecessors. Both Firefly and Galactica get off to strong starts the latter beginning the story arc involving New Caprica. Yet for many fans the biggest hype is over the relaunched Enterprise which hearkens back to classic "Trek" (no cheesy pop song at the beginning) while incorporating many new elements brought in from experiences with Firefly and Galactica. Season 5 sees a totally new cast in the much more primitive EES (Earth Exploration Ship) Enterprise. The two-part pilot episode wastes no time getting into the thick of things with the EES Enterprise witnessing the beginnings of the fabled Earth-Romulan War. Due to considerable hype, ratings for the new show are quite high and remain so for the rest of the season. Though many fans complain about the season's new direction, most applaud the choices made and see Season 5 as "The Way Enterprise should have been".

Yet despite the success of Firefly, Battlestar Galactica, and Season 5 of Enterprise, UPN is still hemorrhaging money (albeit less than OTL). Viacom ends up making a similar decision to OTL to quietly merge UPN and the WB into a new network known as the CW. As none of UPN's hit sci-fi shows fit into the new direction for the new network they are all let go. However the flagging Sci-fi channel sees an opportunity and immediately jumps in beginning production of the shows next seasons. The Sci-fi Channel is immediately revitalized as it's viewer ship skyrockets.

In 2006-2007 Battlestar Galactica comes to an end, however a prequel series is planned, Caprica, set prior to the Cylon War to debut in the future. Both Firefly and Enterprise continue on just as before. As mentioned previously Firefly ends in 2009 after it's seventh season. Enterprise 2.0 follows the Romulan War to the beginning of the Federation. A season portraying the first voyage of the recommissioned USS Enterprise (with alien crewmembers) is a dud leading to it's cancellation at the same time as Firefly.

Thoughts?

"You may call me a dreamer, but I'm not the only one..."
Am I the only one who finds it a bit ASB the UPN would drop its moneymaker shows because it doesn't fit the "new direction" of the merger?
 
*Standing ovation*

I nominate Fearless Leader for President of Fox!

Can I get a 'second' to the nom? :D


FL: please go on, if you can! I'm curious if we'll see a Firefly spinoff ITTL. How about Shepherd, the dark hidden backstory of Shepherd Book?

Seconded! Move for confirmation by acclamation?

Problem: I'm a Canadian...:( (Mind you my political views put me on the Fox side of the spectrum, so I guess it's not a foregone conclusion) I'm glad that some people have enjoyed reading my indulgent wish fulfillment as much as I've enjoyed writing it.

Given the success of Battlestar Galactica, and Enterprise 2.0 (Season 5 onwards) we might see a Brownshirts spin off about the war itself. But I agree Shepherd would be an interesting one as well.

Am I the only one who finds it a bit ASB the UPN would drop its moneymaker shows because it doesn't fit the "new direction" of the merger?

You're not the only one, to be honest it was getting late when I wrote the last post and I was tired of researching the recent history of American TV networks. However keep in mind that the goal of UPN/ The CW has been to break into the American TV market in a major way and seriously challenge the Big 3 or rather the Big 4 if you count Fox for a share of the market.

In TTL Firefly, Battlestar Galactica, and Enterprise (season 5 onwards) are going to do quite well by UPN standards, but they're simply not going to even get close to dominating their timeslots like their competitors from the other 4 networks (they're facing some stiff competition).

Basically the owners of the merged networks have a choice, they can try to continue the UPN format (which though due to it's trio of sci-fi shows in TTL, is doing better, it's still not making money) or they can try to capitalize on grabbing the Young Adult audience like OTL. Given that the financial situation of UPN in TTL isn't substantially better than OTL, I doubt they'd keep going with an unsuccessful formula.

However you're right in that Viacom isn't going to completely dump 3 very successful shows which all have some legs on them. What probably happens is some sort of merger with the Sci-Fi channel in which Viacom (owners of UPN) moves the three shows over in exchange for partial/complete ownership. Given that in TTL Sci-fi won't have Battlestar Galactica to buoy it's reputation and viewership, it may be in such dire straights that Viacom can straight up buy it, move the sci-fi shows over from UPN and keep it going. In fact, I think that's the most likely option so I think I'll incorporate that into the timeline.

Thoughts?

I'll try to update in the future covering the post-UPN period in a bit more detail and project it into the future a bit.
 
"Shepherd" would fit the post-Buffy pattern of specific character spin-offs (e.g. Angel), but yea, a "Brownshirts" "prequel" is certainly possible.

As to UPN's lemming-like dive into the CW, hardly ASB. Network execs make bonehead decisions all the time based on faulty assumptions of demographics. The numbers FL quoted would be major sucesses by Basic Cable standards [1], but pretty poor by Network ones. Three minor sucesses won't change the fact that UPN is still a distant "fifth" ATL.

And FL: Canadian, shmadian: there's no consitutional clause against a non-native being POTFN. ;) Hail to the Chief!!




1 - my original idea for this AHC was Fox starting Firefly on their FX affiliate where even its modest OTL numbers would be considered "good" by Basic Cable standards, and where being "off the radar" Joss would probably get more creative control. It'd become enough of a cult hit to keep it flying for a few seasons.
 
FL: please go on, if you can! I'm curious if we'll see a Firefly spinoff ITTL. How about Shepherd, the dark hidden backstory of Shepherd Book?

"Shepherd" would fit the post-Buffy pattern of specific character spin-offs (e.g. Angel), but yea, a "Brownshirts" "prequel" is certainly possible.

With Joss having a seven-year story for Firefly do you really think that Shepherd Book's past isn't going to be dealt with within that time frame? Do you not think that Inara's terminal illness isn't going to be dealt with? Or Zoe's involvement in post-unification war partisan groups?

I'm pretty sure that over a seven year run all of the characters back-stories would be explained and dealt with.
 
With Joss having a seven-year story for Firefly do you really think that Shepherd Book's past isn't going to be dealt with within that time frame? Do you not think that Inara's terminal illness isn't going to be dealt with? Or Zoe's involvement in post-unification war partisan groups?

I'm pretty sure that over a seven year run all of the characters back-stories would be explained and dealt with.

Good points...still, though, you might see the Good Shepherd as the subject of a sequal series that delves deeper into things with him and his past ala Angel.

Inara dying halfway through the series would be nice and dramatic, I think.

And knowing Joss and his characters' sudden but inevitable mortalities, rather likely. :mad: ;)

Ironically, ITTL maybe Wash survives...at least long enough to produce a child with Zoe.
 
For the show to play out over even a few more seasons, either there would have had to have been no such clues left lying around to tag Serenity as even a possible refuge for the Tams...

...or perhaps it is political, even idelogical, infighting within the leadership core of Alliance itself that has been the real shelter for the Tams' flight? Perhaps someone up there in the ruling ranks wants River and Simon roaming around space under the impression they have escaped the leash?

But in that case, as other factions either try to advance their own agenda or (in the case of the movie's Agent at least) take the official line seriously and try to capture or at least kill River.

In short, the movie moved way too fast in part because they were actually cramming a year or two's plotline into two hours. But the brutal devastation the crew suffers--well, Whedon is in the habit of killing off beloved characters so had the show run longer we'd probably all have had our guts wrenched by those deaths and others.

*SPOILER ALERT*

I always thought following the film that yes, you are right, Shevek23, there was something going on INSIDE the Alliance, as well.

I remember the episode with the Good Nobleman on Persephone that agreed to serve as Mal's second and to do business with him following Mal's victory. Business that while profitable, also aided starving settlers on the frontier.:):) BTW, AFAIK, throwing a sword in a duel is a no-no.:D The Good Nobleman, and the nobleman who came to Kaylee's "rescue" at the ball, represented two figures that could have the potential to be quite horrified (secretly) by some of the dirtier dealings of the Parliament. Would they support the creation of Alliance psychics who could spill the beans about Parliament members whose loyalty was less than 100%?:eek:

Also, there is the secret resistance group that aided (for $$$) in River's escape from the clutches of the Alliance. Could such a group survive without MAJOR backing/protection from elements within the Parliament?

Answering such questions could string out over an entire season, eventually leading to a potential intra-Alliance Civil War when the full facts of Miranda are digested. How's this for a conspiracy thread? It gets out that the War for Independence was connived by the Alliance as a way to distract the public (both inner and outer planets) from what happened to Miranda (30,000,000 people and a whole planet "disappearing"?:eek:). That becoming a fact could get the ball rolling for a full Civil War, with a lot more of an Anti-Parliament angle than simple independence. Fighting that war and finishing it might represent a final season. Question is, where does Serenity come to play in this? Mal as the general and River as Joan of Arc?:D
 
Also, there is the secret resistance group that aided (for $$$) in River's escape from the clutches of the Alliance. Could such a group survive without MAJOR backing/protection from elements within the Parliament?

Why couldn't they? Partisan groups from WWII kept fighting the Soviets all the way into the 1950s, without secret aid from the Politburo.
 
LOTS of plot hooks left dangling for out ATL:

Don't forget the ominous Blue Sun corporation. Joss mentioned big plans for expanding on their role in the 'verse in the DVD commentary.

Also there's Niska lurking in the shadows and who knows what crazy things Badger will breed?

Saffron is still there as well. Plus Patience on the Whitefall moon.

Plenty more wacky hijinks with the "Hands of Blue"...probably they remain the prime villains for at least through the Miranda subplot, there being no Operative ITTL more than likely (he was a movie creation).

I'd also assume that the "kill/live" list in ATL multiseason Firefly will be notably different than the Serenity Movie, and probably based as much on real life events as anything else, frex Inara's "sickness" catches up 'round 'bout the time Morena gets other job offers (e.g. V 2.0).
 
At the very end of the episode a glimpse is given into what fans quickly term "Enterprise 2.0" a much grittier, low tech version of the previous show with an almost completely different cast. This creates significant buzz which continues throughout the summer as through Battlestar Galactica and Firefly, UPN has discovered the value of using the internet to connect with fans. That being said many Star Trek purists revolt against the direction of the new show dubbing it "Battlestar: Enterprise" or "BSG Lite".
Actually, many purists might be quite happy with it, deeming it more in line with Spock's description of the Earth-Romulan War era ships.
Really, the only problem is that it calls it EES when UES begs to be used.
 
Fearless Leader.... that's.... it's just so beautiful.

And now I'm at the end of the thread and can't help thinking of the end of the MLK episode on The Boondocks.

*sigh*
 
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