Why Bionic Woman failed
January 14, 2008 in Television
I don't mean to pick on the guy, but Michael Hinman asked a straight forward question about what why Bionic Woman turned into a Bionic Mess, but then went straight on and missed the most obvious answer possible: it just plain sucked. I also feel like the hype surrounding the Terminator spin-off is hardly any different than the spin from NBC.Granted, the story wasn't actually about comparing the two shows and lacked an explanation that might have otherwise been somewhat convincing, but the argument is still erroneous.
And yeah, there are lots of great shows that die for the same reason, that being nobody is actually watching it, where Firefly yes, but also Studio 60 come to mind in recent times. There are a lot of reasons people won't watch a show: bad marketing, bad time slot, bad writing, stupid viewers, not enough viewers to go around, and the catch-all "it just didn't resonate with the audience."
Take your pick, I think most of these things can be eliminated with a little leg work for any given show. BW had a great time slot, compelling network hype, and a disenfranchised audience still searching for a hit. That leaves bad writing, or the catch-all.
I choose bad writing based on personal insight, which I won't quantify here since that would be a whole other thing, but I absolutely will not go meta with a weak ass explanation that it "didn't have heart." What does that even mean?
Does Terminator have heart?
Does Lost? Heroes? ... Does American Gladiators?
Well, it is in the end a very subjective matter. Why it nobody watched it would probably changed based on who you asked, but that doesn't actually exclude the overall disappoint being hacks on paper.
As for The Summer Glau Show, I've only seen previews so far and have the premier sitting on my DVR for afternoon consumption. The previews have been endlessly annoying with the constant catch-phrase which is now basically a cultural cliche being abused every 30 seconds. I do not have terribly high hopes for a show that will suffer the same fate as Firefly did if not by choice, but entirely by circumstance.
Most shows take more than eight episodes to find their voice and the Sarah Connor Chronicles (first things first -- cut the name length in half please) will only have about that many since Josh Friedman and company were forced to stop writing by the strike. Just as people are getting into it, if they get into it at all, it will come to a screeching halt.
That's going to hurt it no matter what, and Fox would have been better served holding it back as they did with 24.
I wonder how the overnight ratings will turn out?
Oh yeah, and then there's this..
Sir, writing about yourself in the third person is a sign it may be time for a lengthy vacation. It looks exceptionally silly. :p
I choose bad writing based on personal insight, which I won't quantify here since that would be a whole other thing, but I absolutely will not go meta with a weak ass explanation that it "didn't have heart." What does that even mean?
Does Terminator have heart?
Does Lost? Heroes? ... Does American Gladiators?
Well, it is in the end a very subjective matter. Why it nobody watched it would probably changed based on who you asked, but that doesn't actually exclude the overall disappoint being hacks on paper.
As for The Summer Glau Show, I've only seen previews so far and have the premier sitting on my DVR for afternoon consumption. The previews have been endlessly annoying with the constant catch-phrase which is now basically a cultural cliche being abused every 30 seconds. I do not have terribly high hopes for a show that will suffer the same fate as Firefly did if not by choice, but entirely by circumstance.
Most shows take more than eight episodes to find their voice and the Sarah Connor Chronicles (first things first -- cut the name length in half please) will only have about that many since Josh Friedman and company were forced to stop writing by the strike. Just as people are getting into it, if they get into it at all, it will come to a screeching halt.
That's going to hurt it no matter what, and Fox would have been better served holding it back as they did with 24.
I wonder how the overnight ratings will turn out?
Oh yeah, and then there's this..
By MICHAEL HINMAN
Source: SyFy Portal
[...]
"I think that Terminator fans will be thrilled," McCreary recently told SyFy Portal's Michael Hinman. "My inspiration was pretty obviously the scores for 'Terminator' and 'Terminator 2.' Those were among my personal favorite scores of my childhood, and I always wanted the opportunity to do something with it."
Sir, writing about yourself in the third person is a sign it may be time for a lengthy vacation. It looks exceptionally silly. :p
| << Previous entry | Next entry >> |
Related posts
Things to do
Things to read
- More about Bionic Woman, Sarah Connor Chronicles
- The Archives
- My Newsvine Column
Leave a comment