ANNE LOCKHART

[Dawg]

Hi, all!

I've got a couple of things to let you know. Over at Cylon Alliance, we (it was Bishop, actually) found an obscure article from 1982, published in a magazine that no longer exists, that sheds even more light on the life and demise of Battlestar Galactica. It confirms many of the suspicions we've had - so much so that I've re-written some of our BSG page:

'78 BSG

And here's that article:

Who Killed the Battlestar?

I've also got a new Dawg's Bark essay posted at Dawg's House:

Essay

Enjoy!

I am
Dawg

_________________
"...I aim to misbehave." Capt. Malcolm Reynolds, Serenity

I'm at: Dawg's House
LauretteSpang.com

[epaddon]

Thank you so much for sharing this. It confirms everything I've said for years that Galactica was a victim of ABC's swelled-head attitude as the #1 network at the time and their unreasonable raising of the bar to justify what Galactica should have been drawing in, when under all normal standards, the show passed with flying colors. And it is poetic justice to see in more detail how Galactica's cancellation directly impacted ABC's ability to stay #1, a status that I don't think it's ever had again in all the years since.

[Senmut]

This is so typical of what we have come to expect from the NitWerks. No matter how much money it makes, it isn't enough. That, and like the author said about critics, they wouldn't know quality if it bit them.
The thing that irritates me the most is that ABC, even after all these years, still doesn't have the gonadal fortitude to tell the truth.
Should we be surprised?
_________________
"The dull mind rises to Truth through that which is material." -Suger

Et verbum caro factum est, et habitavit in nobis: et vidimus gloriam ejus, gloriam quasi Unigenti a Patre, plenam gratiae et veritas.

[epaddon]

Well I really don't think we need to hear a mea culpa from ABC, because after all the men who were in charge of the network way back when are long gone from the corporate management. It's more important to hear some mea culpas from the jerks in the sci-fi establishment (that means you, Harlan Ellison) that Galactica was a popular show and wasn't exclusively aimed at a kiddie audience.

[Senmut]

Agreed, but my point was that the Nit Jerk mentality never seems to change. If BSG were to premiere today, all things being the same, they'd treat it the same way.
I also wonder how much anti-Xtian bias played in their decision.
_________________
"The dull mind rises to Truth through that which is material." -Suger

Et verbum caro factum est, et habitavit in nobis: et vidimus gloriam ejus, gloriam quasi Unigenti a Patre, plenam gratiae et veritas.

[Dawg]

Money.

Money, money, money.

The networks are driven by money, not any religious or anti-religious bias. They'll jump on the Passion of the Christ bandwagon as quickly as they will the anti-American/pro-jihadist bandwagon they're on now if there is more money to be made there. Right now, they're making more money promoting Al Qaida than Jesus Christ.

Network news is biased against the Iraq war and the current administration because the negative news brings more viewers and makes them more money. They're biased against guns because guns are sexy, bloody headlines, so they glorify the awful carnage criminals create and say nothing about the other 99.99 percent of people who own guns who use them responsibly. Responsible gun ownership isn't sexy, bloody headlines that draw viewers and make them more money.

Network executives answer to their stockholders. Their stockholders demand dividends. Dividends require profits, and high stock prices.

The suits worship at the Temple of the Dollar. Make the product cheap, reap a large return, the higher the percentage the better, so they make more money.

Money. Money, money, money. All hail the almighty Dollar.



I am
Dawg
_________________
"...I aim to misbehave." Capt. Malcolm Reynolds, Serenity

I'm at: Dawg's House
LauretteSpang.com

[epaddon]

WHat the news media reports is driven entirely by their own ideological bias, because if 90% of the media thinks one way, they'll report (not conspiratorially) in a way that reflects what the mentality of that group thinks.

Network programming execs in 1979 though, I seriously doubt had any clue about any pro-Christian leanings in BSG. Keep in mind that very few network suits actually watch the programs on their schedule beyond maybe a pilot episode or two. Galactica's cancellation was entirely the result of ABC operating with a swelled-head and thinking they could duplicate the numbers Galactica was delivering on the cheap. Simple as that.

[Senmut]

All true, though I shall remain the (dis)loyal opposition.
_________________
"The dull mind rises to Truth through that which is material." -Suger

Et verbum caro factum est, et habitavit in nobis: et vidimus gloriam ejus, gloriam quasi Unigenti a Patre, plenam gratiae et veritas.

[mikedx]

Richard Colla said that when he took on the project, that he went to the different sections to get an estimate of how much the whole project would cost. He said that the total was so far overbudget that he had to pitch the idea of making Saga into a movie, just to pay for making it.

[Senmut]

Let's be thankful the show was made at all.
_________________
"The dull mind rises to Truth through that which is material." -Suger

Et verbum caro factum est, et habitavit in nobis: et vidimus gloriam ejus, gloriam quasi Unigenti a Patre, plenam gratiae et veritas.

[MAD]

Nice article but it's streching it at some points. I don't believe they made G1980 purely to kill it off so they would get less comments of the fans. Everybody knew it had ended and was just getting used to the fact it did when G1980 came around. It all doesn't sound logical.
_________________
GALACTICA.TV | My Battlestar Galactica | Terry Carter - official site | Anne Lockhart - official site

[Dawg]

Since when is TV logical?



It makes perfect sense, if you look at it from an exclusively mercenary standpoint.

First, nobody is going to sink money into anything they're not going to get at least a minimal return from. G80 was made because ABC knew they could tap that well one more time, on the cheap, and bring in a little more cash. Then they could say "Oh, look, we tried soooo hard, but it failed. Too bad, so sad." They come out ahead of the game, even though they tie the hands of the producers.

It's all a scam. A shell game. We, as the sci-fi audience, are large enough to be courted. So you see a few sci-fi shows in production. In the 1960's NBC produced Star Trek. They killed it by moving it to Sunday's at 10:00 p.m. It didn't become the phenominon it was (and is) until it left their control, and the repeats aired at times when the audience could actually find it.

It's really simple, if you think about it. American television is driven by the bottom line. For every dollar spent, a profit must be made. As with any business, you want to spend as little as possible to bring in the most money possible.

Sci-Fi is expensive to produce for the returns made. Pre- and post-production costs are much higher than for a Desperate Housewives or Mork & Mindy, or Seinfeld (which was a sheer waste of time in my opinion). So, if they made $1Million each week per hour show, the less they spend on the production means the higher the profit margin, and the more preferable the situation.

That killed BSG, Firefly, Farscape, and every other sci-fi show on since TV began.

There are two problems here. One is the executives that have run TV for the last 40 years. The formula works, so there's no need to change it.

The other is us, the fans. We sit still for it. We swallow their bilge.

Maybe we do deserve what we get...........

I am
Dawg
_________________
"...I aim to misbehave." Capt. Malcolm Reynolds, Serenity

I'm at: Dawg's House
LauretteSpang.com

[epaddon]

At the very least, this article is something tangible I can produce and shove in the faces of every detractor of Galactica (and that includes certain fans of a "reimagined" show who still call a show that has declined 50% since its debut as a "success") who keeps calling it a "flop" when it wasn't.

[Senmut]

Which will only make them all the more intransigent. Not that I care, of course, but those folks will never see reality. They are too closely wedded to their abomination.
_________________
"The dull mind rises to Truth through that which is material." -Suger

Et verbum caro factum est, et habitavit in nobis: et vidimus gloriam ejus, gloriam quasi Unigenti a Patre, plenam gratiae et veritas.