Will We See a Season Two?

05-05-2004, 09:40 PM

What do you guys think? I was pretty sure that we wouldn't, but in the last few days Eonline, The Futon Critic, and Tv Tome all predicted that FOX would take a chance and renew TC because of how Friends is over and because of the small but existent growth its experienced in the last half of the episodes in comparison to the first ten. So I'm not really sure what to think now.

**Tash the Vampire Slayer** · 05-06-2004, 02:12 AM

They better, Eliza has worked so hard and this show has a great premise

05-06-2004, 02:59 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Cause You Gotta Have Faith:
They better, Eliza has worked so hard and this show has a great premise

I totally agree that the premise of the show is great but I would imagine it is kind of hard coming up with new and original stories each week. The Eliza - Jack story arc might also not hold that much potential as we want it to. So what he´s working against her now, it just makes saving people a bit harder. Just my 2 cents. I mainly watch the show because it has Eliza in it (who doesn´t ;) ) and do strongy hope they pick it up for another season.

Faith_Fan · 05-06-2004, 03:24 AM

Legitimately, there's no numbers to justify renewing Tru Calling. It's averaging less viewers than Firefly and 30% fewer viewers than Dark Angel did. It's steadily plummeted since Jason was brought in. It's down -26% verses the junk that was in the timeslot last year. Against reruns of Friends, and barely anything on CBS, ABC and WB it only slightly increased. Several major advertisers for Fox no longer advertise during TC (a friend of mine works for one of them and has nothing nice to say about TC's ratings, so the idea that the advertisers are behind the show is a joke. When a major movie studio won't advertise chick flicks during your 18-34 female targeted tv show, you're in trouble).

The only reason TC would be renewed is because it has some potential. The TC producers did what Fox told them to do and they were stuck with a bad timeslot. If Fox cancels it, they'll have to start all over with some new show and who knows if it will be as successful. At least TC is a very inexpensive drama that's being made even less expensive by jetisoning 2 cast members (Matt Bomer and AJ Cook).

Fox president Gail Berman looks bad if she fails with TC, especially in light of the deal that made Eliza take TC over FTVS. So she looks good for trying to keep scripted shows on, and at least giving TC a chance. But canceling something critically acclaimed like Wonderfalls and keeping TC is seriously piss off the tv critics.

But if you look at Fox's schedule, TC faces an uphill battle for Season 2. Unless we have major flops in June, TC's going to be battling for a timeslot. Unless the writing improves, viewers aren't going to be watching. Next year, Thursdays will be just as competitive. Friends may be gone, but NBC will have the Joey spinoff and the Apprentice 2 in November. WB and ABC will be aggressively targeting Thursdays while Fox has baseball on.

My guess - Fox renews TC for 13 episodes with a severely scaled back budget for November or mid-season depending on how their summer premieres go. If those new shows are successful, Fox can cancel TC before it goes into production in late summer/early fall. Why bother canceling it now? If they keep it around and put it on hiatus, then they keep Eliza and Jason under contract.

M@tt · 05-06-2004, 08:06 AM

Hasn't the ratings improved since the arc began? [img]graemlins/ohwell.gif[/img]

Faith_Fan · 05-06-2004, 01:37 PM

No, the ratings haven’t improved since Jason Priestley arrived, except for the AI boost.

TC’s ratings peaked on 3/18 (the episode Drop Dead Gorgeous) with 5.52M, the week before Jason arrived. The following week Daddy’s Girl had 5.19M.

Both of these weeks CBS had on NCAA basketball finals, which ended around 8:30 on the west coast. The ratings for NCAA basketball where way down this year, and most networks had on either a local sports show or some syndicated show from 8:30-9 on the west coast.

3/18 – 5.52 M
3/25 - 5.33 M
4/1 - 5.19 M
4/8 - 4.0 M
4/15 (following AI) – 6.37 M
4/22 - 4.15M
4/29 - 4.5 M

So the ratings have steadily decreased since Jason’s arrived. The highest ratings (non-AI) were for a non-Jason episode, something that The Futon Critic got wrong. The ratings went right back to where they were before Jason after CBS had Survivor on instead of sports.

Also consider, that ABC isn't even trying to compete. It’s airing reruns of Extreme Makeover Home Edition against Tru, and Tru is still getting beat by that. TC’s ratings increased last January once ABC canceled Threat Matrix. Next year, ABC won’t be rolling over and playing dead on Thursdays.

The Futon Critic is going on wrong information, since they think JP joined the cast in Drop Dead Gorgeous and aren't counting the ratings drop in the finale.

Mediaweek doesn't think TC will be renewed. Marc Berman is a a-hole and a jerk since last year he was spouting off about how Angel should be canceled, and how UPN shouldn't have picked up Buffy. Unfortunately, Mediaweek isn't site targeting fans. It's the magazine for advertisers. Every Thursdays, Tru Calling is listed in Mediaweek's "Loosers" category. Just like Angel was last year. That's like Forbes calling your company's stock a looser.

Advertisers are cutting back on their spending. When Mediaweek is against TC, why are they going to keep advertising during it? That's been the problem with Angel. The fans can do anything, but as long as the media analysts call it a "looser", the WB was never going to renew it. Mediaweek doesn't go by story developments, they aren't trying to keep readers happy with their site, they just go by numbers plain and simple. And those don't add up. A network can renew something when the numbers aren't there, but when they do, they expect the numbers to pick up the next season. Case in point - Oliver Beene.

[ May 06, 2004, 02:54 PM: Message edited by: Faith_Fan ]

M@tt · 05-06-2004, 02:59 PM

Well if you take an average of before the arc (and I say arc instead of Jason arriving because the direction of the show should be getting much more credit) you'd have 4.45 while after Drop Dead Gorgeous, the show has averaged 4.93. Sure the show technically decreased in ratings after that episode but it was still securing better ratings than the first half of the season.

**andrew r** · 05-06-2004, 06:23 PM

Thanks for the info about ratings and advertising Faith_Fan. I was just wondering, what about a different day it's shown? Or put it on after a main TV film premiere? As I'm assuming that's Artificial Intelligence that's being refered to in the above threads. I hope it does get renewed, as I'm getting into the ep's now.

Faith_Fan · 05-06-2004, 07:43 PM

It's hard to predict what Fox's fall lineup will look like, but I don't see TC moving to another day other than Friday. Maybe a temporary move to Mondays if North Shore fails.

Fox is premiering five new shows in June - two dramas The Jury and North Shore, two comedies (Quints and Method & Redman), a reality show, The Casino, plus Simple Life 2 returns. Until Fox sees how these new shows do, they won't know what their fall schedule will be. Maybe they all bomb and it will leave Fox scrambling. If they're successful, Fox will be hard pressed to find room on their schedule for TC.

The problem is that Fox wants to compete with the big 3 networks Monday-Wednesday. If a show on one of those nights doesn't have at least 8-10 million viewers, it's gone. Thursdays and Fridays are the exceptions. They'll tolerate lower ratings there, but you wonder if they'll keep that up without Friends.

Fox is reluctant to use American Idol's timeslots for any dramas, since they'd have to be pulled. So unless Tru season 2 started in July, they can't put it in American Idol's timeslot unless they expect only 13 episodes then it's yanked for six months or moved to another timeslot. There's also been talk that American Idol will expand to 3 nights a week with specials airing preminantly on either Mondays or Thursdays at 8pm, depending on how the new shows do.

Mondays is still Fox's reality day. The Swan has been very successful. It's returning for season 2 next year. Fox has six new reality shows in production, and they can make any new reality show in a matter of a month or two. Fox could easily make 75% of the lineup reality by January.
Fox president Gail Berman has also said they want to expand to another comedy night, so Thursday could see some comedies too.

Fox has two hurtles this year with launching their fall schedule - NBC has the Olympics in August which will be huge and then baseball in October. Premiering a show in August against the Olympics is suicide. Launching a show in September is pointless. So that means Fox will launch TC season 2 in November, against all ready established new shows on the other networks. If Fox has established a new hit this summer (say The Jury), what are they going to with that when 24 returns? And how many pilots will Fox pick up? There's at least 2-3 dramas that sounds like they have a chance for series orders. It's doubtful they would pull a show they have on the air for a show that struggled the previous season.

I think there's a good chance TC could wind up on Fridays since Fox will probably end up with a reality wheel on Thursday through the fall. All the Fox execs were convinced Wonderfalls could do well on Fridays since Joan of Arcadia was doing so well. TC is the same type of show, so it could end up in the Friday timeslot o' death if Fox finds something that does better on Thursdays.

Once we hear what Fox has renewed, pilot pickup and see how the June premieres do, we'll have a better idea of what might happen with TC Season 2. Also keep in mind, Fox completely changed their fall lineup last year from the upfronts. They picked up pilots that never aired, canceled shows before they went into production and made changes to every night except for Saturday.

**andrew r** · 05-06-2004, 09:13 PM

Thanks for more info Faith_Fan. It's a little heavy going, as I'm unfamiliar with U.S. tv scheduling, but you've explained it very well. From reading what you said, I get the impression that Fox seem reluctant at the moment to renew TC, due to ratings, which ironically were ok competing against Friends. I kinda hope that it gets the Monday slot, on the back of what you've said about the 'graveyard Friday' slot. Just another quick question, what about putting it on after American Idol? Or does another well established show have that slot?

Faith_Fan · 05-06-2004, 11:45 PM

The OC has cemented it spot at Wed at 9pm following the American Idol results show. Tuesday after AI is 24. Fox was doing some market research surveying people about whether they'd watch 24 on Sunday, Monday or Tuesday at 9pm. So 24 could move to allow Fox to premiere a big new drama more targeted at AI's demographic following American Idol's Tuesday edition. I don't think that would be TC, since it's too sci-fi/genre to have mass appeal. Fox might put something like Hollywood Division (a 21 Jumpstreet rip-off starring Nathan Fillion from Firefly and that kid from Skin) or one of their other new cop shows following American Idol, especially if this is 24's last year and they need to find a replacement.

In any other year, TC would have been DOA in November. I've been working on saving various Fox shows now for years now and TC has lower ratings than most of the fan support unjustly canceled shows (Futurama, Family Guy, Lone Gunmen, Dark Angel, John Doe, Fastlane, Keen Eddie, Andy Richter - just to name a few). I'm absolute baffled how TC has stayed on. And if you look at the Fox casualities this year (Skin, Wonderfalls, Wanda At Large, Boston Public, Luis, Stan Hooper, Cracking Up, and Oliver Beene) TC averaged less viewers than five of them.

One thing that TC does have going for it is that it's unbelievably cheap to make- much cheaper than most replacement scripted dramas. 20th Century Fox TV Production division launched a new tv division called Fox 21 this week - headed by the 20th exec that developed TC and Wonderfalls - to do low budget tv shows (sort of like Fox Searchlight for tv). By limiting the number of cast numbers, reducing location shoots to a bare minimum, cutting out the music licensing fees, and lowing post production costs, TC's budget could be close to $1 Million an episode. Compare that to over $2.5M - $3M for Dark Angel and $2M for shows like Fastlane and Firefly. (but reality shows can be as cheap as $100k for an hourlong episode)

But the problem is that TC already looks like a cheap show. It's nearly laughable and there's been so many times when sound mixer friends of mine (who mix feature films) just laugh at how bad the audio in TC is. And for something mixed at Todd AO West, that's really sad.

Fox is trying to keep production costs down and TC is cheap, so that might be what saves it. But did Eliza really sign up for something that might have a lower budget then most syndicated shows and which looks and sounds like crap?

05-07-2004, 03:36 PM

Haven't ya'll heard? Tru Calling HAS been cancelled, I found it in the tru-davies.com site weeks ago.

Charlie5x5 · 05-07-2004, 07:38 PM

If you found it weeks ago i doubt it was a reliable source that posted it. We won't find out for a while yet, I don't think Eliza even knows yet.

M@tt · 05-07-2004, 07:46 PM

It was reported at Tru-Davies.com that the show had been cancelled... on April 1st. Hypz is a cruel, cruel man. :(

Faith_Fan · 05-08-2004, 02:56 AM

The more I read what some people are saying in interviews(especially Eliza and Jon Feldman), and talking to Tim Minear, I'm certain Gail Berman 100000% believes that TC is the next Buffy.

It's not. The writing is the same. The characters aren't the same.

But Gail was the force that got BTVS on the air and I think she has enough clout to keep TC on (at least for a while)

05-09-2004, 03:46 AM

Thanks once again for all the insight, Faith Fan. [img]smile.gif[/img] There are lots of thinks working against it, and a few working for it. I guess we'll have to wait until the 20th.

Faith_Fan · 05-09-2004, 08:30 PM

I can't get into a lot of the details, but TC's predicament (poor rating, bad timeslot, repetitive plots that go no where and so forth) really go against what Eliza was promised by Fox for her to do TC in the first place. I don't think they have much choice but to renew it.

Basically - some individuals at Fox told her that TC was the next Buffy. Eliza herself said that Tru Calling was just another chapter of Buffy, not a different story.

News Corp, Fox Home Entertainment, 20th Century Fox TV and so forth have nothing to replace Buffy and Angel with. Those 2 shows account for a large percentage of their revenue with dvd sales, and syndication deals.

Dark Angel was canceled because some at Fox thought Firefly would do better. Firefly was canceled because Joss & Tim wouldn't do what Fox execs were telling them to do. I believe things are looking very bad for all of 20th Century Fox's genre/sci-fi pilots (especially Point Pleasant and Lost In Space). So there's nothing that they could replace it with. Dramas like North Shore or the Jury aren't going to be the cult hits like Buffy.

My speculation is that there's enough support from various higher ups at Fox/News Corp to keep TC around even if it has low ratings because they have to replace Buffy and Angel with something.

They lost out on a Faith spinoff because someone at Fox at the 11th hour persuaded Eliza not to sign on (after Eliza had verbally committed to Joss to do FTVS). Fox execs convinced her that TC would be a huge hit and FTVS would be a show struggling to stay on the air (due to UPN's financial problems). They'll look like total hypocrites canceling TC after putting it on in such a bad timeslot.

I should have figured this out a while ago, when the TC producers told me Fox didn't care about the ratings when TC only had 3.5 million viewers and Fox cancels Wonderfalls for low ratings with 3.5 million viewers. Fox wanted a replacement for Buffy. They'll do whatever it takes to make TC into it.

M@tt · 05-10-2004, 11:07 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Faith_Fan:
Eliza herself said that Tru Calling was just another chapter of Buffy, not a different story.

Huh? Can you cite that or something? That makes absolutely no sense whatsoever, that's just... huh?

Also, is the stuff about verbal contracts and UPN speculation on your part? Because I've never heard that stuff, in fact I've heard quite the opposite.

Faith_Fan · 05-10-2004, 01:34 PM

The next chapter quote from Eliza comes from the interview in the book, What Would Buffy Do.

It's very clear in that interview how into Buffy Eliza is and more of the higher concepts of the show. But I get the feeling that Eliza wants to play Buffy and if you look at the changes that Tru Davies has gone through from the original draft of the pilot to today, it's much more of a transformation into Buffy than anything.

I can't reveal my source for the info about what happened with the Faith spinoff vs TC stuff. Email me if you like, but it's coming straight from multiple sources who would know.

Faith_Fan · 05-10-2004, 02:41 PM

We’re back on pilot watch for TC, because as much as Fox wants to like TC, it’s still not doing well enough to beat out the hot new show on Fox. Looking at their fall schedule, there’s about 6 hours of programming to fill – but even less in January when American Idol and whatever new reality shows they premiere come on.

According to Variety, there looks to be a new OC spinoff/companion series debuting in January. Three drama pilots look like they’ll be picked up: Point Pleasant (from Marti Noxon and the producers of Tru Calling), the 21 Jumpstreet clone On the Inside, the Boston based medical drama House.

Beside those shows, Fox is launching 2 new sitcoms and 2 new dramas this summer. So there could be up to 6 new dramas premiering by January, and probably at least 4 comedies. Fox also has 6 reality shows in the works. Plus all their returning shows and the possibility of American Idol 3 days a week.

Point Pleasant could be paired with Tru on Thursdays. It’s a teen supernatural soap.

Where does the OC companion series go? On Thursdays? Because Wednesday in January American Idol results show is on. So does it replace 24 and 24 goes to Mondays? What becomes the Friday sacrificial lamb? On the Inside and House? Or will Fox do their usual Friday sci-fi lineup and put on Tru and Point Pleasant?

[ May 10, 2004, 01:45 PM: Message edited by: Faith_Fan ]

05-05-2004, 09:40 PM	#1 (permalink)
imported_Andrew Guest Posts: n/a	What do you guys think? I was pretty sure that we wouldn't, but in the last few days Eonline, The Futon Critic, and Tv Tome all predicted that FOX would take a chance and renew TC because of how Friends is over and because of the small but existent growth its experienced in the last half of the episodes in comparison to the first ten. So I'm not really sure what to think now.

05-06-2004, 02:12 AM	#2 (permalink)
Tash the Vampire Slayer Eliza's SO and Moderator Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: Eliza's Bed Posts: 1,208 My Profile	They better, Eliza has worked so hard and this show has a great premise

05-06-2004, 03:24 AM	#4 (permalink)
Faith_Fan Junior Member Join Date: Aug 2002 Location: Los Angeles, CA Posts: 611 My Profile	Legitimately, there's no numbers to justify renewing Tru Calling. It's averaging less viewers than Firefly and 30% fewer viewers than Dark Angel did. It's steadily plummeted since Jason was brought in. It's down -26% verses the junk that was in the timeslot last year. Against reruns of Friends, and barely anything on CBS, ABC and WB it only slightly increased. Several major advertisers for Fox no longer advertise during TC (a friend of mine works for one of them and has nothing nice to say about TC's ratings, so the idea that the advertisers are behind the show is a joke. When a major movie studio won't advertise chick flicks during your 18-34 female targeted tv show, you're in trouble). The only reason TC would be renewed is because it has some potential. The TC producers did what Fox told them to do and they were stuck with a bad timeslot. If Fox cancels it, they'll have to start all over with some new show and who knows if it will be as successful. At least TC is a very inexpensive drama that's being made even less expensive by jetisoning 2 cast members (Matt Bomer and AJ Cook). Fox president Gail Berman looks bad if she fails with TC, especially in light of the deal that made Eliza take TC over FTVS. So she looks good for trying to keep scripted shows on, and at least giving TC a chance. But canceling something critically acclaimed like Wonderfalls and keeping TC is seriously piss off the tv critics. But if you look at Fox's schedule, TC faces an uphill battle for Season 2. Unless we have major flops in June, TC's going to be battling for a timeslot. Unless the writing improves, viewers aren't going to be watching. Next year, Thursdays will be just as competitive. Friends may be gone, but NBC will have the Joey spinoff and the Apprentice 2 in November. WB and ABC will be aggressively targeting Thursdays while Fox has baseball on. My guess - Fox renews TC for 13 episodes with a severely scaled back budget for November or mid-season depending on how their summer premieres go. If those new shows are successful, Fox can cancel TC before it goes into production in late summer/early fall. Why bother canceling it now? If they keep it around and put it on hiatus, then they keep Eliza and Jason under contract.

05-06-2004, 08:06 AM	#5 (permalink)
M@tt Senior Member Join Date: Feb 2003 Location: UK Posts: 1,980 My Profile	Hasn't the ratings improved since the arc began? [img]graemlins/ohwell.gif[/img]

05-06-2004, 01:37 PM	#6 (permalink)
Faith_Fan Junior Member Join Date: Aug 2002 Location: Los Angeles, CA Posts: 611 My Profile	No, the ratings haven’t improved since Jason Priestley arrived, except for the AI boost. TC’s ratings peaked on 3/18 (the episode Drop Dead Gorgeous) with 5.52M, the week before Jason arrived. The following week Daddy’s Girl had 5.19M. Both of these weeks CBS had on NCAA basketball finals, which ended around 8:30 on the west coast. The ratings for NCAA basketball where way down this year, and most networks had on either a local sports show or some syndicated show from 8:30-9 on the west coast. 3/18 – 5.52 M 3/25 - 5.33 M 4/1 - 5.19 M 4/8 - 4.0 M 4/15 (following AI) – 6.37 M 4/22 - 4.15M 4/29 - 4.5 M So the ratings have steadily decreased since Jason’s arrived. The highest ratings (non-AI) were for a non-Jason episode, something that The Futon Critic got wrong. The ratings went right back to where they were before Jason after CBS had Survivor on instead of sports. Also consider, that ABC isn't even trying to compete. It’s airing reruns of Extreme Makeover Home Edition against Tru, and Tru is still getting beat by that. TC’s ratings increased last January once ABC canceled Threat Matrix. Next year, ABC won’t be rolling over and playing dead on Thursdays. The Futon Critic is going on wrong information, since they think JP joined the cast in Drop Dead Gorgeous and aren't counting the ratings drop in the finale. Mediaweek doesn't think TC will be renewed. Marc Berman is a a-hole and a jerk since last year he was spouting off about how Angel should be canceled, and how UPN shouldn't have picked up Buffy. Unfortunately, Mediaweek isn't site targeting fans. It's the magazine for advertisers. Every Thursdays, Tru Calling is listed in Mediaweek's "Loosers" category. Just like Angel was last year. That's like Forbes calling your company's stock a looser. Advertisers are cutting back on their spending. When Mediaweek is against TC, why are they going to keep advertising during it? That's been the problem with Angel. The fans can do anything, but as long as the media analysts call it a "looser", the WB was never going to renew it. Mediaweek doesn't go by story developments, they aren't trying to keep readers happy with their site, they just go by numbers plain and simple. And those don't add up. A network can renew something when the numbers aren't there, but when they do, they expect the numbers to pick up the next season. Case in point - Oliver Beene. [ May 06, 2004, 02:54 PM: Message edited by: Faith_Fan ]

05-06-2004, 02:59 PM	#7 (permalink)
M@tt Senior Member Join Date: Feb 2003 Location: UK Posts: 1,980 My Profile	Well if you take an average of before the arc (and I say arc instead of Jason arriving because the direction of the show should be getting much more credit) you'd have 4.45 while after Drop Dead Gorgeous, the show has averaged 4.93. Sure the show technically decreased in ratings after that episode but it was still securing better ratings than the first half of the season.

05-06-2004, 06:23 PM	#8 (permalink)
andrew r Moderator Join Date: Aug 2002 Location: England Posts: 45,100 My Profile	Thanks for the info about ratings and advertising Faith_Fan. I was just wondering, what about a different day it's shown? Or put it on after a main TV film premiere? As I'm assuming that's Artificial Intelligence that's being refered to in the above threads. I hope it does get renewed, as I'm getting into the ep's now.

05-06-2004, 07:43 PM	#9 (permalink)
Faith_Fan Junior Member Join Date: Aug 2002 Location: Los Angeles, CA Posts: 611 My Profile	It's hard to predict what Fox's fall lineup will look like, but I don't see TC moving to another day other than Friday. Maybe a temporary move to Mondays if North Shore fails. Fox is premiering five new shows in June - two dramas The Jury and North Shore, two comedies (Quints and Method & Redman), a reality show, The Casino, plus Simple Life 2 returns. Until Fox sees how these new shows do, they won't know what their fall schedule will be. Maybe they all bomb and it will leave Fox scrambling. If they're successful, Fox will be hard pressed to find room on their schedule for TC. The problem is that Fox wants to compete with the big 3 networks Monday-Wednesday. If a show on one of those nights doesn't have at least 8-10 million viewers, it's gone. Thursdays and Fridays are the exceptions. They'll tolerate lower ratings there, but you wonder if they'll keep that up without Friends. Fox is reluctant to use American Idol's timeslots for any dramas, since they'd have to be pulled. So unless Tru season 2 started in July, they can't put it in American Idol's timeslot unless they expect only 13 episodes then it's yanked for six months or moved to another timeslot. There's also been talk that American Idol will expand to 3 nights a week with specials airing preminantly on either Mondays or Thursdays at 8pm, depending on how the new shows do. Mondays is still Fox's reality day. The Swan has been very successful. It's returning for season 2 next year. Fox has six new reality shows in production, and they can make any new reality show in a matter of a month or two. Fox could easily make 75% of the lineup reality by January. Fox president Gail Berman has also said they want to expand to another comedy night, so Thursday could see some comedies too. Fox has two hurtles this year with launching their fall schedule - NBC has the Olympics in August which will be huge and then baseball in October. Premiering a show in August against the Olympics is suicide. Launching a show in September is pointless. So that means Fox will launch TC season 2 in November, against all ready established new shows on the other networks. If Fox has established a new hit this summer (say The Jury), what are they going to with that when 24 returns? And how many pilots will Fox pick up? There's at least 2-3 dramas that sounds like they have a chance for series orders. It's doubtful they would pull a show they have on the air for a show that struggled the previous season. I think there's a good chance TC could wind up on Fridays since Fox will probably end up with a reality wheel on Thursday through the fall. All the Fox execs were convinced Wonderfalls could do well on Fridays since Joan of Arcadia was doing so well. TC is the same type of show, so it could end up in the Friday timeslot o' death if Fox finds something that does better on Thursdays. Once we hear what Fox has renewed, pilot pickup and see how the June premieres do, we'll have a better idea of what might happen with TC Season 2. Also keep in mind, Fox completely changed their fall lineup last year from the upfronts. They picked up pilots that never aired, canceled shows before they went into production and made changes to every night except for Saturday.

05-06-2004, 09:13 PM	#10 (permalink)
andrew r Moderator Join Date: Aug 2002 Location: England Posts: 45,100 My Profile	Thanks for more info Faith_Fan. It's a little heavy going, as I'm unfamiliar with U.S. tv scheduling, but you've explained it very well. From reading what you said, I get the impression that Fox seem reluctant at the moment to renew TC, due to ratings, which ironically were ok competing against Friends. I kinda hope that it gets the Monday slot, on the back of what you've said about the 'graveyard Friday' slot. Just another quick question, what about putting it on after American Idol? Or does another well established show have that slot?

05-06-2004, 11:45 PM	#11 (permalink)
Faith_Fan Junior Member Join Date: Aug 2002 Location: Los Angeles, CA Posts: 611 My Profile	The OC has cemented it spot at Wed at 9pm following the American Idol results show. Tuesday after AI is 24. Fox was doing some market research surveying people about whether they'd watch 24 on Sunday, Monday or Tuesday at 9pm. So 24 could move to allow Fox to premiere a big new drama more targeted at AI's demographic following American Idol's Tuesday edition. I don't think that would be TC, since it's too sci-fi/genre to have mass appeal. Fox might put something like Hollywood Division (a 21 Jumpstreet rip-off starring Nathan Fillion from Firefly and that kid from Skin) or one of their other new cop shows following American Idol, especially if this is 24's last year and they need to find a replacement. In any other year, TC would have been DOA in November. I've been working on saving various Fox shows now for years now and TC has lower ratings than most of the fan support unjustly canceled shows (Futurama, Family Guy, Lone Gunmen, Dark Angel, John Doe, Fastlane, Keen Eddie, Andy Richter - just to name a few). I'm absolute baffled how TC has stayed on. And if you look at the Fox casualities this year (Skin, Wonderfalls, Wanda At Large, Boston Public, Luis, Stan Hooper, Cracking Up, and Oliver Beene) TC averaged less viewers than five of them. One thing that TC does have going for it is that it's unbelievably cheap to make- much cheaper than most replacement scripted dramas. 20th Century Fox TV Production division launched a new tv division called Fox 21 this week - headed by the 20th exec that developed TC and Wonderfalls - to do low budget tv shows (sort of like Fox Searchlight for tv). By limiting the number of cast numbers, reducing location shoots to a bare minimum, cutting out the music licensing fees, and lowing post production costs, TC's budget could be close to $1 Million an episode. Compare that to over $2.5M - $3M for Dark Angel and $2M for shows like Fastlane and Firefly. (but reality shows can be as cheap as $100k for an hourlong episode) But the problem is that TC already looks like a cheap show. It's nearly laughable and there's been so many times when sound mixer friends of mine (who mix feature films) just laugh at how bad the audio in TC is. And for something mixed at Todd AO West, that's really sad. Fox is trying to keep production costs down and TC is cheap, so that might be what saves it. But did Eliza really sign up for something that might have a lower budget then most syndicated shows and which looks and sounds like crap?

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05-07-2004, 03:36 PM	#12 (permalink)
Paul Guest Posts: n/a	Haven't ya'll heard? Tru Calling HAS been cancelled, I found it in the tru-davies.com site weeks ago.

05-07-2004, 07:38 PM	#13 (permalink)
Charlie5x5 Senior Member Join Date: Dec 2003 Posts: 3,172 My Profile	If you found it weeks ago i doubt it was a reliable source that posted it. We won't find out for a while yet, I don't think Eliza even knows yet.

05-07-2004, 07:46 PM	#14 (permalink)
M@tt Senior Member Join Date: Feb 2003 Location: UK Posts: 1,980 My Profile	It was reported at Tru-Davies.com that the show had been cancelled... on April 1st. Hypz is a cruel, cruel man. :(

05-08-2004, 02:56 AM	#15 (permalink)
Faith_Fan Junior Member Join Date: Aug 2002 Location: Los Angeles, CA Posts: 611 My Profile	The more I read what some people are saying in interviews(especially Eliza and Jon Feldman), and talking to Tim Minear, I'm certain Gail Berman 100000% believes that TC is the next Buffy. It's not. The writing is the same. The characters aren't the same. But Gail was the force that got BTVS on the air and I think she has enough clout to keep TC on (at least for a while)

05-09-2004, 03:46 AM	#16 (permalink)
imported_Andrew Guest Posts: n/a	Thanks once again for all the insight, Faith Fan. [img]smile.gif[/img] There are lots of thinks working against it, and a few working for it. I guess we'll have to wait until the 20th.

05-09-2004, 08:30 PM	#17 (permalink)
Faith_Fan Junior Member Join Date: Aug 2002 Location: Los Angeles, CA Posts: 611 My Profile	I can't get into a lot of the details, but TC's predicament (poor rating, bad timeslot, repetitive plots that go no where and so forth) really go against what Eliza was promised by Fox for her to do TC in the first place. I don't think they have much choice but to renew it. Basically - some individuals at Fox told her that TC was the next Buffy. Eliza herself said that Tru Calling was just another chapter of Buffy, not a different story. News Corp, Fox Home Entertainment, 20th Century Fox TV and so forth have nothing to replace Buffy and Angel with. Those 2 shows account for a large percentage of their revenue with dvd sales, and syndication deals. Dark Angel was canceled because some at Fox thought Firefly would do better. Firefly was canceled because Joss & Tim wouldn't do what Fox execs were telling them to do. I believe things are looking very bad for all of 20th Century Fox's genre/sci-fi pilots (especially Point Pleasant and Lost In Space). So there's nothing that they could replace it with. Dramas like North Shore or the Jury aren't going to be the cult hits like Buffy. My speculation is that there's enough support from various higher ups at Fox/News Corp to keep TC around even if it has low ratings because they have to replace Buffy and Angel with something. They lost out on a Faith spinoff because someone at Fox at the 11th hour persuaded Eliza not to sign on (after Eliza had verbally committed to Joss to do FTVS). Fox execs convinced her that TC would be a huge hit and FTVS would be a show struggling to stay on the air (due to UPN's financial problems). They'll look like total hypocrites canceling TC after putting it on in such a bad timeslot. I should have figured this out a while ago, when the TC producers told me Fox didn't care about the ratings when TC only had 3.5 million viewers and Fox cancels Wonderfalls for low ratings with 3.5 million viewers. Fox wanted a replacement for Buffy. They'll do whatever it takes to make TC into it.

05-10-2004, 01:34 PM	#19 (permalink)
Faith_Fan Junior Member Join Date: Aug 2002 Location: Los Angeles, CA Posts: 611 My Profile	The next chapter quote from Eliza comes from the interview in the book, What Would Buffy Do. It's very clear in that interview how into Buffy Eliza is and more of the higher concepts of the show. But I get the feeling that Eliza wants to play Buffy and if you look at the changes that Tru Davies has gone through from the original draft of the pilot to today, it's much more of a transformation into Buffy than anything. I can't reveal my source for the info about what happened with the Faith spinoff vs TC stuff. Email me if you like, but it's coming straight from multiple sources who would know.

05-10-2004, 02:41 PM	#20 (permalink)
Faith_Fan Junior Member Join Date: Aug 2002 Location: Los Angeles, CA Posts: 611 My Profile	We’re back on pilot watch for TC, because as much as Fox wants to like TC, it’s still not doing well enough to beat out the hot new show on Fox. Looking at their fall schedule, there’s about 6 hours of programming to fill – but even less in January when American Idol and whatever new reality shows they premiere come on. According to Variety, there looks to be a new OC spinoff/companion series debuting in January. Three drama pilots look like they’ll be picked up: Point Pleasant (from Marti Noxon and the producers of Tru Calling), the 21 Jumpstreet clone On the Inside, the Boston based medical drama House. Beside those shows, Fox is launching 2 new sitcoms and 2 new dramas this summer. So there could be up to 6 new dramas premiering by January, and probably at least 4 comedies. Fox also has 6 reality shows in the works. Plus all their returning shows and the possibility of American Idol 3 days a week. Point Pleasant could be paired with Tru on Thursdays. It’s a teen supernatural soap. Where does the OC companion series go? On Thursdays? Because Wednesday in January American Idol results show is on. So does it replace 24 and 24 goes to Mondays? What becomes the Friday sacrificial lamb? On the Inside and House? Or will Fox do their usual Friday sci-fi lineup and put on Tru and Point Pleasant? [ May 10, 2004, 01:45 PM: Message edited by: Faith_Fan ]