Freeform orders Marvel's Cloak and Dagger series

I was wondering if they just didn't have many of the special effects shots done yet, and so they just focused on the stuff without them for now.

 

OK, first off: that wasn't a full trailer for 'The Last Jedi', it was a teaser. And second: the teaser for 'The Force Awakens' came out over a year before release. And the trailer is what debuted at celebration.

As for this one, it looks like it's all footage from the pilot and the intent this early on is probably to either gauge interest and see if it's hitting the expected demographics while they can still course correct if necessary and/or to simply help promote the channel, which from what I gather is relatively new-ish?

 

Only the Freeform name is new. It's the same channel that used to be called ABC Family, and before that FOX Family Channel, and before that The Family Channel, and was originally a religious broadcaster owned by Pat Robertson. It's actually been around for 40 years.

 

Yes, but Freeform itself is still relatively new and attempting to establish its identity. It may share that history with the Family Channel and its ABC/FOX successors but it's not the same channel anymore.

 

Yes, it is. It's still owned by Disney/ABC, and it still has plenty of the same programming it had before the name change. This is just a branding change to reflect the shift the network's programming had already undergone in recent years, away from its "wholesome" family image toward more "youth-oriented" shows like Pretty Little Liars, The Fosters, and Stitchers.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freeform_(TV_channel)#Freeform_.282016.E2.80.93present.29

 

Right, so it's not really the same channel anymore.

 

Wow, you really missed my point. It's the same network. It's the exact same corporate entity. It has the same president and the same corporate owner. It's still the same channel on your cable system. It still has most of the same programming it had before the change -- it's even still contractually obligated to carry Pat Robertson's 700 Club even though its prime-time programming has gotten racier and/or more liberal. It's just targeting a new audience that its execs hope will be more lucrative. It's no more a new network than Syfy vis-a-vis The SciFi Channel, or the upcoming rebranding of Spike (formerly Spike TV, formerly TNN, formerly The Nashville Network) as The Paramount Network. A network that's changed its focus and its branding isn't a new network, any more than a guy who has a midlife crisis, quits his job, gets a motorcycle and a hip new wardrobe, and insists on being called "Butch" from now on is a different person.

 

The point is it's a new name and a new brand, so to most people who don't pay attention to such things (like say new viewers whom they may want to attract) it amounts to the same thing. New brands need promoting and advertising the kind of shows they have in the pipeline is a valid way to try and attract new viewership.
After all, the point of such channel broadening their catalogue isn't just to get one more show that a new crowd comes to watch, they also want that crowd to stick around and watch their *other* shows too.

 

Yep.

 

There are a lot of Cloak and Dagger fans out there? Just curious... I've got the impression that they had their peek in popularity in the 80's...

According to Wikipedia, in the last years they were just guests in other stories (X-Mex??? Mr. Negative henchmen???) .

 

Re: The whole "Freeform" thing.

I'm with Christopher on this. It's absolutely no different than when a professional sports team changes its name or moves to a different city. The history and legacy are still in place, it's only the branding that's changed.

 

Never heard of this before and just watched the trailer because it had "Marvel" in the title. I have to say I'm no clearer on what the show is afterwards and not in a "I should watch this to find out" way.

 

In this particular analogy, all of that only matters to the people who are already fans of that team. There's a whole other group of people out there who don't care. Never heard of the old team and just now encountering the new name for the first time. *That's* who this trailer is aimed at.
All the rest is just pedantic arguing over semantics and not terribly relevant.

 

I don't think it's mere semantics to be aware that there's a difference between advertising hype and objective reality. The job of advertisers and marketers is to fool us and manipulate us, so it's important to view defensively when dealing with anything related to marketing, branding, or hype. Any attempt to sell you something should always be considered in the context of whatever objective facts you can discern behind the marketing -- that's just a good habit to develop as a consumer. Caveat emptor is in Latin because it's a principle that hasn't changed in millennia.

 

It came around after my comic reading era but the MCU brand is strong enough for me to give it a shot

I had seen part of an episode of something on Freeform, it was passable. That along with the MCU legacy and the strength of the trailer will get me in for the premiere season.

 

Yes, but like I said, none of that matters. This is about the new "Freeform" brand, not the old "ABC Family" legacy. Indeed, it may as well not exist so far as a new ad is concerned.
They're not interesting in saying "hey! we're doing the same thing but now we have a new name!" Instead it's all about the "hey come look at us! We're new and hip and we have a Marvel!"

I don't get why this is such a difficult concept to grasp.

 

The only one of the network's current shows I've checked out was Stitchers, which was one of the dumbest shows I've ever seen. But it's had a few notable shows in the past, under its other names. As The Family Channel, it aired the excellent The Legend of Prince Valiant animated series in the early '90s -- absolutely terrible animation, but really smart, older-skewing writing and an excellent voice cast and music. As ABC Family, it aired four seasons of Power Rangers and the superlative but sadly short-lived The Middleman. And... that's about it, as far as my own experience goes. I heard good things about Kyle XY while it was on, but never got around to trying it.

 

Well, after Guardians of the Galaxy became a runaway success Marvel realized "Wow, we can really hit gold with our nearly-unknown characters if we put in the effort!" and have been willing to develop anyone they can.

The X-Men and Spidey fans don't like this, but...well tough noogies.

 

At least The Guardians had a comics series when the movie came out.

 

I don't think it was a case of "Oh! These are popular characters, let's make a show about them!" so much as a "What Marvel characters would best suit this particular niche of show we want to make?"