NBC makes Day One a miniseries

[23skidoo]

More proof the mainstream networks seem to be crashing and burning. A couple weeks after the much-hyped remake of V encountered some major problems comes word that, due to money issues, NBC has drastically cut Day One down from a 13-episode season to a 4-hour miniseries:

http://blog.zap2it.com/frominsidethebox/2009/10/nbc-scales-back-day-one.html

And there goes the only other new show (other than V) that I had any interest in this year. Why doesn't NBC and company just give up?

Alex

 

[Tulin]

Oh I thought this was a mini-series about that crappy Jack Black film.

Never heard of it and couldn't care less, but yeah, the US networks seem to be losing it this year.

 

[FreezeC77]

The trailer for it looked pretty bad so not a shock. I had thought it was going to be a series about some kind of biological/nuclear/whatever catastrophe and then the survivors and how they coped. Instead the trailer revealed it was some alien invasion thing which seems to be the trend since ABC has V and TNT is making one from Spielberg.

 

[Candlelight]

I have to say the trailer was lacking something to keep me interested. I was planning on checking out the pilot. Now might just listen to how people like it on here.

Man... 13 episodes down to 4. That's harsh.

What does this mean:

There's still a chance that "Day One" could be picked up to series if it does well in the ratings

So it won't be a closed story then...?

 

[Starbreaker]

Well... there's one more show I can cross off my list.

 

[Temis the Vorta]

Probably for the best. I could see Flash Forward and V having premises that can carry them a few seasons but Day One will become boring very quickly.

 

[Candlelight]

Flash forward will be a one season wonder. Any more and it'll get dull. Like Lost.

V has the potential, providing it has the backing.

 

[OmahaStar]

Flash forward will be a one season wonder. Any more and it'll get dull. Like Lost.

The problem I see with Flashforward is that there's just one book, and the first season is based on that one book. They're also changing a number of things, including the timing (in the book, the flash forward was to 21 years into the future; on tv, it's six months). In one of the interviews I heard with the book's author, he said he had no plans to write a sequel.

So if it does become this huge hit, what could they do with it? Or will it be like Heroes, with a tremendous first season, followed by nothing but major suckitude?

 

[bigdaddy]

It's not like FlashFowrd is following the book at all anyways, so why woul he need to write a sequel?

However why don't they just make Day One a 10 episode true miniseries? It's clear that they filmed 4 episodes, and that it won't have any real good ending, so just let the story end and be done with it.

 

[ClayinCA]

Maybe they just want to get rid of the show before Jeph Loeb has time to ruin it?

 

[LutherSloan]

Not entirely surprised, not sure if I will watch it or not now. When I first heard about this, I was hoping it would be more similar to Jericho. Clearly that's not the case.

 

[23skidoo]

As far as I'm concerned, it's not so much whether Day One would have been a good show or not -- I'd previously posted in this forum how I thought it was pretty much just Jericho redux -- but it's more the fact that they seem to have decided to cut the show down because of money reasons. That's also apparently why Heroes has a shorter season this year too.

I was speaking with a writer friend of mine who thinks it's just a smokescreen and NBC is just trying to find an excuse to run more cheap realty shows and Jay Leno so they can rake in the money without having to shell out on expensive scripted shows like Day One.

There's some logic in that, which should concern anyone who wants to see SF/F programming on mainstream -- free for viewing -- television. Day One could have been crap, or it could have generated the same sort of following as Jericho, or it could have been the next Firefly. But because of the almighty dollar, NBC isn't giving it a chance and is effectively euthanizing it before the court of public opinion has a chance to pass judgement on it.

Alex

 

[Warp Coil]

Well, to be honest, the trailer for Day One looked pretty bad, IMO. It may not have been worth making a series out of it.

 

[LutherSloan]

I don't think money is the only reason that Heroes has a lower budget. Some of it certainly has to have something to do with the ratings nosedive.

 

[Temis the Vorta]

Flash forward will be a one season wonder. Any more and it'll get dull. Like Lost.

Flash Forward would be lucky to be as "dull" as Lost.

They could give us answers at the end of this season and spin the story into something with another season's worth of story...and then do that again...the question being, can they pull it off? More likely the answers will suck and the series will be cancelled in S2.

So if it does become this huge hit, what could they do with it? Or will it be like Heroes, with a tremendous first season, followed by nothing but major suckitude?

Like Heroes, the only thing stopping Flash Forward from being great for many seasons is the creativity, talent, imagination, and basic ability to write of the writers. Heroes proves that that's a whole lot easier said than done.

I don't think money is the only reason that Heroes has a lower budget. Some of it certainly has to have something to do with the ratings nosedive.

Huh? Money = ratings.