Agents of SHIELD. Season 1 Discussion Thread

[Guy Gardener]

Do the actors know what sort of B-Grade suck they're in? Or do they think they're all going to get a massive payday cameo in Avengers 3?

 

[Relayer1]

I think its going to need something of a retool - I was hoping for MIB meets Nikita. What we've got is Chuck without the appealing cast. It could do with a more gripping antagonist than we've seen so far too.

I really was hoping for more with Whedon's involvement.

 

[Sto-Vo-Kory]

I think it depends on what sort of a role they envision it playing in the greater MCU series. If it serves a distinct purpose, they'll keep it around because the larger franchise is such a success. They didn't bail on the "Avengers Initiative" after TIH underperformed, because Iron Man's success made up for it.

True, they went forward with the larger plan despite Incredible Hulk's less than stellar box office take, but the Hulk franchise halted so completely that the studio is still reluctant to greenlight a Hulk feature even after his breakout status from the Avengers movie. The Marvel phase two plans will continue apace regardless of SHIELD being a hit or a flop on the small screen -- whatever role SHIELD plays in that larger phase two plan (marketing, branding, multimedia sprawl) can be considered negligible if the show performs below a profitable level for ABC and they need to shuck it.

 

[Guy Gardener]

If Couslen is a robot.

He can be hacked.

And then these kids can spend the next 5 seasons fighting him.

 

[FPAlpha]

Do the actors know what sort of B-Grade suck they're in? Or do they think they're all going to get a massive payday cameo in Avengers 3?

For most of them it's their first big role with a guaranteed paycheck for a full season. For a young, starting actor that's akin to finding the gold pot at the end of the rainbow and no one in their right mind would dare to criticize the show right now while they're still easily replaceable.

Even if the theme and style of their show isn't their cup of tea it's still regular work (which is also why some established stars go on to star years on shows even if it lost steam and is begging to be put out of it's mystery).

Were it not the first big Marvel TV show in the new movie universe and had the name Whedon attached to it it would be in danger of cancellation already but ABC is committed to it because they either saw the entire plotline and have faith that it will be pay off (and thus agreed to the rather slow start) or they're willing to suck it up and accept below expectation ratings because in the big picture Shield might be used as a sort of ad tool for the main movies.

However if the show loses significantly more viewers over the season then it may indeed be difficult to expect a 2nd season.

 

[Pavonis]

Except their shareholders would probably get upset far sooner than that. The goal of a business is not to be profitable, it's to be more profitable.

Anyone with Disney stock isn't going to worry about the costs of one show, and if they do, they've lost sight of the big picture, which Disney itself hasn't. Why else would they buy up these franchises - Marvel, Star Wars, etc - if not to build something in the long term? Disney is far more likely to see AoS as an investment in the long term than a short-term cost, no matter its ratings.

 

[Trekker4747]

I'm seeing cancellation in the future for AoS. The sad thing is, I don't think I'd miss it...

It's already gotten a full season order and it's still getting good ratings.

 

[propita]

Logically the dvr is plugged into the Nielson Box in the house of the Nielson family and it records that information too... You would think to save time that the modern Nielson boxes would have built in DVRs except that really would skew the data since people who do not have DVRs, who cannot timeshift, have to be represented as well.

There is a time limit on DVR watching and Nielson ratings. I'm not sure if it is an entire week or not, but you only have a limited time after initial airing to watch DVR and get counted.

I read just recently somewhere online that it's 3 days. So I guess my month waiting wouldn't've helped much.

I went through this entire thread, reading all the posts--not necessarily remembering them--so I could catch up!

 

[Reverend]

If Couslen is a robot.

He can be hacked.

And then these kids can spend the next 5 seasons fighting him.

Hmm...Coulsen is Ultron?

 

[Guy Gardener]

Age of Ultron no more.

What about the Original Human Torch?

That would seriously piss off the people who brought the rights to the Fantastic Four.

 

[Nerys Myk]

Probably couldn't call him the Human Torch or even the Torch.

 

[Timelord79 (he/him)]

Probably couldn't call him the Human Torch or even the Torch.

Right.. but maybe sonething similar like... Scorch. Yeah, that'll wor... Oh, wait!

 

[The Old Mixer]

But he'd be a good guy, so they'd need to distinguish him...so he'd be the Humane Scorch.

 

[FPAlpha]

The Son of Coul is fine as he is.. and he still likes the little door explodey thingies (i just love these little funny references)

 

[The Old Mixer]

True, they went forward with the larger plan despite Incredible Hulk's less than stellar box office take, but the Hulk franchise halted so completely that the studio is still reluctant to greenlight a Hulk feature even after his breakout status from the Avengers movie.

OTOH, they weren't so fickle as to yank him out of The Avengers because of his solo film's performance, which we now know would have been everybody's loss.

 

[DEWLine]

Ruffalo's performance was one of many things that made it worth the money for me.

 

[lurok]

Found the series very lukewarm so far and about to give up, but that latest episode (Flower Dress?) was a real improvement. Seemed much meatier all of a sudden - though not sure all the crispy burning was really primetime . Hope we see more of Ruth Negga's character, first one found interesting.

 

[DEWLine]

Yeah. The Doctor's on-camera cremation-to-death was definitely iffy content. It could have been staged differently without loss of impact, and possibly could've saved money for use on other things in the episode.

 

[The Old Mixer]

I was just rewatching...does anyone know what Simmons says to Skye when they're dragging the latter out of the apartment in handcuffs?

 

[Christopher]

I was just rewatching...does anyone know what Simmons says to Skye when they're dragging the latter out of the apartment in handcuffs?

IIRC, she alerted Skye that one of her buttons was still unfastened -- which Skye couldn't do anything about, being in handcuffs.