studio sense
saturday, december 14, 2002


i do not understand tv or movie studios. their decision making processes leave something to be desired. i am not much of a tv or movie gal, but this year i actually started to watch a bit more tv and found a few movies i wish i could see. as a result, i actually have paid attention to what the studios are doing. so, some examples of studio sense:

queen of the damned. decision: to not be faithful to the book. result: it flopped. and they wonder why?

birds of prey and everwood. situation: birds of prey is in the 60's somewhere and everwood is in the 90's in terms of ratings. decision: they're canning birds claiming it isn't delivering in the ratings (but mostly because the head exec doesn't like it), but they're keeping the worse off everwood. this from a network that never makes an appearance on entertainment tonight? (and never will with illogical decisions like this.)

boomtown. situation: advertise as if the show will be in a format similar to 24 when it's actually in the same format of every other tv show out there. result: word is it's being dropped. turns out viewers are smart enough to know bait and switch when they see it. how could they not see this one coming?

treasure planet. situation: it's released in the middle of the harry potter and die another day battle and disney is calling it a flop. and they didn't time its release any better because . . .?

star trek nemesis. situation: word is if this movie doesn't make any money (or, probably more accurately, some randomly determined amount of money), the star trek next gen movies are over. but, of course, they've released it in the middle of the harry potter, die another day, and two towers grand slam. am i honestly supposed to believe they want this movie to make it?

now, if you really want a movie to make it, wouldn't it make sense to have it at least be recognizable as the novel it got lifted from? and to release it at a time it isn't going to get pounded into the ground by at least 2 other major blockbusters that people have been anticipating for an entire year? as for the birds of prey decision, you got me. so what if you're the top man in the company and don't like it? if you're going to keep a show with lower ratings and give it a chance to work itself out, then shouldn't you do that for all the other shows that are higher in the ratings? it's not like birds has no fans. heck, even the critics liked it! well, i can count my blessings:with the way networks are decimating the shows i actually like this year, i can go back to not watching much tv and get more writing done.

the one thing studios have been doing that makes perfect sense for their wallets even if it annoys the hell out of consumers: multiple dvd editions of the same movie with no two releases exactly alike. to make matters worse, a lot of times the extended versions are hardly worth it because the new footage isn't well seamed into the movie (there's a scene in the extended version of fellowship that drives me nuts because it just does not look like it fits at all). even the new special features are lame half the time. and the newer dvd editions of a movie usually don't have the original movie on it at all, so if you want both an extended edition or directors cut and the original you have to get both.

like blockbuster december, i can't afford it.