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November 15, 2005
arresting development.
I enjoy watching Arrested Development when I get the chance. Which is why it might seem weird that I'm actually excited to read that it's been cancelled by Fox, in the way it seems to always do with shows [1,2] that I enjoy. While I won't get to see the remaining episodes of the third season, I will get to see what the producers decide to do next with the property. As a media geek, there's the potential that I might find it even more enjoyable than the show itself.
I was never a rabid Firefly fan when it was on broadcast television, but became rabidly obsessed with Firefly fans after seeing them get together to take out a full page ad in Daily Variety to get the show back on the air. Although the campaign failed to bring back the series, it probably had more than something to do with Firefly's resurgence as a theatrical release. After the success of canceling Firefly and Family Guy, perhaps we'll see AD resurface as a VOD series or as webisodes.
And perhaps soon after that, we'll see "Broadcast Cancellation" formalized into an actual model for video distribution: Use broadcast as a Big Net to create your initial fan base, organize your fans into a community of users while reworking your content for a distribution medium better suited for contagious growth, then build content creation and marketing strategies that incorporates your users into any new content based on that property. Goshdarnit, I just gave away my whole consulting game! ;)
I've actually pitched variations of this to producers, although nothing so bold as to suggest canceling a show on purpose. Any attempt to move a fanbase out of broadcast that doesn't involve Joss Whedon could be seen as being manipulative. But we all know The Biz. Once the first copycat jumps, everyone else is bound to follow.
Posted by yatta at November 15, 2005 4:03 PM