Y’know what I’d like to see? I’d like to see TV shows that get canceled just when they are hitting their stride move to being produced for the Internet.
Experiments like Dr. Horrible’s Sing-along Blog have proven that quality production can be achieved – with name-brand talent even. The number of success stories demonstrating that low(er) budget online shows, such as The Guild, can become quite popular is also on the rise. Not to mention the various online production companies that are growing have grown into respectable, established providers in the last few years. Clearly, delivering video-based entertainment over the Internet is here. This is the future. It’s here, now. The quality will only get better, and availability more pervasive.
In stark contrast to the aging television production model, these efforts succeed in part because they serve a niche. The broadcast television industry has become a behemoth that now requires massive numbers of viewers in order to “succeed”. Stargate: Universe, Defying Gravity, Jericho, Space: Above & Beyond, and countless others weren’t canceled for being uninteresting or having poor acting. They were dropped for the unforgivable sin of not attracting enough eyeballs to feed the insatiable broadcast industry beast. Okay, fine. But why does that have to mean death for the show – not to mention all the people it employs? This brave new world of online production provides an opportunity for such shows to find their niche – and perhaps a vibrant new life.
Sanctuary was successful in being incubated as a web-only pilot before moving to the Syfy network and cable television – a feat that Riese: Kingdom Falling is now attempting to duplicate. So why not try going the other direction? Why not take a show that didn’t quite garner the necessary Nielson Ratings and send it down to the proverbial minor leagues – where it might make some money for the producers, talent and staff? I guarantee it won’t make a dime stuffed in a vault somewhere. Who knows? It might even grow that niche audience into something larger. Remember that the original Star Trek was a flop until it entered syndication.
So can we stop with the tight-fisted hoarding, TV industry? More options make for happier customers, which in turn improves for consumer loyalty.
