-
The new B5TV.COM is here. We've replaced our 16 year old software with flashy new XenForo install. Registration is open again. Password resets will work again. More info here.
More interesting news from Sci-Fi
- Thread starter SwiftBiscuit
- Start date
crazybillyo
Regular
Killer news! TNT got what it deserved. Maybe they'll learn a lesson from all of this.
Or maybe not. But hey, it's still good to see 'em squirm.
BTW, love the Triumph the Insult Comic Dog bit. Funny stuff, even if it's a bit vulgar. But what do you expect from a dog? Celebecy?
------------------
Sheridan: Are you trying to cheer me up?
Ivanova: No sir, wouldn't dream of it.
Sheridan: Good, I hate being cheered up.
Ivanova: In that case we're all going to die slow, agonizing deaths.
Sheridan: Thank you, I feel so much better now.
Or maybe not. But hey, it's still good to see 'em squirm.
BTW, love the Triumph the Insult Comic Dog bit. Funny stuff, even if it's a bit vulgar. But what do you expect from a dog? Celebecy?
------------------
Sheridan: Are you trying to cheer me up?
Ivanova: No sir, wouldn't dream of it.
Sheridan: Good, I hate being cheered up.
Ivanova: In that case we're all going to die slow, agonizing deaths.
Sheridan: Thank you, I feel so much better now.
Black Omega13
Member
Some more interesting news from SciFi...
they are having a
B5 be in the movie contest.
quick, everybody go to scifi and sign up. maybe whoever gets picked will get to be in scene with G'Kar. that would be really cool.
------------------
they are having a
B5 be in the movie contest.
quick, everybody go to scifi and sign up. maybe whoever gets picked will get to be in scene with G'Kar. that would be really cool.
------------------
WombatControl
Member
This is great news... word is that Bonnie Hammer is at least a supporter of Babylon 5 and possibly a fan herself. (I've been told she really, really wanted to get Crusade from TNT but they jacked up the price to well over their budget out of spite.)
Let me say congradulations to the new President of SFC and thank her for her support of B5 thusfar and into the future!
------------------
WombatControl
http://www.flarn.com/wombatcontrol/
"Who let the spoo out? Sigh sigh sigh sigh sigh..."
Let me say congradulations to the new President of SFC and thank her for her support of B5 thusfar and into the future!
------------------
WombatControl
http://www.flarn.com/wombatcontrol/
"Who let the spoo out? Sigh sigh sigh sigh sigh..."
D
**DONOTDELETE**
Guest
Yeah TNT and its sister TBS lost wcw because it was bought by wwf. Turner gets stuck paying all those high pay checks of the wrestlers who the WWF didnt buy as part of the deal which is millions. Crusade of its second run gets excellent ratings and B5 is now alive on Sci-Fi when they have zilch
capt
------------------
DS9 and B5. Who would have thought 2 of my fav shows would take place on stations in the middle of nowhere
capt
------------------
DS9 and B5. Who would have thought 2 of my fav shows would take place on stations in the middle of nowhere
Joseph DeMartino
Moderator
<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, arial">quote:</font><HR>I've been told she really, really wanted to get Crusade from TNT but they jacked up the price to well over their budget out of spite.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>
That they did, and Sci-Fi still damned-near pulled it off. The real deal-breaker was the price that TNT wanted for its exclusive rights to the B5 reruns, without which nobody was going to take a chance on Crusade. One of the few actual bits of "inside info" I've ever had about B5 came from a B5 fan who worked for a company (not one of the main ones) that was involved in the talks. After the dust had settled she described TNT's proposal for giving up its rights to B5 as "a ransom note."
The figure involved was one that no programming executive in his or her right mind would agree to (as JMS has confirmed since) and TNT knew this. Since at the time their contract was scheduled to run until February of this year they had Sci-Fi over a barrel. All the creative financing in the world with regard to Crusade couldn't get them B5, too. TNT used the original series to make sure the sequel stayed dead.
This is also why TNT continued to keep B5 on the air, even when it was only running once a week on Saturday mornings to lousy ratings. As long as they kept running it, their exclusive remained in force. The minute they cancelled it, the rights reverted to Warner Bros. who would have sold it to Sci-Fi in a hearbeat.
Once Sci-Fi and Warner Bros. concluded a new deal for the show, TNT let the remaining months of its contract go for a song. Sci-Fi could have waited them out and debuted the show in March 2001 if they had to, so TNT agreed to give up the show in September. They figured Crusade was dead forever by that time, which was the point of the exerceis, and if they dug in their heels Sci-Fi would get the show by default in March anyway. At least this way TNT got a little money.
TNT's final bit of sleaze came when they realized that by running the show six days a week (with two episodes on the first and last Saturday) they could just get in one more full cycle of shows before Sci-Fi took over - and thereby cut into SFC's ratings. They did exactly that. "Sleeping in Light" aired as the second of two episodes on a Saturday, Sci-Fi ran "In the Beginning" on that Sunday and launched the series with "The Gathering, Part One" on Monday. TNT also made sure sure that they ran all the TV movies again (twice, I think) before they lost the show.
Sci-Fi's decision to run the widescreen version of B5 (which was made late in the process, which accounts for many of the errors as Warner Bros. rushed to get the widescreen masters done) may have been a way to counter TNT's actions.
Mind you, all of this refers to certain executives at TNT Atlanta. I think we sometimes paint with too broad a brush in this regard. The network did B5 season five because a determined group of B5 fans in both Atlanta and Los Angeles pushed them to do so. The network did more publicity and promotion for the series in the three or four months before it debuted than PTEN and Warner Bros. had done in four years. B5 was on the cover of the glossy 1999 press kit announcing TNT's major plans for the balance of the season. (I have copies of a lot of this stuff, which I got as a thank-you from some of the TNT staff for helping them connect with the fan community on-line.)
JMS has gone out of his way to praise TNT-L.A.'s liasons to B5, Kat Slonaker and Betsy Newman, and I'd add Dean Treadwell of the marketing department in Atlanta to the list of TNT heroes. (Dean was very active on the Compuserve B5 Forum in the months leading up to the show's debut, and was clearly a fan. He even tried to shake some money loose to do a least a couple of the movies in widescreen.)
Some of these folks are still big B5 fans, though they probably don't mention the fact around the office.
Remember, the Shadows and the Vorlons weren't all-good or all-evil, either.
Regards,
Joe
------------------
Joseph DeMartino
Sigh Corps
Pat Tallman Division
That they did, and Sci-Fi still damned-near pulled it off. The real deal-breaker was the price that TNT wanted for its exclusive rights to the B5 reruns, without which nobody was going to take a chance on Crusade. One of the few actual bits of "inside info" I've ever had about B5 came from a B5 fan who worked for a company (not one of the main ones) that was involved in the talks. After the dust had settled she described TNT's proposal for giving up its rights to B5 as "a ransom note."
The figure involved was one that no programming executive in his or her right mind would agree to (as JMS has confirmed since) and TNT knew this. Since at the time their contract was scheduled to run until February of this year they had Sci-Fi over a barrel. All the creative financing in the world with regard to Crusade couldn't get them B5, too. TNT used the original series to make sure the sequel stayed dead.
This is also why TNT continued to keep B5 on the air, even when it was only running once a week on Saturday mornings to lousy ratings. As long as they kept running it, their exclusive remained in force. The minute they cancelled it, the rights reverted to Warner Bros. who would have sold it to Sci-Fi in a hearbeat.
Once Sci-Fi and Warner Bros. concluded a new deal for the show, TNT let the remaining months of its contract go for a song. Sci-Fi could have waited them out and debuted the show in March 2001 if they had to, so TNT agreed to give up the show in September. They figured Crusade was dead forever by that time, which was the point of the exerceis, and if they dug in their heels Sci-Fi would get the show by default in March anyway. At least this way TNT got a little money.
TNT's final bit of sleaze came when they realized that by running the show six days a week (with two episodes on the first and last Saturday) they could just get in one more full cycle of shows before Sci-Fi took over - and thereby cut into SFC's ratings. They did exactly that. "Sleeping in Light" aired as the second of two episodes on a Saturday, Sci-Fi ran "In the Beginning" on that Sunday and launched the series with "The Gathering, Part One" on Monday. TNT also made sure sure that they ran all the TV movies again (twice, I think) before they lost the show.
Sci-Fi's decision to run the widescreen version of B5 (which was made late in the process, which accounts for many of the errors as Warner Bros. rushed to get the widescreen masters done) may have been a way to counter TNT's actions.
Mind you, all of this refers to certain executives at TNT Atlanta. I think we sometimes paint with too broad a brush in this regard. The network did B5 season five because a determined group of B5 fans in both Atlanta and Los Angeles pushed them to do so. The network did more publicity and promotion for the series in the three or four months before it debuted than PTEN and Warner Bros. had done in four years. B5 was on the cover of the glossy 1999 press kit announcing TNT's major plans for the balance of the season. (I have copies of a lot of this stuff, which I got as a thank-you from some of the TNT staff for helping them connect with the fan community on-line.)
JMS has gone out of his way to praise TNT-L.A.'s liasons to B5, Kat Slonaker and Betsy Newman, and I'd add Dean Treadwell of the marketing department in Atlanta to the list of TNT heroes. (Dean was very active on the Compuserve B5 Forum in the months leading up to the show's debut, and was clearly a fan. He even tried to shake some money loose to do a least a couple of the movies in widescreen.)
Some of these folks are still big B5 fans, though they probably don't mention the fact around the office.
Regards,
Joe
------------------
Joseph DeMartino
Sigh Corps
Pat Tallman Division
<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by CaptDS9E:
Yeah TNT and its sister TBS lost wcw because it was bought by wwf. Turner gets stuck paying all those high pay checks of the wrestlers who the WWF didnt buy as part of the deal which is millions. Crusade of its second run gets excellent ratings and B5 is now alive on Sci-Fi when they have zilch
capt
<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>
The best bit of justice about that is that the brass at TNT advised JMS to look towards their wrestling storylines so he'd have a better idea of how the network likes to deal with good guys v. bad guys.
That's like telling Shakespeare he could improve Romeo and Juliet by reading some Harlequin Romance novels.
[/b][/QUOTE]
------------------
[This message has been edited by Citizen V (edited April 30, 2001).]
Yeah TNT and its sister TBS lost wcw because it was bought by wwf. Turner gets stuck paying all those high pay checks of the wrestlers who the WWF didnt buy as part of the deal which is millions. Crusade of its second run gets excellent ratings and B5 is now alive on Sci-Fi when they have zilch
capt
<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>
The best bit of justice about that is that the brass at TNT advised JMS to look towards their wrestling storylines so he'd have a better idea of how the network likes to deal with good guys v. bad guys.
That's like telling Shakespeare he could improve Romeo and Juliet by reading some Harlequin Romance novels.
[/b][/QUOTE]
------------------
[This message has been edited by Citizen V (edited April 30, 2001).]
Joseph DeMartino
Moderator
<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, arial">quote:</font><HR>BONNIE HAMMER NAMED PRESIDENT OF SCI-FI
Bonnie Hammer has been promoted to president of the SCI FI Channel, a newly created position. Stephen Chao, president of SCI FI's parent company, USA Cable, made the announcement on April 30...
... Since Hammer took charge of SCI FI in 1998, the Channel has become one of the top 10 cable networks. SCI FI's overall programming budget has more than doubled, distribution of the channel has gone from 50 million to 70 million, ratings are up 29 percent and viewership is up 65 percent. In the past two and a half years, the Channel has moved from making one or two original series to producing more original scripted series for cable than any other channel, basic or premium.
"This is an exciting opportunity," Hammer said in a statement. "We have a great team in place, poised to take SCI FI to the next stage in its ratings growth and distribution. We are aggressively developing original programming that will further define and sharpen our brand identity. Our goal is to make SCI FI the definitive home for both classic and cutting-edge science fiction."<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>
Let's see ... TNT loses wrestling and cancels Bull, Sci-Fi makes the top ten, increases its coverage area, and doubles its programming budget. Life is GOOD!
Regards,
Joe
------------------
Joseph DeMartino
Sigh Corps
Pat Tallman Division
Bonnie Hammer has been promoted to president of the SCI FI Channel, a newly created position. Stephen Chao, president of SCI FI's parent company, USA Cable, made the announcement on April 30...
... Since Hammer took charge of SCI FI in 1998, the Channel has become one of the top 10 cable networks. SCI FI's overall programming budget has more than doubled, distribution of the channel has gone from 50 million to 70 million, ratings are up 29 percent and viewership is up 65 percent. In the past two and a half years, the Channel has moved from making one or two original series to producing more original scripted series for cable than any other channel, basic or premium.
"This is an exciting opportunity," Hammer said in a statement. "We have a great team in place, poised to take SCI FI to the next stage in its ratings growth and distribution. We are aggressively developing original programming that will further define and sharpen our brand identity. Our goal is to make SCI FI the definitive home for both classic and cutting-edge science fiction."<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>
Let's see ... TNT loses wrestling and cancels Bull, Sci-Fi makes the top ten, increases its coverage area, and doubles its programming budget. Life is GOOD!
Regards,
Joe
------------------
Joseph DeMartino
Sigh Corps
Pat Tallman Division
<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by CaptDS9E:
Yeah TNT and its sister TBS lost wcw because it was bought by wwf. Turner gets stuck paying all those high pay checks of the wrestlers who the WWF didnt buy as part of the deal which is millions. Crusade of its second run gets excellent ratings and B5 is now alive on Sci-Fi when they have zilch
<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>
Actually, it was the other way around - TNT/TBS dropped WCW, and WWF, in a smart move for them, snatched it up as quick as they could.
les
------------------
Yeah TNT and its sister TBS lost wcw because it was bought by wwf. Turner gets stuck paying all those high pay checks of the wrestlers who the WWF didnt buy as part of the deal which is millions. Crusade of its second run gets excellent ratings and B5 is now alive on Sci-Fi when they have zilch
<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>
Actually, it was the other way around - TNT/TBS dropped WCW, and WWF, in a smart move for them, snatched it up as quick as they could.
les
------------------
D
**DONOTDELETE**
Guest
Snatched it up? A smart move. Hell,it was a mercy move. WCW isn't a money maker. They were losing tons of money.
WWF did it for the wrestlers if anything. They understand that all these ppl have families to feed and doing independent shows all their lives couldn't do that.
A minor league is inaccurate since that would imply the WWF plans on using wrestlers from WCW in the WWF...which is untrue. They want to build it up as a seperate league.
Until that happens there won't be any cross promotion.
The WWF already has 2 or 3 real minor leagues anyway(Ohio Valley Wrestling-which oddly enough isn't in Ohio and 2 others which names I'm not sure of.)
::wipes the sweat of his head::
------------------
"I'd like to live just long enough to be there when they cut off your head and stick it on a pike as a warning to the next ten generations that some favors come with too high a price. I'd look up at your lifeless eyes and wave like this. Can you and your associates arrange it for me, Mr. Morden?"
Vir - In The Shadow of Z' HA Dum
WWF did it for the wrestlers if anything. They understand that all these ppl have families to feed and doing independent shows all their lives couldn't do that.
A minor league is inaccurate since that would imply the WWF plans on using wrestlers from WCW in the WWF...which is untrue. They want to build it up as a seperate league.
Until that happens there won't be any cross promotion.
The WWF already has 2 or 3 real minor leagues anyway(Ohio Valley Wrestling-which oddly enough isn't in Ohio and 2 others which names I'm not sure of.)
::wipes the sweat of his head::
------------------
"I'd like to live just long enough to be there when they cut off your head and stick it on a pike as a warning to the next ten generations that some favors come with too high a price. I'd look up at your lifeless eyes and wave like this. Can you and your associates arrange it for me, Mr. Morden?"
Vir - In The Shadow of Z' HA Dum
