Okay, maybe not just me - lots of other people too. Ever since Firefly and Futurama debuted and then were run off the air, I was convinced there was a secret Fox plot to produce shows I couldn't help but be obsessed with and then yank them away. Turns out, as is often the case, I was right. Right enough that other people noticed. When Futurama was first on the air, it was an awesome show and I loved it. Fox had the NFL contract for Sunday night football and Futurama would be preempted at the drop of a flag. So it would take patient weeks to finally catch a new episode. With Firefly, the show seemed pretty good, but it randomly was on or not, episodes in some order, but not the right one. No wonder people stopped watching - it was too difficult!
The same pattern is being repeated with the 3 excellent sci-fi shows on Fox: Fringe, Dollhouse and The Sarah Conner Chronicles. Two of these shows are parked firmly in the secret tv-series burial ground, Friday night. Back to back, for extra mourning. The third, Fringe, which has started to garner solid ratings, is on hiatus for 2 months. For some reason. Reality tv I believe it is known as. I've said it before - I don't particularly like reality tv because I believe in entertainment where the writers are paid well. And they write the show ahead of time, not five minutes into class like so many grade 6 English assignments.
The author of the above article, Ron Hogan, offers one item that makes some sense. Fox doesn't seem to know a good show from a bad one, but at least the good content creators (JJ Abrams, Joss Whedon, Summer Glau) can't produce good shows anywhere else. I know Summer Glau is not a writer, producer or director, but she's good content all on her own. See this xkcd comic for further proof. So basically Fox is holding all the good stuff hostage, but isn't issuing any demands. They taunt us with the occasional glimpses, but you have to keep your eyes peeled because it may show up at any time...
So summary: Fox has good content but refuses to let anyone else see it. Even if they want to give good money for it. Maybe blog posts can change things. The power of bits - it's in you!
