heller.umass-coins@UDel-Relay (12/17/82)
From: Robert (LISPer DM)Heller <heller.umass-coins@UDel-Relay> One of the main reasons why science fiction serieses don't seem to last on TV, is simply that they are not very profitable, at least compaired with, for example, sit-coms. For the most part, most contemporary sorts of shows (ie cops&robbers, sit-coms, doctor&hospital¶-medic dramas, etc.) use props, costumes, & sets which are "off the self". If fact, most sit-coms, probably use costumes, props, etc. right out of Sears & Robuck! In the case of science fiction, everything (costumes, props, sets, etc.) must be custom made (Sears does not sell Klingon uniforms, etc.) The sets often need special gadetry in them (blinking console lights, computer readouts, etc.). In addition, all sorts of expensive special effects are needed. Another reason is that most of the people you run the TV industry (corp. exe.'s of TV studios, etc.) may not know very much about just what science fiction is - many of think that all you need to do is to take a typical western, and replace the techology - ie six-guns become lasers, horses become rocket ship fighters, indians become Klingons, etc. but with the same basic plot (ie the bad guys capture the girl, the good guys have a shoot-out with the bad guys, and free the girl, and the chief good guy rides off into the sunset with the girl....(yawn) -- or else they do things like Lost In Space, which was just a hybredization of Lassie (complete with June Lockhart!) & The Swiss Family Robbinson transposed into the 21st century... I have a sugestion for putting good science fiction on TV: instead of trying to run a one hour per week sort of show (Star Trek, Battlestart Glactica, etc), how about two to four SEPARATE serieses, each with a 2-hour movie format, once a month per series, ie sort of what one of networks did some time ago with McCloud, Columbo, MacMillin & Wife, etc. The could fill in the extra week movie slots with regular movies. This would give the producers of the shows more time to do a good job and spread out the money a little better (espcially if they only do two made-for-TV science fiction movies/month and use box-office-paid-for movies the rest of the time). Robert Heller heller.umass-coins@udel-relay