And, of course, I'm talking back. What follows is probably more a series of unconnected responses to comments than a coherent entry.

C says, quite rightly, that it's a huge investment to bring a new television show to the air and that she deplores the waste when a show is cancelled before it has time to find its feet. It is a huge investment and I don't imagine anyone hates the idea of wasting all of that effort more than the people whose jobs are directly tied into the success of the new shows that debut yearly.

I agree that it sounds as though "Firefly" could have been a sleeper hit, growing to become a favorite. I don't suppose, though, that when you're sitting in the isolation booth of an LA studio, it's all that easy to tell the difference between "Firefly" and "Family Affair." There were some people watching both of them. I'd be interested in seeing the ratings numbers on "Firefly" to see exactly what the "improving ratings" someone mentioned looked like. I'll have to surf around and look for them.

As far as "stupid-ass decisions", well, the television industry doesn't have a monopoly on those. Alvin and I, for instance, are currently reworking the business model for this new company for the third time since I started working here because neither of the two original concepts was well thought-out.

And the ego we're working with might not rise to the glorified heights of an arrogant network executive, but I assure you that the Chipmunk is quite arrogant enough to serve our needs.

Also, a company I worked for a few years ago lost a multi-million dollar contract by bidding completely incorrectly on the RFP no matter how loudly I screamed, kicked, and argued with TPTB about it. They were determined they were right, even though I had more experience both in the industry and with this particular client.

Stupid is pretty universal.

I agree it's a bitter pill to swallow when a show you really like bites the dust but I stand by my statement that it's just silly to think people deliberately cancel a show that has the potential to make them money. There are assholes everywhere but few even of them deliberately set out to cut their own throats out of spite.

I still think that if people had put half as much effort into evangelizing about the show before it went under the axe as they have since the event, maybe some of that precious "buzz" would have been generated and the show would be facing a long and healthy future.

Chris Carter is Satan's minion and I refuse to discuss his multiple failures.

I will say that there's such a thing as throwing good money after bad and that even though a studio has commissioned half a dozen or a dozen episodes doesn't mean they're going to be willing to incur the extra expense of airing them.

Especially if the advertisers announce that they'll buy ad time on reruns of Gilligan's Island but not the new show.

I agree that the fans should be heard. It's just that I wish they'd speak up earlier. (While I'm at it, let me say that it would be a lot more honest if the people who actually are watching the show were the only ones writing in and speaking up, okay? It's absurd to have ten thousand people write letters of protest when only a thousand of them are actually members of the viewing audience. I consider it an artificial inflation of the numbers to convince five or six of your closest friends to join into your campaign and it's also an attempt to dishonestly convince the network execs that there are a lot more of the "vocal and committed" fans than really exist.)

Merchandising is great for the successful show. It's a sweet frosting of profit to spread over the richness of the cake, but it's not enough money to really make a difference if the core viewership isn't there.

Fans willing to buy merchandise in enough numbers to make it profitable are a small percentage of the number of fans watching, okay? Not every viewer buys merchandise.

Anyhow.

Enough of my opinions about fandom. Who cares what I think, anyhow?

Let's talk about Spike Buffy the Vampire Slayer. I got the Season One DVDs for Christmas and have watched four or five of the early episodes and I'm actually pleasantly surprised and impressed. I commented previously that my only problem with the show is how predictable the action is but in these early episodes I'm finding that it's not predictable at all. I'm also, as could have been expected, coming to like all of the characters more as I see where they started, versus where I've been seeing them. Even Angel, he of the relentless brooding mien, was a lot more fun in the early days.

No Spike, of course. I understand he doesn't show up until the third season or something, but there's Giles! I love this early Giles. I want to take him home and make him cups of tea and cuddle him while he reads to me from his monster books. (I also want to get him nekkid and do naughty things to him, but that's probably TMI.)

So far I'm not seeing any slash in this show, though. I have a lot of trouble with the whole "16 year-old children" thing. Giles is yummy but there's no one to pair him with so I can't tell if he'd be slashable or not.

I also got books for Christmas, thanks to friends who love me. And jewelry! And chocolate! I even got red socks! I love red socks.

Loot! I love loot. I love occasions where people who pretend to like me are forced to prove it with gifts. Heh.

And. I had Christmas Eve and Christmas Day off last week. I'm getting New Year's Eve and New Year's Day off this week. Life is very good.