Stu wrote: > Yes. And also there are only so many talents like David Kelly and Joss > Whedon around. Most of them would rather work on something original so > they can have profit participation in the project. Also I often see > talented showrunners who don't have the budget to pay for an A team > writing staff and have to make do with new writers and limited schedules > to develop scripts. When a good show is made these days its success is > in spite of the best efforts of the media conglomerates to foil it. >
What people here may not realize is that Hollywood is more an "entertainment factory" than a "arts center." It started out that way. It was started by a bunch of New York nickelodeon owners who wanted to make their own films to show but didn't want to pay the Edison company royalties. So they moved to California to get beyond the reach of the Edison agents. They were the original pirates which of course makes the MPAA a bunch of hypocrites when they push legislation to criminalize P2P downloads to the extent of absurd criminal penalties. Plus they also bribed Congress into passing the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, a piece of legislation that is almost as bad as the Patriot Act. It extents copyrights to absurd lifetimes and makes it difficult to find "fair use" material when you need it. > >>> The corporate world hates taking chances in the best of times. >>> Now innovation and surprise are dead. >>> >> As shown by the fate so far of "Kings." One of the >> most interesting shows I've seen come from mainstream >> television in years, and it's toast. Then again, no >> one seems to have watched it, which shows the if the >> audience prefers to eat shit, few are going to try to >> serve them more nourishing meals. >> > > I tried watching Kings and lost interest quickly. Seemed very "Bush > era" once we moved passed it. > It seemed "muted" from what it was supposed to be. Probably too much for the NBC and parent company GE to take. If you listen to David Kring's commentaries on the first season of "Heroes" you get an idea how much intervention the networks can play on certain productions. Kring just rolled over for them. Very disappointing but that is the way of the politics of Hollywood. OTOH, Battlestar Gallactica was a pet project for NBC exec David Kissinger (Henry's son) so got a lot more creative freedom. It is also interesting how the studios adjust things for different political administrations in this country. I think the Bush administration had a lot of them in fear and they feel more free with the Obama administration. We can see trends like this throughout the history of the media. And it also happens in other countries to (well documented in Indian film). I looked up "Mental" on IMDB and find that is produced in Columbia and hence why it has that more of a foreign flair to it. Annabella Sciorra is always a joy to watch. > >> On the other hand, Dollhouse survived. That's encour- >> aging. I liked it. >> > > I didn't like the premise of Dollhouse. The situation was sort of a > high tech whore house. > I found many of the scripts and their arc amazingly weak. Not what I would expect from professionals though there was some evidence of a war between what FOX wanted and where Dushku/Whedon wanted to take the show.
