Post by snacky on Feb 2, 2015 2:01:01 GMT
I thought this article was very interesting for some sidelights thrown on Canadian TV:
www.ew.com/article/2015/01/14/battlestar-galactica-anniversary-decade-33-pilot
For one thing, I never regarded Battlestar Galactica as cheap - I always regarded it as the big whammy TV show on SyFy (and, unlike the article, I'm almost sure it was already SyFy at that point). So I guess I have to add BSG to my curious list of "most of my favorite TV shows ever were made in Canada" while Canadians are thinking they don't have anything good on TV.
I guess the problem is that once they do produce a good TV show and sell it to the US, they don't properly recognize/reward the actors/creative people that made it happen? The show probably gets sold, then all the money gets made up in the high atmosphere of distribution.
Anyway...another thing I noted was that BSG made it's debut in Britain months before the US. I remember that the series got a lot of build up and fanfare from the SyFy channel here. Audiences were extremely loyal. BSG might have been part of the Stargate stack for "SyFy Fridays" as well - I can't remember. Anyway, the availability of computer downloading and advance availability in Britain apparently didn't hurt the launch here much. I wasn't even aware our British friends had a 6-month spoiler advantage. However, I was busy at work at the time, so I wasn't exactly researching the matter, either.
But...let me float a theory here. If your show is good enough, all those little side "protectionist" issues don't matter too much. It will become a THING for the audience to come out to view it on the night it airs. So the key is to make your show an EVENT on the night it airs, and don't sweat the small stuff.
www.ew.com/article/2015/01/14/battlestar-galactica-anniversary-decade-33-pilot
For one thing, I never regarded Battlestar Galactica as cheap - I always regarded it as the big whammy TV show on SyFy (and, unlike the article, I'm almost sure it was already SyFy at that point). So I guess I have to add BSG to my curious list of "most of my favorite TV shows ever were made in Canada" while Canadians are thinking they don't have anything good on TV.
I guess the problem is that once they do produce a good TV show and sell it to the US, they don't properly recognize/reward the actors/creative people that made it happen? The show probably gets sold, then all the money gets made up in the high atmosphere of distribution.
Anyway...another thing I noted was that BSG made it's debut in Britain months before the US. I remember that the series got a lot of build up and fanfare from the SyFy channel here. Audiences were extremely loyal. BSG might have been part of the Stargate stack for "SyFy Fridays" as well - I can't remember. Anyway, the availability of computer downloading and advance availability in Britain apparently didn't hurt the launch here much. I wasn't even aware our British friends had a 6-month spoiler advantage. However, I was busy at work at the time, so I wasn't exactly researching the matter, either.
But...let me float a theory here. If your show is good enough, all those little side "protectionist" issues don't matter too much. It will become a THING for the audience to come out to view it on the night it airs. So the key is to make your show an EVENT on the night it airs, and don't sweat the small stuff.
