Tuesday, May 20, 2008

Good news in negative Hollywood Reporter article

This is an article that James Hibberd wrote for The Hollywood Reporter. *sigh* Sadly, he agrees with CBS' decision to cancel Moonlight. He was one of the first to report about the Moonlight Blood Drive, and seemed supportive at the time.

I know that we have been nothing but positive & polite in our letters, emails, postcards and phone calls.... especially those directed to the WB. We have asked the studio to continue shopping Moonlight, and assured them of our support & intentions to follow the show to any network.

Even in this negative article, there is good news ~ "Producer Warner Bros. is still approaching cable nets, such as TNT. They’re scouting states where the show could be shot cheaper. There’s still a chance, albeit a very slim one."

Why 'Moonlight' Needed Killin'
by James Hibberd

“Very poor judgment call for CBS to have made. You weren't calculating accurately. At the NY Comic Con...it received an enormous crowd screaming for Season 2. You will kick yourself in the rear end with this grievous error! Reconsider your decision, CBS!”

That’s one of 93 hyperventilating comments on THR.com’s story of the “Moonlight” cancellation last week. Actually, it’s the very top comment -- you don’t need to burrow far down into the list to get the general idea.

“Moonlight” fans have always been scary-intense. They organized a national blood drive to try to save the show. With CBS lowering the axe, they went apocalyptic. They’re angrily emailing complaints to CBS, the media and even its studio, Warner Bros. (and the studio is, of course, the one party that’s actually trying to save the show).

In a sense, so much passion cannot be wrong. Any program that inspires this much intensity is inherently effective … even if it’s about a shirtless vampire with billowy hair and dreamy abs caught in an impossible forbidden romance with the one human who’s captured his heart.

So “Moonlight” has a devoted fan base and, sure, it deserves an afterlife … somewhere. But it did not deserve a second season on CBS. Some shows need killin’ and “Moonlight” was one of them.

The problem wasn’t the “Moonlight” ratings, precisely.

At first, the word from within CBS was that “Moonlight” would likely return. But then the numbers started going south. In the past few weeks, “Moonlight” won its time period, sure, but against mostly repeats. Even Friday’s season finale -- as if to underscore CBS’ decision -- hit a record-low 1.8 rating among adults 18 to 49.

If the “Moonlight” episodes were entirely self-contained stories, like CBS lead-in “Ghost Whisperer” and lead-out “Numbers,” a pickup could have been tempting. But “Moonlight” is semi-serialized, and ratings for such shows usually only trend one direction. Once viewers step out of an ongoing story line, they rarely step back in. This has been the case with “Lost,” “Heroes,” “Battlestar Galactica” and, yup, that CBS harbinger of cult-TV doom, “Jericho.”

Serialized shows also tend to suffer if there's any major scheduling gap. Based on how its cult-driven, sci-fi predecessors have performed, it was extremely unlikely “Moonlight” would return to higher numbers next fall. The show was going down by the head and CBS rightfully bailed.

Plus, with CBS’ “let’s get back in our box” programming strategy for next fall, “Moonlight” doesn’t fit. “Moonlight” would have stuck out on the schedule as a low-rated hangover from last season’s new experimental shows that didn’t work.

Does “Moonlight” have a chance someplace else? Producer Warner Bros. is still approaching cable nets, such as TNT. They’re scouting states where the show could be shot cheaper. There’s still a chance, albeit a very slim one.

The show’s overall cost makes it a tough sell. A lower-rated net might splurge to try and buy “Moonlight” for some publicity and fresh viewers. But star Alex O’Loughlin probably wouldn’t follow the series to anything less than a major cable net. Thanks to “Moonlight,” O’Loughlin is now in demand and is likely to wind up on another major series -- if he doesn’t stay hitched to the vampire drama.

http://www.thrfeed.com/2008/05/why-moonlight-n.html

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

Ghost Whisperer is not entirely "self-contained." It has an underlying theme involving Melinda and her past---why she is the way she is and is the town she is in haunted,and I remember some bad ghost trying to get an army or something together against live people and not let the dead go to the light. The reason Ghost Whisperer does well is because it never had an interrupted season and underlying problems until it had been on TV a while and had a chance to build a fan base. I mean really! How can some stupid, boring show like Pushing Daisies on ABC (I think)still survive--which by the way also has an underlying theme/love story, and a much better night, and not Moonlight? And by the way, I remember that Matt Roush just LOVES Pushing D., so, so much for his taste in TV. Never watched Numbers.

Anonymous said...

Unfortunately, though I disagree with this article for the most part, they are right to point out that we would probably lose Alex if this ends up on some obscure cable network, and our Moonlight would not work without all the current cast involved. We need to be careful about that.It has to be a major outlet.

Anonymous said...

I agree, Anon #2. If this show goes to offroad, Alex may not want to go with it. He has some major attention now and will likely get offers for other, more prominent, things. That said -- he was (a) dedicated to Moonlight and (b) seems to prefer doing what he likes rather than something more generic.

I hates this guy's write up. Obviously he is losing his hair and has a paunch, is a bit fixated on the few (VERY FEW) times we saw Alex shirtless.... and is jealous of Alex's considerable charm. :o)

Anonymous said...

Hey - me again. Google this guy and you will see why he is fixated on (and resentful of) Alex's considerable physical attriubutes.

Resist the urge to leave nasty feedback ... we want to remain polite, positive and calm -- he is entitled to his opinion.

I just wanted to take a look and see what might be behind HIS snarky comments about Mick/Alex which seemed to have not much to do with the quality of the show or Alex's performance.

Take a look and you will see what I mean :)

Francesca said...

Who is this clown?

Obviously he doesnt know much about TV or Moonlight.

I choose not to listen to him and dont care for his negativity. Loser!!!LOL!!! Sorry had to.

I hope Moonlight comes back as a whole that is the only way i would want it back otherwise i dont know what i would do.

I am very confused though as to why no network will take Moonlight in a blink of an eye? I just wish we the fans will all be happy soon with good news. The thing we dont need is some bozzo writing garbage about our show.

As for Ghost Whisperer, did anyone watch the lame Season Finale? Yeah that is all i have to say, the only reason i ever watched the show was for the hunk of her husband and he was hardly in it and now they have this comedian professor who is more in it that her husband? I think the most air time he ever got was in this season finale and he was very good in it at that.

I used to love Ghost Whisperer but for me it is not the same anymore and dont care for it. As for Numbers...i have only watched a few episodes, just to many cop shows and i cant take anymore.

Anonymous said...

The men who "remark" about Alex shirtless should have their tongues ripped out. OH! it's OK when attractive well built women romp around on the screen 3/4's naked in their thongs, teddies, "v" neck sweaters down to their bellybuttons, sex sceens with the guys sexually lifting their ladies legs up for the sexual entrance....Oh, no they don't complain about that....they love that...but when a FAB BOD and FACE like Alex appears on the screen they start their trash talk as if that's the only reason the show is a hit. MEN....what a bunch of assholes!!

Yea, it's ok for Marg Helgenberger to have her breasts exposed....is that the reason men watch CSI??? you bet it is......the best spoof about Marg's "work" clothes happened in Two & Half Men when the CSI writers wrote 2 HM finale...and Charlie Sheen was being interviewed by the wanna be look-a-like Marg and her boobs were "out there" and Charlie said right in the middle of the interrogation, "your shirt is distracting..is that goverment issue"....I laughed my ass off....that line was "so on".

Men...two faced you-know-whats...

Deborah said...

The only reason why Ghost Whisperer did better than Moonlight is because of Jennifer Love Hewitt. She has been around television for many years, therefore, she is well known. Moonlight cast, is considered as less-known.

Also, CBS is known as the most conservative network. Its audiences usually tune into the more traditional type of programs, A unique show like Moonlight can only do well if CBS had promoted it properly & more. If Moonlight was in NBC, ABC, FOX or CW, I am positive that it would be renewed.

I am not worried about a negative article by a reporter who may never has seen one episode of Moonlight. There are other reporters who wrote positive articles about Moonlight. Matt Rousch of TV Guide wrote that "CBS blew it" for not renewing Moonlight.

Anonymous said...

well i hope moonlight will come back. this show is more differnet on so many levels. but the only promblem i have is that i don't have cable so i hope the cw will take moonlight

Grace Whisperer said...

I agree with Anon#1... Ghost Whisperer is NOT entirely self-contained. I only started watching is because it lead into Moonlight, but found there were things I missed previously. And I didn't care about the characters enough to figure it out. On the other hand, much of moonlight is pretty self-contained. Even my husband, who was just starting to get into it after the strike, found it easy to follow. So there! ;)