The Expanse in the Media

[Netfoot]

1 hour ago, Neurochick said:

I love The Expanse, but it’s not for everyone.

Obviously.

Quote

Also many of Shondaland shows have black, female leads, which is something many TV shows in America don’t have. 

Which in no way makes those shows any good!

Quote

 I also think it’s a bit pretentious to say, “ the viewing public is stupid because they don’t like what I like.”

Perhaps it's pretentious...  but it's obviously true.

[JZL]

Expanse to be shopped elsewhere

The Deadline Hollywood story

There's hope:

The show is critically acclaimed and one of the channel's top ratings-grabbers.

"The cancellation decision by Syfy is said to be linked to the nature of its agreement for the series, which only gives the cable network first-run linear rights in the U.S. That puts an extraordinary amount of emphasis on live, linear viewing, which is inherently challenging for sci-fi/genre series that tend to draw the lion’s share of their audiences from digital/streaming."

Let's hope Bezos or the Netflix peeps are fans.

[btp]

So... I feel the need to comment, as many others have, about the cancellation (or, as Alcon puts it, and as I prefer to think of it, the last season of The Expanse on SyFy). But my comment is going to be, perhaps, a little different than some of the others.

You see, I think the great anger that people are expressing at SyFy, here and elsewhere, is a bit misplaced, or at least a bit naive.

Yes, I said it. And before everybody throws rotten vegetables (or tomatoes, to coin a phrase) at me, let me explain why.

First, of course it's reasonable to be sad, and hurt, and angry. But if you want to get angry at SyFy specifically, then get angry at them not for failing to continually fund a quality show that nevertheless loses money, but for making a stupid deal when they acquired the show in the first place.

As explained in the article in Deadline where this news was first reported , SyFy does not own The Expanse, not any part of it. Their deal for the show "only gives [them] first-run linear rights in the U.S.," which "puts an extraordinary amount of emphasis on live, linear viewing, which is inherently challenging for sci-fi/genre series that tend to draw the lion’s share of their audiences from digital/streaming." SyFy, for some reason, thought this show would draw a huge live broadcast audience, which just isn't common these days, especially for a channel with fairly limited viewership to begin with. The problem with this thinking, in addition to it being ridiculously Pollyannaish, is that it resulted in their agreeing to a deal that pretty much guaranteed that the show (on SyFy, anyway) would be a financial failure, and as any clear thinking person will tell you, the TV business is ultimately just that, a business, and no business can perpetually throw money at a proven financial loser. The SyFy folks, brand-rebuilding though they may be, cannot perennially rely on the prestige a show brings them to satisfy their need for some bottom line success. SyFy has its corporate owners -- NBC Universal -- to answer to, and NBC Universal answers to its parent company, Comcast, and Comcast answers to its shareholders. And the shareholders of Comcast are not motivated by quality and prestige, they're motivated by the bottom line, and the Expanse just doesn't bring that.

I know this is not news to anyone, but I think it's good to remind ourselves of it now and then, certainly before taking SyFy out to be flogged in the Town Square. They did, probably, make a mistake in negotiating a deal that was not likely to work out for themselves, but on the other hand, we really don't know the circumstances under which that deal was made, and in a way, we owe SyFy a debt of gratitude for doing it at all, because -- and a number of people associated with the show have said this -- without SyFy, this show would never have been made. Period. So that they stuck with it for three seasons, and funded a good chunk of the (substantial) budget it takes to produce this show, was pretty stand-up of them, if not downright remarkable.

I can also tell you that SyFy has been very good to fans of the show. I belong to a small group of people who have been gathering at one fan's apartment here in NYC for weekly show parties since near the beginning of Season 2, and we as a group promoted those watch parties to friends and other area fans through Reddit and Facebook and Twitter and formed an awesome, small but mighty fan community. Some very nice people from SyFy's New York offices got wind of this, and they got in touch with us and offered to host our weekly watch party for the season finale at a restaurant/bar in Brooklyn. Not only did they come through with a room with a big TV, some great snacks, and a bunch of Expanse swag for us, they surprised us by bringing along Steven Strait and Terry Chen (Holden and Prax) to watch with us. Which was all kinds of awesome. Not only did we watch the finale with people from the cast and people from the Network, we got to hang out afterwards and talk about the show and all manner of other things with these people, who were to a person incredibly nice, friendly, grounded, decent people. And I can tell you with no reservations that the people at SyFy, at least the ones I met, love this show as much as anything they've ever had on their network, and as much as we do. They are absolutely fans of the show, huge fans of the show, and the work they do on it, under difficult conditions, is truly a labor of love. And I have not spoken to any of them, but I'll bet you anything they are hurting as much or more than we are right now. For several of the people at the network, this show was their baby, and giving it up has got to hurt like hell.

I dearly hope the show is able to find a second life with a different distributor, and I think the chances of that happening are actually quite good. And if you want to see it happen, you should do everything you can do support the show, now more than ever, to see to it that more and more people want it to continue. Because numbers, and only numbers, are what will get this show a second chance.

So, folks, be disappointed, be angry, even. But take that anger and disappointment and channel it into something positive. Calling SyFy the network of Sharknado and professional wrestling and other names is a cheap shot and it's really not fair, because they've made a huge effort to come back from that. Unfortunately, they are trying to make money under a financial model that is rapidly becoming untenable. And maybe they deserve some blame for not recognizing that and figuring out a different way to monetize this IP. But they do not deserve our anger. They are good people who tried really hard to make this work, and it just didn't. Let's thank them for trying, and take heart in the knowledge that now that the show has come this far, it may well have reached the critical mass necessary to survive somehow. Just not with SyFy. Let's not look back, let's look forward to where this show might enjoy the unqualified success it so richly deserves.

Edited May 12, 2018 by btp
Edited to fix some spelling errors and to put in order right the words

[tennisgurl]

24 minutes ago, btp said:

Some very nice people from SyFy's New York offices got wind of this, and they got in touch with us and offered to host our weekly watch party for the season finale at a restaurant/bar in Brooklyn.

Thats really cool, I am glad to hear how supportive they are, and those watch parties sound awesome! New York gets to have all the fun! Well, I guess that does make me feel a tiny bit more sympathetic towards SyFy. As I said earlier, I've been impressed by how much they seem to have committed to going back to their genre roots, and have been excited to see how what they do next. So, I guess I can just be happy at them giving us these three seasons, and hope that someone else can give us at least a season or two. I mean, it still sucks, but I guess I should try to focus on hoping for a pick up from someone else. 

I mean, Brooklyn Nine Nine just got saved, so I think we still have a shot!

[Holmbo]

2 hours ago, btp said:

First, of course it's reasonable to be sad, and hurt, and angry. But if you want to get angry at SyFy specifically, then get angry at them not for failing to continually fund a quality show that nevertheless loses money, but for making a stupid deal when they acquired the show in the first place.

All of what you wrote is true, but I don't see how they could not have known it was a bad deal to begin with. It makes it seem like they had committed to this being an investment to lift their brand in the long term, and then just changed their mind on that strategy.  If they actually thought that it would break even... I'm not mad at them to have started it. Better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all. Let's hope Alcon gets another buyer. Let me know if I should send blue goo somewhere as encouragement.

Also, this whole streaming business gets so silly. I would happily subscribe to Syfy but I can't because I'm Swedish. Instead I have to watch it on Netflix, which hasn't even released season three yet. As long as there are different content providers we will have this problem of border lines on the internet. But the alternative, with someone having monopoly of distribution is not good either, no company should have power of all entertainment. Maybe every distributor should just release everything for free and then make money on selling t-shirts or something. :P

[Haleth]

7 hours ago, Black Knight said:

Yes, this season will finish airing - what I wonder, though, is if TPTB had any idea that a cancellation was coming down the pike. I've read the first three books, and although they're all part of a series, each book also functions pretty well as a standalone (maybe that changes with later books, I don't know) - the major plots and conflicts are resolved and there are no cliffhangers, even though there's plenty of intriguing "I wonder what happens next in this universe?" to contemplate. The show hasn't been like that, though, because they didn't fit the first or second season neatly to the first or second books - the first season only got partway through the first book, so the second season had material from both the first and second book and didn't finish out the second book either, so if the showrunners weren't expecting a cancellation, they likely did the same with the third season and so it's going to end on some giant cliffhanger revolving around a plot point from midway through the third book...

So if nothing else, you'll probably want to read the third book after this season is over. Unless the show can get picked up by someone else.

That is my fear.  There is a natural ending point at the end of the third book (that would sure be interesting to follow into the fourth), but if show doesn't even get to that point it would be terrible for viewers.

7 hours ago, JZL said:

 

Let's hope Bezos or the Netflix peeps are fans.

Indeed!  It's a great fit for either platform.

Thanks for sharing your interesting story, btp.

[Danny Franks]

11 hours ago, Black Knight said:

I'm totally fed up with SyFy. I'll finish out what's left that they haven't cancelled yet (which would be The Magicians and Wynonna Earp), but I'm not going to try any new series of theirs going forward. The channel had earned goodwill with me for letting 12 Monkeys finish its story, but losing Dark Matter was a hard pill to swallow, and now this? Ugh.

I did have high hopes for it, when they decided to stop being embarrassed about science fiction, and actually start to use it as a core feature of the channel. I tried Dark Matter and Killjoys, but didn't like either. Still, I liked that they existed, and that they signalled a real commitment to the genre, alongside The Expanse.

Obviously, Syfy aren't as big on commitment as I hoped. Or they're just too inept at marketing and rebranding, after years of putting themselves forward as purveyors of trash.

9 hours ago, WatchrTina said:

I am having flashbacks to when SciFi cancelled Farscape.  The season-ending episode (effectively the SERIES-ending episode) ended with a HUGE cliff-hanger (because SciFi had previously said there WOULD be another season.) 

 

I was heartbroken when that happened. It was almost out of the blue as well, because of the commitment for a fifth season you pointed out. Occasionally, we got good shows, like Battlestar Galactica and Stargate: Universe (which was good, no matter what jaded Stargate fans were determined to push), but they felt very much like exceptions to the rule.

Without The Expanse, or the credibility that would have come with it if Syfy could market competently, I feel they'll just go back to schlock garbage.

8 hours ago, JZL said:

"The cancellation decision by Syfy is said to be linked to the nature of its agreement for the series, which only gives the cable network first-run linear rights in the U.S. That puts an extraordinary amount of emphasis on live, linear viewing, which is inherently challenging for sci-fi/genre series that tend to draw the lion’s share of their audiences from digital/streaming."

Let's hope Bezos or the Netflix peeps are fans.

If this show had been on Netflix or Amazon, or one of the premium cable channels, to begin with, it would already have a much bigger audience than it has, to go along with the critical acclaim. Syfy just couldn't wash their own stink off it.

But Brooklyn Nine-Nine has been saved, which was enough to turn the sub-optimal day of yesterday around. Can it actually become a super-optimal weekend?

[Kelda Feegle]

Irrespective of transnational media deals etc, as a die hard science fiction fan all I want to do right now is shout... 

Why can't we have nice things!? 

[marinw]

3 hours ago, Danny Franks said:

If this show had been on Netflix or Amazon, or one of the premium cable channels

The show does seem tailor made for HBO, home of Big dramas like Game of Thrones and Westworld. Yet Syfy/Space are “Democratic” channels that you can get with the first tier of cable. (In Canada anyway).  So the cancellation is a loss for that reason as well.

[JZL]

3 hours ago, Danny Franks said:

I was heartbroken when that happened. It was almost out of the blue as well, because of the commitment for a fifth season you pointed out. Occasionally, we got good shows, like Battlestar Galactica and Stargate: Universe (which was good, no matter what jaded Stargate fans were determined to push), but they felt very much like exceptions to the rule.

FWIW, concur regarding SGU.  It was the only one of the franchise I really liked, including the original movie.

2 hours ago, Kelda Feegle said:

Why can't we have nice things!? 

As Danny said, we did get Battlestar Galactica.  All things considered, it was a miracle it had the run it had, including an ending.

Just for comparison purposes, let me pivot from sci-fi to baseball-- yes baseball.  There was Fox with Pitch, about the first woman big-leaguer-- great show, unceremoniously axed after S1.  About a year later there was IFC with Brockmire, a nutty comedy with Hank Azarea and Amanda Peet about a has-been announcer and a lousy minor league team.  After its first season, IFC not only renews it for a second season-- but also for a third and fourth!  This has never happened, afaik.  So lightning sometimes does strike in TV-land . . .  [crosses fingers and sacrifices the goat for The Expanse]

[Neurochick]

13 hours ago, Netfoot said:

Which in no way makes those shows any good!

Not good for you, but seeing black women leads is pretty good for me.

 

13 hours ago, Netfoot said:

Perhaps it's pretentious...  but it's obviously true.

True for you, perhaps.  Not for everybody.

[Haleth]

2 hours ago, JZL said:

Just for comparison purposes, let me pivot from sci-fi to baseball-- yes baseball.  There was Fox with Pitch, about the first woman big-leaguer-- great show, unceremoniously axed after S1. 

Loved that show... while it lasted. 

[tennisgurl]

18 hours ago, Black Knight said:

(If cancellations of The Magicians and Wynonna Earp have been announced, don't tell me today. I can only take so much on one day...)

 

If it makes you feel any better, The Magicians has already been renewed, and Wynonna Earp has just put out a premier date for season three, not sure about a season 4 though. So thats something at least. If they canned The Magicians after that cliffhanger, it would have been the literal end of me. 

Honestly, The Expanse would be great for Netflix or HBO, maybe even better than SyFy. Netflix especially has been doing a lot of science fiction lately, and it seems like this show would be right up their ally. At least giving us something to wrap the show up would be appropriated. 

Edited May 12, 2018 by tennisgurl

[Netfoot]

1 hour ago, Neurochick said:

Not good for you, but seeing black women leads is pretty good for me.

Sorry, but I do not subscribe to the belief that a black, female protagonist automatically makes a show good.  And in at least one case that immediately springs to mind, I can say that the black, female protagonist was the worst part of the show and arguably responsible for it's cancellation.  (Meagan Good -- Minority Report.)

Naturally, you are as entitled to your opinion as I am to mine.

[zobot81]

16 hours ago, btp said:

Calling SyFy the network of Sharknado and professional wrestling and other names is a cheap shot and it's really not fair, because they've made a huge effort to come back from that. Unfortunately, they are trying to make money under a financial model that is rapidly becoming untenable. And maybe they deserve some blame for not recognizing that and figuring out a different way to monetize this IP. But they do not deserve our anger. They are good people who tried really hard to make this work, and it just didn't. Let's thank them for trying, and take heart in the knowledge that now that the show has come this far, it may well have reached the critical mass necessary to survive somehow. Just not with SyFy. Let's not look back, let's look forward to where this show might enjoy the unqualified success it so richly deserves.

Not only do I agree with everything in your post, but I would like to note that I love Z-Nation. That's right. I love it.  I think it's a great show.  So I can't denounce the entire network for making a decision that upsets me.

Anyway, thanks, friend, for the grounded advice. :)

[btp]

21 hours ago, Black Knight said:

if the showrunners weren't expecting a cancellation, they likely did the same with the third season and so it's going to end on some giant cliffhanger revolving around a plot point from midway through the third book...

One of the writers or producers (Daniel Abraham, I think, but don't hold me to it) tweeted or something about this recently, and said that season 3 does not end on a cliffhanger that would make everyone angry if the show did not continue. Whether this was by accident or because they thought the writing was on the wall, I can't say. But regardless, I want to see this story continue on screen; as others have noted, there's so much more great stuff to come.

 

22 hours ago, WatchrTina said:

I am having flashbacks to when SciFi cancelled Farscape.  The season-ending episode (effectively the SERIES-ending episode) ended with a HUGE cliff-hanger (because SciFi had previously said there WOULD be another season.)

Yeah, I was a big Farscape fan and that one hurt a lot too, particularly because of the renewal fakeout. However, while it may not matter much in the end, there actually is a difference between the cancellation of Farscape and the cancellation (or, impending relocation, let's hope) of The Expanse. The cancellation of Farscape happened in large part because a new management regime at SciFi had just come on board and they decided to take the network in a different direction. My understanding is that this is very common in the TV and Movie biz -- many properties with marginal financial successes stay alive chiefly through the advocacy of a single champion (or small group of champions) somewhere in the upper echelons of the management hierarchy of the studio / network / production company / whatever. Unfortunately, these jobs are about as secure as, say, the manager or coach of a sports team, which is to say, they're very secure until they're suddenly not (a phrase of which James S.A. Corey would likely approve). So every now and then there is a big reshuffling at the top, and when that happens, there are often many casualties, as the new management regime doesn't feel the love for certain projects as much as the old one did. This is a good part of what happened with Farscape, as I understood it.

With The Expanse, there's no management change; it's just that they kept hoping things would get better and they didn't get better enough. Everybody has a boss, and the big bosses decided they couldn't do it anymore. Short sighted, I would say, but then I can also see how they would feel otherwise, particularly given their (flawed, but unchangeable) revenue model.

 

8 hours ago, JZL said:

Just for comparison purposes, let me pivot from sci-fi to baseball-- yes baseball.  There was Fox with Pitch, about the first woman big-leaguer-- great show, unceremoniously axed after S1.  About a year later there was IFC with Brockmire, a nutty comedy with Hank Azarea and Amanda Peet about a has-been announcer and a lousy minor league team.  After its first season, IFC not only renews it for a second season-- but also for a third and fourth!  This has never happened, afaik.  So lightning sometimes does strike in TV-land . . .  [crosses fingers and sacrifices the goat for The Expanse]

I, too, really liked Pitch and was tremendously disappointed in its disappearance. It was well written and acted, generally plausible (except for maybe one or two nits I could pick, but I won't), and seemed to have a really good feel for the behind the scenes machinations of an MLB club. And Kylie Bunbury's portrayal of Ginny Baker was nuanced and layered and intriguing. I'm sad not to have seen more of those characters' stories.

I have not seen Brockmire, but honestly I can't say the promos make it look that interesting to me. Even though I have always been a fan of Hank Azaria, the material looks to me to be recycled from any number of other wacky sports-themed comedies of film & screen, from First & Ten to Arliss to Major League to even Jerry Maguire. Some of these were actually pretty good, but collectively, they have contributed to an accumulation of tropes that nowadays make it pretty hard to create something that feels fresh. Brockmire doesn't strike me as something particularly transcendent in that regard, though admittedly, I base that opinion (as I said) mostly on promos, so I could be wrong. Pitch, though, was different. Interesting, thought provoking, and largely devoid of cliche. A shame it didn't last.

[Kelda Feegle]

11 hours ago, JZL said:

 

As Danny said, we did get Battlestar Galactica.  All things considered, it was a miracle it had the run it had, including an ending.

 

I couldn't get into Battlestar the remake.

Baseball is too USAcentric for this Aussie girl.

[jhlipton]

On 5/11/2018 at 9:32 PM, JZL said:

Expanse to be shopped elsewhere

I think all cancelled shows are shopped elsewhere these days, because what does it hurt to make a pitch to another network or streaming service.  I doubt that means much, really.  (Joseph Mallozzi wrote in his blog about "shopping" Dark Matter elsewhere and couldn't get a buyer.)

10 hours ago, Neurochick said:

Not good for you, but seeing black women leads is pretty good for me.

Me too.  And Shondaland has some very powerful performers.

2 hours ago, btp said:

I, too, really liked Pitch and was tremendously disappointed in its disappearance. It was well written and acted, generally plausible (except for maybe one or two nits I could pick, but I won't), and seemed to have a really good feel for the behind the scenes machinations of an MLB club. And Kylie Bunbury's portrayal of Ginny Baker was nuanced and layered and intriguing. I'm sad not to have seen more of those characters' stories.

Now you're making it miss me all over again!  I loved that show.

[Black Knight]

10 hours ago, jhlipton said:

I think all cancelled shows are shopped elsewhere these days, because what does it hurt to make a pitch to another network or streaming service.  I doubt that means much, really.  (Joseph Mallozzi wrote in his blog about "shopping" Dark Matter elsewhere and couldn't get a buyer.)

He actually did have a buyer, but something killed the deal (he's never elaborated from what I've seen, but reading between the lines, it was SyFy throwing a wrench into the works), and then time ran out because the cast wasn't locked down and need to make a living. It's been nice to see the actors getting work BTW - Ennis Esmer is on Blindspot much more frequently now and Anthony Lemke had an arc on it, Zoie Palmer will be on Wynonna Earp, Roger Cross was on The Magicians and a bunch of other things, and Melissa O'Neil is in the new Nathan Fillion show The Rookie that's been picked up.

NBC just saved Brooklyn 99 so who knows. That's an easier (read: less expensive) show for anyone to pick up though than The Expanse.

Edited May 13, 2018 by Black Knight

[Ziggy]

On 5/11/2018 at 11:30 PM, Netfoot said:

"Also many of Shondaland shows have black, female leads, which is something many TV shows in America don’t have."

Which in no way makes those shows any good!

It also doesn't automatically make them bad.  If you don't like them, fine, but calling other people unintelligent for liking show that you don't like says more about you than it does about them.

[SmithW6079]

Sorry to hear the show's been cancelled. I hope it ends up on a network like FX and not a streaming service or premium cable channel since I don't subscribe to any of those. 

[Netfoot]

35 minutes ago, Ziggy said:

It also doesn't automatically make them bad.

Of course it doesn't.  I never said that having a black, female protagonist made any show automatically bad.  I simply opined that it didn't make any show automatically good!

37 minutes ago, Ziggy said:

calling other people unintelligent for liking show that you don't like says more about you than it does about them.

Correct.  It says I am more intelligent than they are.  But hopefully they are just barely intelligent enough to recognize the tongue in the cheek.

[Cosmosgravitation]

There are rumors among the crew that amazon is meeting with the show's production company, so some hope remains.

[formerlyfreedom]

Some posts have been removed for going off topic from The Expanse In The Media. Let's please move on.

Also, you may want to avail yourself of the Ignore Poster feature if there's a poster who you do not want to read - if you hover over the image or the poster's handle, you can choose 'Ignore User' from the box that appears.

[tennisgurl]

I've been tweeting like a lunatic all night to Amazing about the show. Cant hurt to try! 

[raven]

24 minutes ago, tennisgurl said:

I've been tweeting like a lunatic all night to Amazing about the show. Cant hurt to try! 

I've been checking Reddit updates and sending e-mails since I'm not on Twitter.  I agree, can't hurt to try!

[JZL]

21 hours ago, jhlipton said:

I think all cancelled shows are shopped elsewhere these days, because what does it hurt to make a pitch to another network or streaming service.  I doubt that means much, really.  (Joseph Mallozzi wrote in his blog about "shopping" Dark Matter elsewhere and couldn't get a buyer.)

Yes, but isn't this an unusual case, where the producers, Alcon, retained a relatively high amount of control of the show's distribution?  I'm not aware of any other shows whose distribution is so fragmented (Sci-Fi, Netflix, and Amazon).  This was part of Sci-Fi's problem with retaining the show, right?

@ raven: Done and done.  Thx for the link.

Edited May 14, 2018 by JZL

[Philbert]

On 5/11/2018 at 11:30 PM, WatchrTina said:

I am having flashbacks to when SciFi cancelled Farscape.  The season-ending episode (effectively the SERIES-ending episode) ended with a HUGE cliff-hanger (because SciFi had previously said there WOULD be another season.) 

Frelling nerfherders.  

After much fan bitching and moaning (someone actually took out a full page ad in Variety to lobby for the show's return) SciFi did finally give us a two-hour movie to wrap up Farscape, so I sort of forgave them.  But now I hate them again.  

The Expanse is SO GOOD.  Sigh.  Thank goodness the books already exist.

 

This post so much. They cancelled "Farscape" in what, 2003, and I'm still not frelling over it. Siffy has got to be the most frustrating network since FOX. They give us these great shows and then murder them before their time. I"m still waiting for the other shoe to drop on Gotham after this week since FOX has been playing very cagey about renewing it.

[jhlipton]

3 hours ago, JZL said:

Yes, but isn't this an unusual case, where the producers, Alcon, retained a relatively high amount of control of the show's distribution?  I'm not aware of any other shows whose distribution is so fragmented (Sci-Fi, Netflix, and Amazon).  This was part of Sci-Fi's problem with retaining the show, right?

Yeah, SyFy's problem was that they only got live viewing revenue which is really dumb these days.  My hope is for Netflix so I don't have to get Amazon as well.

[JZL]

Gadzooks!  The Expanse petition went from 23K to 49K overnight.

[WatchrTina]

There's a petition?  Where?

[Emily Thrace]

21 hours ago, jhlipton said:

Yeah, SyFy's problem was that they only got live viewing revenue which is really dumb these days.  My hope is for Netflix so I don't have to get Amazon as well.

Yeah I'm hoping Space will keep airing rights in Canada whatever happens. Maybe they'll offer to help with production costs like they did with Orphan Black. 

[JZL]

1 hour ago, WatchrTina said:

There's a petition?  Where?

Click on raven's reddit [renewal megathread] link above and there's a panoply of places to make your voice heard.  Specifically, the petition link is ~ 3/4ths down the page.  No reddit acct. required, afiak.

[Holmbo]

5 hours ago, JZL said:

Gadzooks!  The Expanse petition went from 23K to 49K overnight.

Now it's 55k

https://www.change.org/p/amazon-or-netflix-please-buy-the-rights-to-the-expanse-savetheexpanse

Here's a direct link to the petition

[Raja]

On 5/12/2018 at 10:27 PM, Kelda Feegle said:

Irrespective of transnational media deals etc, as a die hard science fiction fan all I want to do right now is shout... 

Why can't we have nice things!? 

 

On 5/14/2018 at 10:21 AM, JZL said:

Yes, but isn't this an unusual case, where the producers, Alcon, retained a relatively high amount of control of the show's distribution?  I'm not aware of any other shows whose distribution is so fragmented (Sci-Fi, Netflix, and Amazon).  This was part of Sci-Fi's problem with retaining the show, right?

@ raven: Done and done.  Thx for the link.

That is how I  understood it. It seems plain that if you are making a show for SyFy if you have a multiple year plan either sell off a piece to SyFy and you can be Killjoys or hold onto all the rights and SyFy will drop you as fast as Vincent McMahon drops the price for wrestling content 

[raven]

Get involved, Internet: Join the Fight

Cas Anvar (Alex) just did a live Twitter discussion.  He has been speaking to "people" and emphasizes 1)  Watch LIVE tomorrow if at all possible AND 2) DVR the show and watch within 3 days.  The Expanse's ratings when watched after being DVR'd skyrocket, the show needs those people to watch live.

If you can't do either, watch via Amazon or iTunes.  Notice is being taken. 

Go to Cas Anvar's Twitter if  you want to hear what he had to say.

[Danny Franks]

Someone named Litoshq (also known on reddit, charmingly as Alaskan__Thunderfuck) made a hype trailer for the show, which is so absurdly better than anything Syfy managed to put together:

 

If this doesn't get potential new viewers interested in the show, and open eyes as to the value it could have for a competent distributor, I don't know what will. Although, maybe the banner being flown over Amazon HQ might help:

Edited May 16, 2018 by Danny Franks

[JZL]

18 hours ago, Holmbo said:

Now it's over 70K [fixed]  : )

https://www.change.org/p/amazon-or-netflix-please-buy-the-rights-to-the-expanse-savetheexpanse

Here's a direct link to the petition

Oh yeah, Cas Anvar in his live tweet said to keep watching-- if possible, LIVE and w/ DVR viewing within three days.  Both count.  Watch it on Prime and iTunes, too, if possible.

[Hanahope]

I don’t understand saying that SYFY only got to air The Expanse live for revenue.  I just finished streaming the last 3 episodes through my channel provider that includes SYFY. 

[johntfs]

32 minutes ago, Hanahope said:

I don’t understand saying that SYFY only got to air The Expanse live for revenue.  I just finished streaming the last 3 episodes through my channel provider that includes SYFY. 

Which is great for you, but SyFy didn't get paid anything from that.  SyFy only gets paid for the ad revenue generated during the first broadcast of the episode.

[marinw]

Last year I complained about ads on the bottom of the screen. They are gone this year (hurray!) but so is the revenue from them.

[WearyTraveler]

On 5/15/2018 at 7:20 AM, Holmbo said:

Now it's 55k

https://www.change.org/p/amazon-or-netflix-please-buy-the-rights-to-the-expanse-savetheexpanse

Here's a direct link to the petition

88k+ just now that I've signed

[raven]

Five Reasons to Save the Expanse

and also, a reminder from Cas Anvar:

[jhlipton]

Does watching on the SyFy website help?  I've watched on DVR and On Demand, but I will watch again on my PC when it comes on the site.

Edited May 17, 2018 by jhlipton

[zobot81]

My husband told me last night that SyFy is now reconsidering dropping the show.

Is that...is that true at all??

[btp]

2 hours ago, zobot81 said:

My husband told me last night that SyFy is now reconsidering dropping the show.

Is that...is that true at all??

According to Cas Anvar, yes. The cynical side of me wonders if this wasn't all just orchestrated by the Suits at SyFy as a ploy to get their live view numbers (and ad revenue) up. And if they suddenly announce today or tomorrow that they've rescinded their decision after a big uptick in the ratings, I'm going to have a hard time not feeling like we've all been played. But if it gets us a Season 4 commitment, I'll forgive them for it. At least for now.

[Holmbo]

10 minutes ago, btp said:

According to Cas Anvar, yes. The cynical side of me wonders if this wasn't all just orchestrated by the Suits at SyFy as a ploy to get their live view numbers (and ad revenue) up. And if they suddenly announce today or tomorrow that they've rescinded their decision after a big uptick in the ratings, I'm going to have a hard time not feeling like we've all been played. But if it gets us a Season 4 commitment, I'll forgive them for it. At least for now.

If it's true I don't mind. It helps the show survive. It could be annoying if lots of networks started doing it. It's kinda risky though. To just let the actors hanging. Also good publicity for the show but bad for the network. Everyone is raving about how crappy SyFy is. 

[WatchrTina]

16 minutes ago, btp said:

The cynical side of me wonders if this wasn't all just orchestrated by the Suits at SyFy

Yeah the cynical side of me will never forget the Suits of SyFy announcing a two-year renewal of Farscape and then cancelling the show after only one of those years so that the series "ended" on a huge cliffhanger.  But I don't think that was "orchestrated." I think management changed, strategy changed, and new people made decisions based on their belief in what was best for the bottom-line, fans be damned.  As such, I don't trust SyFy and I don't  hold out any hope for this show unless the underlying economics for the SyFy channel change.  If live-viewing and repeat DVR viewing within a few days of the air-date help drive up their advertising revenue, well then MAYBE there is hope (and I watched live to try to help.)  But I think I our last, best hope is for them to sell the show to another channel.

Edited May 17, 2018 by WatchrTina

[btp]

23 minutes ago, WatchrTina said:

Yeah the cynical side of me will never forget the Suits of SyFy announcing a two-year renewal of Farscape and then cancelling the show after only one of those years so that the series "ended" on a huge cliffhanger.

Yay! John and Aeryn are engaged. Oh, wait. Oh, shit. What? WHAT? What do you mean, "to be continued?" You cancelled the show, you bastards!

Yeah, I remember it well.

But yeah, that was apparently more about political machinations inside SyFy than any cynical attempt to trick the viewers into buying airborne banners. Not that either exactly endears SyFy or NBCU to me, though. We shall see...

Edited May 17, 2018 by btp

[WearyTraveler]

SyFy has also announced the upcoming season of Face-Off will be their last, which is weird because that show is a channel staple, symbolic of SyFy, very popular and such a cash cow that they aired two season in the same year several times.  Yeah, it was getting old (13 seasons) and it appeared that getting talent was getting harder, but I don't believe it was anywhere near being done.  I can't help but think that there is some major strategy readjustment going on at the network.  I wonder what they'll come up with next.

First it was Sci-Fi, then it was the crappy Sharknado channel, then it wanted to be a cool kid by changing its name to the current (stupid) spelling, then it was supposed to go back to its roots as a serious science fiction channel with The Expanse leading the charge, and now they seem to be heading toward another identity shift.  At this rate they will become the Burger King of cable channels pretty fast :-/ 

Edited May 17, 2018 by WearyTraveler