|
In
November 2001, I pulled together various e-mail discussions
I'd had with the BBC over their treatment of ROSWELL
over the previous nine months or so. The resulting tale of lies,
fobbing off and general poor decision-making was published by
TRANSDIFFUSION
as ROSWELL
MYSTERY,
and later in a slightly revised form as LIES,
DAMNED LIES AND THE BBC here on The Crash Festival.
Seven
months on, and with ROSWELL's
third season just beginning on Sky One, it seems a good time
to bring the story up to date.
That
original article didn't start off as being solely about ROSWELL.
My original intention had been to demonstrate how television
companies are happy to fob off viewers with stock replies, half-truths
and, on occasions, outright lies. As it turned out, ROSWELL
not only provided examples of all three, but also showed another
fault in broadcasters today - "we're right, the viewer
is wrong, so we'll carry on regardless."
Of
course, many fans of television series - particularly science-fiction/fantasy
ones - believe that they know better than the broadcaster, and
it's always important to remember that we're not the only ones
watching.
However,
sometimes fans are right. When news of Channel 4's purchase
of ANGEL
first broke, fans begged them to give the series a post-watershed
slot. But they didn't listen, and the result was a slapped wrist
from the ITC for screening unsuitable material in an early evening
slot, complaints from viewers objecting to what was left in
(it was still too adult) and what was left out (episodes were
butchered to such as extent that they didn't make sense), a
feature on RIGHT
2 REPLY
within 3 weeks of the series' terrestrial debut and ratings
that started badly and got worse.
All
of those are supported by hard facts, but other issues are less
clear-cut. BUFFY
fans might complain about Sky One's trailer for THE
GIFT,
which included a whopping great close-up of the title character's
gravestone. But the ratings for that episode were the series'
highest to date, so although the fans might not have liked it,
the trailer did its job. (Although that's not to say that the
same effect couldn't have been achieved by playing up the fact
that one of the leads wouldn't make it to the closing credits,
rather than telling us which one bit the dust.)
Perhaps
the most depressing thing about the whole BBC Two ROSWELL
affair is that some of us did try to warn the BBC beforehand.
Okay, so we'll never know if we were right, but the BBC
clearly thought that it was right, and we all know the result
- a series with clear potential (season one finished with ratings
of over 2 million) to be a strong addition to BBC Two's 6-7.30pm
programming block was thrown away.
Miss the first couple of episodes of
season 2 and you'd be wondering who the hell this "babe"
was |
In
the original article, I highlighted the series ratings and there's
no denying that those for the start of "season 2"
(i.e., the run that began with DESTINY)
were appalling. But what did the BBC expect? Many fans have
commented that the series' return wasn't particularly well promoted,
and with a series such as ROSWELL,
many viewers who missed the first couple of episodes of the
run will have been totally confused. How did Max escape at the
end of THE
WHITE ROOM
(the BBC's "season 1" finale)? What happened to Nasedo?
Who was the congresswoman Liz was working for, and what about
that new waitress at the Crashdown?
One
of my main criticisms last November was the BBC's insistence
of sticking with the ROSWELL
HIGH
title. At the time, I felt that this was clearly pigeonholing
the series as a series for teenagers, but it could have been
storing up problems for the longer term. After all, the series
was still in production, and with the move away from the high
school setting continuing in season 3, the BBC could have been
faced with a name change at some stage anyway.
That
started to become less of an issue as the series' ratings in
the US wilted in the face of some of the heaviest competition
in years. The four main networks all had successful series up
against ROSWELL,
with its former network The WB, putting freshman hit SMALLVILLEup
against Max, Liz and co.
Executive
producer Jason Katims was always quick to praise new network
UPN's support of the show, but in the end this wasn't enough..
Fans might have been able to save the series after its first
season on The WB, and to help persuade UPN to pick it up after
the end of its second, but the nature of US TV meant that, ultimately,
the series' poor ratings meant that even a supportive network
couldn't save the series from cancellation. However, at least
the network did the decent thing in cancelling the series before
it finished production, allowing it to have a degree of closure.
Unfortunately
here in the UK, it seems that that closure will go unseen by
the majority of ROSWELL
viewers. Sky One might have started running season three in
the first week of June, but the BBC has announced that it won't
be buying the season at all.
To
add insult to injury, it can't even get its story right here
either. BBC Information told me that the series was "too
expensive", while BBCi have claimed that there weren't
any suitable timeslots. Even more bizarrely, but perhaps rather
less trustworthy, a "quote" in WHAT'S
ON TV
seemed to imply that there wasn't a third season anyway!
However,
ultimately, it's almost certainly the series' poor ratings that
are to blame. Had these been higher, the BBC wouldn't have been
paying such a high price per viewer, while a suitable timeslot
(which Sunday lunchtime clearly wasn't, hence the cuts inflicted
upon episodes such as A
ROSWELL CHRISTMAS CAROL)
would undoubtedly have been found had the ratings remained at
their season 1 level.
Yet,
ironically, it's just possible that the BBC could still hold
ROSWELL's
fate in its hands, unless it's willing to sell on any unused
rights to seasons 1 and 2 that it still has. After all, it only
has itself to blame for the ratings disaster that was season
2, but why should the fans be the ones who lose out?
When
it first started showing ROSWELL,
episodes were repeated on Saturday afternoons, which tends to
imply that the BBC still has unused rights to the first two
seasons.
If
it does then hanging onto them is doing no one any favours.
Having screwed up the series the first time around, the BBC
can do little more than burn off any unused rights in dead slots,
but the lack of access to seasons 1 and 2 might put off a potential
buyer of season 3 - three seasons of ROSWELL
mean 61 episodes, season three means just 18.
If
the series was still in production, this might not be the end
of the world. Another broadcaster might see something in the
series that would justify them picking it up in the same way
that UPN did.
But
the problem that ROSWELL
now faces in the UK is that it is effectively an 18-part series,
which doesn't make it particularly attractive to a potential
buyer. Even worse, it comes with baggage - despite BUSTED
featuring a recap of what's gone before, it is still the first
episode of season three, and the series will have been perceived
as a "failure" on BBC Two, even if that's largely
the BBC's own fault.
Of
the five terrestrial channels, BBC One and ITV1 can be ruled
out immediately - if BUFFY
can't make it off a minority channel despite all the publicity
it gets, then ROSWELL
hasn't got a hope. BBC Two, as we already know, aren't interested
in buying it anyway.
That
leaves Channels 4 and 5 as the only possible saviours, and the
latter seems the best bet. Channel 4 got their fingers burned
over ANGEL
and they've already got plenty of likely candidates for the
6-7pm weekday slot - SMALLVILLE's
there already, ENTERPRISE
might well follow and in a couple of years they've got THE
SIMPSONS.
Since they've massively overpaid for that one, guaranteed winners
(especially ones that don't cost the earth) are probably all
it's looking for when it comes to that particular slot.
However,
although Channel 5 isn't perfect - not least because of its
less than 100% coverage - it's probably the series' best bet
at this stage. Not only has it already shown that it's not afraid
to pick up series from other channels (e.g. HOME
& AWAY),
but even with 1 million viewers, ROSWELL
would still be a reasonable hit on Channel 5.
With
season 3 just starting on Sky One, any terrestrial broadcast
of season 3 is clearly some months off, but this does give fans
a chance to mobilise forces and try to persuade a broadcaster
to give ROSWELL
a new home.
Katherine Heigl opens the post |
A
repeat of the Tabasco sauce campaign that saved the series in
the US has been suggested, but after the anthrax scares that
hit the US following 11 September, any broadcaster might be
wary of receiving unexpected packages, however benign them might
be. It might sound boring, but writing and e-mailing Channel
5 would probably be a much better way of getting them onside
and interested in buying the series.
Of
course, Channel 5 has no obligation to pick up the series, and
quite possibly it's not interested anyway, but suggesting they
buy season 3 is at least worth a try. After all, terrestrial
viewers followed these characters for two years of high school,
but what's high school without graduation? BACK
TO THE TOP
|
