Submitted by: Jeffrey Willerth (Farpoint Media – Managing Director (West Coast office), Production Coordinator for Video and Visual Media Projects)
Is a network disappointed or relieved when a show they don’t like performs poorly?
The new anthology series “Masters of Science Fiction†was cut from six episodes to four, then scheduled to premiere in the airless timeslot of Saturdays at 10 p.m. in the dead of summer. When ABC Entertainment President Steve McPherson was asked about the moves, he reportedly described the series as “uneven†and “a little bit problematic.â€
This set the stage for critics to do something they heartily enjoy: Rebel against a network by praising one of its orphaned shows. That the “Masters†source material is written by sci-fi legends like Harlan Ellison and Robert Heinlein, while ABC has stockpiled its summer with reality repeats, only made the critic contingent extra feisty.
The New York Daily News called the show ABC’s “best new series in more than a year … ambitious, artistic, refreshingly intelligent.†Some other reviews were similarly enthusiastic, comparing “Masters†to the original “Twilight Zone.â€
The Los Angeles Times, however, heartily agreed with McPherson’s assessment, though “uneven†is an interesting criticism of an anthology series. Rod Serling supposedly once self-described his work on “Zone†as “one-third crap, one-third watchable and one-third pretty damn good†– about as uneven as it gets.
On Saturday, “Masters†debuted to a 0.8 rating among adults 18 to 49, down 43 percent from last week’s “America’s Funniest Home Videos†repeat.
Two ways to look at this: ABC buried a quality show and ensured its doom. Or ABC recognized “Masters†had very niche appeal, was unlikely to interest its viewers, and scheduled the program appropriately.
I watched it live time to helpfully boost its numbers if the show was good, but I see that didn’t help at all. The show was as ok, but a far cry from TWILIGHT ZONE or AMAZING STORIES. The story was a bit lacking as post-nuclear war scenarios simply do not carry the same weight they did even 15-20 years ago. As a fan of Law & Order, I find it was a decent hour spent with Sam Waterston who, as always, put in a good performance. If the rest of the series is like this one, though, then ABC ought to move it to ABC Family.
I was at Comi-Con in San Diego. ABC Family was actively promoting “Kyle XY” and “Fallen” with panels and cast autograph sessions. There was NOTHING from ABC for “Masters of Science Fiction” – not even a flyer promoting the show on the freebie table.
Shame on ABC.
For what it’s worth (coming from north of 49) I watched a live US HD feed.
But, had it not been for talk amongst the fandom, I’d had never even known it was on.
Way to promote a product, ABC. Did you learn from FOX?
I wasn’t even aware that this show existed. I would have watched it.
It’s sort of sad that, while many of us may have watched it live, unless we’ve got a Nielsen box atop our sets, we don’t count in the slightest. I can’t help but wonder, with the piss-poor job ABC did of promoting this, if any sci-fi fans who *have* Nielsen boxes (probably a slim number) watched it.
Had to time delay my enjoyment of this show…and it was great. I really enjoyed the first episode and am sad to see we won’t get more than one more on our screens.
It didn’t help that the sound kept dropping out during the entire episode–it was hard keeping interested when you had to guess at every other word coming out of the character’s mouths. If ABC tanks this–I mean look at what they did with NIGHT STALKER, killing it in the middle of a two-parter–it will be yet another reason why network TV is something I refuse to watch anymore.
Bring on the DVD collection! STAT!