I learned this morning that Fox is planning to launch a new television series, currently untitled. From the THR site:
Described as an epic Western with a sci-fi twist, the show will revolve around "a gunslinger caught between worlds" and will feature a nod to "Planet of the Apes," said Rosenbaum, who is executive producing with Wonderland's McG and Peter Johnson.
"What I'm really interested in is the revamping of the Western genre where you still have all of the iconic Western themes and iconic Western tropes but the idea is that it will feel incredibly contemporary and will introduce the Western to a whole new generation," Rosenbaum said.
Wait, wait, I’m getting a terrible sense of déjà vu…
Oh, right. Fox already had an epic western with a sci-fi twist, didn’t it? Firefly came from phenomenon Joss Whedon, who already gave Fox a big hit with Buffy, the Vampire Slayer. And it was terrific. (I say this as someone who never understood all the excitement over Buffy.
It was clever. It had compelling characters. It had snappy dialogue that puts all others to shame as only Whedon can. The “cowboys in space” theme which looks so corny on paper proved nevertheless both quirky and coherent—no mean achievement. The show had a core of truly, amazingly devoted fans and rapidly growing interest among more ordinary viewers, following Whedon’s pattern of developing show “legs” over time as his layered and complex stories unfold, and as he moves beyond the necessities of establishing the characters to his strength as an experimenter. It was a revamping of the western genre that had all of the iconic western themes and iconic western tropes but an idea that felt incredibly contemporary and introduced the western to a whole new generation.
But Fox blew it; one might say they deliberately sabotaged it. Producers insistent on immediate blockbuster meddled in the episode order, to the detriment of the show. They moved it about the airing week schedule. They shoved it into an undesirable time slot. And—surprise!—it failed, and producers lamented its “low ratings.” Not that I’m bitter.
So, while I have nothing against Rosenbaum or his as-yet-unnamed show, I can’t help but suspect it is already doomed to the Graveyard of Novel Television Projects. And, to my embarrassment, I might prefer it to end up there rather than upstage Firefly.
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