Where Does the Money Come From? (1 Viewer)

[John Stuart]

Everytime I hear this excuse for 90 shows being cancelled like "The Flash" I wonder why things like that didn't happen today when the companies are spending 200 million bucks to sell bad movies like Superman: Returns or 10 millions to produce a single LOST episode...

I mean, think about it. Take a look at that excuse (from Babylon 5/TV show):

CAN SOMEONE EXPLAIN HOW WARNER, FOX, PARAMOUNT, UNIVERSAL, AND ALL OTHER COMPANIES ARE SO RICH TODAY? THAT DOESN'T MAKE ANY SENSE.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

It's all apples to oranges. A show with "The Flash"'s production values today would never make it on the air. I'm not talking about the special effects either; the sound, the production quality, etc. just scream "TV!" in a way that shows don't today. That higher production quality costs quite a bit of money.

At the same time, the optical special effects were much more time-consuming and much more expensive (relatively speaking) than their digital equivilants today. A show like "Smallville" can be produced more cheaply than a show like "CSI", which is a big difference from when "The Flash" cost substantially more than the rest of the schedule.

The quality of Superman Returns is a matter of opinion. Many like it a great deal in spite of its flaws, myself included. Either way, I don't think it's fair to compare a $200 million tentpole blockbuster to a 1990 TV series that was frequently preempted by Gulf War coverage.

 

[MarkHastings]

-- Please ignore this post. I think I misunderstood.