Comments on: Whedon Needs to Look Outside of His Fanbase

By: Fox Confident Over Fringe Future

Fox Confident Over Fringe Future — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 22:33:10 +0000

[...] you compare and contrast these words to what another Fox exec, Peter Liguori had to say about ”Dollhouse” (soon to air on Fox), it’s clear that Fox are very optimistic about the future [...]

By: Kit

Kit — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 23:27:14 +0000

Roco – exactly what you said. They’ve decided (before even attempting) that it’s only going to be popular with Whedon’s fanbase, so they’re not even trying.

It’s one thing to lower the expectations of what the outcome for the show will be – it’s another to lower the expectations of the marketing department… which is what I feel like happened. In other words, when they decided it wasn’t going to bring it many fans outside the fanbase that Whedon already has, they decided marketing wasn’t needed… Which is dumb. Set the standard high, but the expectations low, people.

By: Roco

Roco — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 23:21:34 +0000

the promo photos have focused mostly on Dushku, which, although I love her, isn’t necessarily going to draw in the biggest fan-base

I couldn’t agree more, Kit. I think they should think outside of the box a little bit. It’s almost a defeatest attitude that they’ve adopted (the promotional dept., that is).

@wiesengrund: Very true. And what’s the point of the limited advertisements experiment, if they’re only going to get Whedon fans onboard?

Again, perhaps it goes back to lowering expectations? But in doing that they should be careful not to market DH as an insular show.

By: wiesengrund

wiesengrund — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 21:02:13 +0000

That’s what bugs me the most, too. Fox has to target people outisde Whedon’s fanbase. There just aren’t enough Whedon-fans out there to keep a show alive.

It is basically the same mistake Universal did with Serenity.

By: Kit

Kit — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 20:12:52 +0000

Also, I wanted to say, but forgot, that I don’t think it’s Whedon who doesn’t want to look outside his fanbase – I think it’s the fox execs who’ve decided to rely on them to support his show (rather than actually market it well).

By: Kit

Kit — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 19:02:59 +0000

The thing that concerns me about Fox is that if they are only expecting Whedon’s fans to show up – what will their marketing be like? As you’ve noted, the promo photos have focused mostly on Dushku, which, although I love her, isn’t necessarily going to draw in the biggest fan-base.

I’m concerned that the advertising for this show will be as unsuccessful as firefly’s was (which I think was unsuccessful due to the fact that I’m a huge Whedon fan and didn’t find out about Firefly until after it was canceled – despite watching Buffy religiously that season… Poor ad placement on Fox’s part).