Summer Glau

Please don’t shoot the messenger but Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles will notbe back for a third season. Confirmed, Target Acquired and Terminated.

I was at the Warner Brothers Studio in Burbank earlier today with a friend on some business unrelated to TSCC. Trust me, if it had been TSCC business, it would have been the opening line! LOL. He wanted me to help him interview a freelancing Digital FX guy for a short film he is putting together for a Youtube Short.

We were offered a tour of the studio and was asked is there anything in particular we would like to see. Of course I didn’t pass up this opportunity and said “Yeah, I would like to see the TSCC set”. He looked at me kind of funny and I almost fell over when he smiled and said “It’s all gone sweety, they tore it down a couple weeks ago, (paused a second then said) everything“

I asked “What do you mean, gone, as in Hasta-la-vista gone?” he replied in a very bad Arnold impression “they’ll not be back” He said everyone around there had known that for a few weeks already. It was fairly common knowledge at WB.

I have to say I found his explanation totally believable. There is no way FOX is going to come out and say it’s cancelled during the season end run, especially when they are trying to squeeze out every viewer they can. If they did, it would be a 100% DVR viewership from that point on!

The ratings numbers are in the toilet and that’s including the previous week “The Last Voyage of the Jimmy Carter” which was a superb episode but had 2-3 million viewers depending on which angle you analize the ratings and who you get them from. It’s not that TSCC doesn’t have the viewers. If you added in DVR, TiVO, and Hulu then the true viewership approaches an estimated 7 to 10 million viewers which is rockin’ for a new series. The problem is the only thing that counts is the broadcast on Friday nights. Nothing else earns advertising revenue. The bottom line IS the bottom line.

Let’s be honest, we all know that with DVR and TiVo we just zip right past those annoying commercials, I know I do and so do you. You can’t fast forward the ads on Hulu, but the ad density of Hulu is so low, it isn’t even counted, leaving only the Fox Friday Night Kiss of Death Time Slot to sustain it.

To me this was completely stupid on FOX’ part as this is a young person’s show and like most younger people I am NEVER home on Friday Evening. Since moving to Fridays, I have DVR ‘ed every single episode. Nielsen knows the DVR numbers, but doesn’t count them for the previous reasons.

More reasons on why this cake is baked is that Brian Austin Green has signed on with the CW Series “Body Politics” and is committed to at least 8 episodes. BAG also told Korbi Ghosh at Zap2it that he “was down” for making an appearance on 90210 sometime later this spring. You can’t do either of these if you are tied down to a series.

Summer Glau nominated for her second Saturn award for Best SuSummer Glaupporting Actress was asked about working again with Joss Wheddon on “The Serving Girl” a short film ballet. Summer said “Right now I am on a series and when you are on a series, that’s all you do”. Two weeks later she is on site filming.

Also nominated for Saturn Awards were Lena Heady and Thomas Dekker as well as The Sarah Connor Chronicles for Best New TV Series. Isn’t that some irony! Speaking of mother and son John Connor, they are both reported to be on separate locations filming movies. Momma Connor is also directing a low budget film in England called “Drug Kill”. She will also have a minor role. Filming to begin in late 2009 or early 2010. Obviously there won’t be a conflict as this would have been smack dab middle of TSCC production. More here from Empire Online

Check out the Saturn Awards Nominations at The Saturn Awards Homepage

Shirley Manson42 year old Scots Rocker Shirley Manson aka Weaverbot is back at home in Scotland where she will be undergoing an undisclosed “Medical Procedure”. Her agent says she won’t be back to the USA anytime soon.

Earlier in the season, Executive Producer Josh Freidman said on the Offical FOX TSCC blog that Season Two would be shot to close up the season’s story line ONLY, not as a series finale, no matter what because there wasn’t enough time to end it right. Even if he knew they weren’t coming back at some point before the season two filming ended.

So TSCC Fans enjoy the final three episodes and I’ll guess we’ll all have to deal with this being another great show, that just ends.

Response to some emails: I want everyone to understand I LOVE TSCC also. I am in no way happy about what has transpired. For those who dispute my raitngs I suggest you go to www.nielsen.com get a free account and check it out yourself. As far as Shirley Manson go to her website http://shirley-manson.org/. You can also Google it. Same for finding out what the other characters are doing in real life.

One thing that most are forgetting is that stuios DO NOT produce TV Shows to entertain. Your Enetertainment isn’t even a small part of the equation, you spending habits and advertising dollars are! It is all about the money and the bottom line.

The high DVR playbacks do not mean a thing as they do not generate ad revenue. FOX cares only about the money and the money in this business is INSANE in both terms of profit and the potential to lose.

The 3.7 million viewers everyone keeps YELPING about is including the “Virgin 1″ and UK market, which doesn’t do anything for the US Advertising revenue, it’s like DVR, it doesn’t count. True the UK market is a few episodes behind, but TSCC is measured on total viewership of first run eipisodes for the week. Last week in the USA we had “The Last Voyage of the Jimmy Carter and in the UK “Ourselves Alone”. The worldwide average is from both of those combines and hit 3.7 million.

One fan stated that “FOX will decide in May”. People that is not how this works. They just don’t wake up one fine morning in May and go “Shows over, that’s all folks”……The decison is made months and FUNDING cycles in advance. Does anyone think FOX would announce three weeks before the end run they were going to pull the plug?

Waiting for an official announcement from FOX is like seeing a blanket covered body at a train wreck and waiting for the Medical Examiner to make it official! When a set is torn down, production for that show is OVER period. The sets are down and the lights are out people.

I don’t even think Divine intervention from Starbuck would help here! Rebuilding the sets alone would cost millions and is completely cost prohibitive. We have everything but the proverbial Fat Lady singing and since there are no fat ladies on this series, I’ll leave you with this killer fan tribute to John and Cameron!

Please leave a comment and let me know how you feel about the series just dropping off the grid. No registration required