Anyone for Defying Gravity?

[Aquarius]

That blows. They did the same thing to Moonlight. Canceled it when it started getting really good.

[justTripn]

Thanks KTR. Well, I was warned. I was getting on to say the last episode that aired was just plain stupid. It was the "everyone follow orders" episode.

You know, whoever wrote this show, probably read a book called "Dragonfly" about the American experience as guests on the Russian Mir in US/Russian collaboration. That book was nonfiction that read like fiction. The constant disasters and near misses emphasized the dangers of space travel. The "science" was an afterthought pure and simple. None of it was important or valued. The point was to stay in space, any old way. The Russians often filmed commercials in space to make money (just like on Defying Gravity). Like in this episode, there was a real problem with controlling the astronauts when they were out of range for months. The Russians actually had a pay-per-job method of controlling their cosmonauts. The more work they did, the more money they made. Still, if someone was acting up, nothing could be done. One American astronaut was having trouble with ground control not picking up his signal and insisted the problem was on the Earth end (it was) and should be fixed. When mission control dragged its feet in fixing the problem, he stopped talking with them!!! The mother of one Russian cosmonaut died unexpectedly while he was in space. They had been very close and the cosmonaut simply fell to pieces. He just cryed and floated for three days. Nobody could do anything for him.

[Kevin Thomas Riley]

OK, all hope is apparently not lost:

UPDATE: “Gravity” Not Canceled

Reports of the demise of “Defying Gravity” appear to be greatly exaggerated.

Several news outlets (including Slice of SciFi) reported yesterday that ABC had canceled the series. That appears to not be the case.

The series is produced internationally and was picked up for U.S. broadcast on ABC. The alphabet network began the show late in the summer season and logistically would not have been able to show all 13 episodes before the return of the regular fall season.

New episodes are still in production and could be shown on ABC at some point in the future. A network spokesperson said the network is mulling over its options now.

Whether this means U.S. fans will get to see the final five episodes of the year on ABC is still up in the air. It also doesn’t rule out that the series could be purchased by another network or cable outlet to air the remaining episodes and possible future seasons.

[Alelou]

It would be better than a lot of other crap on SyFy. At least, better than the giant bug of the week movie.

[justTripn]

Ooo . . . thanks.

[Aquarius]

I'm relieved. I think the show has a lot of potential, as long as it's given a chance to iron out it's issues.

I wanted to mention before that I like Christina Cox on the show. I liked her in "Blood Ties," and THAT show was canceled despite great potential...

[Kevin Thomas Riley]

CTV in Canada Continues to Air ‘Defying Gravity’

[Alelou]

Interesting, but I wonder if there's any way those of us here can actually watch these episodes without becoming Internet pirates of some kind. I don't think we're close enough to the border to catch CTV with an antenna even if we had a digital transformer, which we don't.

And by the way, those were the fakest looking fractal tomato plants in the universe.

My garden's tomatoes are mostly gone now, thanks to the Northeast's version of the Irish Potato Famine. And an early frost tonight will probably finish off the survivors for good.

[Aquarius]

Too bad it's not on CBC. Metro Detroit picks up the Windsor stations just fine, but I don't think we get CTV on cable here.

[Kevin Thomas Riley]

‘Defying Gravity’ to Premiere in the UK in October

More here

[Alelou]

‘Defying Gravity’ to Premiere in the UK in October

More here

That second one won't load for me.

What does this mean in the US? We have to hope the DVD set comes out someday? Learn how to do illegal downloads?

ABC seems to promote the hell out of a show before it's on and then if it's not an instant hit they just cut it loose.

[Aquarius]

They haven't cut it loose, thought. According to About.com's sci fi guide, it's supposed to come back and finish up eventually, they just backburnered it because of all the season premieres. They're probably waiting to see which new shows tank, and will slip "Gravity" in as a mid-season replacement.

[Alelou]

They cut it loose in promotion. They didn't even do anything for what was coming up next week for the last five or six episodes.

Anyway, I hope I notice when they run the last episodes out. I didn't realize Castle had started up again, because they didn't promote that either. It's like they want it to die! But it's cute and stylish and it has a character who obsesses over bad grammar from murderers, so I have to watch it. (Online. I can't stay up late enough for it in real life anymore).

[Aquarius]

ABC is just weird. They've sabotaged so many of their own shows. They always seem to dump anything resembling quality in favor of the inane.

[Kevin Thomas Riley]

I thought that was Fox...