There are indeed leaked copies of shows (usually episodes of series) that are used to prime the market (or so I believe) but the main sales are done at big industry conferences, in places like Cannes.
Nowadays I get most of my US TV via torrents, and then sometimes buying the DVD boxset.
Most of the series that fold in the US mid-season do so because their audience figures drop below some threshold which means the advertising revenue is lower than the programme costs (plus a profit margin) ... sometimes if they are close to the syndication episode count, they will run a few extra episodes so that they can sell the entire series to cable or to make up a full season box set.
It's been so long since I've read the Wyndham, I can't really talk about the adaptation. However I felt the plants in this version were silly, Eddie Izzard was menacing (though the lifejackets bit was unlikely to the point that my credulity snapped), and between the voice over and the continual focussing on the street sign, it was obviously aimed at people with lower intelligence and attention span.
And *why* did every London policeman have a gun? What happened to change the world that much? It can't have been the Triffids or the win against climate change ... so why are they armed? Perhaps we'll find out in the next episode ...
... but those plants were still 1980s Doctor Who at best.
The long shots of London etc. were nicely done.
But I would have thought there would/should have been a lot more sighted people left (students, tube workers, tube riders, doctors in operating theatres, night workers) ... and that the obvious places to loot wouldn't be *a* pub and *a* warehouse, but supermarkets, DIY shops, pharmacies etc.
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branchandroot
(no subject)
Date: 2009-12-29 06:37 pm (UTC)Nowadays I get most of my US TV via torrents, and then sometimes buying the DVD boxset.
Most of the series that fold in the US mid-season do so because their audience figures drop below some threshold which means the advertising revenue is lower than the programme costs (plus a profit margin) ... sometimes if they are close to the syndication episode count, they will run a few extra episodes so that they can sell the entire series to cable or to make up a full season box set.
It's been so long since I've read the Wyndham, I can't really talk about the adaptation. However I felt the plants in this version were silly, Eddie Izzard was menacing (though the lifejackets bit was unlikely to the point that my credulity snapped), and between the voice over and the continual focussing on the street sign, it was obviously aimed at people with lower intelligence and attention span.
And *why* did every London policeman have a gun? What happened to change the world that much? It can't have been the Triffids or the win against climate change ... so why are they armed? Perhaps we'll find out in the next episode ...
... but those plants were still 1980s Doctor Who at best.
The long shots of London etc. were nicely done.
But I would have thought there would/should have been a lot more sighted people left (students, tube workers, tube riders, doctors in operating theatres, night workers) ... and that the obvious places to loot wouldn't be *a* pub and *a* warehouse, but supermarkets, DIY shops, pharmacies etc.
The acting was good enough though.