The Expanse

They're not cancelling this stuff just to be assholes. The ratings were pretty low.

Ladro said:

Here's the thing, people will still watch the channel. It would take a mass revolt of all their programming for a few quarters to really send a message. They clearly don't care and are making business decisions versus content ones, so hitting their ad revenue is the only way to send a message. Won't happen though because people will still tune in for garbage like Face Off and Jim Henson's Creature Challenge which is probably driving more revenue.

Syfy TV Show Ratings (updated 5/10/18) - canceled TV shows - TV Series Finale

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That's fine and all and just business. They should rename the channel to mindless TV instead of being a channel for niche science fiction interests though.

Goatface said:

any idea what netflix or amazon spend on their shows normally?
reportedly season 1 cost from between $60m and $75m
while season 2 was $50m

was reading that normally SyFy only pays 20% of costs in season 1 and their share goes up 20% each season after that.

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Well Amazon just spent $250 million for the right to spend over $100 million per season on a LoTR show. Considering Amazon's ambition for first party content and their lack of a good sci fi show, I'd say they're the most likely buyer. Hopefully they have good data on the US streaming numbers on Prime.

FUCK, this show is awesome :/

Why do they always cancel the good fucking shows?

apparently a crew person has said netflix has passed on the show and amazon is the only option

Let Amazon know there is interest. They have the US domestic streaming rights already, so you already have the prior seasons available.

Who even watches live TV?I havent in over 8 years - not since 24 was still good. I honestly just dont care to nor have the time - If The Expanse was simulcast on HuLu or something id be all for it but operating my plex and torrent queue from afar is too easy. Its beyond the point of cable cost or anything, or even TiVO for that matter, i work for an isp and get cable and unlimited internet for pennies, but even with that i honestly dont watch anything live. It sucks and all but it just makes me wonder why such a good show wasnt being simulcast on Hulu? Im not sure if Amazon was doing it but Amazon isnt as viewed as Hulu and netflix doesnt show shit till end of a season.

You're literally asking "Why aren't people doing my way?" while the whole point of adding options for viewing is not to move 100% of the audience from one to the next every iteration. Millions of people watch it live, millions more watch it later on DVR, same with streaming, etc.

Xexx said:

Who even watches live TV?I havent in over 8 years - not since 24 was still good. I honestly just dont care to nor have the time - If The Expanse was simulcast on HuLu or something id be all for it but operating my plex and torrent queue from afar is too easy. Its beyond the point of cable cost or anything, or even TiVO for that matter, i work for an isp and get cable and unlimited internet for pennies, but even with that i honestly dont watch anything live. It sucks and all but it just makes me wonder why such a good show wasnt being simulcast on Hulu? Im not sure if Amazon was doing it but Amazon isnt as viewed as Hulu and netflix doesnt show shit till end of a season.

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I think the show airing structure definitely hurt things a lot.

Alcon owns the property, they do quirky sci fi stuff. They also did Blade Runner 2049 (box office bomb) and upcoming Dune by DenisV. This is really their only TV show, they did a 4 part documentary on HBO about Dre/NWA/etc. I really don't know why they structured The Expanse TV deal the way they did, its a bit fucked up. They sold the LIVE rights to SyFy, who in turn covered 20-40% of production costs for season 1 but that number apparently goes up a little bit every year. They sold the US streaming rights to Amazon. They sold the international streaming rights to Netflix. Presumably all that covered production costs for seasons 1-3, rumor is s1 was $70m and s2/s3 were each $50m (don't need to rebuild the roci, etc).

But for SyFy, since they don't have ANY streaming rights if the show isn't doing insane live numbers then they have little incentive to keep going. For the $20m+ they were in for they get some critic and audience love but not much in the way of long term streaming, binge watching, etc. That same money would probably cover 4-5 other cheaper shows.

Its all a little bit of bad timing, they sold The Expanse in 2015 before things really heated up in the streaming world. In 2018 now everyone is dying for top scifi and fantasy shows, they probably could have worked out a killer deal with HBO or Amazon. Hopefully they retain the rights to season 1-3 without any complications from SyFy, but even still its going to get pretty expensive to keep the actors for season 4...5... etc.

The sets are going to start getting dismantled in 2-3 days so time is definitely a factor, if we don't hear anything from amazon by end of the week its probably over.

If you have some pull at HBO, now is the time to use it George.

Interesting that George would post that considering he has his "Nightflyers" coming to SyFy later this year.

His assistants wrote the Expanse books.

Chanur said:

The niche shows like this are probably pirated a ton. The retarded masses watching network tv are not doing that kind of stuff.

Since Blood Drive was not renewed the only thing I will be watching is Channel Zero which is pretty good.

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By the way, thanks for mentioning Channel Zero. I never heard of it. I watched the first episode of the first season and really enjoyed it. And I see it's been renewed for a fourth.