Glen here...
Okay folks. Babylon 5 and Crusade creator J. Michael Straczynski has posted some information to the Internet, which has...more or less....helped explain what has been happening the last few days on Crusade.
In reference to last night's Crusade post - in which I 1) indicated the show hadn't been canceled (as rumors had indicated), and 2) that "good things could be happening on Crusade, but I didn't feel it was safe to talk about it:
I perceived my talking about it might damage an ongoing negotiation process.
It was my sense that my telling you what I am now about to tell you could (in some way) have compromised the shows' future. So, I decided not to say anything about what I'm about to tell you, simply because I did not want to be responsible for damaging whatever hope the show had for salvation. That would not have served the best interest of Mr. Straczynski, this web site, or the fans who are eagerly anticipating this series. So I decided to keep my mouth shut.
I wasn't trying to be coy or arrogant. Sometime I have to scream and yell and open my mouth to keep a show alive. This time I felt I had to keep my mouth shut to keep a show alive. I hope you understand.
Keeping my mouth shut more or less cost me this scoop - but that's okay. The entirety of the Coaxial's coverage is more important than this one scoop. The show is more important than this one "scoop".
BUT - since everything below is now being discussed by The Powers That Be on the Net, I will explain what has been going on:
Yesterday, Coaxial News reported Crusade was canceled.
Crusade has not been canceled. Rather, canceled is too strong a word at the moment. Production on the show has been suspended, to allow for paperwork, negotiations, etc. to take place. In theory, production will resume later next week - or early the following week.
What kind of paperwork, negotiations, etc.?
TNT has not been entirely happy with the show, and the producers haven't been entirely happy with TNT. All of this has become evident over the last few months. As such, TNT is no longer interested in the show. Efforts are currently underway to find a new "distributor" for the show. In short, TNT will likely not be airing Crusade, and...after the dust settles...it could well end up on The Sci Fi Channel, for example.
In fact, writing, e-mailing, and calling The Sci Fi Channel might be a very good idea right about now...
Yesterday, Coaxial had mentioned the possibility that some Crusade employees might not have a job left to return to after this break in production.
Said employees were...at that time...unaware the show might be changing networks. There is always a vague possibility that the show might not get picked up by another network, although this possibility is slim.
Accordingly, employees were cryptically warned that they may not have a job in a couple of more weeks as something of a "heads up" and courtesy to them. If the show isn't picked up, they might not have a job left to return to...
Is there a chance the show might not get picked up by another network ?
Yes, there is a chance the show might not get picked-up by another network. HOWEVER, **all** indication are extremely high the Crusade will quickly find a new home, and can then resume production as usual.
What does Warner Bros. have to say about all of this?
Warner Bros. is characterized as working feverishly to find a new home for Crusade. Whereas fans have shown some disdain towards Warner's apparent lack of commitment to Babylon 5, all indications suggest Warners is totally and completely behind Crusade in a big way.
This factor alone may well save the show.
Also, expect more periphery support for Crusade than on Babylon 5. For example, the video releases of Crusade are likely to be much faster and more efficient than the video releases of Babylon 5. And yes, the initials DVD have been spoken...
So, that should pretty much bring you guys up to where things are at the moment. As I promised in last night's post, I will let you know when it's time to worry. Right now, worrying will not do anyone any good.
Again, expressing your support for Crusade to the Sci Fi Channel would probably be a fair and reasonable gesture at this point in time. Hint...hint...
Finally, I've gotten a lot of questions about how I felt the recently reviewed Crusade episodes stacked-up against the none too popular fifth season of Babylon 5.
Well, the rough cuts of the episodes (even without final sound mix, score, and FX ) were better than a vast majority of Season 5 episodes.
In My Humble Opinion.
All other people who watched the episodes with me shared this assessment. For whatever that's worth...
