Morgan & Wong's Millennium

[Guest A Stranger]

......ratings for season-1 ended at a respectable 63 for the season i beleive.  no one thought it would keep the numbers of the premier and in the end S1 did better than the first 2-seasons of The-x files.

        ...after the first 3-4-episode of S2 the real nosedive began as fanatics of S1 slipped away;some seeming to never come back and some who came back in S3 when carter publicly promised to end the hyper-religious content.-(he was obviously courting former fans who had stopped watching,at least that's my conclusion. 

        but anyhow season-2 sunk like a stone which is a shame because a lot of character developement went on that was very important and substabtial. i beleive S2 ended with an overall rating near 96 for the season-(i'll double check my back issues of VARIETY as i plan on addressing this in the guide a bit after each season.)  the worst rated episode is said to be "Jose chung's....."  but my memory,and my "variety"-magazine-(the so-called bible of hollywood)-seems to stae that it was "Siren",a clunker for me,that was the lowest rated ep of the season.  best rated was.................drumroll................"A Room With No View"-(i actually read a lot into that but once i confirm it i'll mention it in the guide.............if the guide doesn't swallow me up whole and poop me out first.)

          ...season-3 did "better" overall than S2 ratings and the highest rated ep of that season is said to be "Borrowed Time". the lowest rated..........i honestly have no idea from memory. ah,well.

          ...the show,ALL 3-SEASONS,had a killer demographic which,even back in 96 was often "more" important than actual ratings. it's demographics by which networks base how much to charge for advertising and such. and make no mistake,depsite MM costing more than XF until it moved to Los angeles,the show made Fox money EVERY year. and many other show "by" fox: BUFFY,ANGEL,etc. were NEVER as highly rated as the worst rated season of MM. MM was NOT,repeat NOT,just cancelled because of low ratings. the more i learn-(and i thought i knew most of it)-about the politics between Fox and C.C.,and by extension "MM",the more disgustingly pathetic the real story is.-(and yes,that will be addressed as well in the guide. LOL! beleive it or not the book is still planed on being no more than 330-pages,preferably just under 300,so it's possible i may have to make the print size biblicaly small if i get enough material and the press i use does not cover editing guidance/service. more info is better than less i suppose.   )

                                  more to come.........stayed tuned,

     

                                                                se7en

Yeah, but weren't Buffy and Angel on UPN and the WB? I don't know much about ratings and what is expected of them but I would guess less money is expected out of cable shows than a FOX one. But I do find is very suprising that the same amount of people were watching as Buffy considering how popular that show was adn how bad!

[Guest A Stranger]

I agree with every word in its entirity so I will only add this. I love each episode as itself and dont really feel the need to compare them, although there is quite a number of "what the hell is going on" moments in S3, but I guess it just gives you something to think about. And think about, and think about some more.

:grin2: That sounds like a good title for another thread "What the Hell is Going On?" What the hell is that thing plasma mosnter in the furnace in "Satrun Dreaming of Mercury?" What the hell are thoes eyes?

[Guest se7en]

WB and UPN are networks like Fox and CBS are. are less expected of them? I guess part of that answer may lie in how they have,or have not grown,like FOX-dare I say,and how many show the average person watches on said network. I CAN tell you though that they are not "cable" networks,they are "broadcast" networks. I was able to get both of these networks via antennea back in MA. and i can "almost" get one up here,waaaaaay in the middle of nowhere,in a sense.

...personally i find both networks to be bottom of the barrel. always have.

oh,BTW: the beast in the basement?: Frank was whacked over the head by legion and he was unconscious and hallucinating,the way only Frank can. Hallucinating until the "boy's" father came back and helped him out of the basement.

cheers,

se7en

[Guest A Stranger]

WB and UPN are networks like Fox and CBS are. are less expected of them? I guess part of that answer may lie in how they have,or have not grown,like FOX-dare I say,and how many show the average person watches on said network. I CAN tell you though that they are not "cable" networks,they are "broadcast" networks. I was able to get both of these networks via antennea back in MA. and i can "almost" get one up here,waaaaaay in the middle of nowhere,in a sense.

...personally i find both networks to be bottom of the barrel. always have.

oh,BTW: the beast in the basement?: Frank was whacked over the head by legion and he was unconscious and hallucinating,the way only Frank can. Hallucinating until the "boy's" father came back and helped him out of the basement.

cheers,

se7en

I know I just thought that legion monster was a little too hokey for me. Since when did Legion have to sit in a furnace??

[Guest chrisnu]

Yeah, that whole Fiji mermaid / dog / polish sausage thing I didn't like either. And the eyeballs. They were just around to look freaky. And what exactly did the eyeball do that that kid in the car? Blast him with its laser vision? And the car crash. That's my vote for worst use of music on the show. Yeeeccchhh.

Se7en: About the whole spurting blood chicken BBQ family hour: I hope I'm not the only one who's laughed out loud during that scene. I was waiting for Frank to show up and say "tastes a little soapy."

[Guest Forza]

Thanks for the Neilson MLM ratings, guys, but I hope you agree they have no bearing on the show's quality. As a comparison, one of the highest rated episodes during Star Trek:TNG was "Devil's Due", which was really quite lousy compared with the majority of the show's output. For whatever reason, more chattle tuned in that week to watch than most others--my guess because of quality episodes that immediately preceded it ... or maybe it was daylight savings and folks had an extra hour to burn.

In any event, MilleninniuM provided three seasons so unique and idiosyncratic that their original long-term commercial failure is more than eclipsed by their lasting appeal. Unlike most shows, MillenniuM holds up to repeated viewing. I enjoy each season for what it contributes to the story. Each season contained a few [relative] duds, but even those contained valuable tidbits that propelled the story forward to its premature conclusion.

In the end, perhaps MillenniuM turned out to be an acquired taste that the majority of the viewing public was simply incapable of appreciating. To Hell with them--let them watch American Idol. Unlike other shows that linger past their welcome and become a stale shadow of their former selves, MillenniuM was gunned down in the flower of its youth.

Do not forget you dying king--MillenniuM!

[Guest A Stranger]

Thanks for the Neilson MLM ratings, guys, but I hope you agree they have no bearing on the show's quality.  As a comparison, one of the highest rated episodes during Star Trek:TNG was "Devil's Due", which was really quite lousy compared with the majority of the show's output.  For whatever reason, more chattle tuned in that week to watch than most others--my guess because of quality episodes that immediately preceded it ... or maybe it was daylight savings and folks had an extra hour to burn.

In any event, MilleninniuM provided three seasons so unique and idiosyncratic that their original long-term commercial failure is more than eclipsed by their lasting appeal.  Unlike most shows, MillenniuM holds up to repeated viewing. I enjoy each season for what it contributes to the story.  Each season contained a few [relative] duds, but even those contained valuable tidbits that propelled the story forward to its premature conclusion.

In the end, perhaps MillenniuM turned out to be an acquired taste that the majority of the viewing public was simply incapable of appreciating.  To Hell with them--let them watch American Idol.  Unlike other shows that linger past their welcome and become a stale shadow of their former selves, MillenniuM was gunned down in the flower of its youth.

Do not forget you dying king--MillenniuM!

Turning on my TV, I'm still amazed that this show existed. If it weren't for my MM tapes and this forum I could easily dismiss it as a dream.

[MovieMaker]

You definitely have a point there Gary. Although I love S2, its course and ending really made it a most difficult task to even put up a S3. I somehow have the feeling that M&W could have been the only ones to continue from that point and properly write a S3. Actual S3 is, in my opinion, X-Files Lite. It misses S2's madness and S1's thick atmosphere and sheer violence. I think that M&W made MillenniuM walk on the edge of a cliff, and that Chip Johannessen pushed it down.

What about the nova shockwave anyway?

Personaly I belive that s2 progressed the way it did because m&w knew the show was going to be canceled and tried to sum it up before it happened yet still leaving it open to a possible 3rd season. s2 was my fav. and everyone wants crap on m&w for what they did in s2 but think back to the first season, legion. Yeah it started in s1, religion over tones and all.

[The Old Man]

There'll always be people like myself torn between S1 & S2 as my favourite but I appreciate Mong & Wong for what they brought to S2. I don't want to turn this into anoth my season is better than your season thing but I loved so many episode in S2 which were pure class. I think if for eample The Curse Of Frank Black was in Season 3 people might think it wasn't so much the bitter pill it was to swallow. There's no doubt that the Marburg Virus effects were downplayed for S3 Ep1, can you imagine having to do that and retain credibilty?

[Raven Wolf]

There'll always be people like myself torn between S1 & S2 as my favourite but I appreciate Mong & Wong for what they brought to S2. I don;t want to turn this into anoth my season is better than your season thing but I loved so many episode in S2 which were pure class. I think if for eample The Curse Of Frank Black was in Season 3 people might think it wasn't so much the bitter pill it was to swallow. There's no doubt that the Marburg Virus effects were downplayed for S3 Ep1, can you imagine having to do that and retain credibilty?

I've been torn between 1 & 2 as well..... Though, in retrospect, each season has it's excellennt qualities. Just the fact that the flow from s2 to s3 was a little shaky might have been a turn off. People got used to the tone in s2 and didn't want that to end. I'm as guilty as the next person!