jms Tells the Chris Carter/CBS story at Loscon

[B5JMS Poster]

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From: The Reverend Jacob Corbin <webmaster at afriendlysbooks.com>
Date: 1 Dec 1999 15:43:07 -0700
Lines: 18



Brian Watson wrote:

> Wow.  Then all his work will continue to be crap then.  It took decades for
> Paramount to run out of steam with Roddenberry's work, and it only took about 7
> years for Fox to run out of steam with Chris's work.  Too bad.

    I don't think it was Fox who ran out of steam with Carter's work -- it was
Carter himself.  The guy's kept stringing people along on "The X-Files" because
he's more or less written himself into a corner, and the audience has gotten bored
with it all.  I don't think Fox had much to do with that one way or another, though
I both commend them for their mercy killing of "Harsh Realm" and am slightly
annoyed with the canning of the JMS project.

    Reverend Jake



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From: jmsatb5 at aol.com (Jms at B5)
Date: 1 Dec 1999 23:14:49 -0700
Lines: 31

Just to jump in a bit...

The irony of course is that if Harsh Realm had been canceled even a week later,
we would've concluded the deal with CBS for the show I'd created and which
Chris, Frank Spotnitz and I would exec produce.  CBS had agreed to a pilot
production deal, and they were haggling over the per episode license fee should
the show get picked up for series when HR got canceled and the ripple effect
started.

The other thing I wanted to mention is that in my years in the biz, I have
rarely enjoyed a partnership with anyone as much as with Chris and Frank, who
are not only stand-up guys, but in all of our discussions I don't think a
single idea got broached that didn't make sense.  

Their approach is the same we had at B5: you check your ego at the door and do
what's best for the story.  I have nothing but good things to say about them,
and even though Fox felt that they needed to go forth only with 100% CC after
HR was canceled (the logic being that it didn't work because Chris didn't
actually create it), I consider the experience a positive one.

They're good people over there at 1013.

 jms

(jmsatb5 at aol.com)
B5 Official Fan Club at:
http://www.thestation.com




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