One of the things that kills me anytime a show I love doesn’t get picked up for additional seasons — or is flat-out canceled mid-season — is dangling storylines. Being that I’m into sci-fi shows, enduring long story arcs is pretty commonplace. So, when word came that Defying Gravity was not only not getting a second season, but it wouldn’t be airing the final handful of episodes in the U.S., it was par for the course. But dammit, I wanted to know what was going to happen next!
Via powerful, mystical, magical items that I won’t reveal here, for fear the secret will fall into the wrong hands, I was able to watch the final episodes of the first and only season of Defying Gravity. Ivey’s already written about them, the final episode having aired on Canada’s CTV and SPACE channels last weekend. Unlike another sci-fi show that was cut short soon — the U.S. version of Life on Mars — Defying Gravity wasn’t allowed to wrap up its story. In fact, even if it had the time to prepare for it, there’s just no way it could wrap everything up in one season. The season only got better in the latter episodes, which makes the show being gone all the more disappointing.
Still, I had to know how the show was meant to end. If there was truly no hope that the show would get picked up somewhere else, I had to jump at a chance to find out what was going to happen next. So, I went straight to the source and contacted the show’s creator, James Parriott, to get a reading from the next book from the Defying Gravity bible. And, lordy, did he read.
First of all, let’s get the basics out of the way. Parriott confirmed to me that the actors have all been released and the sets have been destroyed, so the show is “pretty much dead” — no real hope now of seeing the show get the CPR it needs to continue on into another season or a wrap-up movie.
So, why did the show not do better in the first place, if it’s as good as I say? As Parriott explained, the show wasn’t officially picked up by ABC until a mere three weeks before the first episode aired, virtually giving them no time to market the show properly. By that time, all ad space they needed for the show to get the awareness it needed was spoken for.
Getting back to what I said about a show “bible,” Parriott said that in order to sell the show, he had to have the show worked out, and he does indeed have a bible for it. In fact, he has the first three years of the show all worked out, along with how it would ultimately end. Because Parriott has what he said is “a tremendous respect for science fiction and its fans,” he didn’t want to string viewers along too long without anything significant to reveal, which is why Beta was revealed in episode nine and not somewhere in season two; he wasn’t about to leave us with “a big hole in the ground” at the finale. Lost fans know what he’s talking about.
Speaking of Lost, here’s a fun bit he had to say about the show and how it relates to how he went into putting Defying Gravity together:
“I love the show [Lost], and Damon [Lindelof] and Carlton [Cuse]. I did a lot with Grey’s Anatomy during the first couple of years of Grey’s, and that first year of Grey’s was the first year of Lost, and I did a lot of dinners with ABC buyers with those two guys and Shonda Rhimes from Grey’s. Carlton is a really bright and funny guy, and he gets up, and the first question out of the foreign buyers’ mouths is ‘where’s it going to go? Do you know where it’s going to go?’, and he said ‘I haven’t a clue.’ And then he sits down across from me at the dinner table, and I remember saying ‘Damon, come on, that’s bullshit, right? I mean, you know where it’s going to go.’ And he says, ‘Jim, I haven’t a clue. I’m four episodes out; that’s all I know.’
“And I just thought to myself, y’know, that’s really dangerous. And then when I got into doing this show, I said I don’t want to do that; I don’t want to be in that position. First of all, I’d have ulcers if I did that, which would just be crazy, and I wouldn’t be able to sleep at night. So I went in pretty much knowing where it was going to go.”
I’ve often said that having the “Grey’s Anatomy” tag on this show really hurt it. Sci-fi fans ran for the hills when they saw it was going to be Grey’s-in-space, so it never took off. So, I asked Parriott about that.
“First of all, ABC literally bought the show three weeks before it aired. ABC, I think, in their own way, were trying to kill it. They had been planning to buy the show all summer long, so they had us on a hook. But they wouldn’t commit, wouldn’t commit, wouldn’t commit. While they weren’t committing, they were cutting trailers and were preparing to launch, but they weren’t telling anybody. And then they finally committed three weeks before launch.”
Essentially, the only people who saw the promos were the 1.5 million viewers through ABC’s summer schedule.
“[Having the Grey's Anatomy tag] probably hurt the show ultimately. But in terms of trying to sell the show, as sort of a quick pitch … for the buyers, it had to be ‘look, it’s a show in space, but it’s not a space show. This is a space show that’s going to attract women.’ That seemed to be the easiest thing to do. In fact, I don’t think we ever really coined the phrase that it’s Grey’s in space; someone had just said that and we said ‘OK.’”
So why wasn’t the show pitched instead to Syfy? Couldn’t the show have shined there and gotten the attention it needed and deserved? “You know, it could have. But we were always trying to create a network show and not a cable show. So if you go out and just say “we’re sci-fi,” the networks sort of balk at that. They want to know it’s bigger and the potential audience is broader than a sci-fi audience. However, when it became clear that ABC wasn’t going to give us a big summer launch and not be promoted as well as we wanted, I was encouraging the studio not to sell it and go to Syfy. And in fact they did go to them, but they did it too late and after we already aired two episodes. I said, ‘would you guys buy this if we pulled it from ABC and give it to you for free on rerun and buy us into a second season?’ But then you’ve already aired and you’re taking the wind out of Syfy’s sails, because they can’t promote it as ‘their’ show. And Mark Stern [Syfy Exec VP of Original Content] was very interested in it, but once it aired on ABC you lose your caché. And you’re done. But we could have survived on Syfy and done many seasons.
If it had been an ABC developed show, believe me, we would have been promoted and been put into a better time slot.”
Now, let’s get into the answers to some of the unanswered questions from the show. First of all, Parriott won’t yet reveal to me the ending of the show, as he’s still holding onto hopes that something will come out of left field and cause it to be revived again, in one for or another. If, in six months, the show doesn’t see the light of day again, then we may get our answer.
Let’s go over the characters Parriott and I discussed:
Clacked by Keith McDuffee
on Oct 29, 2009 @ 13:00 EST5EDT
I loved the show. I didn’t get to see it when it was on originally (didn’t really know about it) and was able to grab all 13 episodes off the net. The quality of the production was awesome. I liked the characters and even though the show moved slowly the first 3-4 episodes, I was able to follow it and get more interested with each episode.
I absolutely hate the TV networks anymore. Everything for these monster moneygrubbers has to be instant gratification. If a show isn’t popular within the first couple of episodes, they axe it because it doesn’t have viewership. Honestly, I watch 75% of my shows via DVR because there are too many on at the same time. But, the networks don’t account for that so many shows that have huge followings don’t get their fair share in the rankings. What a true pity. I doubt the networks will ever learn. Truly sad. If only DG had been brought out on SciFi channel, I think it would have done great!
SCREW THE NETWORKS!!!
Just watched the 5 un-aired “Defying Gravity” segments via iTunes purchase — what a pity this is gone — Sci Fi at it’s best — IMO the last few years have been wierd with the Sci Fi genre on TV — Starting back with Firefly and ending with this — 2 great shows come and go with great angst — too bad DG was given the short stick — the last few episodes are great — it might have made it despite the lack of support from the network — lets hope a movie can be made that will take us through the story board — Serenity was better than a hanging chad — Hopefully DG won’t get Butchered — at least there will continue to be Butcher books — and then to close this rant on the injustice of Sci Fi programing — how about the grab for money by the people behind the name change at Sy Fy — they said basically it wasn’t for nerds anymore — oh well — Nerd Out !!!!
Looked and looked all winter for the final episodes of season 1, bought the DVD and found the show was really taking off just as it ends. Tell Sifi not to worry. If they were do pick up where ABC dropped the ball we would all follow. Excellent show, lets get on with it!
Knew something was up when two episodes in BBC2 started changeing the times and days this was aired. But I was still devestated to hear it had been cancelled as it’s the best thing thats been on tele for a long time. It shows how good it was as when catching up on the episodes I’d taped I ended up watching all last four episodes off the belt as I couldn’t tear myself away. It’s a shame such an excellent show wasn’t given a fair chance when there’s so much crap on (you all know what I mean) that they drag on and on. Lets just hope that some one can bring it back, or even James Parriot to bring out the rest in the form of a book!! As I’m dieing to know what happens next.
we (my family and i) just finished watching the rest of season 1 on DVD, and i CANNOT thank you enough for publishing this very revealing interview with james parriott.
defying gravity is/was an amazing show. it was fun and exciting on so many levels, and its so depressing to see yet another awesome genre show get the ax because of bad decision making from a lame network. i wish this show would make a come back somehow, there is so much going on and such opportunities for further seasons!
i want to know more about beta and the other artifacts. i want to know what happens between ted and eve, rollie and jen, and donner and zoe. i want to see how donner would react to nadia turning into a man! i love the chemistry between paula and wass…
i could go on and on! what an awesome show, i am sooo sad to see it done. but again, i am so very thankful for this article that has at least answered some major questions.
Loved the show. Never knew it was on ABC.. I found it on the web and started watching it..I ranks up there with Stargate! Screw ABC, take it to SyFy it belongs there anyways. This should have been a number one show. It was awesome! I couldn’t agree more with the poster above me (rad sugar rose), the interview was perfect.
Absolutely loved the show, recorded the series and finished the last 3 episodes yesterday. Watched the entire thing with my girlfriend who is seriously not into sci fi on any level but absolutley loved the show to the extent that she not me searched for any reference to a second series only to find out to our great disappointment that it had been cancelled. Just shows what could have been with better promotion. The wide audience could have been reached easily. Actually gutted that the ideas listed above will never be followed through.
Any chance Pariott will release the screen plays for the remaining plot as a book. I would buy it in a second.
Really liked this show – and I very much appreciate your sharing some wrap up with us. I hope there is another way to fund shows in the future as the networks are too painful to deal with. I found myself doing that same as commenter H Mercer above, got the last 5 episodes on DVD and couldn’t stop until I finished all of them. Also agree that if no one else will pick this up as a series, I would greatly enjoy reading the rest of the story.
I loved this show from the very opening sequence and am still so mad that it was cancelled! Now that I finally got to watch the last few episodes of season 1 on DVD, I’m even madder because it was an excellent, intriguing show that had just the right mix of mystery, sci-fi, and romance. The actors were well-chosen and did an excellent job with these characters! I would love to see it continued – somewhere, anywhere! I just hate that we don’t get a resolution to this story – I want more Defying Gravity!!
I liked the show very much. I like science fiction and I like Grey’s anatomy (at least the first couple of seasons). I hope we’ll get to see more! Thanks for revealing all that information about future episodes.
I just loved the show, from the first episode on TV…to the final one on DVD. I have never purchased a TV program on DVD before, But I had to have it, I had to know how it finished it’s first season.
If season two ran only on DVD, I would buy that one also.
It was an excellent show, from the cast and crew to the sets and music…..oh and let’s not forget the plot!!
My lady friend love it too! We are both saddened by it’s demise. I wish ABC could feel our pain. Once the series “Lost” is done, I will never watch ABC again. To the Writers, Directors, and Financial Backers of this fine show…please bring it back! If I have to donate money to make it happen, I will!
See you all at Major Toms!
RMN