Why You Shouldn't Bother With MINORITY REPORT Or Any Fox Sci-Fi Series

I swear to you this started out as a review. I sat down and pulled up the first episode of Fox's latest primetime sci-fi Minority Report and began my watch. I sat and critically examined the show. Was the acting solid? How's the story? Will our audience like it? Then it hit me. None of that f****** matters.

Fox has an insanely bad history with science fiction series. For every Gotham and Sleepy Hollow, there's an Almost Human, Firefly, Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, Terra Nova, and Fringe in its wake. Fox has shown time and time again they can take a perfectly good series and completely flush it with poor management and executive decisions. 

It's easy to blame the mainstream audience. Geeks are a small niche audience, we don't deserve a prime time slot, and to their credit, sometimes they're right. Our critical nature and skepticism typically leads to slow numbers in the beginning of a series, unless, of course, a superhero is attached. The numbers have typically picked up with these favorites and the day one fans breathe a sigh of relief until the fated hiatus comes and Fox does what they always do.

"Be sure to catch 'insert sci fi show here' on its new night and time."

Awesome... well, there goes the building audience. Fox execs with no faith scatter series' in a panic inducing way for whatever comedian has a new show. So the enjoyment you once had from a series inevitably becomes a hassle as those who don't have DVR tune out because as much as they love their show, they love their Friday evenings more, and the headlines start.

You panic as the only news you read on your new beloved show from day to day are creator interviews saying the shows future is uncertain. Actors thanking fans for their support, and then the inevitable blog writer that writes a desperate plea to save his show.

I was that last guy. Last year Fox burned me bad with Almost Human. If you didn't see it last year (no surprise if you didn't) I highly encourage you to check out the full series on CW Seed, as this show had it all. Seriously how could a show with two well known actors (Michael Ealy and Karl Urban) fail? The production value was surprisingly high, the dynamic between Ealy and Urban awesome, and the concept was refreshing and appealing. Numbers for the show's first couple episodes were surprisingly solid! It was a dream, it was fantastic, and it was also f***** cancelled.

I'll admit things were a little rough in the show's run. Critics complained there were inconsistencies within the show's story, and I'll admit, there were. We'd watch one episode where Ealy and Urban were buddy buddy and then the next it'd be like they hardly know each other. After a few weeks of reviews bashing the inconsistencies (which hurt numbers), the creator spoke out and said Fox executives had changed the episode order of the official show.

You might remember another famous Fox-produced classic that had this exact thing happen by the name of Firefly. In both cases execs made the argument that the decisions were made to keep the action heavy throughout the length of the series...you know because that's the most important thing. F*** continuity.

Long story short, I'm still pissed about it. So pissed that I don't even want to commit to this new series they are desperately shoving down our throats like they depend on us to watch it...and then have likely given up on it by the time of this publishing. I can't Fox...I just can't feel that hurt again.