lurkers-guide/ftp/Usenet/jms96-06-usenet

JMS Usenet messages for June 1996.

Date: 1 Jun 1996 13:35:50 -0400
Subject: Re: score one for you, JMS

Well, if he's your friend, then his good taste had to struggle out from
under the shadow of alternate programming sooner or later....



 jms




Date: 1 Jun 1996 21:50:09 -0400
Subject: Re: Attn JMS: B5 Demos  Was: JMS on CompuServe...

I've checked into this (the 1057 figure), and they sent out a new report
and it's still the same figure.  If you add the two figures together,
they're 926, which is *still* the highest figure around, so the facts
still stand.  

We had broken 1000 several other times in the "both" category, the week of
4/1 at 1057 and 4/29 at 1022; don't have the other weeks at hand.

I talked at length to one of the researchers about this, and he said he
was going to backtrack with the Neilsen company and see what they had to
say.  (They're the company that actually does the computations and pulls
in the figures, WB has nothing to do with it, all syndicated shows get the
same reports.)

He did indiate that there are a certain percentage of forms that come in
where the person with the ratings book for one reason or another chooses
not to put down either his/her sex or the sex of the person watching with
them.  (Some consider it a privacy issue, some don't want to indicate that
they're alone at home at night watching with a person of the same sex, so
they "forget" to put it down, or just withhold the information.)  So
there's always some variance; they can't just ignore the data of the
number of persons watching, but they can't plug in what they don't have.  

For instance, in Hercules for that quarter, you've got a figure of 369 for
women, 360 for men, and a total of 730, which is 1 more than the two
figures combined.

So the researcher is going to backtrack some more, but indicated that it
may be that we have an unusually high number of same-sex couples who watch
the show, but may be somewhat closeted about it.  Which would be
consistent with the fact that we get a lot of mail from gays and lesbians
who watch the show.

I'll be out of town for a couple weeks, but will eventually get back to
this.


 jms




Date: 2 Jun 1996 07:54:57 -0400
Subject: Re: JMS - Family Addicted to Babylon 5

Thanks, and I'm glad the show is something an entire family can watch
together.

Re: Battlefield Earth...the only problem (well, one of many) is of course
that a great deal of that series of books was written long after Hubbard's
death.

No plans to be up in SF for a bit.\

 jms




Date: 2 Jun 1996 07:57:13 -0400
Subject: Re: ATTN JMS: SD Comic Con

I do plan to be at San Diego Comic Con; haven't firmed up any specifics
yet.


 jms




Date: 3 Jun 1996 02:54:48 -0400
Subject: Re: ATTN JMS: CGI records

I actually don't know/haven't considered who's closest on EFX these days,
but I'd be willing to bet that the revised Star Wars EFX beat us and
everything else....


 jms




Date: 3 Jun 1996 17:28:22 -0400
Subject: Re: JMS - Intro for next season

I've pretty much decided on the narrative style for next season, and who's
involved, but would rather hold off on that for a bit.  Suffice to say
it'll be done in a style and in a way we haven't used before.


 jms




Date: 3 Jun 1996 17:28:06 -0400
Subject: Re: ATT JMS: Demographics numbers

I posted a long reply on this in the original demos thread; rather than
repeat, you may want to check there.


 jms





Date: 3 Jun 1996 17:28:20 -0400
Subject: Re: SPOILERS Season 4 First Episode

"In retrospect we now know that the Lurker's Guide announcement that B5
has 
been renewed for season 4 was not premature at all."

Incorrect.  The Lurker's Guide said that the show had been renewed.  It
had not yet been renewed, and has not *formally* been renewed yet.  You
don't say the baby has been born if it's still hanging around in it's
mother. 


 jms





Date: 17 Jun 1996 14:52:01 -0400
Subject: Re: ATTN JMS: Did You Really Say This?

I don't believe I ever stated it quite that way, mainly I have emphasized
that there may be justifications for actions on both sides.



 jms




Date: 17 Jun 1996 14:53:52 -0400
Subject: Re: ATTN: JMS--Production Process, Music

In reverse order...

1) Changes between 1st and final drafts are almost always production
changes ("can we put this scene in the Zocalo instead of the sanctuary, so
it'll save us a lighting change and camera move?") and some dialogue
tweaks.  Occasionally a scene will get trimmed a bit if it looks like the
show's coming up long.

2) Music...after John and I have done our cut, we sit down with the sound
effects people and Chris Franke for the spotting session.  Here, we watch
the episode all the way through.  I indicate where I want the music to
start, and where I want it to stop, and what kind of music I have in mind,
if it's that clear to me.  

E.g., "Music in at 12:23:15 (twelve minutes, 23 seconds and 15 frames),
out at 14:10:20.  We've got some heavy sound effects going on here, battle
stuff, which will take up a lot of the bottom and midrange, so you may
want to go for a bit higher frequency stuff.  Strings would be good
through this, counterpointing the battle.  I wouldn't mind if you could
somehow interpolate the Requiem theme through this part."  Chris then goes
off and makes magic.



 jms



From 

Date: 17 Jun 1996 13:07:23 -0400
Subject: Re: JMS: re. Double-Runs in LA!

Thanks; yes, LA will be getting the double runs, as will Chicago, I
believe, and a number of other stations, based on the continuing
improvements in ratings.

BTW, to anyone looking on...sorry I've been silent of late.  I was in the
UK for over a week, and I'm still on the jetlagged side, trying to catch
up.  Have been quiet all around lately, just trying to get my head back
into whatever time zone I'm in, and gearing up for year 4.



 jms




Date: 19 Jun 1996 01:36:28 -0400
Subject: Re: ATTN JMS: Is B5 dead?

It's amazing...we just get renewed for year 4 and 8 days into that renewal
people are asking us if we're dead...we've been declared dead more often
than Lazarus.

No, it's not a particular problem.  The situation is that PTEN is no
longer a real entity anymore; we're now a syndicated series now that the
network has gone south.  Many groups were nominally held together by that
thread; once the contractual thread was removed, there's going to be some
reshuffling of stations.  It's an everyday part of the business.  In some
other cases, because WB held off as long as it did on a decision, due to
the PTEN situation, a few places have filled their slots.

The problem with the nets is that if you see 6 messages about how a
station is opting out of the show, the perception is of 6 places where it
happened, when it's just the one.  This exact same thing happened this
time last season.  There's always a case of musical chairs around this
time of the year.  

WB is lining up stations to replace those which have opted out.  Bear in
mind that UPN stations and FOX stations have obligations to those networks
which preclude their responsibility to this one show; if UPN wants another
night on their schedule, it has to come from somewhere.  It happens all
the time.

Once the dust settles, I'd say all or nearly all of the areas in question
will have alternate stations available for the show.



 jms




Date: 18 Jun 1996 09:02:18 -0400
Subject: Re: Attn JMS: Chicago ComiCon?

Yes, I'll be at the Chicago ComicCon in Rosemont this coming weekend, with
a 2-hour B5 presentation slated for Saturday from 4-6 p.m., and apparently
there's some sort of off-convention B5 reception at 7:30 or thereabouts. 
(Not everyone who enjoys the show wants to pay the bucks for the whole
convention, so this was thunk up last time as a freebie for general fans
in the area at a local hotel.)

A caveat...the B5 presentation has generally been the biggest thing at the
con the last few years, so if you're going to be there, be early,
otherwise the seats get filled and folks get stuck in the doorway and the
hall.  Last time the main room held about 2,000 and still got jammed.

I won't be bringing an episode -- WB isn't allowing this anymore for its
shows -- but can bring clips and other fun stuph.


 jms




Date: 28 Jun 1996 04:12:02 -0400
Subject: Re: Memories from Chicago Comicon (includes question for JMS)

"Having read JMS's posts on the net for years and now having seen him talk
in person, I have heard probably hundreds of anecdotes from him about his
life, his career, growing up, getting the show on the air, and managing
the cast/crew to keep it going.  It dawned on me last weekend that many of
these stories are quite similar to the example stories that one finds in a
book on self-esteem, self-motivation, and management books (the ones about
how to get the most out of your employees by making sure they enjoy
working for you).  JMS:  Have you ever considered writing these down into
a book about your philosophy/ motivation/etc?   I think it would be great
reading!"

I think it would be an absolutely hideous waste of several dozen
old-growth trees.

It would be the height of stupidity and arrogance on my part (your
suggestion was well-intentioned and sincere, don't confuse the two) to
even consider the notion.  I have nothing to teach *anybody* in these
areas.  I don't have any answers, only questions.  And my experiences are
generally so idiosyncratic, so much the product of just falling on my face
a thousand times until one day I figured out a way so that I didn't *have*
to fall on my face anymore, that I can't imagine they'd be of much use to
anyone, and their entertainment value is mainly either anecdotal or for
humorous effect.

A book about the trials and tribulations in making the show...sure, maybe.
 A book of my philosophy about this sort of thing, with anecdotes?  I
can't imagine anything that could be more boring and self-serving.\

 jms




Date: 29 Jun 1996 20:04:40 -0400
Subject: Re: att JMS

There are no plans currently for the return of Talia.


 jms