History Main / TheFireflyEffect

The Firefly Effect refers to an audience not tuning in to a new series because they don't believe the series will last long enough to make up for the investment of time and emotions. You are anticipating a MythArc to be CutShort ie "[[SafetyInIndifference The network is just going to cancel this, so I'm not giving it my heart]]." If enough people think this way it may become a SelfFulfillingProphecy -- people don't watch because they think the show will be canceled, and then the show is cancelled ''because'' no one is watching it.

The Firefly Effect refers to an audience not tuning in to a new series because they don't believe the series will last long enough to make up for the investment of time and emotions. You are anticipating a MythArc to be CutShort ie "[[SafetyInIndifference The network is just going to cancel this, so I'm not giving it my heart]]." If enough people think this way it may become a SelfFulfillingProphecy -- people don't watch because they think the show will be canceled, and then the show is cancelled because no one is watching it.

FrontThirteenBackNine is a standard of testing the waters that audiences have become familiar with, if there is a DrivingQuestion that you're not sure the first batch of episodes can make compelling then you assume it won't last for the second batch where everything pays off. It can be a real problem for all the ''Series/{{Lost}}'' clones and other [[OntologicalMystery Ontological Mysteries]], which aren't worth watching if they don't get more than one season, and especially if they don't even get a full season--and they often don't. That is also the sort of TV shows most likely to be hit by this effect, but it can hit ''any'' show that makes it clear up-front that you need to be ''involved'' in the overarching plot and dynamic character to make sense of the show in the long run. That up-front demand plus the uncertainty that there will ''be'' a long run allows TheChrisCarterEffect to start before the TV show does, meaning the fans never ''start'' watching.

''Sometimes, viewers are so afraid that a show will be ScrewedByTheNetwork that they refuse to watch it, even if it sounds appealing to them.''

The Firefly Effect refers to viewers being afraid of committing to a new series because they don't believe the series will last long enough to make up for the investment of time and emotions. "[[SafetyInIndifference The network is just going to cancel this, so I'm not giving it my heart]]." If enough viewers think this way towards a particular TV series, it may become a SelfFulfillingProphecy--people don't watch because they think the show will be canceled, and then the show is cancelled because no one is watching it.

Television executives don't tend to want to invest in intelligent or overly complex series, because they worry that the given show will be less popular (and thus draw in less money from ratings) if [[ViewersAreMorons viewers are required to use their brains]]. As well as the trope namer ''Series/{{Firefly}}'', ''Series/StarTrekVoyager'' was a quintessential example of this trope--it had an initial premise which was very similar to that of ''Firefly'' in some respects, and although the show didn't get cancelled, said initial premise was basically scrapped... along with the series being made a lot less intelligent and a lot more action-packed.

It can be a real problem for all the ''Series/{{Lost}}'' clones and other [[OntologicalMystery Ontological Mysteries]], which aren't worth watching if they don't get more than one season, and especially if they don't even get a full season--and they often don't. That is also the sort of TV shows most likely to be hit by this effect, but it can hit ''any'' show that makes it clear up-front that you need to be ''involved'' in the characters and/or overarching plot to make sense of the show in the long run. That up-front demand plus the uncertainty that there will ''be'' a long run allows TheChrisCarterEffect to start before the TV show does, meaning the fans never ''start'' watching...

Even some shows that seemed feasible only over one (22-episode) season (such as ''Reunion'', ''Series/DayBreak2006'', ''Series/{{Kidnapped}}'', ''Vanished'', and ''Series/Drive2007'') suffer from this effect, due to [[Front13Back9 the episode order getting shortened to 13]]. In ''Reunion''[='s=] case, the producers didn't even bother finishing the storyline, because it only made sense over a full 22 episodes rather than the shortened 13

Incidentally, many of these shows (including TropeNamer ''Firefly'') were on Creator/{{Fox}}--basically because Fox was likely to give the sort of show that gets this effect an initial run, but tended to be too Nielsen-sensitive to be patient. Fox has been experimenting to test the nature of this effect, as evidenced by ''Series/{{Fringe}}'' (which seems to have escaped this trope, airing for five seasons) and ''Series/{{Dollhouse}}'' (if this trope can apply to a show that has run for more than one season, then ''Dollhouse'' is it).

With the rise of Creator/{{Netflix}} and other streaming services during the TheNewTens, it was initially believed that this would no longer be a relevant trope. However, during the late 2010s and especially during TheNewTwenties, streaming services would follow the same pattern laid out above. While some of this was due to overcorrecting from audience numbers received during and after the UsefulNotes/COVID19Pandemic, viewership numbers also play a part and often the show just didn't perform as well as the service wanted it to, not to mention the influence critical and fan reviews have. This often leaves those shows on unresolved cliffhangers or with an AccidentalDownerEnding. Netflix have become the poster-boy for this trope however, as unlike other services, it frequently greenlights lots of projects throughout the year and has to cancel much of what they output due to the above reasons.

With the rise of Creator/{{Netflix}} and other streaming services during the TheNewTens, it was initially believed that this would no longer be a relevant trope. However, during the late 2010s and especially during TheNewTwenties, streaming services would follow the same pattern laid out above. While some of this was due to overcorrecting from audience numbers received during and after UsefulNotes/COVID19Pandemic, viewership numbers also play a part and often the show just didn't perform as much as the service wanted it to, not to mention the influence critical and fan reviews have. This often leaves those shows on unresolved cliffhangers or with an AccidentalDownerEnding. Netflix have become the poster-boy for this trope however, as unlike other services, it frequently greenlights lots of projects throughout the year and has to cancel much of what they output due to the above reasons.

With the rise of Creator/{{Netflix}} and other streaming services during the TheNewTens, it was initially believed that this would no longer be a relevant trope. However, during the late 2010s and especially during TheNewTwenties, streaming - and Netflix in particular - would develop a reputation for cancelling shows after one or two seasons because the viewership wasn't as high as they wanted, often leaving those shows on unresolved cliffhangers, sometimes leaving behind an AccidentalDownerEnding. It's gotten to the point where Netflix has become even ''more'' infamous for this sort of thing than Fox ever was.

With the rise of Creator/{{Netflix}} and other streaming services during the TheNewTens, it was initially believed that this would no longer be a relevant trope. However, during the late 2010s and especially during TheNewTwenties, streaming - and Netflix in particular - would develop a reputation for cancelling shows after one or two seasons because the viewership wasn't as high as they wanted, often leaving those shows on unresolved cliffhangers. It's gotten to the point where Netflix has become even ''more'' infamous for this sort of thing than Fox ever was.

With the rise of Creator/{{Netflix}} and other streaming services during the TheNewTens, it was initially believed that this would no longer be a relevant trope. However, during the late 2010s and especially during TheNewTwenties, streaming - and Netflix in particular - would develop a reputation for cancelling shows after one or two seasons because the viewership wasn't as high as they wanted. It's gotten to the point where Netflix has become even ''more'' infamous for this sort of thing than Fox ever was.

With the rise of Creator/{{Netflix}} and other streaming services during the UsefulNotes/TheNewTens, it was initially believed that this would no longer be a relevant trope. However, during the late 2010s and especially during UsefulNotes/TheNewTwenties, streaming - and Netflix in particular - would develop a reputation for cancelling shows after one or two seasons because the viewership wasn't as high as they wanted. It's gotten to the point where Netflix has become even ''more'' infamous for this sort of thing than Fox ever was.

Television executives don't tend to want to invest in intelligent or overly complex series, because they worry that the given show will be less popular (and thus draw in less money from ratings) if [[ViewersAreMorons viewers are required to use their brains]]. As well as the trope namer ''Series/{{Firefly}}'', ''Series/StarTrekVoyager'' was a quintessential example of this trope--it had an initial premise which was very similar to that of ''Firefly'' in some respects, and although the show didn't get cancelled, said initial premise was basically scrapped... along with the series being made a lot less intelligent and a lot more violent.

This is not yet a deprecated trope. But the rise of streaming and premium cable means cancellation--while not unheard-of--is less likely to occur before a major story arc is completed (i.e. a series with a six-episode story arc being cancelled after two episodes). For example, ''Series/JessicaJones2015'', released through Creator/{{Netflix}}, was never in any danger of being cancelled halfway through its first season, allowing fans to invest in the show without worry. Similarly, the streaming model allows viewers to choose how they invest their time. Someone who might not have watched one half-hour episode per week for an entire month to decide whether a new series is "worth it" will happily burn those two hours in ''one'' night. And it gives fans the flexibility to wait for word of mouth about a particular show before investing their time, though only to a point. However, some streaming shows have been cancelled due to lack of views within a certain length of time, and others have one season's worth of content broken up into mini-seasons, so the effect can still apply for people worried that either a season ends on a SequelHook or was cancelled before the other half of the season could be released.