TVSquad

Besides the panels that focused on various television programs, Comic-Con also had panels on the TV industry in general. One of these panels that I had time to cover was on genre television shows.

This wasn't a panel featuring writers and producers of obscure genre shows you have never heard of. The people on this panel had long careers in television and, in most cases, were actively writing or producing. These included Steve Melching, writer on the new Star Wars: The Clone Wars movie, Ashley Miller, writer on The Sarah Connor Chronicles, and Susan Watson, showrunner for Middleman. Also included on the panel were Harry Werskman and Gabrielle Stanton -- former showrunners for Moonlight.

The panel was quite interesting and touched upon many aspects of genre TV writing and producing. For instance, the panelists all agreed that it was now easier to get a genre show on the air these days. Said Harry Werksman, "The dial is filled with genre shows." Was it easy to sustain them? Harry answered with an emphatic "No".

Gabrielle had a different take on this. She said while it's hard to keep a genre show on one of the big networks, it's easier to do so on cable, where these shows have time to breathe. Sarah Watson agreed with this statement, saying that Middleman, which has average ratings at best, has the support of ABC Family. She added that the show would have been gone already if it aired on one of the regular networks.

Another question posed to the panel was the influence of the Internet community on genre shows. Matthew Federman, writer on Jericho, said that they do have an influence when it comes to their favorite programs. Federman relayed a story about a reaction to a love triangle on the former CBS series. The writers wanted to go one way about the romantic storyline. Meanwhile, they were reading the blogs and show comments to get feedback from fans and getting the feeling that many were against the romantic storyline. Eventually, this led the writers to rethink the direction the love triangle should take.

The avid fan bases these shows have was brought up to the panel as well. With the case of the nut campaign to renew Jericho, Federman said that the writers felt they now had a mandate to satisfy the fans after the show was renewed. Gabrielle added that having a rabid fan base was cool. When she was writing for Farscape she didn't realize how big the fanbase was for the show because of her Australian filming location. When Moonlight gained its fanbase it was different because she experienced it as it was happening.

The removal of Moonlight was brought up to Harry and Gabrielle when an audience member mentioned that she and her fan group were buying ad space on forty Los Angeles buses with a message to renew the show. While Gabrielle loved the fan support she said the campaign probably wouldn't work: the sets were struck and the cast members had moved on to other projects. However, she did appreciate the sentiment and dedication of the fan base to get the show picked up again.

A number of questions to the panel dealt with getting a genre show on the air and working with clueless executives and limited budgets. David Simkins, currently writing for the new series Warehouse 13, said that it's not impossible to get a show on the air if you have connections with the executives. Sometimes, Simkins added, the network already has something in development they want you to work with. Pertaining to limited budgets, Ashley Miller said making the show has to be done smartly. You may have restraints, he continued, but you get past them because the show you're working on is a labor of love.

One of the final questions asked of the panel was about a resurgence of science fiction shows on television. Simkins said science fiction shows had always been popular and available to a niche audience. What has been happening recently is the nice audience has gotten so big it has become the regular audience.