"There's no place I can be/ Since I found Serenity..."

I watched the first disc of Joss Whedons's brilliant Firefly last night, and cannot express in words what a fantastic world has been created. Much like the world of Battlestar Galactica, Whedon's universe is gritty, realistic, and dirty. People don't look like they've stepped out of a futuristic fashion shoot, in other words. The world is completely believeable, the characters are fantastic, and I wish I lived there because it would be much more exciting!

However, in the tradition of most excellent sci-fi shows, it was cancelled. I understand that the channel that airs the show is only concerned about making money, but I think that most television executives don't really understand how science fiction shows work. Something like Firefly, like Battlestar Galactica, Red Dwarf and Space, Above and Beyond before it, is going to quickly grab a fanatically loyal but quite small fan base. These people are going to threaten, bully, trick, and cajole their friends into watching the series. And they will be addicted. The same thing will happen with more people, and by the time the show is half-way through its second series or by the beginning of the third, they're going to have a huge group of drooling fans anticipating every second of every show they air. The problem is, in this world of instant gratification, they don't want to invest that money. So it gets canceled. And then people like this guy try to get a petition going so that someone, anyone, airs it again.