XPost: rec.arts.tv, rec.arts.sf.tv, alt.tv.babylon-5   
   From: fn62@dial.pipex.com   
      
   "Daniel Forrest"  wrote in message   
   news:6au02bvrot.fsf@yoda.lmcg.wisc.edu...   
   > "Alison Hopkins"  writes:   
   >   
   >> It's only libel if it is false. And if you refer to what I have said, I   
   >> made   
   >> it very clear that Bruce was one of the very few protected cast members.   
   >> The   
   >> fact that jms screwed people has absolutely nothing to do with what or   
   >> whether he earns. It has a great deal to do with the fact that   
   >> Babylonian's   
   >> profits were protected at the expense of the actors. Who are a much   
   >> larger   
   >> part of the show. Let's face it, you can make a crap movie with Tom   
   >> Cruise   
   >> and people will still go see it. How many TV shows or films do you think   
   >> are   
   >> watched by people who do so *specifically* because of the writer?   
   >   
   > So now you go from "crapped on" to "screwed", but you keep ignoring   
   > the facts in order to grind your axe some more.   
      
   The terms have the same meaning.   
      
   >   
   > The contracts the actors signed for the fifth season were options on   
   > the same contracts they signed in the first year.  No one was   
   > "screwed".  No one had their contract changed.   
      
   Wrong. These were new contracts.   
      
   >Did they lose out   
   > because of the change from a network to basic cable?  Yes.  Did Bruce   
   > enjoy a better deal because he joined the cast after the first season   
   > and was a "big name" actor?  Yes.  You don't like it?  Fine.  But try   
   > to maintain the difference between what are facts and what are your   
   > opinions of those facts.  Unless the contracts were changed, your   
   > assertions about motive have no validity other than opinion.   
      
   I think you have not read my other posts. I state those things I was told,   
   at the time, by cast members and staff.   
      
   >   
   > As for your last question, many people watched Jeremiah on Showtime   
   > only because JMS was a writer/producer.  Many of them subscribed to   
   > Showtime for that reason only.   
      
   That's hardly mainstream TV. Thousands, perhaps, rather than the tens of   
   millions attracted to a film starring a big name actor.   
      
   >   
   > As other examples, Threshold, Galactica, Odyssey 5, and the final   
   > season of Enterprise, were all shows I started watching because of   
   > who was at the helm.  This is more a question of who is directing   
   > the story line rather than who is writing the individual episodes.   
   > I would add ER as another example of a show where the creator   
   > (Michael Crichton) was a huge help in its initial success (I much   
   > preferred its competition, Chicago Hope).   
   >   
      
   You are conflating your actions as an SF fan - sadly, a very small   
   minority - with the actions of the Great Unwashed Masses.   
      
   Ali   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)