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Posted: Thu Jan 08, 2015 10:53 pm
by anti-clockwise
I am curious. When Clemens was fired from the first Tara episodes, was that execs at ABC? Were they British or American? Really dumb move. I guess we will never know or understand what lead to that. But after reading the book, it seems like losing the American ratings war was not the central issue, but a result of a struggling production.
Posted: Fri Jan 09, 2015 1:35 am
by frank
There is very little available data about ratings from back then. I did a lot of searching on the web.
I can tell you the Emma Peel episodes never averaged in the top 25 shows in terms of ratings.
I always wondered how much the production company was prepared to produce a full American season of episodes-even with the return of Clemens and Fennell. 22-26 episodes per year is normal over here. American studios would have been conditioned and equipped to crank out that many season after season.
I know Rigg was pretty vocal about the strain of the shooting schedule and Thorson said they often filmed multiple scripts at the same time
Posted: Fri Jan 09, 2015 3:42 am
by anti-clockwise
Actually why where there 33 episodes for Tara? That was over the top. Anyone know how that came to be?
Posted: Fri Jan 09, 2015 4:31 am
by frank
Actually from the US perspective, The Tara era covered a 1 1/2 seasons. In the states the first 7 epsiodes aired with the last 8 Peel epsiodes.
the remaining 26 aired in the fall
Posted: Fri Jan 09, 2015 6:29 pm
by cyberrich
anti-clockwise wrote:Actually why where there 33 episodes for Tara? That was over the top. Anyone know how that came to be?
They made the usual 26 episodes, and by then Clemens and the rest of the team knew this was to be the very last season. Clemens did say in an interview that there was enough money left in the pot for a further 7 episodes, so everyone decided to make them. So glad they did!
Rich.
Posted: Fri Jan 09, 2015 7:08 pm
by anti-clockwise
cyberrich wrote:anti-clockwise wrote:Actually why where there 33 episodes for Tara? That was over the top. Anyone know how that came to be?
They made the usual 26 episodes, and by then Clemens and the rest of the team knew this was to be the very last season. Clemens did say in an interview that there was enough money left in the pot for a further 7 episodes, so everyone decided to make them. So glad they did!
Rich.
thank you Rich and Frank. Seems like an unusual arrangement. I did not realize but the emma era was just a half year longer.
Posted: Sun Feb 15, 2015 11:13 pm
by Rodders
I received a nice review today from reader Phil Capp:
Just a note to say I have now completed this book and, as with its predecessors, enjoyed it thoroughly. Although like many I was not overkeen on the direction the series took post-Peel, this volume I found in some ways the most interesting due to the sheer variety of opinions and insight. Some terrific pieces in there, and well done to all. It's great that the series still generates this level of interest after 50 years.
Posted: Mon Feb 16, 2015 12:55 am
by mousemeat
cyberrich wrote:anti-clockwise wrote:Actually why where there 33 episodes for Tara? That was over the top. Anyone know how that came to be?
They made the usual 26 episodes, and by then Clemens and the rest of the team knew this was to be the very last season. Clemens did say in an interview that there was enough money left in the pot for a further 7 episodes, so everyone decided to make them. So glad they did!
Rich.
same here...glad...the final season on U.S. sadly, up against the number one show in the U.S ' Laugh-In' on NBC....but the whole season seemed
chaotic...tara had a tough act to follow in mrs.peel
Posted: Mon Feb 16, 2015 10:41 am
by Rodders
Regardless of ratings, finance etc., the show had run its natural course. The three filmed seasons offer us very different styles and spectacles: Op Art/film noir; pop art; psychedelic action adventure. If The Avengers had gone on, it would have overstayed its welcome. As Roy Ward Baker once said, it was of its time and it had had its time.
Posted: Mon Feb 16, 2015 2:51 pm
by Lhbizness
Sometimes it's easy to say that things had run their course - I wonder if The Avengers would have gone on had the final season had not been subjected to the production upheaval and cast unhappiness, particularly of its leading man, and had been more directed in writing and tone. It seems to me that the blame lies not in historical inevitability but a coming together of some disastrous elements, some of which were out of the show's immediate control and some which were not. The Avengers ended when it ended, but it did not *have* to end, any more than it did when Ian Hendry jumped ship.