Fancy Footwork - Finale or Filler?

[Deleted]

Okay, I'm putting this thread here in the hopes that one of our esteemed admins will move it accordingly.

Questions have been raised over and over again about the 22 episode vis-a-vis 13 episode dilemma and, as I've said several times, Ron did tell me and LL that there were 22 episodes shot.

Did they expect it to be a full season show? Perhaps; but we can speculate about this until NBC's Deaf Justice comes out (yes, sarcasm!).

I do know, as I indicated in another thread, that there are two episodes filmed for all shows: a series finale and a season finale; the ratings dictate which will be used.

But, in my mind (and I could be wrong), Fancy Footwork was not intended to be a series nor a season finale. Now, bear with me, I haven't watched in a while - those closest to me on this board know I'm in grueling rehearsals every night - but there was really no "finality", if you will, to the show. Sure, he gave up the gun, had his moment of mourn and all of that, but in particular, the dance scene that never ends. That, to me, was a last minute filler - again, I'll have to watch it to be really specific, but from what I remember, it was way too long and really had no meaning whatsoever. Sure, I was attacked on another board for not recognizing that Jim and Christie were "on the road to recovery." How? Because they danced at the end? A very wise friend on this board concurred with me in feeling that he seemed emasculated in that scene (and I'm not using the real word! .)

My feeling, if they took it further, perhaps would have taken us deeper into the angst of their marriage and, maybe, we would have NOT seen them together anymore (uh-oh, did I say that in my out-loud voice?). After all, Rena was pregnant then, so it makes sense. But, I stress, just my opinion. I felt this way when I saw it, and I stand true to my feeling.

As for a DVD release, I suppose it could happen. I didn't realize that there have been some releases of shows with "episodes never seen on TV" and that would be awesome.

However, Fancy Footwork the finale? No. Fancy Footwork the last-minute-scramble-because-we-got-the-axe? YES.

[maggiethecat]

Oh, Jeez . . . here we go again, and thanks and karma, bebe, for this great new discussion!

Was Fancy Footwork slammed together as a series finale, or was it intended as the season finale? I vote for a season finale that unfortunately became the series finale, and here’s why:

Let’s start with that famous comment Ron Eldard made to bebe and longlashes about their having been 22 episodes. Straight from the horses’s mouth, so we can’t doubt (snicker, snicker) the man. That bein’ said, does that mean 22 shot and in the can and ready to air, or 22 scripted and ready to be shot had the series been picked up?

Don’t shoot me -- please, please, please! -- but I vote for 22 "planned" and Fancy Footwork as the finale, and here’s my reasoning:

1. First of all, from an actor’s point of view, if you’ve gotten the scripts, memorized the lines, rehearsed, talked with the writers and the producer, and thought through the part . . . well, that’s almost a done deal. Plays that close in rehearsal count as plays done, in other words.

2. Nowhere, in any of the pre-premiere interviews (and God knows we’ve read ‘em all) did anyone – not RE, not Steven Bochco, not Marisol Nichols, not anyone even remotely connected with Blind Justice – talk about anything other than the 13 episodes we saw (and nothing other than the original 13 has been sold to or aired in any overseas market). The 13 episodes -- which were completed before the show premiered on March 8, 2005 -- is what everyone was talking about.

3. So the show airs as scheduled, and then on May 17th ABC cancels it. That means Bochco has one full month before the end air date of June 21 to re-edit, make new episodes out of what has been shot -- one month to do anything he wants to, basically, knowing that this is all the viewers will get of Dunbar's story. From an article that was on-line last year about the cinematography team, we know that Blind Justice shot and edited each episode in eight days. So, with a month before the end date, they could have done anything they wanted to . . . why didn’t they give us a better series finale?

Because, folks, that was all they had in the can. Most of the cast had moved on to other shows and other projects, RE included.

Let’s look at the time line. On their website schedule, ABC originally had Blind Justice starting re-runs in the first week of August 2005, running the original 13 through October. Which brings us up to season premiere time, and, had the show been picked up, that’s when they would have aired the nine additional episodes . . . which would have brought us up to mid-season replacement time, and another round of cancellations.

Television series shoot in the summer -- when the additional 9 episodes would have been shot to air in the fall. So yeah, I really do believe that we got all that was shot and in the can, and when RE said there were 22 episodes, he meant that had they been picked up, there were nine planned and scripted, and ready to shoot. He “knew how it ended” because he’d read the scripts.

I am not for one moment questioning what RE told bebe and longlashes. I just think there’s another -- and, when you think about it, sensible -- interpretation.

After all, if there had been another nine episodes that had been through post-production and were ready to air, don’t you think someone would have mentioned it when the show was still on the air? If you want a grass roots movement to persuade the network to back a show, what better ammunition than letting them know there were more episodes that never aired? That is definitely the sort of things actors and producers mention in interviews if they want to drum up support for a show!

All by way of saying that we got all there was, and I believe the nine additional were “in the wings,” ready to be completed had the show been picked up.

And that’s why we ended this great groundbreaking series with (can you hear me groaning?) ballroom dancing. It works (barely) as the ending to a 13th episode, with more episodes planned that would complete Dunbar’s remarkable journey.

But that’s just me. Heh. ;D

PS. Seriously, Bebe and longlashes, I am not questioning you, just putting another spin on the material!

[anna]

I also don't have any doubt that RE said that there were 22 episodes. But, like Maggie, I did wonder if all were filmed - or at least if they were all filmed in a complete form, with all of the scenes that would have been shot in LA with the actors in the guest roles.

In addition to the reasons she mentioned, one other thing made me wonder. When I purchased some of the script pages from Showfax, only pages from episodes 12 and 13 were still available. If actors were hired for guest roles in episodes after 13, wouldn't there have been pages from at least some of those later episodes still available as well?

Oh, well. The one thing I'm sure of is that, if there are nine more episodes somewhere, I want them. Now.

[Eyphur]

I don't know what to think. I know it's been said before by others but I'm glad to have a sliver of hope that the show did not end with 2 minutes of dancing. If those 9 episodes are out there I'd love to see them, if theier not I'd still love to read the script for them Would the script for them exist? I guess that is the real question: In what form do these nine additional episodes exist? I think the next person to see Ron should ask him.

[mlm828]

anna said:

The one thing I'm sure of is that, if there are nine more episodes somewhere, I want them. Now.

I'm with Anna. I absolutely believe RE told longlashes and Bebe there were 22 episodes. But until there is a chance to cross-examine someone with inside information, or a 22-episode DVD is released, there's no way to know for sure whether episodes 14-22 were completed.

I think most of us on the board felt varying degrees of dissatisfaction with "Fancy Footwork" as the series finale. In spite of everything, it was an episode that had several things going for it: the resolution of the gun issue and that marvelous scene where Jim decides to stop carrying the gun; Marty's declaration that Jim had earned his place in the squad; Jim's final scene with Bo. Edited to add: And how could I forget the speed bag? But the final dance scene, aside from being much too long, left most of us, I think, feeling cheated out of a more appropriate and satisfying wind-up to the series. To me, anyway, the ending probably would have been acceptable as the ending to an episode which was going to be followed the next week or at some future date with another episode. But as the wrap-up to the entire series, it simply didn't work.

I like to think we would have seen more of the Jim-Christie storyline. I think it was too interesting not to be continued, and there were a lot of interesting issues between them which weren't fully explored in the rather limited time we saw them together in the 13 episodes. Steven Bochco or someone associated with the show was quoted at one point as saying there were no plans to write Rena Sofer's pregnancy into the show, but I don't think we can conclude from that that her character was going to be written out. They could have written around her pregnancy, as is happening this season with Diane Farr on Numb3rs, or maybe Bochco already knew the show wasn't coming back, when he made that statement.

[Deleted]

I know none of you question what Ron told me, never had a doubt - though there were some that did, but that's okay. I'm inclined to think, based on the conversation with Ron, that they were filmed. "Cross-examing" him (LOL, Counselor!) won't fly, he's not easy to give up information - this I know, trust me!

As for Rena, maybe not write her out, per se, but maybe she would have made the decision that motherhood suits her better right now.

Ahhh....we can deliberate forever, but we shall see if a DVD is released containing "never before seen episodes of Blind Justice."

[Deleted]

Mags?

Karma to YOU for your karma to ME - ahh....tis the season for exalting!!!!

That and your funky new avatar!!!!

Now, back to our regularly scheduled program, without interruption!

[hoosier]

There has to be more to the wrap up of such a great show than just FF. Yes, Jim did learn to ballroom dance and looked mighty fine in his tux and it did seem as if he and Christie were finally beginning to work through their problems but he was still a long way from "embracing his blindness". Coming to terms with it? I would say so. He had discovered that he could still do his job. He was being successful in creating a working partnership with Karen and even Marty had to agree that he had earned his place in the squad.

But there were a lot of unresolved issues--not just with Christie but with Terry. I don't think Jim was totally done with him regardless of what he said in UOTR.

I believe what Bebe said whole-heartedly. I mean , why would RE have said that if it wasn't true? I know they say that scenes for episodes are not shot in sequence. That and some sloppy editing would account for the ocassional blooper (like in FFU with the meeting with Galloway falling after the party rather than before as an example) and maybe that is where those other nine episodes are--in scenes waiting to be edited into coherent form.

[bluedelft]

Scenes for episodes are not shot in sequence but the shooting of the episode happens all in the same time period, meaning they are not filming two episodes at the same time.

Also, there are alternate endings shoot for scenes and also episodes. I've seen quite a few of them on dvd sets that have been released and most recently one on the "Prison Break" dvd. If anyone remembers "Quantum Leap" the final episode had alternate endings and somewhere I have a copy of the script with them.

I mentioned this before but the order of the episodes that we saw were shown in the order that they were filmed and scenes weren't spliced in from one episode to another.

One more bit of advice that I received from someone in the business and passing it along to everyone, when writing to networks remember to tell them how much you enjoyed the work of the performers on the show. The networks take notice of this.

[hoosier]

bluedelft said:

I mentioned this before but the order of the episodes that we saw were shown in the order that they were filmed and scenes weren't spliced in from one episode to another.

One more bit of advice that I received from someone in the business and passing it along to everyone, when writing to networks remember to tell them how much you enjoyed the work of the performers on the show. The networks take notice of this.

Thanks for the reminder.

I just wondered if that is where the nine episodes might be sitting--in the can but not edited into a final form. Maybe, when they realized that the series was not going to be picked up, they didn't go any further--why go to all the time and expense when they weren't going to be aired ? Bochco seemed to have already moved onto Over There, which lasted about as long as BJ and is already out on dvd, so any impetus was lost.

If the underlying theme of BJ was to show Jim's journey towards acceptance, having him "embracing his blindness", surely it doesn't end with him dancing into the sunset!