Back in December ABC stopped showing new episodes of Defying Gravity and took the show off the air with only 5 episodes left in its first season. While the show hadn't been a ratings success it had been very successful at collecting a dedicated and loyal group of fans. While ABC insisted that the show wasn't canceled, and in fact they would air the remaining 5 episodes at some point, the prospects seemed dim, even at the time. TVOvermind wrote an article on the quasi-cancellation back in September, and to this day the article still gets tons of hits from the dedicated fans still waiting to learn the fate of this great show. Well, we have some good news and some bad news for all of you.
The Bad News. Defying Gravity, it seems, was in fact canceled. If ABC had any intentions at all of actually airing the remaining 5 episodes, they seem to have changed their minds. More than likely, they weren't being honest with us from the beginning in an attempt to avoid a lot of press over the cancellation. TVOvermind has reached out to ABC for an official statement, and to get a final sense of closure on this for all of Defying Gravity's fans, but no response has been provided to us from the network. So like it or not, this series is dead where it lies.
The Good News. Despite the more than obvious cancellation of this great series, there is one piece of good news out there. Tuesday of this week Defying Gravity: The First Season was released on DVD (no Blu-ray version was released). Granted, die hard fans will be forced to shell out their hard earned dough, but at least seeing the last 5 episodes will provide a small amount of closure for such a great series. The DVD does provide some extras such as deleted scenes and a photo slide show. If you missed this series you weren't the only one. ABC marketed it very poorly, which has been a constant criticism from fans of the show, and many who did find it didn't find it until the last few episodes. So regardless of whether you're a hardcore fan or have never seen an episode, if you dig great sci-fi television shows this one is definitely worth the money.
I'll continue to wait for an official response from ABC, and post it here if it ever comes, but the bottom line is that Defying Gravity won't be seen in primetime again, in my opinion.
Purchase Defying Gravity: The Complete First Season from Amazon for $36.49.
Thanks for looking into this Bryan. :)
This is probably the first time living in Canada has ever been a GOOD thing for sci-fi. Although Stargate Atlantis Season 5 is only starting to air, Defying Gravity is on it's fourth re-run.At least with the DVD, American fans will be able to have their own re-runs!
Defying Gravity is clearly the best sci-fi series since Battlestar Galactica. Story and cast are simply outstandig. Even compared to non sci-fi shows. It is just sad that ABC screwed it up so badly. I hope that SyFy pics it up, for the good of TV.
We at the 'Save Defying Gravity'-FB Group appreciate this posting very much. Getting any kind of press for a show being kept under wraps after being given only a token (and frankly, insulting) run is important, on several levels. However, we strongly disagree with you that the curtain has come down on this show. There are still several avenue's of opportunity for DG and they are being pursued agressively. Opinions about this show have been universally positive; in all the postings on all the sites we've seen, we counted the number of negative opinion's on one hand. That's not an exaggeration. The DVD sales have been nothing short of astounding, considering almost no one saw this program, and even fewer saw the series in it's entirety. The point is that the cream almost always rises to the top, no matter the circumstances. We are committed to seeing this through, confident in the knowledge that sooner or later, somebody's going to take a second look at this show and realize that it's worth the time and effort to bring back because it's got profit written all over it. In closing, we also encourage everyone who reads this to visit us and see for themselves just how hard we're working and join us as we continue to work towards it's return and reinstatement. Thanks once again. Brian Reynolds, for the SGD-FB Group
I'm so happy to get my DVD set of the Defying Gravity first season. I am still hoping that another network will pick this jewel up for new production soon!!!
I am certainly going to miss this quality show! Sci-Fi, humanity, Philosophy…. Excellent!! Did NASA shut it down because it hit too close to home?
No way would NASA want it shut down. :) It was great advertising for space exploration (and no where did it actually say NASA) and anything that makes people think space travel is cool is good for NASA. :)Is it too late to get he cast and crew back together should another network be willing to give it a home?
There's no such thing as never too late, Melissa, not in Hollywood! LOL!