I'm not really sure why you believe that you guys will be flamed. I haven't seen any flaming on this comm, just respectful disagreement. Sure, people are venting, but most of their wrath is directed at CBS, not other posters. And I think that's fair. It's fandom--if there's one thing that's pretty consistent about fandom, it's that people will make a big deal out of anything.
That said, I have issues reading CBS's actions as anything but sexist. It is suspect that the targets of their budget cuts just happen to be female characters. I'm sure online fandom has little if any impact on TV execs' decisions; the bottom line is profit. And profit is directly related to ratings, most of which come from casual fans with Nielson boxes. The departure of any character--male or female--likely will not affect casual fans very much. So if it had been say, Morgan or Rossi (the least explored male characters) let go instead of JJ or Em, I doubt that would've made a huge difference to casual fans. So why zero in on the female characters?
My decision not to watch isn't about me being butthurt over Em and JJ. It's because without strong female characters, I simply am no longer interested in CM anymore. Even if JJ amd Em weren't my favorites--Hotch is--having them there is important. They balance out the team dynamic and in many incidences (sadly, mostly in the earlier seasons), have played crucial roles in solving the cases--roles that are unique to a female character. Losing that dynamic would be a huge detriment to the show. I am uncertain if JJ's replacement will be a series regular or just a recurring guest star (like Kirsten was on S1), but assuming the latter plus the reduction of Paget's role, that means less presence of female characters, meaning less presence of me as a viewer (this doesn't even mention the precedent being set here that female characters are interchangeable). I may be weak and try giving the new season a trial run, but my hopes aren't high, and I'm certainly not excited.
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momijizukamori
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Date: Jun. 26th, 2010 03:49 am (UTC)That said, I have issues reading CBS's actions as anything but sexist. It is suspect that the targets of their budget cuts just happen to be female characters. I'm sure online fandom has little if any impact on TV execs' decisions; the bottom line is profit. And profit is directly related to ratings, most of which come from casual fans with Nielson boxes. The departure of any character--male or female--likely will not affect casual fans very much. So if it had been say, Morgan or Rossi (the least explored male characters) let go instead of JJ or Em, I doubt that would've made a huge difference to casual fans. So why zero in on the female characters?
My decision not to watch isn't about me being butthurt over Em and JJ. It's because without strong female characters, I simply am no longer interested in CM anymore. Even if JJ amd Em weren't my favorites--Hotch is--having them there is important. They balance out the team dynamic and in many incidences (sadly, mostly in the earlier seasons), have played crucial roles in solving the cases--roles that are unique to a female character. Losing that dynamic would be a huge detriment to the show. I am uncertain if JJ's replacement will be a series regular or just a recurring guest star (like Kirsten was on S1), but assuming the latter plus the reduction of Paget's role, that means less presence of female characters, meaning less presence of me as a viewer (this doesn't even mention the precedent being set here that female characters are interchangeable). I may be weak and try giving the new season a trial run, but my hopes aren't high, and I'm certainly not excited.