# DirecTV Saves Damages!



## LarryFlowers (Sep 22, 2006)

Breaking News...

After months of negotiations, DirecTV has reached a deal with Sony Pictures Television to acquire Damages from FX. Under the terms of the pact, DirecTV's 101 network will air two additional seasons of the drama-each consisting of 10 episodes-beginning in 2011.

Unlike DirecTV's arrangement with NBC for Friday Night Lights, Damages will only air on DirecTV.

More at http://ausiellofiles.ew.com/2010/07/19/directv-deal-saves-damages/


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## skyboysea (Nov 1, 2002)

> DirecTV has saved Damages from cancellation. The low rated, but Emmy decorated drama will air two more 10 episode seasons on DirecTV starting in 2011. Note that it will be on DirecTV only, not FX.
> Crazy fans of cancelled (or threatened) shows, be sure to keep DirecTV on your speed dial!


Complete article


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## matt (Jan 12, 2010)

EDIT: They got merged. Never mind. 

Cool deal though. I wish they would save King of the Hill.


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## Steve (Aug 22, 2006)

Great news! Wife and I are fans of the show.


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## Doug Brott (Jul 12, 2006)

merged ...


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## lwilli201 (Dec 22, 2006)

When I watched Damages I enjoyed it. Great cast and very well done. The problem was that at the end of each episode that I watched, I was not left with a "I can not wait until next week to see what happens" feeling. Maybe that is why it did not catch on. IMHO


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## sigma1914 (Sep 5, 2006)

Great news!


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## john18 (Nov 21, 2006)

sigma1914 said:


> Great news!


For those who subscribe to D*!


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## sigma1914 (Sep 5, 2006)

john18 said:


> For those who subscribe to D*!


And torrent users. :lol:


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## tonymus (Dec 26, 2006)

sigma1914 said:


> And torrent users. :lol:


Would you really illegally download a file called Damages???:eek2:


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## sigma1914 (Sep 5, 2006)

tonymus said:


> Would you really illegally download a file called Damages???:eek2:


From the proper TV torrent site...Yes.


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## spartanstew (Nov 16, 2005)

Cool.


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## TheRatPatrol (Oct 1, 2003)

Ooohhhh Comcast is going to be mad. We'll never get CSN-Philly now. :lol:


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## JimAtTheRez (May 9, 2008)

Excellent. My wife and I really like this show. The article says the 101 will air seasons 4 and 5 (10 episodes each). Have there been 3 seasons, and did I miss a season? Or is F/X going to air 1 more season? I only remember season 1 and 2.


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## billsharpe (Jan 25, 2007)

JimAtTheRez said:


> Excellent. My wife and I really like this show. The article says the 101 will air seasons 4 and 5 (10 episodes each). Have there been 3 seasons, and did I miss a season? Or is F/X going to air 1 more season? I only remember season 1 and 2.


A dissenting vote or at least an "I don't care" from me.

I watched the first season and part of the second. The myriad flashbacks just got too confusing to follow.


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## roadrunner1782 (Sep 28, 2008)

"billsharpe" said:


> A dissenting vote or at least an "I don't care" from me.
> 
> I watched the first season and part of the second. The myriad flashbacks just got too confusing to follow.


This is the reason I quit watching after the first season. Not that I thought it was a bad show just a bit much for me to keep following.


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## LCDSpazz (Dec 31, 2008)

GREAT news. I love this show but the ratings were just GODAWFUL. I heard the rumors but I never thought DTV would actually rescue this show. The 101 is turning into a seriously good channel. Airing "The Wire" in widescreen HD, Friday Night Lights and now Damages.


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## Cable Lover (Jun 19, 2007)

I wish they would've saved "knight Rider '08"


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## Steve (Aug 22, 2006)

JimAtTheRez said:


> Excellent. My wife and I really like this show. The article says the 101 will air seasons 4 and 5 (10 episodes each). Have there been 3 seasons, and did I miss a season? [...]


Sounds like it. Here's a listing of all three season's episodes: http://www.tv.com/damages/show/58333/episode.html?season=All&tag=list_header;paginator;All

I remember them as the Ted Danson, William Hurt and Martin Short seasons.

Those were 13 episodes each, BTW.


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## Frank5575 (Nov 1, 2006)

Too bad they didn't pick up FlashForward


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## oldschoolecw (Jan 25, 2007)

I stopped watching it in mid season this year, it was getting way out of control with craziness. Will I watch it now that it’s on the 101 Network? I don’t think so


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## trdrjeff (Dec 3, 2007)

Excellent! I figured when they killed off Tom the show was done. Great writing and cast. 
Thanks DirecTV!!


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## davidatl14 (Mar 24, 2006)

Quality Show

Kudos to DirecTV.

Wife and I both big fans.


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## Stuart Sweet (Jun 19, 2006)

I'm sure this will be a winner for them, but it's never been a favorite of mine.


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## Jason Whiddon (Aug 17, 2006)

I love the show, good deal. FX originals continue to be some of my favs, so I'm glad this one lives.


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## xmguy (Mar 27, 2008)

matt1124 said:


> edit: They got merged. Never mind.
> 
> cool deal though. I wish they would save king of the hill. :d


ditto, ditto, ditto!!!! :d


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## Doug Brott (Jul 12, 2006)

I must live under a rock as I've never even heard of the show.


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## Lincoln6Echo (Jul 11, 2007)

Doug Brott said:


> I must live under a rock as I've never even heard of the show.


I'm with ya, except I think this is the show that has Glenn Close in it. It started to advertise (and air) just after _The Shield_ ended. I never watched it, as it just looked like another courtroom drama series. I hate those kind of shows.

Now if FX would suddenly cancel _Justified_, I'd be pissed. That's the best new show on TV, I think. At least on FX.  Timothy Olyphant is great in that. Plus you get Walton Goggin playing the role he was accused of playing while he was on _The Shield_.


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## Jason Whiddon (Aug 17, 2006)

Damages has great writing also, and they way they bring it together from the end and beginning, is great. It also can be quite suspenseful. I do like Justified, but Sons of Anarchy is some of the best TV out there.


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## trdrjeff (Dec 3, 2007)

King of the Hill had gotten long in the tooth. I really wish someone would pick up Mike Judge's last project "The Goode Family" 

It had that KOTH humor with new characters


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## xmguy (Mar 27, 2008)

trdrjeff said:


> King of the Hill had gotten long in the tooth. I really wish someone would pick up Mike Judge's last project "The Goode Family"
> 
> It had that KOTH humor with new characters


What about The Simpsons? (not to get off topic). I "tried" to watch the Goode Family. But the whole "green" living strange family to me wasn't as good as KOTH to me.


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## Jason Whiddon (Aug 17, 2006)

Simpson's still amuses me, but I dont watch it. After being a viewer of it since the Tracy Ullman Show, I gave up on it several years ago.


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## Steve (Aug 22, 2006)

Doug Brott said:


> I must live under a rock as I've never even heard of the show.


Worth watching on DVD (or hopefully D* will offer it on VOD). It's received lots of Emmy and Golden Globe nominations, including a Golden Globe nomination for "best Drama" in 2007.


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## Bluto17 (Jan 31, 2007)

Frank5575 said:


> Too bad they didn't pick up FlashForward


Frank, there is a rumor going around that is tying Flashforward to Starz.


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## TBlazer07 (Feb 5, 2009)

I really liked season 1, season 2 was OK .... season 3 sucked. Couldn't deal with the constant "3 years ago, 2 years ago, last year, last month, last week, 2 weeks from now, 1 month from now ......." My wife got tired of explaining all the time shifts. As I get older my attention span decreases.


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## HarryD (Mar 24, 2002)

Well done DirecTV... an excellent show!!


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## Stewart Vernon (Jan 7, 2005)

I don't know what the ratings are/were for Damages... but they have to be pretty much guaranteed to go down right?

DirecTV has 20 million or so (give or take) subscribers... and I doubt all Damages viewers are already DirecTV subscribers.

Also... if people couldn't be motivated to watch the show on TV they already had... no reason to expect them to switch providers to get it.

So, good for Damages viewers who are already DirecTV customers... but this doesn't seem likely to be a winning deal for DirecTV.

FYI, I'd say the same thing if it were my favorite show and Dish (since I'm a Dish customer). It just doesn't seem to make financial sense for anyone except the people making the show.


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## TBoneit (Jul 27, 2006)

Doug Brott said:


> I must live under a rock as I've never even heard of the show.


You're not the only one. I never heard of it either.

If they don't advertise on channels I watch I most likely will never know of non network shows.

When a channel is added and I see a notice here then I look at it to see what content is there. Channels that have always been there tend to get overlooked.


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## Jason Whiddon (Aug 17, 2006)

If you guys don't keep up with tv guide, or entertainment media, you stand to miss a LOT of good shows. Cable networks are really adding some good stuff, especially in Summer.


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## dmspen (Dec 1, 2006)

Bittersweet. Damages is one of our favorites, but we subscribe to 'the other major satellite broadcast company'.
I guess it'll be out on DVD at some point...


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## Steve (Aug 22, 2006)

elwaylite said:


> If you guys don't keep up with tv guide, or entertainment media, you stand to miss a LOT of good shows. Cable networks are really adding some good stuff, especially in Summer.


I try to check the NYT's "Whats on today" section daily, to see what they think is interesting.


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## LOCODUDE (Aug 8, 2007)

This is awesome news..... Really liked this show... Well done Directv...:up::up:


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## The Merg (Jun 24, 2007)

Glad to hear this will still be around. I have a bunch saved up, but am missing a few from Season 2 and 3 so I haven't watched them yet. I was hoping they would reair the old episodes, but FX doesn't seem to do that with Damages.

Anyone know if Netflix has Damages?

- Merg


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## Steve (Aug 22, 2006)

The Merg said:


> [...] Anyone know if Netflix has Damages?


Yup. They're even showing Season 3 already, which is surprising!


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## Todd H (Aug 18, 2006)

Wish D* would have picked up Legend of the Seeker.


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## skatingrocker17 (Jun 24, 2010)

matt1124 said:


> EDIT: They got merged. Never mind.
> 
> Cool deal though. *I wish they would save King of the Hill. *


You and me both.


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## Rich (Feb 22, 2007)

Steve said:


> Yup. They're even showing Season 3 already, which is surprising!


Strange that this should pop up just after my wife, who doesn't like reruns, actually asked me to get the first two seasons of _Damages_ just to catch up. Takes forever for her to watch DVD seasons and I'm glad I'll be able to use the 101 channel to catch up rather than NetFlix, which is for my personal use, altho no one else in the house agrees with me on that. :lol:

Rich


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## Rich (Feb 22, 2007)

Does anyone have any idea when this is gonna start? I just searched for it and got nothing. I'm not looking for the new season, I'm hoping that the first three seasons will be run on 101 before they start the new season.

Rich


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## Rich (Feb 22, 2007)

Steve said:


> Yup. They're even showing Season 3 already, which is surprising!


Season three is not available yet. Should be ready soon. I just checked and it's got the green label which means it is coming, but not available yet.

Rich


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## LOCODUDE (Aug 8, 2007)

Todd H said:


> Wish D* would have picked up Legend of the Seeker.


Yup, agree with you on this...


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## valestij (Jun 5, 2008)

Bluto17 said:


> Frank, there is a rumor going around that is tying Flashforward to Starz.


I hope so, I really got into Flashforward and was kinda pissed when ABC cancelled that but kept "V".


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## m4p (Apr 12, 2007)

This is great news about a great show. I'm very happy to hear this. Thanks, DirecTV!


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## Jish (Jul 27, 2007)

roadrunner1782 said:


> This is the reason I quit watching after the first season. Not that I thought it was a bad show just a bit much for me to keep following.


Exactly!


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## tivoboy (Aug 16, 2006)

Okay, don't get me wrong I LOVED Damages and will enjoy being able to continue to see it annually, but here is my question?

What does this really bring to D* that they don't already have? On the surface one might think, BRING IN new subs, and that has a HUGE value proposition. That is the model that HBO historically PROVED with things like Band of Brothers (the most expensive mini-series EVER at the time) and Sopranos. they did the math and said, if we can ADD 200K or 400K and they stick around at least 18 months, then we can make money on spending 80 MILLION on BOB.

But for something like D* or any cable provider, does anyone think that customer would actually SWITCH content providers to GET access to a show? Change like that is DIFFICULT (well, from Dish to D* is probably easier) hardware, sometimes cable runs, everything has to be re-setup, all DVR's reprogrammed, etc.. 

I simply cannot imagine that the end objective is to GAIN subs.

I can only really imagine that the objective is to continue to make CURRENT subs happy / happier with the service and so not LOSE subs. But, is a SHOW the best way to do that? Wouldn't maybe free/better hardware be a better path? What about more give-aways? half a dozen free movie chits to highest value subs? Equipment upgrades for free every say 3.5 years?

I just don't get the math and strategy here, and the cost for something like this is probably pretty high. I would say in the 15-20MM range for the 10 episodes. And there isn't a lot of Advertising on the 101.


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## trainman (Jan 9, 2008)

I note that DirecTV has already gotten a lot of "free" publicity (mentions in news articles and the like) about the fact that they're picking up "Damages."


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## Sea bass (Jun 10, 2005)

I wish they would rescue the now cancelled Starz show "Party Down"


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## Syzygy (Dec 5, 2005)

elwaylite said:


> Simpson's still amuses me, but I dont watch it. After being a viewer of it since the Tracy Ullman Show, I gave up on it several years ago.


Just before it started being in HD? Too bad. It's still a funny show.


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## Syzygy (Dec 5, 2005)

So now, at least for DirecTV's purposes, a "season" consists of 10 shows? In the golden age of TV, a season was 39 shows. But 10 is a new low in "season" duration.


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## Dario33 (Dec 15, 2008)

Hey, if it provides an opportunity for a good storyline, character arcs, etc, then I am fine with 10 episodes.


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## john18 (Nov 21, 2006)

As I recall series programs on traditional TV were 22-24 episodes per year? Also, aren't many programs that are created for cable well less than that anyway?

I'm satisfied to get 10 episodes per year for two years and I thank D* for having done that.


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## Syzygy (Dec 5, 2005)

Don't get me wrong, guys... I'm pleased that D* picked up Damages for the 101. I'm also pleased that D* is poking Dish in the eye a little bit with this exclusive deal.

I was just thinking it would've been nice to have more than 20 shows, or more than 10 per year.


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## Steve (Aug 22, 2006)

Dario33 said:


> Hey, if it provides an opportunity for a good storyline, character arcs, etc, then I am fine with 10 episodes.


Exactly. Sometimes less is more.


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## spartanstew (Nov 16, 2005)

Is the 101 still showing Damages? Are they repeats?

When does a new season begin?


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## spaul (Jul 19, 2009)

The 101 is just finishing this week with the final show of series from 2007 .I never watched originally but,have really enjoyed it since watching on the 101.Very good show and have it set to series record since 101 will be showing new season starting in July some time .


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## spartanstew (Nov 16, 2005)

Thanks spaul.

Maybe someone will remember to bump this thread in July. I don't really have an interest in the repeats (saw them all originally), but would like to see the new season.

I guess I could just set up a SL now with first run only, but not sure how the 101 handles that. Are repeats that have never been shown on the 101 considered NEW, or are they flagged correctly?


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## trainman (Jan 9, 2008)

spartanstew said:


> I guess I could just set up a SL now with first run only, but not sure how the 101 handles that. Are repeats that have never been shown on the 101 considered NEW, or are they flagged correctly?


I can tell you that "The Wire" on 101 is listed with the original HBO air dates, so I had to set a "First Run & Repeats" series link to record them -- a "first run only" series link for "Damages" should get you only the new episodes. (Plus, of course, the first repeat that airs after you set up the series link. )


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## The Merg (Jun 24, 2007)

Which season is the one from 2007? Is that season 1 or 2? I had missed recording a few after season 1 and since F/X never aired repeats really I was out of luck.

- Merg


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## David Ortiz (Aug 21, 2006)

Season 1


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## texasmoose (May 25, 2007)

Actually they're re-running Season 1 & Season 2, both of which were 13 episodes each. I got impatient & finished it out on Netflix, but they don't have Season 3. I am to assume that D* will air Season 3 too, before they start airing Season 4 in July.


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## The Merg (Jun 24, 2007)

I believe that is the plan. By airing 2 epsiodes a week, they should be able to air all 3 seasons before season 4.

- Merg


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## David Ortiz (Aug 21, 2006)

The season 2 finale is this Wed, 5/18. Season 3 kicks off with two episodes on Wed, 5/25. I missed most of season 3 when it aired on FX.


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