"We Require Immediate Assistance": How
Fans Have Made a Difference to Network Television |
How you can help:
+ Write to the networks of the
show; if you check out the Web sites of the fan campaigns,
most of them have lists of addresses where you can write
to the people who make the decisions
+ Write to the sponsors of the
show, but be polite. You want the sponsors to be on
your side, not work against you. "Don't promise
to buy their product if you'll never use it; demographics
will show you up eventually," cautions Trimble.
"Don't threaten never to buy their product; that's
an empty threat and everyone knows it. Just thank them
for the fine show they've sponsored, and express the
sincere hope that they can help keep it on the air.
Sponsors know how strong word-of-mouth can be on the
Internet, and know that fans can be very vocal. You
don't need to threaten them with that, since it's common
knowledge."
+ When writing networks and
sponsors, make the letter personal. If you use a form
letter suggested by another fan, the networks and sponsors
will pick up on it quickly, and the only way to let
them know how much you're willing to do to save your
favorite show is to show the networks that you took
the time to write something yourself.
+ Be wary of trying to get the
show's producers on side to help you out. "On the
plus side," says Fionna, "a producer can sometimes
offer insight into the way a network operates, or advise
you on what kinds of things might make the network sit
up and take notice. On the other hand, it could be construed
as a production office 'coaching' the fans, or prompting
them to campaign, and that could reflect negatively
with the network. I would imagine it is better for the
fans to function independently, and to always ensure
the network knows they are doing it purely for the love
of the show and not because producer so-and-so thought
it would be a good idea."
+ Don't get discouraged, and
realize that you're in this for the long haul. "These
things take time," explains Red. "I am the
veteran of a couple of save our show campaigns, and
one of the keys is keeping people motivated and focused
over time because most of these are not short, victorious
wars. They are long and drawn out over months. People
get down and depressed when things don't happen right
away, keeping them invested is one of the most difficult
aspects of any campaign, I think."
+ And finally, what seems like
the most obvious thing to do is usually the thing we
overlook: get your friends to watch the show during
sweeps. Firefly is a great show, with strong writing,
promising characters, and an original setting. It's
on Friday nights at 8 p.m., and with the help of the
fans (and perhaps Fox moving it to a better timeslot)
it could still be around this time next year.
(For more information
on fan campaigns, check out www.fireflysupport.com
or www.watchfarscape.com
The complete story of the Roswell
fan campaign is detailed in a new book called Crash
Into Me: The World of Roswell by Robyn Burnett.) |
"This is Captain
Reynolds of the Firefly Serenity…. We're dead
in the water, our support system is down, and we're
breathing on empty. If you are in range of my voice,
I'm asking that you heed your better angels and answer
this call. We only have a few hours left.
"We require immediate assistance.
Repeat. Require immediate assistance."
No, this isn't a scene from a sci-fi movie, it's a
message on Fox's official Web site for their newest
sci-fi television series, Firefly. And it's no joke.
After only a handful of episodes, the newest brainchild
of Buffy the Vampire Slayer creator Joss Whedon is in
serious trouble. Stuck in a Friday night timeslot of
8 p.m., when most people are probably out at the movies,
the series is quickly becoming a ratings failure, and
Fox has yet to pick up the show for an entire season.
In an attempt to get more people to watch the show,
Fox posted the above message, taken from a recent episode
of the show, in an attempt to let people know that if
they didn't watch this show and help bring in new viewers,
it could come to a quick end.
Enter the fans.
A
group of ardent Firefly viewers have begun an Internet
fan campaign called "Firefly: Immediate Assistance,"
trying to convince Fox officials that fans do care about
this little show, and considering many of the viewers
of Firefly also watch Joss Whedon's (pictured right)
other critically acclaimed show, Buffy the Vampire Slayer,
they are trying to convince Fox that if the WB had cancelled
Buffy in its first season over dismal ratings (which
were actually a fraction of what Firefly's is now) it
wouldn't have been able to grow into the groundbreaking
cultural phenomenon that it is today. They are currently
gathering money for a Variety ad, and are auctioning
off signed memorabilia on eBay to help raise funds.
Their efforts seem to be making a difference –
two weeks ago when Fox was considering canceling the
show, they bought two extra episodes instead.
Firefly isn't the first show to be critically acclaimed
and have a nominal audience, and it certainly won't
be the last. But if fans can try to come to the rescue
of a show that's dwindling in the Nielsens, the show
might have a chance.
The first well publicized letter-writing campaign
happened in 1967, when Star Trek fan Bjo Trimble heard
that her favorite show was about to be canceled at the
end of its second season. With her husband, she began
a letter-writing campaign, encouraging fans to write
to the network to let them know of the diehard fan base
that existed out in TV Land. "We used fairly simple
tactics: write a letter and ask 10 people to write a
letter," Trimble says. "They write and ask
10 people, and so on and so on. It really does work
but it's so simplistic, nobody believes it. Today, we
could reach 100 to 1,000 people on the Internet in the
same time it took us to reach 10 people by mail or phone
in 1967."
The campaign worked, and the show was signed on for
one more season (although, Trimble adds, the network
refused to admit that it was the fans who had made the
difference). While that might not seem like much, by
extending the series to three seasons it allowed it
to move into syndication, something that wouldn't have
happened with only two seasons of the series. Because
of the repeats of Star Trek's original series that were
aired over the next two decades, the original series
has ballooned into a franchise of movies, further series,
and countless merchandise.
The next letter-writing campaign happened in 1983,
when Cagney and Lacey was in danger of being canceled
at the end of its second season. Dorothy Swanson, a
viewer who loved the show, wrote over 500 letters to
the network (signing her relatives' names to some of
them) begging the network to reconsider. The network
did, and the show continued for another five seasons,
cementing the careers of stars Tyne Daly and Sharon
Gless. The success sparked Swanson to form the group,
"Viewers for Quality Television," and later
successfully lobbied to keep Designing Women on the
air after its first season got off to a slow start.
Are all fan campaigns successful? Obviously not. Fans
lobbied networks to keep on Once and Again, Twin Peaks,
Freaks and Geeks, My So-Called Life, Dr Quinn: Medicine
Woman, and Brooklyn South, to name a few, all to no
avail. But there have been several campaigns that did
work, including ones for Remington Steele, The Magnificent
Seven, Mystery Science Theater 3000, Party of Five,
La Femme Nikita, Quantum Leap, The Sentinel, and most
recently, Roswell. What sets a successful campaign apart
from an unsuccessful one?
The most important thing is to get the attention of
the networks, but in a good way Angry letters that take
shots at other shows only hurt the cause. "Anger
and hostility will be ignored or (worse) used against
you," says Trimble. "The only letters a network
will show the press is a threatening or hostile letter
which 'proves' that fans are crazy or dangerous."
She also stressed that several letters can make a difference,
and shows the network just how dedicated you are. She
also cautioned against petitions, since they only count
as one letter, no matter how many signatures are on
it.
In the case of the Save Farscape campaign, it was
a Web site that helped spread the word and get the campaign
started. When Nina Lumpp, one of the Web site administrators
and campaign strategists, first heard on a Friday night
the news that Farscape was going to be cancelled, she
immediately set to work on a Web site aimed to pull
fans together to save her favorite show. "It went
up at 4 a.m. Saturday morning and that's where I completely
lose time until 3:30 p.m. Sunday when I finally went
to bed," Lumpp recalls. "I got up a couple
of hours later and we wrote our first press release,
completely scooping the Sci-Fi Channel's Monday release."
She invited several members of the online Farscape fandom
to help out with the campaign, and now it's one of the
biggest campaigns in the works. While the Sci-Fi Channel
seems resolute in the cancellation of the show, there's
a chance it could be picked up by another network.
Creativity can also work in the fans' favor, and few
campaigns have been as creative as the Save Roswell
campaign that fans launched for almost the entire duration
of the series. During Roswell's first season, rumors
began circulating that the WB was looking to cancel
the show. A few fans formed a committee on a Roswell
Web site and immediately a sister Web site, the first
of many to come, was built to rally the fans to help
save the show. Someone came up with the idea of sending
bottles of Tabasco sauce – the alien condiment
of choice on the show – to the network, and within
two-and-a-half months, the network had been deluged
with 6,000 bottles. At first the network was so surprised
to see the fan reaction they embraced it, and used it
for publicity for the series.
"I think initially the network (The WB) was impressed
with the fans' tenacity and enthusiasm," explained
Fionna, one of the campaign's organizers. "It certainly
gave them a staggering amount of free publicity, as
our campaigns were mentioned in everything from The
New York Times to USA Today to Time magazine. They even
had Katherine Heigl pose with all the bottles of Tabasco
we sent in and used it as a press picture." The
show was renewed for a second season.
However, Roswell was always on shaky ground, and the
fan campaign was just getting started. In season two,
the WB once again inferred it would be dropping the
beloved show due to low ratings, and once again the
fans campaigned, sending in more bottles of Tabasco
and countless e-mails. This time they weren't so successful.
"I think The WB had made up its mind already to
cancel the show," says Fionna, "and the repetition
of the Tabasco and the petitioning and e-mails and campaigning
. . . I think we went from being a feather in their
cap to a thorn in their side."
When the WB actually went through with the cancellation
this time, it appeared their efforts were in vain. But
instead of giving up, the fans had already turned their
attention to UPN, a network that was considering picking
up the show, but wasn't convinced the fans would follow.
While they were sending bottles of Tabasco to the WB
a second time, they were also sending bottles to UPN,
and a total of 12,000 bottles came flying into the offices
of both networks from all over the world, including
letters of support, petitions, and charity drives put
together by fans. UPN bought the show, and it ran for
a third short season before being cancelled once and
for all. The fans have never given up the campaign though,
despite widespread rumors that the cast was tired of
the show and wanted to move on. Now a new fan campaign
continues on the Internet where fans are pushing for
DVD releases, a made-for-TV movie, a feature film, and
even a fourth season. "Roswell always seemed like
it was on life-support right from the starting blocks,"
says Fionna, "which is a shame, because despite
its faults, it really was a fantastic show. But if we
were able to help towards it having three seasons instead
of one, then our efforts weren't in vain."
Programmers at Fox and UPN affiliates have mixed feelings
about the fan campaigns. Some representatives said fan
campaigns never work, that it's all about the ratings.
Others urged fans to contact the main network, because
the affiliates have absolutely no say in what shows
get cancelled or kept. And still others suggested that
fan campaigns do make a difference, and if fans send
letters to the affiliates those letters will be sent
on to the network heads.
In the end, no matter how many fans rally together
to save a show, if the ratings don't come through it's
not going to happen. But these campaigns can make a
difference when the media picks up on them, writing
stories about the Variety ad that fans took out to support
their show, or about the guy standing on the corner
handing out packets of hot chocolate asking people to
watch Roswell. When word gets out that a group of fans
are willing to go to great lengths to help save a show,
it just might encourage others to start watching it,
and if more people watch the shows, it can be saved.
The mark of a great show is how strongly the fans
feel about it. And if the fans are willing to offer
the immediate assistance a show so desperately needs,
it'll make other people to sit up and take notice.
Nikki Stafford is the author
of Bite
Me: An Unofficial Guide to the World of Buffy the Vampire
Slayer. |