# Can fans save a cancelled TV show? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 7, 2003, 6:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-fans-save-a-cancelled-tv-show/147115 "2003-01-07T06:30:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![1812](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/1/c2a13f/32.png) [@1812](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/1812)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2003, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-fans-save-a-cancelled-tv-show/147115/41 "2003-01-10T20:12:22Z")
The new episode of Farscape will be on at 8:00 (and repeating at 12:00) tonight. Anyone else think that the fan effort is really going to boost the ratings? I bet it will. The question will be whether it will be too little too late, though. Maybe Sci-Fi will just take the extra advertising dollars from the ratings increase and use it to pay for more crap like Tremors: The Series and that charlatan John Edward. If anyone here has a Nielsen box or knows someone who does, make sure it is tuned in. It would be nice to see a grassroots campaign that so many people worked so hard on actually succeed. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2003, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-fans-save-a-cancelled-tv-show/147115/42 "2003-01-10T22:00:11Z")
CAN letter-writing campaigns work? Yes, but… Such campaigns are less effective now than ever before, for several reasons: 1. TV shows are more expensive to make than they used to be. In the 60s and 70s, a network could more easily afford to keep around a promising show that wasn’t drawing large audience. When CBS chose to give “The Waltons” time to find its audience (it eventually did) back in 1972, it wasn’t blowing nearly as much money as it would by keeping around a ratings turkey today. 2. Networks are only interested in specific demographic groups. If you fall into one of the desired demographic groups, then thousands of letters from you and people like you can have a powerful effect. But if you’re NOT in such a group, networks don’t care what you think. To put it crudely, if a new “Friends”-style sitcom is doing badly in the ratings, a few thousand letters from twenty-something, white, affluent females would save it, at least for a little while. But a million letters from senior citizens wouldn’t save “Diagnosis Murder.” 1. Nowadays, thanks to the Internet, it’s easy, INCREDIBLY Easy, to generate a “groundswell” of support or opposition to almost anything. That’s especially true of causes favored by geeks. It wouldn’t take much effort to generate thousands of letters on behalf of almost ANY television show, even if it has very few fans. The network execs KNOW how easy it is for Internet rabble-rousers to generate great volumes of mail (both paper and electronic), and so they don’t take such letters very seriously. My guess is, “Farscape” is history, no matter how many letters you send. UNLESS… you send thousands of letters, purportedly from female yuppies! Letters from sci-fi geeks won’t sway anyone, but the brass will listen if they think female twenty- somethings are watching the show! ---
**Author:** ![1812](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/1/c2a13f/32.png) [@1812](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/1812)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2003, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-fans-save-a-cancelled-tv-show/147115/43 "2003-01-11T00:23:51Z")
Well, Farscape looks like it has pretty good demographics: [http://www.hostultra.com/~Oasun/allsummyahoo.html](http://www.hostultra.com/~Oasun/allsummyahoo.html) ---
**Author:** ![Baldwin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baldwin/32/7264_2.png) [@Baldwin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baldwin)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2003, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-fans-save-a-cancelled-tv-show/147115/44 "2003-01-11T15:25:12Z")
I watched the new episode of _Farscape_ last night. I hate to say it, but maybe there’s a good reason it’s being cancelled. This episode looked as if all the writers left, and the show was being written by teenaged fans. Sheesh! ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2003, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-fans-save-a-cancelled-tv-show/147115/45 "2003-01-11T16:47:32Z")
Good god! They’re filming fanfic! _heads for the shelters_ ---
**Author:** ![1812](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/1/c2a13f/32.png) [@1812](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/1812)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2003, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-fans-save-a-cancelled-tv-show/147115/46 "2003-01-11T17:18:30Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Baldwin \* > \*\*I watched the new episode of _Farscape_ last night. I hate to say it, but maybe there’s a good reason it’s being cancelled. This episode looked as if all the writers left, and the show was being written by teenaged fans. Sheesh! \*\* You know, you’re the first person I heard who didn’t like that episode. I thought it was great. ---
**Author:** ![1812](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/1/c2a13f/32.png) [@1812](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/1812)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2003, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-fans-save-a-cancelled-tv-show/147115/47 "2003-01-15T18:50:53Z")
Well, it looks like the naysayers here are probably right. [The ratings are in for “Kansas”](http://www.watchfarscape.com/news/article.php?newsid=218), and it’s only a 1.34. Barring a Nielsen miracle in the next couple of weeks, it looks like fans can’t save cancelled shows nowadays. :mad: :mad: :mad: ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2003, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-fans-save-a-cancelled-tv-show/147115/48 "2003-01-15T23:41:23Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Violet \* > \*\*_The Pretender_ was lost despite fan efforts. ☹ \*\* Are you sure it’s cancelled? Because maybe it’s only… y’know… ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2003, 7:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-fans-save-a-cancelled-tv-show/147115/49 "2003-01-16T07:12:05Z")
Of course the Pretender was cancelled. Jarod posed as a network exec, shut down production, and sent Ms. Parker a coded message telling her that her mother was actually a waitress at the studio commissary. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![amarinth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3be4f8/32.png) [@amarinth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amarinth)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2003, 7:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-fans-save-a-cancelled-tv-show/147115/50 "2003-01-16T07:25:15Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by SC\_Wolf \* > \*\*La Femme Nikita was also rescued by letter campaign. \*\* Arguably, those final episodes were so awful, it was like the writers and cast were punishing the audience for asking that the show be brought back. IIRC, Quantum Leap was also saved by fan support. ---
**Author:** ![Mars\_Horizon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mars_horizon/32/2804_2.png) [@Mars\_Horizon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mars_Horizon)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2003, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-fans-save-a-cancelled-tv-show/147115/51 "2003-01-16T14:05:23Z")
**1812** - thanks for that very informative article. Nielsen ratings had always been a mystery to me. For some reason I didnt realize that article you posted was from the linked site, I thought you had written it. I was all set to thank you for making your dad watch B5 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![1812](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/1/c2a13f/32.png) [@1812](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/1812)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2003, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-fans-save-a-cancelled-tv-show/147115/52 "2003-01-16T16:04:44Z")
Glad you enjoyed the article, Mars Horizon. I loved Babylon 5 as well. It’s too bad none of the B5 spinoffs went very far. Are you a Farscape fan too? I wonder if there will be Farscape spinoffs in the future? I’ve heard rumors about a Farscape anime and movie. Well, for now, at least we can all enjoy the last 10 episodes. (Except for Baldwin, who is obviously not a man of taste. JK 🙂 ) ---
**Author:** ![1812](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/1/c2a13f/32.png) [@1812](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/1812)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2003, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-fans-save-a-cancelled-tv-show/147115/53 "2003-01-17T16:27:44Z")
By the way, [Bonnie Hammer, president of Sci-Fi, said in a recent interview](http://www.tvguide.com/newsgossip/insider/030107a.asp) that Farscape “had brilliant and sophisticated writing, but it was so narrow that it basically was an invitation to not tune in if you weren’t totally familiar with the show. It was brilliant when you got it, and some of the characterizations were truly amazing, but it took a little too much work.” If anyone watches it tonight (8:00 pm & midnight), reply here and see if you agree or not. Don’t forget to include how much of the show you’ve watched before. ---
**Author:** ![Mars\_Horizon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mars_horizon/32/2804_2.png) [@Mars\_Horizon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mars_Horizon)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2003, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-fans-save-a-cancelled-tv-show/147115/54 "2003-01-17T17:26:47Z")
> [@](#): > > Are you a Farscape fan too? Sorry, no. That’s one sci-fi show I was never able to get into, not so much from a lack of interest as a lack of time. ---
**Author:** ![1812](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/1/c2a13f/32.png) [@1812](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/1812)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2003, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-fans-save-a-cancelled-tv-show/147115/55 "2003-01-20T03:00:15Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Mars Horizon \* > \*\*Sorry, no. That’s one sci-fi show I was never able to get into, not so much from a lack of interest as a lack of time. \*\* Do you use Kazaa? If so, search for a special called “Farscape Undressed.” It will fill you in on what happened in the first two seasons. That is, unless you mean that you wouldn’t have an extra hour on Friday to watch the new episodes even if you knew the backstory. ---
**Author:** ![1812](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/1/c2a13f/32.png) [@1812](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/1812)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2003, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-fans-save-a-cancelled-tv-show/147115/56 "2003-01-24T19:07:34Z")
By the way, never mind about the Kazaa suggestion. Looks like they are as good as dead. My friend showed me this: [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A24577-2003Jan21.html?referer=email](http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A24577-2003Jan21.html?referer=email) However, I bet if you went to a Farscape message board and asked for a tape of some old episodes, there’s a good chance someone might help you out. By the way, don’t forget to check out the new episode tonight: > [@](#): > > “Twice Shy” > > When the crew rescues a girl from slavery, they learn that no good deed ever goes unpunished. > > Friday, January 24, at 8PM & 12:30AM ET/PT ---
**Author:** ![1812](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/1/c2a13f/32.png) [@1812](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/1812)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2003, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-fans-save-a-cancelled-tv-show/147115/57 "2003-02-07T15:31:13Z")
Anyone watching tonight’s ep? I hear there is some sort of controversial lesbian scene in it. I wonder if that will get the ratings up. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![cletus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f08c70/32.png) [@cletus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cletus)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2003, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-fans-save-a-cancelled-tv-show/147115/58 "2003-04-12T20:31:20Z")
I seem to recall America’s Most Wanted was saved by the fans. Does anyone know anything about this? ---
**Author:** ![Zoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a4c791/32.png) [@Zoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zoe)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2003, 4:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-fans-save-a-cancelled-tv-show/147115/59 "2003-04-18T04:57:12Z")
Polycarp said: > [@](#): > > One obvious answer is Star Trek, which was threatened with cancellation after the first season and was saved by a massive fan campaign orchestrated by Bjo Trimble, who knew which buttons to push where at Paramount and the network and proceeded to give them adequate evidence to keep producing the show. That’s the first one I thought of too. Still going after about 33 years. I can remember where I was when I heard the news that it was cancelled. JFK’s assasination, the destruction of the WTC, and the cancellation of _Star Trek_. ---
**Author:** ![CadburyAngel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c2a13f/32.png) [@CadburyAngel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CadburyAngel)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2003, 5:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-fans-save-a-cancelled-tv-show/147115/60 "2003-04-18T05:30:14Z")
I can’t speak to specifically letter-writing campaigns, but I’ve been, if not on the front lines, then at least somewhere in the middle ranks of the fight to get “Firefly” back. Although a lot of people have sent letters and postcards to FOX, SciFi, UPN, and other networks, the most notable success yet was recently announced: a full set of DVDs will be released in December, including the 3 un-aired episodes. I attribute this to the Firefly fans voting on a certain site which collated data on which DVD sets were most wanted. (And I believe that most of the fans would not have made it to that site if it were not for massive fan efforts like buying several banner ads on Television Without [Pity.com](http://Pity.com)) As to whether “Firefly” will ever be back on the air, I can’t say. But certainly the voice of the audience is not entirely ignored, especially when it comes to money matters. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-fans-save-a-cancelled-tv-show/147115.md?page=2)