Because letters from viewers are worth ten times their weight in advertising dollars. Without them, the only feedback they get on shows is from Nielsen’s mythical “typical viewers”. And, they rely on those ratings for all decisions, UNLESS there is other input. Why wouldn’t they? They know the ratings don’t reflect reality, gut it’s all they’ve got. But, if they get, say, 100 letters for one show, they know that translates into at least 10,000 viewers since, on average, only one in one hundred will write.
Actually, it was at the end of the second season. The fan campaign saved Season Three, giving us such delights as * Spock’s Brain* (“Brain and brain! What is brain?”), and The Savage Curtain, wherein the ship encounters the shadowy figure of ABraham Lincoln floating in space, and with his assistance do battle against Ghengis Khan, all for the amusement of a rock-shaped monster.
But the season did have its good moments too.
There was an attempt to restart Trek when a better time slot revealed how well it really was doing but because Nimoy had already signed up to Mission Impossible and other actors to other roles it was impossible to do so. Trek’s ratings were only bad overall. In the 18-25 year old male demograph it was the 2nd most watched show at the time.
There was an attempt to restart Trek when a better time slot revealed how well it really was doing but because Nimoy had already signed up to Mission Impossible and other actors to other roles it was impossible to do so. Trek’s ratings were only bad overall. In the 18-25 year old male demograph it was the 2nd most watched show at the time. The reason it became a series of movies was to try and capture the new audiences hooked on Star Wars.
Treble post? Don’t ask 
Since this is about television, I’ll move this thread to Cafe Society.
Could you elaborate? What does it do- screen old episodes? I’d do anything to have Freaks n Geeks back. An-y-thing.
They were replaying a lot of short lived shows and had a documentary about the whole thing (which they did mention Freaks n Geeks but didn’t play any eps.) The whole thing happened in December and I think it’s over now (sorry). But here’s a link about it:
The Pretender was lost despite fan efforts. 
I shudder to think of how awful a fourth season of Star Trek would have been. Not that I didn’t like the show but if it had gone on much longer like that then the cult audience might even have abandoned it.
There’s a certain problem with any kind of campaign to save a show: the network already knows you’re watching. They know how many people watch the show, perhaps not regularly but they’ve got an idea. A letter writing campaign isn’t going to increase those numbers, they’re going to remain the same if not drop off. Now if a show is being cancelled because it’s expected to fall below profitability next season or some kind of internal network politics then a letter writing campaign might have a chance but if it’s gone for low ratings in general it’s not going to be saved.
And online petitions to save shows are little better than jokes. You’d think some people would have realized that by now…
Actually, quite the opposite! Cagney was cancelled in 1983 after only one season, and a letter writing campaign convinced CBS to bring it back.
After returning to the schedule, Cagney & Lacey went on for five more seasons!!! This remains one of the biggest successes that any fan-based letter writing campaign has ever had…
Correct me if I’m wrong, but I’m pretty sure Family Guy was cancelled, brought back because of fans, cancelled again, broguht back again, then cancelled permatly.
Amd Futurama? Well, let’s see…take a great show, put it in a crappy timeslot, pre-empt it with every sports fame possible, then sit back and wonder why it doesn’t get ratings and cancell it, despite the fact that fans obviously love it and want it to stay.
(Thank God it’s now going to air on Cartoon Network…and almost every day, no less! Too bad we just can’t get more episodes.)
Cite for any of this? I’m not trying to be a jerk for asking, but I’m highly skeptical that fan letters have any weight in a network’s decision to bring a show back from cancellation.
I saw the same series of specials on the Trio network that were mentioned earlier, and they said over and over again that letter campaigns just don’t work. The producers who were interviewed said that it was nice to hear from the fans, but it had no bearing on the survival of the show – instead the networks just delivered the letters, unopened, to the production company.
The same special said that the situation changed when shows stopped being sponsored by a single company. After that point, the only cases of a letter-writing campaign having any bearing on a show were the original Star Trek and Cagney and Lacey.
Huh? If you liked the show, why would you think it deserved a mercy killing? I bet if you tune in for the new episode on Friday at 8:00, you’ll change your mind. The UK got to see it before the US, and the Brits seemed to love “Kansas” and “Terre Firma” (the next two episodes).
By the way, the Farscape fans didn’t just write to the networks. They also wrote to the advertisers. Anyone have an opinion on the effectiveness of doing this?
Neilsen ratings are far more accurate than dedicated letter writers in how many people actually watch the show. Depth of feeling towards a SHOW doesn’t translate into advertising dollars for the ads. Things are a little better on cable (especially premium cable) where willingness to pay for the show itself is more of a factor, but ad rates are still the mainstay for places like SciFi.
The reason the letter campaign worked for Star Trek was the way they did it.
Fans were asked (in fanzines and at conventions) to individually write letters, rather than to copy a form letter created by the organizers of the campaign.
Then they were told to mail the letters to the network. Addressed to the network, as general mail. No mention on the envelope of what show they were writing in about, no “ATTN: Gene Roddenberry”, no “Production Department”. Just “NBC”. The network had NO CHOICE but to open every letter, lest they miss something important.
Of course, this was also the late 60s, and the networks probably just dump mail that isn’t addressed to a particular executive or department into the trash.
We would all like for our favorite shows to continue on forever, providing us with needed escape week after delightful week. This does not happen.
A fan campaign aimed at causing a network to continue filming new episodes for a show to me seems secondary to what I think is a far better goal for fans of their favorite TV show: the release of the completed series on DVD (or another suitable format).
I can come to grips with the mortality of television programming. I just want my favorite shows on disc so that I can watch them again and again. That to me should be the goal of a fan campaign.
Well, it sounded like what Davebear was trying to argue is not that passion will change a network’s decision, but that for every fan who writes in, there have got to be many more who aren’t. If a quarter of a million fans write in, that wouldn’t mean there are only 250,000 people total watching the show. I don’t know where he came up with the ratio of 100 casual fans for every one that is passionate enough to write in, but it sounds plausible to me to assume that only a fraction of the total population of fans will write in. Then again, I’m no expert on this stuff.
Also, I found this interesting article on flaws in the Nielsens…
Uh, dude, a little note for next time: NEVER quote an entire article, as it is against the law. Link to it, quote a paragraph, leave it at that.
Sorry about that. I didn’t know. I wish this board would let me edit my post.