With the recent demise of Men ...
Question: With the recent demise of
Men in Trees,
October Road,
Jericho and
Moonlight, did it seem like there was more fan fervor this year with "Save Our Show" campaigns? I have never seen such enthusiasm and creativity, and yet not a single campaign seemed to make any difference. Is there anything that the fans could have done differently that would have worked to save their shows? And please don't say, "Tell people to watch the show to improve the ratings," — from what I understand, it only matters if you're a Neilsen family, and even if it doesn't, it's not like I know millions of people. And I certainly didn't have any control over the way ABC decided to promote — or more accurately, not promote —
Men in Trees, or the way ABC bounced the show around the schedule so it could never gain a decent following. Have we reached the point where the networks have so little regard for the voice of the viewers that we will never see a successful fan campaign again?
Answer: ABC doomed
Men in Trees (which returns this Wednesday for its final three episodes, by the way) with its inept and inexcusable scheduling, and there's probably nothing any fan campaign could have done to rescue that one. I was impressed by the pro-active and certainly pro-social awareness campaigns by fans of
Trees and the various vampire dramas, but network TV isn't a charity business, to put it mildly. Ratings are just one consideration in choosing whether or not to renew a show. Strength of schedule, time-slot needs, economics, audience flow, other research factors all play a part, and maybe even the buzz that comes from these kinds of fan actions is factored in. It certainly helped
Jericho get its second chance, which is why it's way too soon to cast a pall over any future fan campaigns. But once the tide has turned against a show, it can be hard to reverse it. And once a show is actually canceled, the odds get worse, despite the inevitable rumors that some network or other white knight is going to swoop in and rescue a show from extinction (which rarely happens).
