Blog 11 - Literary Journalism Piece

Kevin Risse

“They Don’t Call ‘Em ‘Fanatics’ For Nothing”

There was a time where television was nothing more than a spectator sport. The most involvement viewers had was watching it. More recently, however, fan involvement has increased to the point where their influence is crucial to a show’s survival.

With the advent of the Internet, it has almost become hard not to become more involved in the programs you love. With all of the fan websites and message boards and chatrooms out there, it’s easy to immerse yourself in a community of similar fans.

Many fans, however, go beyond merely compiling picture galleries and lists of their favorite quotes. There are whole communities devoted to ensuring the safety of their programs. As television production has become more about financial gain than producing excellent work, shows that are of a higher quality are cancelled for low viewership. As a result, the fans feel the need to step in and do their part to persuade executives from canning their beloved programs.

When the show Roswell seemed on the verge of cancellation after its first season, fans sent thousands of bottles of Tabasco (the preferred condiment of the series’ aliens) to network executives, pleading to save the show. When Everwood lay on the chopping block in 2006, fans rented a Ferris wheel (a reference to a scene from the pilot) and hosted a non-cancellation party in a parking lot outside the network’s offices. After Farscape was cancelled, fans began a huge campaign in hopes of pressuring the Sci-Fi Channel into renewing the series. Fans of Veronica Mars, another show continually in danger of being chopped, formed a group called Cloud Watchers, who hired a plane to fly a banner reading “RENEW VERONICA MARS! CW 2006!”

“I suppose you could argue that its part of the democratization that's entering the entertainment industry with shows like American Idol,” said one fan who wished to remain anonymous.

As a teenager, she was involved in a different sort of campaign: one to romantically reunite the characters of Buffy and Angel from Buffy the Vampire Slayer. The campaign, called “Love Will Lead Us”, involved contacting Buffy fans and asking them to sign a petition that would then be sent to creator Joss Whedon.

“People want to feel like they have control over what they see,” she says. “I think when people feel emotionally attached to shows they're willing to get really involved to try to save them.”

When asked about her fan crusade as a teenager, she laughed and said, “I just really, really loved Buffy and Angel. I was 13 or so. I think there was definitely an element of living vicariously there.” As to whether or not she would ever do the same now that she’s older, she says, “I think I'm a little better able to distinguish between fantasy and reality.”

Oftentimes fan involvement has yielded very positive results. Because of the rabid cult following that the cancelled show Firefly garnered, it was eventually spun off into the feature film Serenity. Farscape fans’ bombardment of emails to the Sci-Fi Channel resulted in the production of a miniseries to wrap up the series’ remaining plotlines.

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not much, i know. but it's a start, anyway.