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Playing
Hardball With The Networks: A Fan Manifesto
Written
By Rick Ellis, May 9th, 2001
It's
less than a week until the broadcast networks announce their new
fall primetime schedules, and my email box is filled to the brim
with frantic messages from a variety of "Save Our Show"
campaigns. Mostly fan-based, primarily organized without help from
the show themselves, all these campaigns hope to convince some network
to keep their favorite show on the air for one more year.
Here's
just one example of an email that was forwarded to me by some
well-meaning fan. It's earnest, heart-felt and sincere. Which is
why it probably won't work.
All
of these campaigns function under a couple of large misconceptions
about why a show stays on the air. It's not quality, it's not whether
or not fans rally to the cause. It comes down to money. And if you
want to save your favorite show, the way to do it isn't with funny
little notes. It's by threatening these large media conglomerates
with the only thing they understand.
Money.
Most
fan campaigns are based on tactics first honed in the mid-1990's
by the now defunct organization "Viewers For Quality Television."
The VQT felt that some shows were so well written that they deserved
to get another chance to find an audience. And by using the press,
presenting awards and carefully picking their fights, backers of
the organization were able to save several struggling shows.
But
the landscape has changed, and fans haven't realized it. If your
favorite show was "saved" anytime in the past couple of
years, you should know that it had little to do with your efforts.
It was all a matter of strict economics. The fact that you got what
you wanted was just a happy coincidence.
Are
you mad that "Buffy, The Vampire Slayer" moved to UPN?
Well, wailing about how the WB didn't "understand" the
fans, or threatening to stop watching the network is as silly an
approach as you can take.
The
execs at The WB understand what they're losing. But they also understand
that their corporate owners at AOL/Time Warner tied their hands
early on. The network needs to cut $20 million or so from their
budget, and they set limits on what they could pay any show in production
fees. Even if Susanne Daniels had wanted to keep the show on The
WB at any cost, she couldn't do it and keep her job.
As
for threatening to stop watching The WB, that's an empty threat
at best. Even if you never watch the network again (and let's face
it--you will eventually), you'll just turn to some other network
owned by AOL/Time Warner. Are you also planning to stop watching
TNT, TBS, HBO, etc? Of course not. And the execs at those companies
know that.
There's
only one way to get the attention of the ultimate decision makers.
It isn't done with empty threats, or naive fan letters and online
petitions. If you want to save your show, you need to take money
out of their corporate pockets.
And
here's how to do it...
Move
On To Part Two
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