What would it take to save a TV series?
Over the holiday, while in the US, I discovered a series called Day Break. I watched the first six episodes and was ready to write a blog post about how this would be the next sleeper hit to reach the UK.
However, when I looked it up I found that ABC has already cancelled the show, and may not even air the remaining episodes which have been filmed.
Instead of launching into a rant about how short-sighted TV executives nearly cancelled hits like Seinfeld and Cheers -- I thought I'd be more positive and ponder about what it would take for a fan-based movement to gain enough ground to revive a series.
We've seen fan-based movements before with Firefly, Arrested Development and Enterprise -- which actually raised enough money to run a full page ad, but all failed nonetheless.
So far, series like Family Guy have only been brought back from the dead when they've lived long enough to be put on DVD, and then DVD sales renew interest in the series.
Fans of Day Break have launched a petition to save it, but given the trend -- Hollywood is more likely to listen to dollars than voices, and I'd guess they wouldn't notice a petition no matter how many people sign.
So -- what I'm wondering is how much money would have to be raised to save a series? The premise could be simple -- funds could be donated against the purchase of future DVD sales. If the series doesn't come back, then the funds are returned. But how much would it take for TV executives to sit up and take notice?
Here's another question. Given that fans will readily go out and do grassroots / guerrilla marketing on behalf of the television programme they would like to save -- why don't networks announce which shows are in danger of being cancelled or the production companies for that matter?
There is certainly a missed opportunity here. Eventually one online-savvy media company is going to launch their series direct to internet, and then follow up with DVD sales and the other companies will be left playing catch-up as usual.
Big media ... wake up and smell the Long Tail.
However, when I looked it up I found that ABC has already cancelled the show, and may not even air the remaining episodes which have been filmed.
Instead of launching into a rant about how short-sighted TV executives nearly cancelled hits like Seinfeld and Cheers -- I thought I'd be more positive and ponder about what it would take for a fan-based movement to gain enough ground to revive a series.
We've seen fan-based movements before with Firefly, Arrested Development and Enterprise -- which actually raised enough money to run a full page ad, but all failed nonetheless.
So far, series like Family Guy have only been brought back from the dead when they've lived long enough to be put on DVD, and then DVD sales renew interest in the series.
Fans of Day Break have launched a petition to save it, but given the trend -- Hollywood is more likely to listen to dollars than voices, and I'd guess they wouldn't notice a petition no matter how many people sign.
So -- what I'm wondering is how much money would have to be raised to save a series? The premise could be simple -- funds could be donated against the purchase of future DVD sales. If the series doesn't come back, then the funds are returned. But how much would it take for TV executives to sit up and take notice?
Here's another question. Given that fans will readily go out and do grassroots / guerrilla marketing on behalf of the television programme they would like to save -- why don't networks announce which shows are in danger of being cancelled or the production companies for that matter?
There is certainly a missed opportunity here. Eventually one online-savvy media company is going to launch their series direct to internet, and then follow up with DVD sales and the other companies will be left playing catch-up as usual.
Big media ... wake up and smell the Long Tail.
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