Sending Stuff to Save the Show: Difference between revisions

When a show is perceived by fans/viewers as being in danger of being [[Screwed by the Network]], and ending up relegated to the sad brotherhood of shows that were [[Too Good to Last]], fandom mobilizes.

 

 

{{examples}}

* ''[[Macross Plus]]'' and ''[[Macross II]]'' got across the Pacific in large part because of this. The ''[[Macross]]'' series in general is an almost memetic example of [[Screwed by the Lawyers]], with no less than four companies all holding some part of the series' distribution rights and most of those companies ''hating'' each other. Despite this, pressure from both fans (who wanted a good series to make it across the Atlantic) and the rest of the industry (who wanted awesome product out there, strengthening the anime market) managed to get the Japanese side of the pileup to agree to play nice and share the revenue, at the same time that Harmony Gold (the U.S. end of the crossfire) was in the middle of a major reorganization and not minding the store. This is probably not happening again for any future Macross series, however.

* After [[Adult Swim]]'s 2012 [[April Fools]] prank of unexpectedly reviving [[Toonami]] for a night garnered explosive results, they have now let fans know that they are seriously considering reviving the block and encouraging them to make their voices heard by contacting [[Cartoon Network]] and using the "#BringBackToonami" hashtag on [[Twitter]]. How much of a response they will need to produce results, and when we will know, are up in the air.

** [[And the Fandom Rejoiced|It has been confirmed to return on a weekly basis starting May 26, 2012,]] thereby upgrading this to a Success Story

 

 

* When Disney/Buena Vista put out their release plans for the home video and DVD release of ''[[Princess Mononoke]]'' fans were upset that the DVD would not include a subtitled Japanese track. A letter writing campaign and petition mobilized by the Naussica.net mailing list sucessfuly convinced them otherwise; apparently they had no idea there was a demand for it.

 

 

* The original ''[[Star Trek]]'' was saved by a letter-writing campaign. Fans got rewarded with only one season before it was canceled again, and said season is almost universally considered to be the worst of the series.

** On the other hand, the third season took the show past the threshold number of episodes needed at the time for a syndication deal. Without it, there'd have been no syndication and likely no further movies or series.

 

 

* ''[[Kim Possible]]'' fans organized a letter-writing campaign to save the show, and it was brought back for a fourth and final season.

* ''[[Family Guy]]'' fans sent diapers (for Stewie) to Fox to save the show. Though it didn't work initially, the show did come back a few years later due to good DVD sales and strong performance on ''[[Adult Swim]]''.

 

 

* ''[[Firefly]]'''s fans, the Browncoats, sent in postcards, rather than letters. While they were not successful in getting the show [[Uncanceled]], they did manage the unprecedented result of getting the [[Series Finale]] as a theatrical release [[Serenity|feature film]].

** Joss Whedon himself was hoping that the film would renew interest enough for the network to continue the series. Sadly, it didn't work out like that.

 

 

* There was also a plan by ''[[The Big O]]'' fans to send tomatoes to [[Cartoon Network]], but there wasn't much turnout for that.

* Save our Voice Actors, an organization that tried to get the original 4kids English voice actors back for Pokemon, once sent pasta to the new dubbing studio because the last episode to use the original voice actors prominently featured noodles. It failed.

 

 

* ''[[Cupid]]'' fans sent in letters, but were unsuccessful in saving the show. Years later, ended up [[Uncanceled]] for other reasons. Unfortunately, the new version suffered the same fate, as ABC aired it in the 10:00 pm hour on Tuesday nights, and repeatedly preempted it for another ultimately failed show, ''The Unusuals''.

* Fans of ''[[The 4400]]'' sent in letters and sunflower seeds as well, but this appears to have been unsuccessful. NBC owns USA, and the now-defunct show has more than a passing similarity to their then-fair-haired child show, ''[[Heroes (TV series)|Heroes]]'', so ''The 4400'' may be a case of [[Screwed by the Network]] when all is said and done.

* ''[[Star Trek: Enterprise|Enterprise]]'' was going to get canceled on UPN after its fourth season, ''when it was just getting good'' (which says many things about the show and the fans), so fans actually organized a money-raising campaign to essentially ''reimburse UPN for its losses.'' They actually succeeded in raising several million dollars, but it was canceled anyway.

 

 

* Not just letters and posters of fanarts, but a small group of fans actually held ''rallies'' located around major [[Nickelodeon]]-based networks for years to try and convince the big wigs to bring back the [[Screwed by the Network|canceled]] ''[[Danny Phantom]]''. No dice.

** But they haven't given up yet.

 

 

* ''The Mole'' had a "Save the Mole" campaign in 2008, after ABC said halfway through the 5th season that they won't renew the show for a 6th season unless the ratings improved for the second half of the season. They sent in "lemonheads" (not the candy, but actual lemons with faces painted on them, after Paul's unofficial mascot for the season.) So far, the show has not been declared canceled, nor has it been renewed for a 6th season.

* Fans of the pre-Paul F. Tompkins multi-comedian version of ''[[Best Week Ever]]'' have discussed sending cans of soup to VH-1, the point being that we already have ''[[The Soup]]'', we don't need another one-host pop culture mocking clip show.

* ''[[Casualty]]'' and ''[[Holby City]]'' fans attempts to get [[Flat Character|background]] [[Ghost Extras|extras]] into [[Character Development|proper characters]], e.g. in ''Casualty'' Big Mac, the porter, is a slightly minor character, but sometimes gets major storylines. (See the articles on ''[[Casualty]]'' and ''[[Holby City]]'' for the [[Fandom]] involved.)

* After ''[[Caprica]]'''s cancellation, fans launched a campaign consisting in sending bags of Apples to [[Syfy]], after the promotional images.

 

 

 

 

* ''[[Mother 3]]'', a game which, despite surviving one cancellation and eventually releasing in Japan, is still not likely to ever be [[No Export for You|localized abroad]]. This in spite of Starmen.net's obsessive [http://starmen.net/ebsiege/ EB Siege] fan campaign.

** A very professional [[Fan Translation]] has been finished and released.

* The now famous [http://oprainfall.blogspot.com/ Operation Rainfall] is an attempt to get the [[Wii]] RPGs ''[[The Last Story]]'', ''[[Xenoblade Chronicles]]'' and ''[[Pandoras Tower]]'' localized in North America. They sent letters to Nintendo's North American HQ trying to convince them to bring these games to North America. After their first attempt failed, they tried again with an even ''bigger'' letter-writing campaign. Despite Nintendo responding to the letters with them commending their efforts, rumors that they are planning to release the games and other things, there hasn't been any actual response yet.

 

 

* ''[[Gargoyles]]'' fans bought what they could of the first half of season 2 to try and bring the second half to dvd, but Buena Vista still won't budge. Strangely enough, unlike other canceled examples here, it still airs...but in the dead of night, as filler. Also, the creator himself has gotten involved to try and revive the property through comic book sales, as well as continue the story away from the [[Canon Discontinuity]] season made after he left. There doesn't seem to be a rhyme or reason, or even an organized effort, so their offices randomly get gobs of celtic/scottish-centric objects, pictures, what have you, every now and then.

* ''[[Code Lyoko]]'' fans have been campaigning for a fifth season ever since the show ended in 2008, but MoonScoop (the group that creates the show) did not respond to any of these petitions and what-not. The reason why this is not under "Nice Try" is because MoonScoop is making a ''Code Lyoko'' MMORPG, a series of four books to close up plot holes, and a completely unconfirmed letter to the fans stating that MoonScoop was considering making a fifth season. Where this will go, no one can tell. Make of that what you will.

 

 

* In Finland, the atrociously bad voiceover group Agapio Racing Team, also known as Nordic Agapio, had their doors shut down for good after angry ''[[Digimon]]'' fans sent in enough complaints about their ''Digimon'' dub to the show's distributor, who sacked the group about a season or two into the series and hired another, much more competent group.

 

 

* Peter Berg's ''Wonderland'' is part this and part [[Screwed by the Network]]. The show only lasted for two episodes, even though the pilot won its timeslot (against an ER repeat.) Its short lifespan is often attributed to protests by mental health advocates of a spree-killing storyline.

* ''[[Doctor Who]]'' fans being [[Fan Dumb|what they are]], large numbers of them sent in acerbic letters complaining about the various scientific inaccuracies and how the show wasn't nearly as good as when they were children. They ''thought'' they were being "helpful", trying to restore their beloved show to its former glory. Unfortunately, so the legend goes, [[Michael Grade]] (who, so the legend goes, was looking for an excuse to can the show anyway) interpreted the complaints as demands to cancel the series. So he did.

 

 

* Viewers got ABC to cancel ''Capitol Critters'' with a letter-writing campaign decrying the show's portrayal of [[Unfortunate Implications|any vermin that wasn't a mouse]] as a nonwhite race.

 

 

* In a comic book adaptation of ''[[The Powerpuff Girls]]'', a villainous show host of a kid's show asked its fans (including Bubbles) to send in money without telling their parents. In this case, it wasn't so much to save the show from being cancelled, as it was a villainous plot to get money. Also, instead of threatening to cancel the show, ''all the characters would die'' if they got no money.

** The [[Animated Series]] also has an episode like this. He pretty much indicates ''the world will end for the show's cast'' if they don't get money. So Bubbles robs the banks herself.

 

 

 

 

* The webcomic ''Save Hiatus'' is about this phenomenon. In it, the main cast, who are the fans of the fictional TV series ''Hiatus'', send in red thongs.

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Trivia Trope]]

[[Category:YMMV Trope]]

[[Category:Sending Stuff to Save the Show]]

[[Category:Alliterative Trope Titles]]