Many, including
myself feel the hopelessness of when their favorite shows are cancelled or are
beginning to receive low ratings.
However, many people are not even aware that their shows are in danger
of never returning to the small screen again after the season’s end. The show whose cancelation really had a
big impact on me was Sam Raimi’s “Legend of the Seeker.” “Legend of the Seeker” was very
refreshing to see on television because there had not been anything like it
before. It was compared by many of
other fans as “Lord of the Rings” but for TV. It was based off the New York Times Best Seller “The Sword
of Truth” series by Terry Goodkind, which I did not read until after the show
had run it’s course. The show definitely
was successful in it’s own terms, because it was a syndicated show rather than
having a specific time slot and network that would premiere it weekly. It averaged about 2.5 million viewers a
week from each episode, which was very good for a syndicated television
show. Unfortunately, the Tribune
Company that had financed the show unexpectedly went bankrupt, so it was not
able to continue. The Sci-Fi
channel was going to pick it up, but it did not want to give a big enough
budget, so the show slowly faded away.
After the
announcement that this show would not be returning for a third season, I felt
as though I had no one to discuss it with and no one else who saw and
understood what a big loss of a television show this was. After listening to a fan podcast about
the show I learned about the online activity that was beginning to make waves
in the press and with the different television networks. A fan of the show had created a
movement through the Internet to create awareness for “Legend of the Seeker”. There was a site created called
“Save Our Seeker” where fans would post news and plan upcoming promotions to
help the season come back for another season. The leaders of this site also connected to fans using Twitter,
Facebook, as well as the podcast.
The site has currently risen up to 39,000 dollars for the shows
promotion and to get DVDs to many Libraries in well-known cities across the
United States.
This is a video made by the fans for the "Save Our Seeker" Campaign.
Though the efforts
of Save Our Seeker did not result in a third season of “Legend of the Seeker,”
they certainly show how much work fans can put into something once they are
connected through the Internet. I
think that an Internet fandom for a TV show, book, or movie series is very
important to have because it can make publishers and producers aware of how
many fans there actually are, thus creating more advertisement opportunities
and a reason for the show to stay on the network. If all future television show can start Facebook fan pages
and websites to promote their show, the more viewers it is likely to gain. Networks have even been creating
official Facebook pages for the show, so that people will be able to “like” and
share with their friends. It is
important for fans to stay connected.
It allows the shows to go beyond the screen and take on a life of their
own.
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