Let the Scare Tactics Reviews Begin - Go Dave Mason!!

[LadyCrais]

Think I'll send Dave a copy of my tirade.
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http://www.insidevc.com/vcs/television/article/0,1375,VCS_234_1850834,00.html

Ventura County Star

'Scare Tactics' goes too far with its pranks
By Dave Mason, mason@insidevc.com
March 30, 2003

"Scare Tactics" goes beyond the boundaries of good taste. This reality show is just plain mean, and I urge you not to watch it.

I guess I have to tell you when it airs. The show premieres at 10 p.m. Friday on the Sci Fi channel, the network that canceled the incredibly innovative "Farscape" for junk like this.

Shannen Doherty ("Charmed" and "Beverly Hills 90210") is the host of this show, which helps people to play pranks that will terrify their friends. Now these aren't silly, mild jokes. In one prank, a man is led to believe he shot Doherty's uncle with a high-tech plasma gun. In another, a man is led to think his friend has been buried alive in a cemetery.

A third prank shows a man being made to think he's been contaminated by toxic materials.

I have to admit one prank, in which people are led to believe a UFO is flying above their car at night, is somewhat entertaining. The lighting effects are well-done, and the prank is complete with a man in an alien outfit circling the car.

But the people inside the car are terrified for their lives, and that's going too far. I hope "Scare Tactics" is canceled quickly and mercifully. What scares me is shows like this are possible as TV remains obsessed with reality programs.

Copyright 2003, Ventura County Star. All Rights Reserved.

[Kerlin]

Can we send him ice cream too? Pretty please? Dave Mason has been frelling amazing throughout this entire campaign :D.

[Dante'-wants-blood!!]

The fact that these poor people are actually on the verge of cardiac arrest is going to be all the motivation necessary to draw in a HUGE crowd of mindless, heartless idiots with no sense of compassion and/or good taste. What's next? Will Skiffy buy the rights to the old video series "Faces of Death" and promote that as good clean family fun as well? To hell with Skiffy and Shannon Dougherty; she sucks on every network stupid enough to throw her a bone.:mad:

[LadyCrais]

Following is the text of the letter I sent him. The complete letters I mailed are in a Scare Tactics thread from about a month ago. Those would be at:

http://www.watchfarscape.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=7916&highlight=pathology
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Hi Dave,

I wanted to write and thank you for your "review" of Scare Tactics and just how obscene it is that we have arrived at this point in television. Yes, I am a member of SaveFarscape, but I honestly do not believe that has any bearing on my views on this subject. I thought you might appreciate that I, and many others, have been working to get this show off that air as quickly as possible, preferably before it is ever aired. I've attached a copy of the letter I mailed to the SciFi Channel on February 22nd regarding this show. I copied this letter and sent an additional letter to every corporation that advertised on Farscape on Friday, February 21st. It read, in part,

"It is my hope that your company refuses to participate in this new travesty called Scare Tactics that Sci-Fi has deemed entertainment. I firmly believe that if Scare Tactics is actually broadcast on Sci-Fi starting April 4th as advertised, that every advertiser and viewer alike should eschew all further association with the Sci-Fi Channel until the program is withdrawn. It is my fear that any advertisers who are associated with that broadcast will be similarly treated, as I know I would refrain from buying their products myself. I further believe the Sci-Fi Channel should be judicially punished for their utter contempt for basic human dignity and that those whose dignity has already been trampled upon should receive those punitive damages. While I have every confidence that your company does not support this moral outrage, I urge you in the strongest terms possible to avoid any guilt by association by eliminating any possible connections to Scare Tactics BEFORE it is aired."

It is a sign of the times that only one of the 39 corporations took my views seriously enough to respond to me, and they did so within the corporate excuse that they would be taking no action as they do not choose which programs on which their commercials air. The truly frightening part, is that I fear our society has degraded to the point where this show may actually become a hit series.

Thank you for your past, and hopefully continuing support of our efforts to get quality programming back on the air. Farscape first, but quality is our primary, overall mission.

Please feel free to use the text of my letters if you have any desire to follow up on this topic.

[LadyCrais]

Hrrrmph!! Now I see the bloody typo!! I have to have proofed this at least 5 times before sending it. :mad:

[Dante'-wants-blood!!]

Originally posted by LadyCrais
Hrrrmph!! Now I see the bloody typo!! I have to have proofed this at least 5 times before sending it. :mad: As Homer would say, "D'OH!!!!!"

[RojAvon]

Great Letter Lady Crais,

It's too bad more people don't care enough to let advertisers know how they feel about this kind of thing.

[LadyCrais]

Originally posted by RojAvon
Great Letter Lady Crais,

It's too bad more people don't care enough to let advertisers know how they feel about this kind of thing.

I posted the link to the thread where I originally posted the entire text of my letters. The thread was about other people writing to the advertisers. There is also a new thread preparing to write to any company that advertises on Scare Tactics to let them know that they will no longer be purchasing their products. Specifically it was to the putative sponsor, Prestone I think it was, who very obviously cannot claim to have no input on where their product is advertised. At least it wasn't a company that I recall as having advertised on Farscape. Would have to check with the advertising gurus on that one.

Anyway, the beginning discussion to start writing to Scare Tactics advertisers begins here at the bottom of the page. Hopefully JadesHand or someone else will get it rolling and someone will be prepared to start collecting the commercial info.

http://www.watchfarscape.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=122529#post122529