waltersgirl
04-16-2003, 12:42 AM
this was originally posted on Sept 19, but it reads like Mak wrote it yesterday, because it still holds true, she's still right, and we're still here, growing stronger and stronger.
this is from Makiko's blog - posted with her permission
go visit her - http://makikosab.blogspot.com/
“It is now a time for us to step back. Stay a community. Maintain your Farscape friends.” – DK, September 19th, IRC chat
Those who were waiting for a deus ex machine to come from Oz tonight, in the form of Farscape being renewed on SFC or picked up by another channel, we know how you feel. Easy to see our campaign as a failure, but look again, because that’s not what David’s telling us, and that’s not what we should be telling ourselves.
If we’d come here with the single goal of getting SFC to change its mind about Farscape, we wouldn’t be many thousand strong here now, to talk about it.
Might have looked like that, at the beginning. But that’s not what we’re here for. And that’s not what David, and Ricky, and Rockne -- and anyone else out there with a story to tell -- need from us now.
This is only the beginning, for them, and for us. Because there’s something in the wind now, something new that’s only starting to take form, something the savvier folks at CNN and TV Guide and the LA Times have recognized and are willing to explain to the world.
Forty years ago, a letter-writing campaign saved Star Trek at NBC, but those were gentler times. And in an era where the world has enough technology to destroy itself a thousand times over, and where millionaires pale beside their multi-billionaire cousins, we need to make an even louder noise to be heard.
And we have.
With the internet as our soapbox, our water cooler, our town meeting hall, we’ve gathered together in the greatest force EVER to take a stand for quality television. We’ve made more noise and gotten more publicity than any save-our-show campaign in the past, and we’re still growing.
So Farscape is on the bench at the moment. Sweating it off. Doesn’t mean we’re out of the game.
The world only spins forward, and our actions and our words here will create a new era for television programming, where the media content comes straight from the mouths of the folk, where we’re back around our caveman campfires again, telling the stories WE want to hear told.
Writers of fanfiction have known this for ages, even if they didn’t know they knew.
Media belongs to the masses. Viewers of the world, unite! We keep speaking in one voice, we keep challenging the opinions of network executives who don’t have respect for us now, and soon enough they’ll have no choice but to listen. We have the money, the numbers, the power. And the internet, to keep us together.
David Kemper came to talk to us tonight, not to tell us we failed, but to tell us we succeeded in making a noise, in getting people to pay attention. And when it comes down to it, Michael Jackson at SFC is one man, and if we put the fear of god in him for five minutes, we’ve done our job.
So, you ask, what next? For Farscape, for us?
Keep fighting. Keep the websites updated, share information, get smarter. The more intelligent voices we can add to our plea, the stronger we’ll grow, every day. Network execs listen to Nielson homes, not “gaggles,” but that’s the old school regime and we’ll throw it in their faces if it takes all year.
It’s gaggle time. It’s audience time. The old regime doesn’t work anymore.
In this century already, unions formed, to show lot bosses that the workers wouldn’t stand to be stepped on anymore. The United States learned a similar lesson when the electoral college failed us during the 2000 election. Napster shook the very foundation of the music industry. It’s our turn now. Let’s get together and make a big-ass change, for television, forever.
For Farscape? Wait until January, and then rock SFC with the best ratings they’ve ever seen for the remainder of Season 4. Place ads, take to the streets, make noise and let them know we’re still here. Keep sending letters and making calls, but don’t burn yourselves out. Do research so we can bombard them with real information.
For us? Stick together. Organize. Let TPTB know we’re not a flash in the pan, confined to one show, one project, one dismissable group of fans. Let them know that the old methods don’t work anymore.
I’ve worked in the television industry for a lot of years now, and in those back offices they’re mired in the old ways. So let’s get ‘em to open their windows, let’s show ‘em we’re standing outside, railing and shouting and singing in one great voice. Let’s show ‘em we won’t stand to see what happened to Farscape happen again.
Trust me, they’ll listen. We do our jobs, and Farscape will return. David and Rockne and Ricky and the rest of them will return, and they’ll get a chance to tell their stories, and new stories, for as long as we’re out here listening.
And I plan to be out here listening for a long, long time
this is from Makiko's blog - posted with her permission
go visit her - http://makikosab.blogspot.com/
“It is now a time for us to step back. Stay a community. Maintain your Farscape friends.” – DK, September 19th, IRC chat
Those who were waiting for a deus ex machine to come from Oz tonight, in the form of Farscape being renewed on SFC or picked up by another channel, we know how you feel. Easy to see our campaign as a failure, but look again, because that’s not what David’s telling us, and that’s not what we should be telling ourselves.
If we’d come here with the single goal of getting SFC to change its mind about Farscape, we wouldn’t be many thousand strong here now, to talk about it.
Might have looked like that, at the beginning. But that’s not what we’re here for. And that’s not what David, and Ricky, and Rockne -- and anyone else out there with a story to tell -- need from us now.
This is only the beginning, for them, and for us. Because there’s something in the wind now, something new that’s only starting to take form, something the savvier folks at CNN and TV Guide and the LA Times have recognized and are willing to explain to the world.
Forty years ago, a letter-writing campaign saved Star Trek at NBC, but those were gentler times. And in an era where the world has enough technology to destroy itself a thousand times over, and where millionaires pale beside their multi-billionaire cousins, we need to make an even louder noise to be heard.
And we have.
With the internet as our soapbox, our water cooler, our town meeting hall, we’ve gathered together in the greatest force EVER to take a stand for quality television. We’ve made more noise and gotten more publicity than any save-our-show campaign in the past, and we’re still growing.
So Farscape is on the bench at the moment. Sweating it off. Doesn’t mean we’re out of the game.
The world only spins forward, and our actions and our words here will create a new era for television programming, where the media content comes straight from the mouths of the folk, where we’re back around our caveman campfires again, telling the stories WE want to hear told.
Writers of fanfiction have known this for ages, even if they didn’t know they knew.
Media belongs to the masses. Viewers of the world, unite! We keep speaking in one voice, we keep challenging the opinions of network executives who don’t have respect for us now, and soon enough they’ll have no choice but to listen. We have the money, the numbers, the power. And the internet, to keep us together.
David Kemper came to talk to us tonight, not to tell us we failed, but to tell us we succeeded in making a noise, in getting people to pay attention. And when it comes down to it, Michael Jackson at SFC is one man, and if we put the fear of god in him for five minutes, we’ve done our job.
So, you ask, what next? For Farscape, for us?
Keep fighting. Keep the websites updated, share information, get smarter. The more intelligent voices we can add to our plea, the stronger we’ll grow, every day. Network execs listen to Nielson homes, not “gaggles,” but that’s the old school regime and we’ll throw it in their faces if it takes all year.
It’s gaggle time. It’s audience time. The old regime doesn’t work anymore.
In this century already, unions formed, to show lot bosses that the workers wouldn’t stand to be stepped on anymore. The United States learned a similar lesson when the electoral college failed us during the 2000 election. Napster shook the very foundation of the music industry. It’s our turn now. Let’s get together and make a big-ass change, for television, forever.
For Farscape? Wait until January, and then rock SFC with the best ratings they’ve ever seen for the remainder of Season 4. Place ads, take to the streets, make noise and let them know we’re still here. Keep sending letters and making calls, but don’t burn yourselves out. Do research so we can bombard them with real information.
For us? Stick together. Organize. Let TPTB know we’re not a flash in the pan, confined to one show, one project, one dismissable group of fans. Let them know that the old methods don’t work anymore.
I’ve worked in the television industry for a lot of years now, and in those back offices they’re mired in the old ways. So let’s get ‘em to open their windows, let’s show ‘em we’re standing outside, railing and shouting and singing in one great voice. Let’s show ‘em we won’t stand to see what happened to Farscape happen again.
Trust me, they’ll listen. We do our jobs, and Farscape will return. David and Rockne and Ricky and the rest of them will return, and they’ll get a chance to tell their stories, and new stories, for as long as we’re out here listening.
And I plan to be out here listening for a long, long time