Petition to Save The WB DS / merged with 'Petition'

[David]

The WB DS has not been picked up for Fall. The show is in trouble.
Let's see if we can save it.

I have started a petition at Petitiononline.com to request that DS go on the air. It will be sent to the WB when it has 1,000 signatures.

There were 81 signatures posted in the first 1 1/2 days.
Email addresses are not posted or made public should you sign, so don`t worry about spam.
Just sign it, let's save the new show & get what we were cheated out of in 1991.

The URL is:
http://www.petitiononline.com/DrkShdow/petition.html

I've sent the URL to TV Guide, Entertainment Weekly, Soap Opera Digest.
Hopefully it'll start to appear in those places and I'll get my thousand signatures.

Let's make it happen!
Dark Shadows will rise again!
Sign the petition today, and spread the word!

[David]

93 signatures & counting!
Let's make it happen!

Spread the word & urge your friends to sign!

[David]

Well, I managed to hit 102 signatures as of this AM, just as the WB made it clear that DS is no longer under consideration at the network.
If enough people had let the WB know that interest was there, things might have turned out different.

NOT ONE Dark Shadows website has seen fit to publish the petition URL, though I sent it to them all.
At another DS board where I posted the URL, three longtime DS fans responded with negativity.

I know of four longtime fans who will not sign the petition because they don`t "like" me, as though showing support for the WB DS is going to force them to have to spend time with me!!!

At the DS Fests, I've seen numerous fans put absurd amounts of energy into hurting & badmouthing each other. Nearly 75% of the festival attendees that I know are not on speaking terms with each other, and none of them are even remotely open to the possibility of healing their baseless rifts.

I wonder how the WB DS might have turned out if fandom had put a little less effort into hurting each other and a little more effort into supporting the new show?

Forgive my bluntness, but I'm pissed, and the truth is the truth.

[Raineypark]

Honestly, David, I don't think anything the existing DS fans could have said or done would have made the difference we hoped for.

TV networks deal in staggering amounts of money....and we can never underestimate what that means for the things we actually get to see on TV.

I don't think it would have made the difference if they had heard from every single person who ever went to a fest, or posted on a DS related site......we simply don't number in the millions, and those are the numbers they want watching their programs.  Add to that the fact that the network has indicated that they have a whole working theory that revolves around "family oriented" stories, and it's easy to see how DS would not have fit into their over-all plan

If the show had gone on the air, and attracted a sizable new audience, then, I think, mounting a campaign might be the sort of thing that could save a show from being cancelled.....but I really don't think our support (or lack thereof) for a new, untried product, would have swayed them either way.

How fans treat one another at fests is another matter altogether, about which I can't comment because I've never attended one.  But I will say that I've been on this forum for more than 2 years and have found the folks here friendly and respectful much more often than not, and truly bad behaviour is never tolerated.

Whatever anyone else did or didn't do.....if you did what you thought best, then you have nothing to regret.

[David]

I agree with you about this forum. Rainey. The person at the top sets the tone, and Midnite, bless her heart, sets a great example & does not tolerate what goes on elsewhere in fandom.
But  stand by what I said about the other boards, and the fests.
I know, because I've been there, and the total lack of support my petition got FROM DS FANS was disheartening, not to mention the negative remarks posted at other boards:
(where can I sign to keep the show new show off the air, don`t waste your time, etc)

And couldn`t at least ONE DS website have shown a little support for the petition?
I think there are more DS fans out there, and a LOT of horror fans, who COULD have made a difference, but didn`t even bother trying.

[Stuart]

NOT ONE Dark Shadows website has seen fit to publish the petition URL, though I sent it to them all...  I wonder how the WB DS might have turned out if fandom had put a little less effort into hurting each other and a little more effort into supporting the new show?

Quite how some unsubstantiated scraps between fans has directly damaged the prospects of the new Dark Shadows is a mystery to me...  I don't see any corelation whatsoever.  The WB doesn't want Dark Shadows - they've viewed it, it doesn't work for them... end of argument.  It's an argument that isn't going to defeated with a petition with a hundred or so signatures... doubtless even a thousand.

For those reasons and others, I have serious reservations about running/endorsing any fan campaigns - as I posted earlier last week in the WB thread:

"Personally, I find that whole rationale very difficult to follow...  If we were midway through a season, fans would at least know what we were fighting for...  But for the time being, the pilot is an unknown commodity, and I don't think protesting for something so vague does the show any favours.  If you've seen it and passionately think it's the greatest thing on TV, then sure - but to me, begging for a reprieve just because it has the words "Dark Shadows" at the beginning simply isn't a good enough reason."

Getting the new DS on the air is a battle to be fought.  But we're not the ones who are going to win that fight.

End of criticism.

[David]

Actually, Star Trek was considered a dead issue, until fans got together & wrote letters, signed petitions, etc.

They got 10 movies and four more TV series for their efforts.

DS fandom remains far too fragmented, and far too filled with baseless infighting and negating of each other for this too happen.

[Darren Gross]

The execs made their decision over a week ago. By then it was deader than Dillinger, and not 1000 or 10,000 names would have done a bit of difference.

The Star trek thing was a total fluke plus they had amazing numbers of people into that show. It was 40 years ago. Time has changed and these internet petitions simply do not work. I've tried drumming up support for Warner online chats, message boards etc. and I usually get one or two loyal fans who will actually do something.

With that depressing response, I have felt that starting a petition (like one in support of the restorations) would only damage the cause by showing such lousy numbers, that to even present it to the relevant people would only reinforce their feelings that the films do not have a large enough audience to release on DVD.

No one wanted a new show more than me, believe me, but really the best course of action at this point is hope another network goes for the show or that one of WBs fall pick ups tanks badly.

[David]

Darren, you are right(and you are doing wonderful work, BTW)

The lack of support from DS fans for restoring the movies is right up there with the lack of fan support
for the WB.
And that's why the DS franchise is dying.

I've no intention of sending the petition in with only 102 signatures, but if I had 1,000 or 10,000, I'd send it to the WB, UPN & Showtime.
And 10,000 signatures MIGHT get the show on the air, as it did with Star Trek.

Time and again, I've seen far too many DS fans put huge amounts of energy into bad mouthing each other, while refusing to do anything to keep
the show alive.

Truly sad.

If only there were more like you out there, Darren.

[Midnite]

David, I appreciate that you're not naming names out of respect for our forum rule against finger pointing, particularly since you didn't name the site where your request was met with negativity, yet it concerns me that by making a generalization that every other DS site failed to cooperate with you (I don't doubt that you contacted several, but surely not all of them) and by stating that every one of them hadn't "seen fit" to do as you requested has a potential to put all DS webmasters on the defensive.  In all honesty, I can't imagine how you can know the motives of any webmaster that didn't post your url unless s/he revealed them to you, and if the reason was personal then that's an issue that we prefer be handled privately between you and the other parties anyway.

I think your zeal in wanting to see fandom be united is lovely, and I'm grateful that you were careful to not name names, but I think it's unfair and potentially problematic for this site to make generalizations about all other webmasters or to speculate about their reason for not posting your petition.

[David]

Boy, has this thread come to life!

Midnite:
I deliberately did not name names or other boards because those kinds of attacks need to stop.
In the past, elswhere in fandom, I've been both subjected to & asked to participate in personal attacks. A few times I lost my temper and did exactly that, I'm deeply ashamed to say.

I will never get caught up in that kind of behavior again. Your rules are also my rules, and I thank you, Midnight, with all my heart, for making this forum a safe haven for me & many other DS fans.
It's the only safe haven for DS that some people have.

What I am hoping this thread can turn into, is an open, honest, respectful dialogue on what can be done to improve DS fandom, so that festivals & other boards can become the same safe haven we have here, so that ALL
finger pointing loses it's support base, and so that we can all work together to revive the DS franchise & keep it alive.

[Midnite]

Thanks, David, but even without naming names there's still some finger pointing going on in this topic.  I agree that fandom has its problems, but no good can come out of putting other site owners on the defensive.

[Darren Gross]

I don't want my post to imply that there's a lack of fan support for the restorations. The thousands of kind comments, letters, emails, and friendly in person feedback have shown that there is a huge interest in the restorations among the fans.

If people don't have the time or aren't able to get on other boards and post, I have no problem with that- after all, it is indeed, a favor I'm asking for.

I'm not upset with people who can't join in my efforts, (everyone's got their own priorities, lives and other things they are required to do) but I'm delighted that there are people who have.

[victoriawinters]

The fact is scripted television is becoming a dying art.  The writer's union is up in arms over the reality TV deal.  I'm sure the actor's guild (AFTRA) won't be far behind.

They have decimated Saturday morning cartoons. My step-son's mother can't get a job.  She won directing and producing Daytime Emmys for Pinky & The Brain and Animaniacs.  All the shows are being sent overseas or they are importing shows.  Some of the most famous animators can't get a job.

TV in this country is in a sad state of affairs and I don't see it getting better anytime soon.

[Gerard]

OT --

For what it's worth, Victoria, I absolutely loved Animaniacs and Pinky and the Brain.  They brought back the incredibly sly humor of the Warner Bros. classic cartoons from its golden age, incorporating the absolutely hysterical (and often-times wonderfully "racey" between-the-lines "adult" tweaks that would have me rolling on the floor) wittiness that makes comedy great.  It must be so hard for your step-son's mom not to have her talent appreciated by the "shirts".  It might not be a consolation to her as she tries to find an avenue for her rare abilities, but let her know anyway that she has at least one more fan (me) who's thankful for the hours of laughter she has given.

Gerard