WB ORDERS FILMING OF NEW DS PILOT

There's a brief article about the WB in today's L.A. Times Calendar section.  (Thanks, Bette! )  Will post it here since it's accessible to full-time subscribers only:

WB makes a 'Mountain'

     "Reality" may be TV's current craze, but the WB Network isn't about to throw away its reputation as a haven for youth-oriented scripted drama.  The network on Tuesday said the fall schedule will include 13 episodes of "The Mountain," starring Oliver Hudson of "Dawson's Creek" as a young man who takes over his family's ski resort.  Barbara Hershey costars.
     This is the second new drama picked up by the WB in advance of its official fall schedule announcement next week.  It's also ordered "Jack & Bobby," with Christine Lahti as the mother of a future president.  The WB--part owned by Tribune Co., parent company of The Times--needs to fill several scheduling holes, including one left by the departing "Angel," a spinoff of "Buffy the Vampire Slayer."

--Scott Collins

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my feeling is that the people in fandom who do know have been told they cannot announce it until such and such a date.

That sort of senario could very easily be the case when it comes to a public announcement from someone whose function it is to relay news to fandom at large. But I wasn't only referring to someone who would necessarliy fall into that category. 

Maybe things are in flux.  I doubt it and would love to be proven wrong.

Well, don't get me wrong, I think we're on the same basic page when it comes to the pilot's chances. But, you know, it is possible that we're simply being too realistic for our own good. Yesterday's TV Week article would seem to indicate that, at least to the point it was written, the DS pilot's fate was still in flux. And combining that with a seeming unwillingness of people to even privately commit in as many words that the pilot is dead, I'm willing to concede that, no matter how slim I might consider the possibility, there may actually be more hope than what otherwise might be assumed from the various other reports we've been getting. 

As I've said, only time will tell...

my feeling is that the people in fandom who do know have been told they cannot announce it until such and such a date.

That sort of senario could very easily be the case when it comes to a public announcement from someone whose function it is to relay news to fandom at large. But I wasn't only referring to someone who would necessarliy fall into that category. 

That someone has to answer to other people who also tell that person what to do and when as well. Was that cryptic enough for you?
 


Buuuuuuuuuuuuuut, the damn thing could happen anyway.   

I read something that was rather disheartening today.  Maybe it was even mentioned already.  During my lunch break at work, I killed time by doing some web-surfing and came upon the message board of a "Save Angel" site.  Some of the things that were said; holy freholey.  If those Angel fans are Baby Jane Hudson, we DS fans are Blanche - get ready to be fed dead parakeets and rats.  Not only were they relishing in the possibility that the new DS might not make it, but they announced that they will see to it that it will never see the light of day, just out of vindictiveness of losing their favorite show.  Some have called for a boycott of WB if it airs the new DS, and also writing to any sponsors of the show should it air and declaring a boycott of their products and services if they advertise on DS.  And those were some of the nice things they said.  I've never seen such nastiness.

But to cheer things up a bit, the school I worked at today had what was called a "Tea Party" for the little kids who are "Pen Pals" with local seniors who serve as their Pen-Pal Grandparents.  The place was full of the little ones who proudly took their adoptive grandma's and grandpa's on tours, did arts-and-crafts projects with them (I helped out in that area), entertained them with song, and topped it off with cookies and "tea" (actually milk); they were just beaming, and the "grandma's" and "grandpa's" were equally thrilled by their pen-pal charges.  It made me feel better after reading that awful stuff on that Angel website.

Gerard

It's too bad that other Angel fans have to be so vindictive about Dark Shadows.  You have to remember that a large portion of the fanbase of Angel are teenagers, which (no offense), not exactly a group known for showing restraint about their dislikes.

Personally, I'm a big fan of both shows.  Even if the new Dark Shadows makes it to the air (yeah, right),    I simply don't understand how it is to blame for Angel's cancellation.  Isn't that the fault of the suits over at the WB?  And isn't that patently obvious to all?

Wonder what the Angel fans will have to say if they hear Dark Shadows wasn't picked up for the fall schedule.

- Cassandra Blair (who is only ever cheered up these days when she actually turns off the television.

I've never seen such nastiness.

Now you can probably see why I've said that some of the Angel fans need to seriously limit their caffeine intake because they're bouncing off the walls with little provocation.    But they're also a minority - a VERY vocal minority - but a minority nonetheless. The majority of Angel fans don't seem to have any ill will towards DS. Some even say that they hope DS does get a pick up and they can't begin to fathom the behavior of their brethren.

I think the cancellation of "Angel" has done considerable harm to the chances of "Dark Shadows".  After the hystrionic and sustained reaction its fans have put up, I suspect that the WB execs will be far more wary of the counter-productive aspects of picking up a show that brings an established fan-base.

I took a look at the primary "Save Angel" site and frankly it beggars belief - one day's campaign mission was to send Jordan Levin as many funeral wreaths as possible...  And alarmingly many people with too much time on their hands seem happy to comply and fork over their money for the numerous other pointless campaign efforts.

After weeks of nuisance campaigns from these people, I suspect it's tarred all genre fans with the same brush.  And with certain elements of DS fandom already planning "Save DS" campaigns, it looks like DS won't do anything to buck the trend.  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.

Groundbreaking it probably ain't, but the WB doubtless won't have Angel-esque grief waiting if it yanks "Jack and Bobby" after three weeks 

I took a look at the primary "Save Angel" site and frankly it beggars belief - one day's campaign mission was to send Jordan Levin as many funeral wreaths as possible...  And alarmingly many people with too much time on their hands seem happy to comply and fork over their money for the numerous other pointless campaign efforts.

After weeks of nuisance campaigns from these people, I suspect it's tarred all genre fans with the same brush.  And with certain elements of DS fandom already planning "Save DS" campaigns, it looks like DS won't do anything to buck the trend. 

As an embarrassed fan of Doctor Who when it was thought to have been cancelled in 1985, I am in complete agreement with you about how some fans of genre TV can react.  The money spent on Save Angel campaigns greatly saddens me.  All I can think of when I see that kind of money is how much more good it could have done a homeless shelter or a drug treatment program or any worthy charity. 

i've said this before,i've never seen "angel",but i gather it was about a vampire(s).but the very notion that a popular show would be canceled to make room for an at-the-time-not-even-filmed-pilot of another show is ridiculous.i don't see how one affects the other.obviously wb had their reasons for canceling it.and now that the new d.s. seems unlikely to ever hit the airwaves.angel fans will have to direct their disproportionate rage elsewhere.

As an embarrassed fan of Doctor Who when it was thought to have been cancelled in 1985, I am in complete agreement with you about how some fans of genre TV can react.  The money spent on Save Angel campaigns greatly saddens me.  All I can think of when I see that kind of money is how much more good it could have done a homeless shelter or a drug treatment program or any worthy charity. 

Well put, Nelson.  When I read about the antics of just how far some fans will go to and spend over a television show you can't help but wonder how far just a quarter of that energy and money put into a homeless shelter, a Humane Society, spending an hour a week tutoring a kid or teaching an adult how to read . . .  what could be accomplished with such a quarter of that determination, drive and money!!!!   It blows the mind.

Nancy

...  All I can think of when I see that kind of money is how much more good it could have done a homeless shelter or a drug treatment program or any worthy charity. 

Fact is there were some charity aspects of the campaign, a "blood" drive for the Red Cross which was done sometime in March I believe.  There is a food drive that is actually close to raising $15,000 for the LA Food Bank.  Click.   And, $13,000 of the second advertising fund raising campaign was given to the International Red Cross.

A bit too hasty of judgment by just looking at maybe this gawd awful place and not looking at the entire story like the accounting section of this site SavingAngel?  There may be a bit of confusion between "Save Angel" (bad site) and the "Saving Angel" (the good one) sites.

I stand corrected, VictoriaWinters - thanks for that.  I'm glad to see some wider good came out of all that activity.

I do think that my general concern still stands though - sustained fan campaigns like these do little to encourage network support for "cult" audience shows, and because of that, I do think that DS may have had a better chance without the Angel protests.

It would seem that the campaign to 'Save Angel at the Expense of Dark Shadows' worked if Angel is reinstated.  Who or what will Angel fans blame now that Dark Shadows is not likely to be picked up?

It seems ludicrous to think that a fan base for Angel is responsible for The WB having second thoughts about DS.  Do they really have that much clout? Perhaps they do if that is the demographic that The WB really wants.  Oh, I caught a few minutes of Angel (coincidently running the same time as Buffy) and it seems to be comedic in nature and not the drama I was expecting.

When all the dust settles I hope we will have access to the 'Blue Boy' pic of Newman and a complete description of the pilot.

Just received this from a person who apparently heard it straight from the executive producer's mouth: DS is not going to be on the fall schedule. It's planning to be held as a mid-season replacement if one of the new series tanks.

I'd say this is a pretty reliable source.

--M
http://home.triad.rr.com/smrainey

I, too, stand corrected, Victoria.  Good to know, and I did not mean to tar every Angel fan with ths same brush (being a pretty rabid one myself )  And thinking about it, I do now recall reading about the blood drive.