Fans unite to save the show they love. Join us in the fight!
There have been many rumors and speculation circulating regarding the fate of our beloved show but know this, NOTHING IS OFFICIAL! There is still a chance to save the show so now is the time to do it!
The most important aspect is that ALL Blood Ties fans join together to make this happen. There are many websites, forums, MySpace, Livejournal, blogs and Yahoo groups out there relating to Blood Ties and all have tried their own campaigns to help the show and that was not a bad thing but I think as our last push to save the show we need to prove to the Networks and the media that we are UNITED as one large group to save the show we love.
Several of us from many of the BT related groups and sites have put our heads together and came up with a campaign that we can all participate in and prove our desire to keep our show on the air.
What we propose is a postcard/letter writing campaign that targets 2 Networks and 2 Media outlets each week. While we are not entirely giving up on Lifetime giving us another season, we would also like to let other Networks know that Blood Ties would be a great show for them to pick up. We have a wonderful opportunity right now to sell our show to them because they are all hurting from the writer’s strike and Blood Ties is not affected by it. This is in our favor as they look for other programming to air on their network.
Our first week will target Lifetime and the Sci-Fi Channel As well as E! Online and Entertainment Weekly. The media contacts will be by e-mail or feedback links only. Written postcards are best for Lifetime and Sci-Fi. Below the contact info we have included a few guidelines, just remember to keep your correspondence respectful and to the point!
CONTACT INFO:
Lifetime will only read postcards – & BE NICE!
Lifetime Entertainment Services
Susanne Daniels
President of Entertainment
2049 Century Park East #840
Los Angeles, CA 90067
Or on their feedback page: http://www.mylifetime.com/feedback/form.php?area_id=1§ion_id=1
30 Rockefeller Plaza 21st Floor
New York, NY 10112
Attn: Sr. VP of Programming
E-mail: feedback@scifi.com
Go to http://www.eonline.com/gossip/kristin/index.jsp and there will be a link on the right hand side that says “Ask Kristinâ€. Just fill in the info and make your comment. Be sure to let her know that the fans have NOT given up and are fighting to save our show!
Letters to the Editor – e-mail letters@ew.com
Here are some guidelines to follow when composing your letter, postcard or e-mail:
Try to be direct and to the point. Don’t just put things to paper just to say something and fill the page.
This could be our last chance everyone so let us all band together and help our show!
Stay tuned for our next group of targets, coming soon!
Do these campaigns really work anymore?
SOSF has pursued high profile campaigns for a bunch of shows over the last two years, and how many have returned at all? Jericho is the only one I can think of, and that only has an extra seven episodes.
Given Blood Ties was transmitted on a niche cable channel, so presumably didn’t get the viewing figures. Wouldn’t it be better to promote support of these shows WHILE THEY ARE RUNNING by suggesting SOSF listeners watch them live on their home netwrok rather than TIVOing them?
So, should we just say…’Ah, the hell with it!” I don’t think so. I would rather take up the code of:
“Never give up, never surrender!” (Galaxy Quest)
I like that Sam. No we shouldn’t give up on these shows, and yes these campaigns do work. Not always, but there are times. Giving up on them means more reality shows, and god knows we don’t want that.
Tim
I think it’s easy for people to say “It’s too much work, just forget it.” If you really believe in something you fight for it as long and as hard as it takes.
I agree with Neuf!! For us fans that believe in Blood Ties we must never give up!! If your truly a fan you will fight the fight and do what you can to see it come back!!
I just love the show great actors and story lines. American Idol has been on for how long? It is the same old thing year after year. I do not watch a lot of TV, this show keeps me comming back for more. I think it would be a bad move to let it go.
David,
I’m pretty sure that I did tell people to check this series out, several times, when the show first started — remember the jokes Michael made about his being allergic to Lifetime? 🙂
I also pushed the show again before and after the interviews we did with author Tanya Huff and series exec producer Peter Mohan, and again when I got an email from Peter saying that the series may be in trouble on Lifetime, and again when I found out about the changes in the way they were going to air the second half of the first season (what Lifetime called the second season).
I don’t think I’ve pushed people to check out a show from day one like this since “Firefly”, and that’s what I’ll continue to do.
Summer, Sam and All,
I appreciate your sentiments, your loyalty and your actions. I did not mean to cast aspersions on your activities. I also enjoyed Blood Ties.
Nevertheless, IMHO:
The point I was trying to make is that everytime a campaign like this is launched it actually makes the suits take less notice – purely by the repetition of it. If EVERY SF show that is cancelled gets a campaign, then they accept that as part of the norm, the flak they get from a few fans, and move on to plotting the death of the next thing too complicated for execs to understand!
Hence my suggestion that the campaigns might be counterproductive.
The execs only understand one thing – viewing figures (and therefore ad revenue). I suspect a ‘bring back’ campaign would have to be MASSIVE, and with respect more mainstream then the purview of Internet SF fandom, to combat their view of the numbers, however, skewed we might think those numbers might be from reality.
As such, I applaud your efforts to generate buzz about shows while they are on. I think you were right on the money about your approach to Blood Ties.
But, when the things get cancelled, it seems to me that all bets are off – and the only way to new episodes might be a call to the studio for DVD issues. Large DVD sales are also a route to get their attention. But letter writing and websites? I think they just file them, I am afraid.
While many of us will continue our letter writing campains it is important for the network to see the show being watched also so for ANYONE out there who has LRW ( lifetime real women) please read the following……..
“Beginning Saturday, February 9th and Sunday, February 10th, “Blood Ties” will air in its entirety.A different episode will air on Saturday and Sunday nights on
Lifetime Real Women (LRW)at 10:00PM (ET/PT) .
Please Please Please anyone and everyone who can turn on your TV and watch these episodes if you are busy please turn on your Tv’s to this channel and just let them run we need the network to see how many people really watch and love this show. Thank you all.
David, you are correct that in most cases ad and network suits could care less what the individual SF fan thinks. They care most about the bottom line….Period!
Fortunately for fans everywhere, we are in a bit of a position here to make a difference because we can further highlight a particular show by having as guests on our weekly internet and XM Radio shows – such as Slice of SciFi or The Dragon Page Cover to Cover, the likes of a Kevin Falls, Tanya Huff, Peter Mohan, Samuel L. Jackson, and many, many more who can put that all important exclamation mark at the end of all these fan-based efforts. Never underestimate the importance and influence of writers, producers and actors who get behind such campaigns and lend their weight to them. Advertisers do sit up and take notice when creative and powerful entertainment people get behind these projects that will allow their product to be noticed by millions of viewers.
That is why doing whatever we can to positively influence both the networks and ad makers is a good thing.
David and all:
We began this push for more seasons, back in JUNE! That was before Life Time aired the remaining 10 episodes of season 1 calling it “Season 2”! And officially the show has not been cancelled. Lifetime’s comments back to fans, including a call to Andrea Wong’s personal assistant is that Blood Ties is still in the mix, and that NO DECISION HAS BEEN MADE!
Also the writer’s strike is causing networks to look at shows produced in Canada, not affected by the strike. Blood Ties is written and produced in Canada.
So the fan support for this show began after the 1st 12 episodes aired last spring. Many of us began writing at that time and continued all summer and during the fall airing of the remaining 10 episodes. Also, BT had respectable ratings for a cable show.
We’ve setup a new site so folks can easily keep up on all the Save Blood Ties campaigns and updates…
http://www.savebloodties.org
Whether campaigns like this work or not, I feel we fans need to do all we can. If we don’t, how will the execs know we love the show and want it back, or more shows like it? We have a right to speak our minds (nicely!) so we should do so. Who knows? Maybe this time our voices WILL be heard and we’ll get what we want. You’ll never know if you don’t try.