No Firefly News As Hollywood Shutdown Till January 6th by NewsAdmin

NEWS HEADLINE DISCUSSIONS

No Firefly News As Hollywood Shutdown Till January 6th

POSTED BY: NEWSADMIN
UPDATED: Tuesday, December 31, 2002 06:55
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Friday, December 27, 2002 3:44 PM

Firefly: Immediate Assistance reports that we'll probably not hear anything on Firefly's fate until next year when the entertainment industry restarts on January 6th.

That, of course, doesn't mean we can't do anything till then. Keep sending the postcards and let as many people as you know about Firefly as possible. If you have tapes or encoded Firefly episodes around, give them to friends and show them what a great series it is and how spanking it'll look on UPN.

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Sunday, December 29, 2002 2:01 PM

MSCKAREN

I was just reading an article about this season in the "TV News" delivered with my Sunday paper that gave me hope because of the verbiage/attitude used:

"Things are in turmoil at Fox, where programmers admit their roll-out strategy for new shows came off poorly, perhaps fatally damaging Joss Whedon's high-profile space Western, "Firefly." The show has been placed on hiatus."

The article is attributed to John Crook of Zap2It.

msckaren
my karma ran over my dogma...
now my dogma is dead and my karma is out of alignment

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Sunday, December 29, 2002 4:57 PM

JERRY

I think the general critical verdict on Firefly (that it was a victim of Fox's mismanagement and it's own cultish quirkiness rather than a show that didn't work artistically) holds out some hope that UPN would be interested in it. I don't think the outlook is promising, but I do think there's a chance.

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Monday, December 30, 2002 2:17 AM

BROWNCOAT

Well..I had some faith that this was going to work, until Friday when I first heard about how some gorram fools were pissing off the HEAD of UPN by sending her stuff! Sheesh!

I don't know..I don't know DT-O personally, so I can't say anything about how smart or understanding she is...but it looks so incredibly bad for us right now, after hearing about the "flowers" incident, and the crap with the apples and the blue gloves.

Maybe she and the rest of the brass will understand that fans will be fans, but I don't think we can hold our breath on that.

I'm trying to keep my chin up until the 6th of January. I'm still going to send my letters, already sent my post cards...but now. It's just so fustrating, you know? People worked so hard for this, and the thought that it may have been sabotaged by an overzealous few is almost heartbreaking...

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Monday, December 30, 2002 7:20 AM

HKCAVALIER

Quote:
Originally posted by BrownCoat:
...but it looks so incredibly bad for us right now, after hearing about the "flowers" incident, and the crap with the apples and the blue gloves...

Hey, I've been looking all over this site, looking for links to some news story about top UPN brass getting pissed off about getting crap in the mail and all I found was some posts from the firefly support people telling us not to send junk because it MIGHT piss them off and they wouldn't get it anyway. Is there any evidence that anyone actually GOT pissed off about it? Where's the story about the flowers incident? Seems to me there are worse things than mysteriously getting a room full of flowers! BrownCoat makes it sound like we've already

ourselves. Did I miss something?

HKCavalier

Hey, hey, hey, Don't be mean. We don't have to be mean, because, remember, no matter where you go, there you are.

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Monday, December 30, 2002 8:20 AM

BROWNCOAT

Here is Allyson's post from the official board, under the title "Do NOT Send Apples and Gloves!" Pay special attention to the quote

"Do you know how hard it was to have to profusely apologize to Dawn's secretary about the roomful of flowers she received and didn't know what to do with? "

The rest of the post doesn't paint a pretty picture:

4476.1

1) UPN and FOX have no freakin' CLUE what they mean.

2) The apples in Firefly were filled with bombs, so what message are you intending to send, anyway?

"Hi, here is a pic I drew of an apple. Zoe (UPN and FOX likely dont watch the show and dont know who ZOE is, and hell, Gina prolly doesn't even remember the freakin' LINE) told this cute story about how the enemy troops sent apples with bombs inside and they blew the heads off the soldiers! I hope this convinces you to buy Firefly!"

3) They'll likely evacuate the building, and think Firefly fans are a bunch of jerks.

4) Before it gets mentioned again, do not send blue gloves. See above RE: FOX and UPN has no clue what they mean.

"Hi! Here's some blue gloves! You may have already fled the building in Anthrax terror, but if you're just waiting for the CDC to tear the ventilation system apart, I thought you'd like to know that there are these creepy gestapo guys that wear these blue gloves and make your head explode and torture teenage girls. Enjoy! Save Firefly!

Do you know how hard it was to have to profusely apologize to Dawn's secretary about the roomful of flowers she received and didn't know what to do with?

They got the point at UPN (network). They spoke with Joss. Gloves and apples and used panties won't make or break the deal, they will only ANNOY THE F**K OUT OF THE PEOPLE WE NEED TO BUY THIS SHOW.

Again I say, write and email the affiliates. If all or most of the affiliates call the network and are interested in Firefly, that will help a WHOLE lot.

Write and email your fave entertainment journalist (local paper, magazine, tv reviewer) and tell them you really want UPN to pickup Firefly.

Those are the MOST important things you can do, right now.

Next Monday, UPN might just say "no." And that's okay. We put forth a great effort, showed the cast and crew that the audience was there, and they loved Firefly.

We'll not get nasty, we'll not slander Gail Berman, we'll not do anything that could make us appear to be threatening, crazed, or insensitive. I'd like to think we're above that.

I can assure you, without a doubt, that the cast and crew has been touched, and is greatly impressed in the manner in which the fans have rallied for this show.

Let's not spoil that, please.

Kristen and I are stepping down in January. We hope UPN has made a decision by the end of the month, but we'd really really like ALL Firefly fans to continue supporting the show in the respectful and loving way that you have, all this time.

We know you're tired and broken-hearted and just need to DO something, anything, to make the show come back. We're fans, too, and we feel exactly the same way.

But sending strange objects crosses a line. We're not in the same sitch as Roswell was in with the WB, and it's post 9-11, to boot.

Wonder why we sent postcards and not letters? Because it's near impossible to cause any more harm than a papercut with postcards. It's the safest way to get the point across, and that's classy, and sensitive to the people (usually secretaries) opening the mail.

Now, since this same suggestion to send apples, gloves, a horse's head from Don Corleone, will show up in about 8 more minutes, will someone please copy and paste this when it happens?

Allyson. Tired. Annoyed. Still loves you all for all the great stuff you do, but spitting nails over apples and gloves.
http://www.fireflysupport.com

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Monday, December 30, 2002 9:30 AM

BOBKNAPTOR

This is really disheartening. I completely understand the post 9-11 scare... I understand UPN not wanting to receive a bunch of apples and gloves. I completely get it. But what's really sad to me is that someone would get pissed off about having too many flowers delivered to them. Especially if they were delivered through some sort of florist or agency and not sent directly from the fans. There is no "scare" in getting flowers. sure, where do we put them? what do we do with them? but at least it's a very sweet gesture that can cause no harm other than space, and it gets the plight noticed.

Now, I myself haven't sent anything but letters and postcards. But what is upsetting to me is it seems like the fans who are trying the hardest are the ones getting slammed the most. OK, Blue Gloves and Apples not the friendliest images from the show... so maybe these things were not thought through as thoroughly as they should have been. But the point is that people are trying their hardest to get involved and save the show.

As for me, things like this are just depressing for me. I myself even posted a question on a previous thread "what can we do to make ourselves stand out from every other letter writing campaign?" The reason I posted it is because I keep on sending in these letters and postcards, and in the end, I feel like I'm not doing enough. So what else could I do to help? I've felt powerless and incredibly sorrowful that this amazing, wonderful show has been put on permanent "hiatus". I understand completely the fans desire to stand out.

And when I hear people getting pissed off at the efforts, it makes me think two things:
1) the station that is getting pissed off has no intention of picking up the show anyway, otherwise they'd be glad to see they have such a dedicated fan base already in place, and just throw the eccentric little gifts away.
2) that we are just going to come off as bigger assholes for saying bad things about the other fans who are just trying their best to help out in any way they can.

I don't know who Allyson is, or what possition she is stepping down from. I have avoided the Fox boards for the most part because the site sucks and is not user friendly. Whoever she is, she sounds like she has some kind of "in" if she is apologizing to someone's secretary about things fans sent in. So, thanks to her for letting us know that our efforts are falling on deaf ears.

But when I hear these kinds of rants about how bad our (the fans') ideas about getting the show noticed are, it just makes me ashamed to be a part of this group. We are a small community, and we are fighting an uphill battle. If we fight amongst ourselves, what chance do we have?

Flame away.

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Monday, December 30, 2002 10:20 AM

BROWNCOAT

I know people all mean well, and we all like the show...I think it's just fustrating that people sometimes do stuff without thinking of it. I can hardly begrudge them their love of the show though, you know. So I'm sorry if I came out sounding snarky. I know Allyson made similiar apologies.

I hate to say it, but the "item gimmic" has worn out it's welcome. It worked once, for Roswell. Everytime someone else does it, I think it seems cheap. Trust me, I think the amount of press attention we have been getting, plus having Joss Whedon have the ear of the network head (To a certain degree) means that these people know about our campaign, loud and clear.

I guess I'm trying not to be a jerk about it, I guess I just share Allyson's fustrations about the situation.

So peace folks...you're right, we should be sticking together. Lets just keep our fingers crossed..it'll all be over after next week (probably)

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Monday, December 30, 2002 5:10 PM

ALICIA

Exactly. Blue gloves and apples are definitely scary but I don't get the harm in flowers. Perhaps too many could be irritating, but scary?

I felt I needed to do something more than postcards but less than weird. For me it was putting a sign in the window of my car saying "Save Firefly www.fireflysupport.com". It makes me feel better and hopefully I have informed at least one person who has gone on to write and/or e-mail UPN. My dream would be that a news person would see it and look into the situation! You never know. If we all do it, it could show UPN that we are happy and eager to promote the show among our friends. Look at the word of mouth success of "My Big Fat Greek Wedding". They told two friends and they told two friends and so on and so on....

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Monday, December 30, 2002 6:40 PM

NONOLUNA

I think the word scared is the problem here...It was probably overwhelming, especially if noone prepared her. Have some people overreacted? Yes, some people have gone above and beyond to save the show. Yes, some people have been sarcastic and nasty when MORE tolerance was needed.
What does this mean to UPN overall? My guess is they're seeing Firefly for the first time and their curiosity has to be peaked considering the support from viewers. Will they take on the show? They need a new drama to replace Haunted...Maybe this will work for them...maybe not. I hope it will.:)

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Tuesday, December 31, 2002 6:55 AM

EVANS

Quote:
I understand UPN not wanting to receive a bunch of apples and gloves.

This is off-topic, but I hate to see the "shrines" that people create for victims of accidents or violence. The shrines start with photos and cards and wreathes, then as the news spreads you see the stuff you can buy at any supermarket's gift sections: flowers in cones, Mylar balloons, stuffed animals. BALLOONS and TOYS to denote GRIEF -- I will never understand it. Remember when Princess Diana died, the TV news showed the area outside Buckingham Palace: acres of the stuff: flowers and balloons and toys. I thought, "They'll need a bulldozer to get rid of the stuff."

The same things are sent for joy, or something. Every popular ice skater completes his/her routine to a barrage of flowers and toys from strangers (I guess they're not willing to deflate the balloons).

It means a lot more to the sender than the recipient. If someone if my family should die, I hope mourners send cards, mostly, or flowers, if there's no way around it. Leave the balloons and toys at home. Send them to children you KNOW.

m.
------------------------------------------------
"But ... not boring, like she made it sound." Wash, in ARIEL
"None of it means a damn thing." Mal, in OBJECTS IN SPACE

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