If all of the people who watched the first two episodes of The Beautiful Life signed this petition...well, the show would still be canceled (if you had TBL in the office "which show will get canceled first" pool, congrats!).
Cancellations + the web = instant petitions. A TV show used to just die and then that would be it. Oh, sometimes something happens where a show gets a second chance (exec taking a chance, summer reruns getting good ratings, the show doing well on DVD, buzz, etc), but it's a long shot. And now, whenever a show is canceled the web gives us the opportunity to create and/or sign a petition to get the show renewed.
First, it was Ethan Suplee petitioning to save My Name Is Earl. Not to be outdone, Christina Applegate set up a petition to save Samantha Who? after it got canceled by ABC last week. This could be a very worrying trend. Now any time a show is canceled, can we expect a big brouhaha online with some cast members setting up petitions or urging fans to send something to the networks? Then it slowly becomes standard operating procedure. "Somebody call the warehouse and tell them to make room for the bobblehead campaign, we're pulling the plug on The Office."
The networks will start covertly spearheading the campaigns themselves to try and drum up fake publicity for their struggling shows. They'll "cancel" the show, fake up a massive petition and give the show a reprieve. "See how glorious and magnanimous are we?" In the case of Samantha Who?, I don't see how a petition would help anyway considering it was an economic decision. "This is nice Christina, but I don't see anywhere on here how you're going to shave a million dollars off of each episode."
This Friday CBS will air the last episode of Swingtown, but the question of the future for the show still remains unanswered. Is this the series finale or just the season finale? Fans are concerned and I've been contacted by one who has started a petition online to present to CBS, beseeching the network to give Swingtown a second season. If you want to sign up, click here.
I've been reviewing Swingtown since it premiered earlier this summer and I've liked the show. In fact, it's grown on me and if I were in a position to make the call, I'd give Swingtown an order for 13 more episodes. Yes, the series has not been a ratings hit, I'll give you that. However, it has created a lot of buzz and media coverage.
As of 6 pm eastern, there are more than 14,000 signatures on an online petition to fire Elisabeth Hasselbeck from The View. Of course, this is more fallout from her split-screen debate with former co-host Rosie O'Donnell. It was the debate--the split screen in particular--that made Rosie leave the show three weeks early.
In response to all the buzz about Studio 60's weak ratings and whispers of its possible cancellation, one die-hard fan is taking evasive action. Clay Johnson has launched SaveStudio60.com, where he has an online petition to keep the show on the air and encourages readers to buy things from the companies that advertise on Studio 60 (although, I think this tactic is far-fetched because I don't think Apple is going to deduce that you bought an iPod because you saw one advertised on Studio 60). Johnson says the show is worth keeping on the air simply because it's "smart television". So far, 1,000 people have signed the petition.
Every time a television show with even
a moderate fan base gets cancelled, a petition soon follows. Usually fans opt to use petitiononline.com. Other times they may just solicit "signatures"
via their own blog's comments, or perhaps ask other fans to snail-mail the studios with postcards.
Do these
online petitions work? Do the studios see these petitions, some with tens of thousands of signatures, and think,
"wow, you know what? Forget what we said about this show being cancelled -- there's a whole 25,000 people out
there we'll disappoint real bad if we cancel now!"
Does anyone have a success story to tell us, one
that might give hope to these petition organizers? And how about you studio folks out there -- do these petitions make
you think twice about cancelling a show, or are they a sad waste of time?
When new episodes of The O.C. return this Thursday (now at 9 pm on FOX), the gang is going to launch a
campaign to get Marissa Cooper back into Harbor High in time for graduation. Let's just say that public school hasn't
been all that good to her. I'm not sure exactly how she's supposed to pay for private school, but has money ever been
an issue in The O.C.? Anyway, FOX wants viewers to feel like they're helping with the caper to get Marissa
back in school, so it has launched an online petition: Free Marissa. I
kid you not.
So, if you like Kaysar, head on over to the petition and sign it. I doubt it will do any good and after he let go of that button, I don't really think he's the good player that I thought he was previously.
If all of the people who watched the first two episodes of The Beautiful Life signed this petition...well, the show would still be canceled (if you had TBL in the office "which show will get canceled first" pool, congrats!).
First, it was Ethan Suplee petitioning to save My Name Is Earl. Not to be outdone, 
This Friday CBS will air the last episode of 
As of 6 pm eastern, there are more than 14,000 signatures on an 
In response to all the buzz about Studio 60's 
Every time a television show with even
a moderate fan base gets cancelled, a petition soon follows. Usually fans opt to use 
When new episodes of The O.C. return this Thursday (now at 9 pm on FOX), the gang is going to launch a
campaign to get Marissa Cooper back into Harbor High in time for graduation. Let's just say that public school hasn't
been all that good to her. I'm not sure exactly how she's supposed to pay for private school, but has money ever been
an issue in The O.C.? Anyway, FOX wants viewers to feel like they're helping with the caper to get Marissa
back in school, so it has launched an online petition: 
That was quick. No sooner did they 
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