Finding A New Home for Firefly

POSTED BY: TimMinearNet
UPDATED: Saturday, January 3, 2004 01:25
VIEWED: 13113
PAGE 1 of 1

TIMMINEARNET

Friday, December 13, 2002 9:03 PM

As you may have heard, FOX will not be ordering new episodes of "Firefly." But we're not giving up that easily!

Joss & Co. are hoping to persuade UPN to buy the show -- and we want to help.

What we need are postcards by the truckload going to Les Moonves and Dawn Tarnofsky-Ostroff. You can send any kind of postcards you'd like to but we thought it would be a nice touch if the cards had a certain uniformity.

There is now a PDF up at sgcwebdesign.com/fireflysupport/PostcardSheet.pdf. (If you have trouble with that file, please try sgcwebdesign.com/fireflysupport/One-Sheet.jpg) It's an 8.5 x 11 sheet of postcards that feature the Variety Ad. You can print the document onto cardstock, cut them into fours and, voila, four handy postcards.

Postcards should be mailed to:

Les Moonves
CBS
7800 Beverly Blvd.
3rd floor
Los Angeles, CA 90036

Dawn Tarnofsky-Ostroff
President, Entertainment (CEO)
United Paramount Network
11800 Wilshire Boulevard
Los Angeles, CA 90025

On the back, let them know how much you enjoyed the show while it was on FOX, and how eager you are for it to find a home with UPN. Keep things upbeat and positive, so they'll know what classy fans Joss and his crew will be bringing to the network! Some ideas for things to mention: your favorite episode, why the show moves you, why you think the show has potential, etc.

Our two catchwords now are: VOLUME and SPEED. We need a lot of postcards on their desks really damn fast.

Thanks guys!

Kristen
http://fireflysupport.com

YOSHI

Monday, December 16, 2002 4:14 AM

Please forgive my misunderstanding.

May I ask for a little clarification: In this post the head of CBS is "Les." In other posts the name is listed as "Leslie." What I would like to know for the salutation line of my letters and postcards is: Is "Les" a man or woman?

Thank you,
Yoshi

Quote:
Originally posted by TimMinearNet:
As you may have heard, FOX will not be ordering new episodes of "Firefly." But we're not giving up that easily!

Joss & Co. are hoping to persuade UPN to buy the show -- and we want to help.

What we need are postcards by the truckload going to Les Moonves and Dawn Tarnofsky-Ostroff. You can send any kind of postcards you'd like to but we thought it would be a nice touch if the cards had a certain uniformity.

There is now a PDF up at sgcwebdesign.com/fireflysupport/PostcardSheet.pdf. (If you have trouble with that file, please try sgcwebdesign.com/fireflysupport/One-Sheet.jpg) It's an 8.5 x 11 sheet of postcards that feature the Variety Ad. You can print the document onto cardstock, cut them into fours and, voila, four handy postcards.

Postcards should be mailed to:

Les Moonves
CBS
7800 Beverly Blvd.
3rd floor
Los Angeles, CA 90036

Dawn Tarnofsky-Ostroff
President, Entertainment (CEO)
United Paramount Network
11800 Wilshire Boulevard
Los Angeles, CA 90025

On the back, let them know how much you enjoyed the show while it was on FOX, and how eager you are for it to find a home with UPN. Keep things upbeat and positive, so they'll know what classy fans Joss and his crew will be bringing to the network! Some ideas for things to mention: your favorite episode, why the show moves you, why you think the show has potential, etc.

Our two catchwords now are: VOLUME and SPEED. We need a lot of postcards on their desks really damn fast.

Thanks guys!

Kristen
http://fireflysupport.com

TIMMINEARNET

Monday, December 16, 2002 5:16 AM

Les is, indeed, short for Leslie and is a man.

Hope this helps!
Kristen

PFORHAN

Monday, December 16, 2002 2:12 PM

Quick question: Why the focus on UPN? I'd much rather see FF on WB, and that way it wouldn't compete internally with Enterprise, UPN's baby.

We have no dedicated UPN station in the St. Louis, MO market -- our WB station sometimes takes some UPN programming on weekends, but those are constantly preempted...

WB seems to be a bit more of a, er, serious network. Or is that why FF is focusing on UPN?

Pat

TIMMINEARNET

Monday, December 16, 2002 4:35 PM

We are focusing on UPN because we believe there may be some interest there and we know that Joss has already spoken with them about the possibility. As for The WB, there is some unfortunate history between that network and 20th Century Fox (the studio that produces Firefly) thanks to the BtVS negotiations back in Season 5. The WB would, most likely, not be at all receptive to taking on another 20th Drama.

YEAHITSME

Monday, December 16, 2002 5:48 PM

I don't see why everyone push The WB so bad...I mean The WB's target audiance are young girls...that just doesn't fit with Firefly(I don't say no young girls watch it...it's just not what attract most of them). Right now the only show that doesn't fit the WB genre on that Network is Angel and looks how they treat it! They keep moving it around!

UPN on the other hands mostly target male viewer wich is more what Firefly is directed at! So that's why we push Firefly to UPN :)

YOSHI

Tuesday, December 17, 2002 4:04 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by TimMinearNet:
Les is, indeed, short for Leslie and is a man.

Hope this helps!
Kristen

Thank you very much, Kristen. It does help keep from embarassing myself. The sex that some names indicate is not exactly clear.

I sent letters to the ten top executives of UPN this morning, including one to Mr. Moonves of CBS.

I have two questions: Do you have any idea where Joss & Time are with UPN right now? -and- what else can we do as fans, to help out?

Thanks again, Kristen.
Yoshi

JERRY

Tuesday, December 17, 2002 1:24 PM

Well, obviously Joss is in business with UPN already, and they've indicated interest in keeping BtVS on the air in some form or other next season. So I imagine they'd be willing to at least sit down and give him a listen about Firefly.

If I was running UPN, I'd try to pick it up immediately for the rest of the season, including the finished episodes that Fox probably isn't interested in airing. That would be a pretty modest investment in what could turn out to be a successful show for them, compared to the cost of developing a show from scratch. If they aired it in the currently vacant post-Buffy timeslot, it would presumably have a built-in audience.

YOSHI

Tuesday, December 17, 2002 5:25 PM

Yes, Jerry, you have very good points. If UPN would pick up Firefly imediately, to make the transition as seamless as possible, it would be a boon to them. Or, if they were to pick it up and then re-run all of the episodes in sequence, the fans would flock and it would give the collective group (UPN and the fans) a chance to get the audience properly interested.

I read on the original Firefly board that the Firefly audience count was up to 4.7 Million before cancellation. That's nothing to sneeze at, considering all the poor advertizing and handling that Fox gave, and only 10 episodes. I look forward to reading your thoughts.

Thanks again, Jerry.

Yoshi

BOBKNAPTOR

Tuesday, December 17, 2002 7:31 PM

The only problem with putting it on right after buffy is the competition from Smallville. I know that of my Tuesday night Buffy watching group, I am the ONLY one who doesn't watch Smallville. They are all nice enough to record it and not make me watch it.

Personally, I'd love to see it on after Buffy. But I'd worry about it there. Mostly at this point, I just want them to pick it up and give it a chance.

Question:
Do you guys think that postcards are more or less effective than a regular letter?

______________
This is a morality tale about the evils of sake.

INVISIBLEGREEN

Tuesday, December 17, 2002 7:42 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by bobknaptor:
The only problem with putting it on right after buffy is the competition from Smallville. I know that of my Tuesday night Buffy watching group, I am the ONLY one who doesn't watch Smallville. They are all nice enough to record it and not make me watch it.

Personally, I'd love to see it on after Buffy. But I'd worry about it there. Mostly at this point, I just want them to pick it up and give it a chance.

Meh, I think "Smallville" and "Firefly" are different enough that there wouldn't be a problem, although they are both sci-fi shows. To me, "Smallville" seems like a knock-off of "Charmed", but with a male central character.

HAKEN

Tuesday, December 17, 2002 7:43 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by bobknaptor:
Question:
Do you guys think that postcards are more or less effective than a regular letter?

I don't think it's a matter of effectiveness as it is more a matter of security. Postscards require no screening, which means it'll reach their destinations quicker.

JERRY

Tuesday, December 17, 2002 7:47 PM

I'd think the bigger concern about the post-Buffy slot would be 24, actually, as that seems more likely to appeal to the Firefly audience than Smallville is. But any show UPN thinks is compatible with Buffy will probably overlap one or the other of those shows.

ATOMICBLONDE

Saturday, December 21, 2002 4:30 AM

yea 24 is cleaning up on tuesdays
what about mondays.... theres nothing good on that night lol
at least it would be good for me.(haha) 24 is a good show, but they take forever to get to the nitty gritty it almost gets old.... id definetly skip it for firefly....

TIMMINEARNET

Saturday, December 21, 2002 9:52 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by Yoshi:
Quote:
Originally posted by TimMinearNet:
Les is, indeed, short for Leslie and is a man.

Hope this helps!
Kristen

Thank you very much, Kristen. It does help keep from embarassing myself. The sex that some names indicate is not exactly clear.

I sent letters to the ten top executives of UPN this morning, including one to Mr. Moonves of CBS.

I have two questions: Do you have any idea where Joss & Time are with UPN right now? -and- what else can we do as fans, to help out?

Thanks again, Kristen.
Yoshi

Joss has met with UPN and now we're just waiting for word. We hope to hear something the first week in January.

As for what more you can do, in addition to writing to UPN and CBS and the sponsors, fans might want to also write their local affiliate. Take a moment to visit: http://www.upn.com/affiliates/index.shtml, find out who your local affilate is and send them a letter or postcard. Let them know how much you love Firefly and that you are hoping to see the show on their station.

If we can get the affiliates calling the network to ask, "What's the deal with this Firefly show?" it can only help our cause.

Thanks for the support everyone. You guys have been amazing.

KASEETA

Friday, December 27, 2002 3:43 PM

Wouldn't you know it. I finally find a show on television worth watching and the network cancels it.
Firefly is a compelling story. I can't remember the last time I felt so strongly about a group of characters!
And moving it to UPN does me no good. I don't get UPN where I live.
However, if they want to sell me every season on DVD, I will give them my credit card number. There is more than one way to make money.
I hope they will, at the very least, let the characters live on in books as they have with the Star Trek series. I would love to contribute.

Extremely disappointed,

Kaseeta

MUDDER999

Saturday, December 28, 2002 7:31 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by Kaseeta:
And moving it to UPN does me no good. I don't get UPN where I live. Kaseeta

Kaseeta, I hope that you will still support the postcard campaign. Keeping Firefly on the air is the important thing, no matter what network and UPN seems to be what Mutant Enemy is trying first. Don't worry, as long as a TV program is aired, you'll be able to get copies of it either through other fans or through official releases.

http://www.fireflysupport.com/

BLONDIE

Thursday, January 9, 2003 11:41 PM

As much as I miss Firefly, there's one sizeable downside to it moving to UPN- picture quality. Fox was running it in beautiful 720p 16:9 HDTV, whereas UPN has the crappiest 480i 4:3 signal currently on the DTV market. Their audio is also tinny and shallow. As far as digital broadcasts go, they're 5 years behind every other network. I went throught the same withdrawl when Buffy moved, as WB has a lovely 480p transmission with excellent audio.

Oh well- low-quality FireFly is better than none at all.

Q

EMOPIRATE05

Wednesday, December 31, 2003 4:02 AM

OHTHECLEVERNESSOFME

Saturday, January 3, 2004 1:09 AM

Anyone thought of asking SciFi? They've got vision, cash, a good targeted audience, and a history of rescuing quility series (Stargate after it was ditched by Showtime). Yeah, it's on Cable, but the advantage of showing it on "Free" TV is limited, considering the number of people who have cable. Isn't it a good idea?

OHTHECLEVERNESSOFME

Saturday, January 3, 2004 1:25 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by Mudder999:
Quote:
Originally posted by Kaseeta:
And moving it to UPN does me no good. I don't get UPN where I live. Kaseeta

Kaseeta, I hope that you will still support the postcard campaign. Keeping Firefly on the air is the important thing, no matter what network and UPN seems to be what Mutant Enemy is trying first. Don't worry, as long as a TV program is aired, you'll be able to get copies of it either through other fans or through official releases.

http://www.fireflysupport.com/]
Is there something wrong with www.fireflysupport.com? I keep getting 404 can't find messages when I try to browse there!

NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME