Aww, look at Angela and Jordan (Claire Danes and Jared Leto, pictured). Don’t you love the way he leans? The complete My So-Called Life is finally out, which means the DVD trifecta of my most cherished one-season wonders (MSCL, Freaks and Geeks, and The Comeback) is now complete.
While compiling my favorite musical moments from MSCL for Friday’s Take 5 video, I remembered signing a petition to save the show that had floated around my junior high for a few days. It was literally like 12 sheets of paper ripped out of some girl’s spiral notebook. Classy! And yet so appropriate to the series. It had "Mrs. Jordan Catalano" scrawlings in the margins, arrow-through-the heart doodles, three-dimensional cubes just for the hell of it… you know, the works. "We had a time" composing it, that’s for sure.
My friends and I were convinced that if everyone in our class signed the thing, ABC execs would immediately wise up and change their minds. Ha! We were so naive, we didn’t realize that mailing paper documents to networks is like sending Santa a wish list at 123 North Pole. Or that the only surefire way to save a show is by deluging the network with peanuts. (In MSCL’s case, maybe flannels?) Anyway, I’m wondering: What’s the greatest length — naive or not — that you’ve gone to save a show you love?
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I’ve signed multiple petitions on line to save/bring back Firefly to television. Fox never gave it a fair chance. Go Browncoats!!
Firefly and Angel — petitions and “send things to people” campains. I seem to recall trial sized (nancy boy) hair gels over the Angel cancellation!
how can we forget our favorite family The Bluths.
SAVE ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT
I would constantly berate my friends who did not watched Arrested Development, shouting at them “C’mon!!!”
I sent a letter to Les Moonves asking that he save “The Amazing Race” from cancellation. Hey, so far – so good.
I’ve signed online petitions for Andy Richter Controls the Universe, Futurama, Wonderfalls, and Arrested Development. What IS it with Fox putting cool shows on the air and then getting rid of them before their time?!
We actually sent a scathing letter to HBO telling them we were cancelling our subscription when they suddenly yanked “Carnivale” off after 2 seasons. I think we were so honked off that they jerked it without finishing the story. Hey, saved us 12 bucks a month…
Oh yeah… I did sign the Arrested Development and Firefly petitions, too.
I signed the Arrested Development petition, invited Carl Weathers over for a stew.
Hey, maybe im the only one, but i was really sad to see What About Brian go. Although it never seemed like they could get their act together with characters coming and going it was much better then most shows on tv right now and wasnt really given a chance.
If I had the money, I’d buy a network and put Arrested Development back on.
If the show is excellent, I buy the DVD (vote by wallet). If I succeed, great; if not, doesn’t matter. I get over it. And I support the WGA strike. If it lasts long enough (say, into 2015), maybe Fox will realize that they have 14 episodes of the finest television available to humanity on hand. And the best: Barely anyone will remember Firefly. And those few who do will be stunned when the episodes air in the correct sequence.
i signed petitions for MSCL and Felicity – 2 of my all-time faves.
i’m currently obssessed with keeping Friday Night Lights on the air – I’ve emailed NBC numerous times and constantly harass friends and family to watch.
I actually wrote a letter to ABC begging and pleading for them to keep My So Called Life on the air. I got a lame reply from them and then the show was cancelled. I tried…sigh.
Annie- your musical moments from My So-Called Life thing was awesome! I totally did not see it until now. Ok, so I did nothing to try to keep MSCL on the air. However, after the Buffalo Tom “Late at Night” episode, I did campaign hard to get that as our prom song. It was not easy to get it on the ballot, as usually prom songs are popular ballads, and “Late at Night” got beaten by some cheesetastic Bon Jovi song…but at least I tried.
When I was in high school in the 1980’s, i was part of the letter-writing campaign to save “Remington Steele.” The result of the campaign — and, moreover, of the tentative picking of Pierce Brosnan to be James Bond — was a crappy extra “season” made up mostly of bloated TV-movie-length “episodes.” The semi-renewal lost Brosnan the Bond gig, ironically, and he had to wait until after Timothy Dalton’s turn. But, at the time, the idea that we might actually ’save’ a show was kind of a cool one…
I remember the petition in our school to save Twin Peaks and My So Called Life. I might have even signed one for A Year in the Life. I do tend to like shows that wind up getting cancelled, but I think Wonderfalls was the last time I actually signed a petition.
I’m confused. I bought MSCL on DVD in 2001. Did they take it back and do a re-release, or did I not get the entire collection?
I once used the Andromeda fan boards in a sad sack attempt to convince Kevin Sorbo not to end the show. He left Andromeda to do a scripted comedy in 2005, and the show never got past its pilot episode.
Had he chosen to stick with Andromeda, that show’d be near it’s 150th episode. Instead, Mr. Hercules is on reruns instead of on syndication.
I sent Mars Bars to try and save “Veronica Mars” last year. I also signed petitions for MSCL and Gilmore Girls.
Melissa, yeah this is not the FIRST time the entire MSCL series was put on DVD. I have that version too. This time, however, there are Bonus Features, so I guess I am buying the entire series on DVD all over again.
wrote a letter to save Party of Five after the first season….two seasons later I regretted it, as that show went into the crapper fast.
Also, tried to save Firefly….Fox execs are morons…putting it on a Friday and advertising it as (and this is a direct quote) “meet the most spaced out crew in the galaxy!” aas if it were some wacky I love Lucy in Space.
Farscape, Farscape, & Farscape-emails, emails, emails. Frelling morons at the SciFi channel.
I was moved to sign every Arrested Development petition I could get my cyber-hands on. And you know what? I think it worked — that show had no business staying on the air for three years, based purely on the ratings. I can’t really fault Fox on that one. And now we’ve got 55 or whatever episodes on DVD that comprise, without question, the most re-watchable series in history.
MSCL – Greatest show ever! The execs were really lost on canceling this one.
I signed a gazillion petitions last spring to save Veronica Mars. I also did the Mars Bars thing, but sadly, nothing worked.
La Femme Nikita – everyone who wanted to keep the show sent sunglasses to USA Network. It worked, as the show came back for an 8-episode 5th season. Nikita was a great female spy thriller… way more edgy than Alias, Bionic Woman, etc.
Freaks & Geeks, Undeclared, Arrested Developement & The OC. Almost tried to save Even Stevens…but I knew it was time to let go.
I signed the petition for Everwood (I loved that show), and would have gone to the Ferris wheel event, but I don’t live nearby. There has not been a show with smart, real and fun characters since then.
i started a letter writing campaign titled “I WANT TO SEE THAT” to HBO after they cancelled “the comeback.” we sent over 5,000 letters). oddly enough, HBO still airs the show on HBO On Demand – and part of me hopes that means they’ll give “the comeback” it’s own comeback.