It’s the news every fan dreads: [Insert your favorite TV show here] has been canceled. For some viewers, it just means finding something else to watch, but for others, it means a call to action. The idea that fans can actually take a stand and save a canceled show is a cultural phenomenon that has been around for the past 60 years. In the documentary United We Fan (now available on Amazon Prime), the history of fan campaigns and their evolution is explored through multiple perspectives.
In United We Fan, particular emphasis is placed on John and Bjo Trimble, who launched a letter-writing campaign in response to the cancelation of the original Star Trek series. Fan outcry was so strong, NBC brought the series back for a third season. The nostalgia and reverence for this legendary team is woven throughout the documentary. They are a symbol of hope for any fan who has dealt with the blow of a canceled favorite show.
Bjo Trimble, right, in United We Fan. (Pancakes and Eggs Productions/IMDb)
Star Trek was just the beginning. As the decades rolled on, fan favorites like Jericho, Veronica Mars, The 4400, Person of Interest, Chuck, and Longmire all experienced what fans deemed premature cancelations. Fans from these canceled shows are prominently featured as they share their devastation at the news of cancelation and their Herculean efforts to launch campaigns to save what means so much to them. The emotions are palpable and anyone who has ever been a fan of anything can relate to the heartbreak.
However, fans aren’t the only ones who feel the pain. The heartbreak is shared by those who actually worked on canceled shows. Producers and cast members of shows like Chuck and Person of Interest speak candidly about how hard it is to have a show unexpectedly canceled after working so hard to create something they know is connecting to an audience. The likes of Zachary Levi (Chuck), Amy Acker (Person of Interest), and Nichelle Nichols (Star Trek) all chime in with awe and incredible respect for fans and their dedication.
Zachary Levi of Chuck in United We Fan. (Pancakes and Eggs Productions/IMDb)
Perhaps the most thought-provoking aspect of this documentary is the question of why fans become so attached and have so much passion for a particular show. An anthropologist weighs in with a very simple and profound answer: the phenomenon of fandoms is all about emotions and the very things that make us human. We know the story and the characters aren’t real, but the emotions they make us feel are real. The sense of community, connection, and belonging is intensified by common interest and is only growing thanks to social media.
While most fan campaigns are unsuccessful, the few that have found success are what keep every fan fighting. Fans of Veronica Mars successfully crowdfunded a movie, Longmire landed a new home, and Jericho was revived for seven more episodes because of fan campaigns. As social media grows and fans become more savvy, we are left with a glimmer of hope that we can, in fact, make a difference.
We were able to talk with Michael Sparaga, the writer and director of United We Fan, and ask him a few questions about his process making the film.
Thank you for taking the time to talk to us, Michael! You’ve expressed that you know the pain of losing a favorite show from when Crime Story was canceled. How did that experience inspire you to explore the phenomenon of fandoms and fan campaigns? To what degree can you relate to the fans you featured in the documentary?
I am the fans in my film. I’ve been obsessed with TV shows my whole life. Actually, not just TV shows. Movies, musicals, food, the Toronto Maple Leafs. If I like something, I love something. I talk about it endlessly. I try to convince other people to love it. I’ll search out other people who already love it.
Back in 1986, I was 13 and obsessed with Crime Story. None of my friends watched the show. No one in my family watched it. Without the Internet, I didn’t have an outlet to talk to anyone about the show. It was just something I personally loved. Then I read in my local newspaper that the show was likely going to be canceled and that fans were writing letters to try and save it. That was the first time I had a sense that there was a greater community of people out there that shared my love for this particular show; people that were like me in some way. I wrote a letter and when the show was renewed for another season, I truly believed that my letter was part of the reason why. I was still five years away from being able to vote, but I felt like I participated in a grassroots democratic process. And it felt great.
Over the years, I kept my eyes on other fan campaigns and discovered they were often for shows I actually watched myself. Then I started to calculate how many more episodes of incredible TV the world had been gifted with thanks to the tireless efforts of fans who fought to save those shows. It was mind-boggling. That’s when I decided that I needed to make a movie about TV fan campaigns.
How would describe the effectiveness of fan campaigns today in comparison to those of the past? Do you think fans are up against larger odds than they’ve faced previously?
We’re in a very interesting time right now for TV fan campaigns. More shows were saved in the past year than the past several years combined. That said, I don’t know if the odds are any better today because there are also more shows than ever before. Over 500 scripted shows alone!
It used to be that networks would say that 1 letter from a viewer is equal to 1,000 people who wanted to write a letter. That’s why 50,000 letters from viewers could save Designing Women back in 1987. But I don’t think that math holds up in the social media age, I think 1 tweet from a viewer probably just equals 1 tweet from a viewer, so you need a lot more people to be involved. But that’s not a problem because it’s much easier to be involved. You don’t need to go to the post office. You can participate on your cell phone.
As we shift more to subscriber-supported TV versus ad-supported, executives are looking for large groups of people to sign up all at once for their service. When CBS launched CBS All Access, they turned to Star Trek fans as their initial subscriber base with Star Trek: Discovery, knowing they could count on them to sign up. When Netflix picked up Longmire after A&E canceled it, it wasn’t just because they were impressed by the passionate and organized social media campaign, it was because they saw a large group of older people that hadn’t yet signed up for Netflix that they could potentially add to their subscriber base. These sort of options didn’t exist before. It used to be that if another network didn’t pick up your show, that was it.
What do you think of the Nielsen ratings system and how it’s used as the measuring stick to gauge a show’s level of success? Do think it accurately reflects what viewers want to watch?
The Nielsens don’t measure anything accurately. They measure by sample size, ie., one household with a Nielsen box equals x amount of viewers. Initially, they used to just report how many people watched a show, but for years now, they also report the demographics behind those numbers. It’s helpful for advertisers to know how far reaching their message is for their intended audience. And broadcasters need those numbers to decide how much they can charge for the commercial time during their shows.
I don’t think the Nielsens tell us anything about what viewers want to watch, they just tell us what they are watching and we have to decipher everything from that. But there are so many factors behind what people watch that have nothing to do with the quality of a show. For instance, how much of a push did a broadcaster put behind a show? Was it a quality campaign that accurately reflected the content and tone of the show? I didn’t watch Person of Interest when it initially aired because it was advertised by CBS as a straight-up procedural. Later, I discovered it had a rich serialized storyline. If they had been advertising that, I might have given it a try sooner.
There has been so much written and said about the Nielsen ratings system as being a flawed system by people much smarter than me. Todd VanderWerff’s I Think You’re Interesting podcast on Vox did an episode last year called “TV Ratings, Explained” with guest Joe Adalian from New York Magazine that I recommend to anyone and everyone interested in this subject. It’s fascinating.
“When people love a show, they love the specificity of it. Those specific characters, those specific relationships, those specific storylines. They don’t just love any show about vampires.”
– Michael Sparaga
What do you think is the most misunderstood thing about the television industry? Likewise, what do you think the television industry misunderstands about fans?
I think that some fans think that the networks or streaming services that canceled their shows are against them. They see them as the enemy. Yes, there have been some boneheaded decisions made about the future of certain shows, but, for the most part, the same executives that made the decision to air your show made the decision to cancel it. It’s a painful decision to make. It means they failed in some way. They would love for all of their shows to be hits, but that’s not possible. When they see fans fighting to save their shows, they actually appreciate it. It makes them realize that maybe they weren’t wrong to believe in the show in the first place.
As for industry folks, I think they used to understand very little about fans. When they were considering canceling Star Trek back in 1967, it was because they didn’t think sci-fi fans were a desirable audience that had buying power. They thought they were just a bunch of kids. The fan campaign made them realize that sci-fi fans come from all walks of life. They used to only look at raw viewing numbers instead of fan engagement. Now they look at all of it. Over the past few years, the industry has spent millions on studies to try and understand fandom, but the one thing that they still don’t completely understand is that you can’t just replace a show with a similar show and expect fans will support it. When people love a show, they love the specificity of it. Those specific characters, those specific relationships, those specific storylines. They don’t just love any show about vampires.
How do you think streaming platforms have changed the television game?
In regards to fan campaigns, quite a lot. Although people binged shows on DVD before streaming, it wasn’t as widespread. And the shows that people binged on DVD were still shows that were released weekly initially. But streaming services have gotten rid of the weekly release pattern by dumping whole seasons all at once. That hasn’t been a positive thing as far as building fandoms is concerned. It helps to have a show airing week to week for people to watch each episode, discuss that episode with their friends, hypothesize/fantasize what’s going to happen next, etc. Game of Thrones wouldn’t be the cultural phenomenon it is today if they released whole seasons at once. We see that even with Stranger Things. Lots of people like the show. How many exactly we don’t know because Netflix doesn’t release those numbers, but it’s clearly a show people are talking about. But they’re not talking about each episode because people are watching it on different schedules. When I asked my friends if they watched Stranger Things they would say, “Don’t say anything, I’m only on Episode 2!” And that was pretty much the end of it. We wouldn’t discuss it. But you need to be discussing every episode for fandom to really take root. I think that’s why we’ve seen very few fan campaigns for shows on streaming services when they’re canceled. We’ve only really seen them for shows that already have a very community-minded and organized group as part of their fandoms, like the LGBTQ+ communities supporting sense8 and One Day at a Time, or for shows with pre-established fandoms and major brand recognition like Netflix’s Marvel shows.
What advice do you have for fans currently involved in campaigns to save a show?
My advice would be to play the long game by keeping up an online presence. Keep talking about the show. Keep trying to bring new people into the fold to watch it wherever it’s available. Keep building that community. Executives are always looking for a sure thing. They’re looking for a show that has a built-in audience. Chances are they’ll stumble across your fandom at some point and pitch your show’s revival at their next meeting.
United We Fan is available for streaming now on Amazon Prime.
