Two years after an online fan campaign attempted to save My So-Called Life from network demise, a new campaign is struggling to save Relativity, a show by the same producers. Demanding that their beloved romance drama get a better time slot and a second season, the Save Relativity group is battering ABC with online petitions and cans of ravioli.
"There are millions of viewers in the country whose needs are not being met by shows about aliens and lawyers," says campaign organizer Ivy Vale. "I don't think ABC wants to be publicly flogged for alienating the 18-to-34 demographic any further than it already has."
The saga began last fall, when producers Marshall Herskovitz and Edward Zwick (thirtysomething and MSCL) launched Relativity, and hordes of former MSCL fans tuned in. When the show, like MSCL before it, began being regularly pre-empted from its 10 p.m. Saturday time slot, fans began fearing the worst.
In January, eight women who met through the Relativity chat rooms on AOL set up a Web site and began a petition to save the show. So far, more than 8,000 people have signed. Additionally, about 130 people have sent cans of ravioli (the favorite food of the show's main character) to the ABC office, with labels saying "Don't Can Relativity." The group is currently talking with Chef Boyardee about donating cans, and it is trying to raise money to put ads in newspapers.
"Operation Life Support [the campaign to save MSCL] paved the way for The Save Relativity Team to come in with a steamroller and pick up where they left off." explains Vale, a former My So-Called Life fan.
Started in 1994 by Steve Joyner,Operation Life Support reached more than 150,000 fans who contributed over US$90,000 to pay for ads in the Hollywood Reporter, Daily Variety, and USA Today. Despite widespread media coverage and network attention to the cause, the show got canceled anyway - a decision Joyner blames on star Clare Danes' lack of interest in continuing the show.
"I think the fact [Operation Life Support] came so close is a fluke," says Joyner. "It takes a lot of luck, reaching the right people. It requires enormous numbers. And the word 'fans' creates an image of a sanded-down, unrefined club, and I'm not sure people take it seriously."
In the meantime, ABC is moving Relativity out of its lousy Saturday night time slot to see if it will do better at 8 p.m. on Monday for the last three episodes of the season - an hour dominated by monster Melrose Place. The network won't know until May whether Relativity will be canceled.
"We are always thrilled that people love our shows. It makes us feel validated," says an ABC spokeswoman. "Herskovitz and Zwick make great shows. The problem is we need viewers to watch them."
