[Insert bitter comment about there being much better places to put a little extra money than into the fucking Hollywood Reporter no matter how much we love the show here.]

fraying | November 18, 11:20 CET

*insertsthebittercomment*

Elo | November 18, 15:49 CET

fraying, you can make the same remark about pretty much any extra expenditure, can you not? That there's almost always a better place to put it, I mean?

Chris in Virginia | November 18, 21:15 CET

Uh, sure. But I don't take up a collection when I blow $18 on a new CD. To publicy raise funds, to ask for donations, in order to hand that money to a magazine to pay for an ad about a tv show? As much as I love the show, that seems a wee bit absurd. But, hey, that's just me. What people do with their money is their business.

fraying | November 18, 23:22 CET

As I understand it it, this is not simply an "ad about a tv show", but rather a chance for a broad range of diverse people united in their appreciation of what they may perceive (correctly, in my view) to be a valuable and beautiful work of art to publicly show their appreciation (while not having to invest significantly of their own money) in a forum vitally important to the preservation (read: renewal) of said work of art.

I don't have a problem with that.

Chris in Virginia | November 18, 23:49 CET

I think it would be better if they donated one dollar to a charity of their choice for every dollar they spend on the ad.

Elo | November 19, 00:17 CET

It's peoples money. They have a right to do with it as they please whether you think it should be used otherwise. They worked hard for it.

IF they want to give it away to the Hollywood reporter... more power to them.

nychick | November 19, 01:26 CET

Agree wih you for the most part, nychick, except for the part about "give it away" to the Hollywood Reporter...it's not "giving" anything away...not to go all Anya Rand on everybody, but it's a purchase, assuming enough people are interested enough to pony up for it.

But I'm totally with you about people having the right to do whatever they please (within legal and ethical boundaries, of course) with their own money.

Chris in Virginia | November 19, 01:40 CET

Of course they do. That doesn't mean I have to like it. I just think that if you use the fans' love of the show to raise money for an ad you might as well use it to get money for something more useful. Or why not both at the same time.

Elo | November 19, 02:25 CET

As it says on the website:

"What if you raise more money than you need?

Any money raised beyond the cost of the ad will be donated to a charity of our choosing. Wouldn't it be cool to donate just as much money to charity as we pay out to the Hollywood Reporter? Yeah, that would be neat.

What if you don't raise enough?

If we don't raise enough, then we'll donate everything we get to the aforementioned charity."

I should point out I am somewhat involved with this campaign and I'm quite happy to give funds and spend time etc. A lot of Angel and Buffy fans do raise money solely for charity on various forums. But we're raising funds for an ad to celebrate the 100th episode which is a milestone for a US TV show.

Personally, I'm giving money cause I want to thank the writers and cast for providing me with quality entertainment, meeting great friends on the Internet and most importantly if it wasn't for Joss and co I wouldn't have met my wife to be.

Simon | November 19, 02:42 CET

I'm all for appreciation... but selfishly speaking I want to keep this show on the air. I'd be interested to know if there's any evidence that these ads make a difference in keeping shows alive, and whether there are other fan actions that are more effective. I've heard about the tabasco sauce campaign to keep Roswell on the air (once, but it's gone now isn't it?). What about convincing media buyers to buy time on Angel? How can we do that???

[ edited by gingeriffic on 2003-11-19 00:49 ]

gingeriffic | November 19, 02:47 CET

What about convincing media buyers to buy time on Angel? How can we do that???

Well there is a campaign at Support Spike.com that involves thanking those who have sponsored AtS this year.

Yes, the site is Spike-centric, but this bit is focused on getting AtS renewed. The site includes four post cards you can print out, two of which do not mention Spike at all, and a list of sponsors and their mailing addresses for each week.

Joss' bitch | November 19, 09:35 CET

I have a friend who is a correspondent for the Hollywood Reporter. I asked if ads like these are helpful in promoting the renewal of a show, especially one tettering back and forth between cancellation and renewal...he said yes, absolutely, the programming executives do indeed pay attention to fan-based support operations...he added that letter writing campaigns--legitimate grass-roots efforts, not so-called "astro-turf" lobbying are also very effective.

Ultimately, it comes down to ratings, but appreciation efforts like these apparently do indeed make a difference, or, can make a difference.

Chris in Virginia | November 19, 21:01 CET