It's now up to 4408 sigs.

RavenU | February 14, 07:13 CET

4451 as of a minute ago. I hope it does some good. Seems like every time I turn around something I watch on TV is getting canned. Have I mentioned how much this sucks?

NOLA64 | February 14, 07:21 CET

Whoa... 500 was like 2 minutes ago. Damn!! We ange fans work fast don't we

nychick | February 14, 07:21 CET

Yeah this is amazing.......doubt it will make a difference but still......signed it.

EdDantes | February 14, 07:46 CET

That freaking petition is lighting up like a christmas tree. I keep hitting refresh and I keep getting newer and newer signatures. There's gonna be hell to pay tonight.

SpikeBad | February 14, 07:52 CET

Well, just signed. In another 20 minutes it'll probably hit the 5,000 mark.

[ edited by riaspark17 on 2004-02-14 05:58 ]

[ edited by riaspark17 on 2004-02-14 10:25 ]

riaspark17 | February 14, 07:57 CET

Just did. (re: 5000)

BlindHawkeyes | February 14, 08:13 CET

By this rate... we'll reach 10, 0000 by morning. We need a more direct campaign though. Somethng that will get their attention. Something like what the fans of Roswell did.

nychick | February 14, 08:42 CET

what did the roswell peeps do?

nicoblu710 | February 14, 08:45 CET

And forgive my ignorance, but did what the Roswell fans do work?

phlebotinin | February 14, 08:46 CET

Yes it did, they did a tabasco sauce campaign if i remember right and it did work. and i just signed the petition and its up to 5700 signatures now.

tvmoobunny | February 14, 09:01 CET

There are already people planning on sending hairgel to the WB.

lalaa | February 14, 09:05 CET

That's awesome, it's great how we can mobilize so quickly.

tvmoobunny | February 14, 09:07 CET

Oooh, tell me where. Tell me where? I want to join the campaign

nychick | February 14, 09:29 CET

6312 Total Signatures, so far.

RavenU | February 14, 10:09 CET

7,000 as of 2:51 AM on the east coast

nychick | February 14, 11:52 CET

awesome! im glad so many people are signing this. :)

xander fan | February 14, 11:56 CET

This is so heartbreaking... however, I was 7738 and now there are 7762. Go us!

zeitgeist | February 14, 14:46 CET

It has passed the 9000 mark since I last looked. Here is my signature:

I am an Angel fan who will occasionally watch another WB show here and there out of curiosity. However, Angel is the one WB show I am passionate about. If it is not going to be there anymore, I won’t be so interested in their other programming. I know there are several other fans, who feel the same way.

That is the best way I know to represent what us fans think of Angel and the WB. I agree, however, that it is important we take this other places.

G Thing | February 14, 18:32 CET

Under 200 short of 10000 signatures in under 24 hours. Hopefully someone will take notice.

Anybody else think that instead of targeting the WB we should be sending words of encouragement to UPN?

DarqueGuy | February 14, 20:06 CET

Over 10'000 signatures in under 24 hours. How do these reach the WB, will someone print them off and post them to them, or do they just get emailed the link.
When is Joss going to make a statement, what he's planning on doing with Angel, is he going to shop it around, are UPN interested, is bhe planning a spinoff.

Ghost Spike | February 14, 20:33 CET

I was 10,395....and it's still going up!!!

Coll | February 14, 21:03 CET

10570 signatures.

Darko | February 14, 21:18 CET

10716

Coll | February 14, 21:32 CET

11348!

punkinpuss | February 14, 22:35 CET

I think it should be sent to Mike Dunn the head of FOX Home Video division - get Angel put to the TV DVD market - where it already has a proven record of profitability, being among FOX's highest selling TV DVD releases and with BTVS and Angel both running low on sets left to release in the states and overseas - this should put Angel in a great place to move into that new genre that Family Guy laid the ground work for.

RavenU | February 14, 23:09 CET

Well, I just called my local radio station, requested "I hate everything about you" and dedicated it to the WB live on the air. Suggest you guys do something of the same manner to get the fact that we are pissed out there. It's been 2 hours since, and two other request of the same nature was made.

Also requested the same song on the TRL website: http://www.mtv.com/onair/trl/vote/

If enough request of that manner is garnered, I'm sure it's bound to be mentioned on the air.

[ edited by nychick on 2004-02-14 21:33 ]

nychick | February 14, 23:27 CET

13,000 and counting ...

Scott | February 15, 01:43 CET

15557 Total Signatures now

RavenU | February 15, 08:05 CET

[ edited by SaveAngel on 2005-03-03 07:28 ]

Whedonage | February 15, 11:19 CET

Oh, just to clarify: the personal letter should not be written to the show, or say "Angel" on it anywhere, as it will get sorted with the fan mail -- better to have it sent to "Jordan Levin, President, Entertainment"

Whedonage | February 15, 11:38 CET

SaveAngel - a petition on petitionsonline.com started by a single mother regarding the high prices of electricity in my province was taken seriously enough that the gov't dropped prices retroactively and we all got refunds.

but of course we're up against an american tv network, so dealing with the stupid and souless requires more varied tactics especially, as you mention, hand written letters to the dumbass in charge.

t r a c y | February 15, 12:03 CET

Just as a followup, I received a "confirmation" email from petitionsonline.com that my entry was accepted... and asking for a donation for the system. Lovely. (I wonder what if it tries to email to the half dozen other entries I made.)

Last I checked, some Holocaust Denier was posting spam up there.

So you see, the number is meaningless.

Incidentally, Jordan Levin is probably not a "dumbass" -- here's his profile on UTexas@Austin from where he (and I!) graduated: http://communication.utexas.edu/alumni/outst_alumni/levin.html

"Jordan Levin joined The WB Network in 1994 as its first Head of Comedy Development and Current Programming. As the new network grew into prominence, so did Mr. Levin’s career,culminating with his appointment as the network’s President of Entertainment in June 2001, at the age of 33."

That makes me feel rather loser-ish, as I just turned 33 and I'm not the President of at any television network.

Whedonage | February 15, 13:05 CET

you can't expect all services on the internet to be free to you, or attach suspicion to them because they ask for help with costs... i see no problem in a site asking for donations, especially considering what their particular bandwidth costs are. i've signed a few of their petitions over the years and never heard a peep out of them save for the confirmation emails. it's not like they follow up and keep asking you to donate.

so what if levin was a network prez by the age of 33. have you ever met a network executive...? not the brightest or most creative bunch by a long shot. nothing on their minds but the bottom line and that doesn't take much intelligence. money smarts yes, intelligence no.

seriously no need to feel loserish, good grief. there are a million better things to do with your ambition and having a time table for yourself will only get in the way of your personal progress.

[ edited by t r a c y on 2004-02-15 17:25 ]

t r a c y | February 15, 19:16 CET

Hi, Tracy,

Apologies in advance for what will become a very long-winded reply.

I was being facetious. I don't feel loserish: I have my own business, but it's not some hipster television network, even one commonly known as that "network that's better than UPN." (My posting might give you a clue as to just what I do, however.)

Levin is a very bright guy; he graduated cum laude with honors from UT's RTF program. He was Director of Comedy Development at Disney/Touchstone's Television division when he was still in his early 20s. He knows what it takes to make it -- and bottom line is a big part, but not the only part. He supports quality programming-- especially in genres-- so long as it earn their keep. I can't say I care for Charmed, but it's the network's third highest rated show (behind Smallville and 7th Heaven.) He rightly kicked Birds of Prey and Tarzan to the curb. And he later admitted, if euphemistically, it was because they were sucky.

Levin's been a supporter of Angel, but it's near the basement of the ratings, which means they can't get high-advo-dollars, no matter how good the stories are. Part of that— and Levin has rightly pointed this out— is the danger of extended story arcs making a series like Angel inaccessible to new viewers. If you need a 2-3 minute opening recap of the plot to make sense of it, then the arc is too convoluted. Whedon & Co. promised to pull back from this kind of storytelling but chose not to. This was a similar problem with the well-written but confusing SciFi show Farscape -- and it got cancelled four seasons out, when it's numbers didn't improve. (But a scrappy bunch of fans were able to successfully resurrect it as a miniseries.)

And the network is getting itchy. Recently The WB's been going through a downtick in the youth demo; part of it has to do with a change in the way the Nielsens are measuring viewership (which has all the networks miffed) but also it's that the "Frog" has lost some of its key youth shows, such as last year's end of Dawson's Creek.

If you want to see Angel continue -- you have to demonstate it makes financial sense, not just emotional. There's some good data to support the view that Angel is holding its own, and may even be picking up viewers in the sought after Male 18-34 demo. That's the point to hammer home with the execs, and to raise doubt about the efficacy of the new Nielsen methodology.

As for Petitiononline.com: the site is a joke -- a sad one. There's absolutely zero credibility in online petitions like this. I went on there and entered a dozen times. What's to stop someone with a lot of time, and will to enter hundreds if not thousands of times? It may make you feel better to write something up there, but a made-up numbers has no value to corporate decision-maker.

all the best,
-s

Whedonage | February 15, 20:28 CET

You should also note - since you do not like online based campaigns - that the postcards do not actually get to Levin either and as for letters - well forget sending those after 9/11 - they are simply trashed upon reciept for the most part. Postcard are looked at by people getting paid minimum wage to note of a few things - the show you are in reference to and whether it is a possitive of negative comment on the show. If it doesn't contain a show it is simpley trashed. After that it's also tossed - then the numbers are sent to the marketing dept who makes a cute little graph to show the excutives. The execs hav absolutely no clue in the end to them it is just a number and I'm sure Levin is expecting to see numbers sometime next week. A better option if you want the show back on the WB is to send letter (although these may still be tossed without being read) or postcards, along with faxes and phone calls to the local affiliate in your area - this is more likely to get an effected result since they are the local connetion to the PTB at the WB - if they get hit by this campaign they have a better chance of getting Levin to take note since they are the direct customers of the Network and local we are their direct customers that can effect the affiliates bottom line and affiliates don't like there bottom lines effected unless in a profitable way.

RavenU | February 15, 20:49 CET

over 20,000 now ...

Scott | February 16, 01:27 CET

It was just over 20,000, in fact beyond 20,000 and now they are down to 9,000, i just wanted to know if that was happening to anyone else. Maybe too many people are going to the site, that would be great. Just wondering.

tvmoobunny | February 16, 05:01 CET

23,000!!!

bunnyofthekungfu | February 16, 09:44 CET

It just dawned on me that I want to be the next Jordan Levin... I mean just not be a bastard like he is. I'd actually keep the good shows and dump the shitty Charmeds and One Tree Hills. I should replace him. Wolfram & Barf, here I come!

BlindHawkeyes | February 16, 12:23 CET

We're up to 27429!!!

jennicole | February 17, 00:45 CET