I’ve wondered if these “save X show”are just marketing ploys. Not to say Earl is a great show that will never be cancelled but it just seems fishy, especially with that last round with Chuck being involved.
The ploy: say a show is going to be cancelled so the show’s fans will broadcast their support for the show, press ensues and new people know about the show and friends of fans may be interested in watching the show for the first time.
(via Dumb TV Network Marketing)
If you’re a comedy fan, then you may already know that the NBC sitcom My Name Is Earl was canceled yesterday. The show, which just finished its fourth season, unexpectedly got the axe just as another NBC comedy, Chuck, was saved by its fans.
Well, in just about 24 hours, fans of the show have harnessed social media to organize a campaign to convince NBC to reverse its decision and bring the show back. The core of the campaign centers around a new Twitter account, @EarlTwitition, which already has nearly 6,000 followers as of publishing.
The campaign, which kicked off early yesterday, has been building up momentum and retweets. This is also the first time that we’ve seen the term “twitition” used to describe a social protest of this scale. The campaign seems to be growing rapidly, fueled by the viral hooks made possible by Twitter and social sharing.As we’ve discussed before, social media has probably made it a little more difficult for networks to cancel a TV show. The reason is simple: its fans can organize, protest, and build attention quicker than ever. Yet while the fans were able to save Chuck from receiving the boot, it’s unlikely My Name is Earl will experience the same result.
The problem? NBC has already canceled the show. Chuck was not canned – in fact, the fans made what could be called a preemptive move to save a show that many thought was in trouble. Once a network makes a decision, it’s tough to reverse it.
The last really good example of social media reversing a networks’ TV decision is probably Jericho, which was brought back largely due a social media campaign but canceled not long after. It’s also important to remember that, while the Jericho campaign was successful, dozens of other protests have been unsuccessful.
So will Twitter save My Name is Earl? Possibly, though I think there’s a better chance that this campaign will help convince FOX or ABC to pick up the comedy instead. So to Earl fans, we wish you good luck!
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On a side note, a suggestion to the campaign: adopting a hashtag will help your cause by better organizing your efforts and bringing additional exposure to it. Perhaps in the same vein as #savechuck, the hastag #SaveEarl?
