Saturday, September 07, 2002
This time it's not a rumour. Farscape has been cancelled.
Farscape Weekly
The Sci-Fi Channel declined their option on Season Five. Next week, the last episode, #422, will be shot and then, as Ben Browder put it, they'll "take the chainsaws to Moya." I'm still unclear exactly what's going on, why this has happened. It clearly wasn't an issue of ratings. Ratings were fine. It may have a lot to do with financial strife at the parent network, USA (cringe) and perhaps with financial troubles at The Henson Company, as well. But the series will not end. It will just stop. The cliffhanger for Season Four, the final eleven episodes of which will begin airing in January, will have to stand as the conclusion. Unless there is a miraculous reprieve. I've surprised myself, getting so upset at the cancellation of a television series. But I am. I think maybe Farcsape had come to represent, for me, the hope that something good can come of the system, of the meat-grinder that is mainstream pop culture. Television is a wasteland. There's a cliché for you. It's as true now, or truer, than when Harlan Ellison was writing the "Glass Teat" columns back in the 1970s. The crap floats, the cream sinks. This is especially true for science fiction and fantasy programming. And, in the midst of that, we were lucky enough to get four brilliant seasons of Farscape, a series that has defied convention and expectation and has been truly intelligent, truly witty, at times profoundly dark and moving. In short, too good for television. All that positive press from the mainstream, from magazines like TV Guide, should have served as a warning. "The best science fiction series on television," I think TV Guide wrote. And now, like so many innovative and "best" shows on television (Frank's Place, James at Sixteen, Millennium, etc. etc.), it's being pushed aside to make way for more of the stuff that's a little easier to digest.
But, for what it's worth, fans of the show do not have to go down without a fight, or at least not without being heard. I'm posting below a list of corporations and individuals you should contact, in writing, immediately. We have one week, so, if we move now, there's just exactly enough time left for snail-mail letters. Faxes are even better. If you loved the show, if you liked the show, if you'd just like to do me a good turn, write a few letters and tell Sci-Fi and Co. that, in your opinion, they're making a big mistake. Be polite. Check your spelling. But, if you have passion for Farscape, let them hear it. It's not impossible to make a difference, it's just very hard. But I know there are hundreds of people reading this journal. If only half of you write letters, that's something. A lot of people all around the world will be doing the same. The most recent episode, "Unrealized Realities," had a rating of 1.5. That means there might be hope, if enough voices are heard. If I can make time for this, so can you. If we settle for second and third rate programming without a fight, we have only ourselves to blame. Well, no, that's not exactly true. But we will at least be partly at fault, if we're not heard. We have the internet. Make it work. Feel free to circulate these names and addresses and phone numbers on your websites, on Usenet, in your online journals, by e-mail, however you can get the word out.
Contact Information for Write-in Campain
Call, send telegrams, send emails, write letters to SCI FI Channel. Here are the relevant names and addresses, phone numbers, and emails.
Remember to be reasonable and courteous. It also doesn't hurt to beg SCI FI to at least be willing to sell the rights to the first 4 seasons to another network so Henson could shop it around and try to find someone to pick it up to produce
new episodes. SCI FI is notorious for hanging onto rights.
E-mail the SciFi Channel at scifiweekly@scifi.com.
E-mail the SciFi Channel at program@www.scifi.com.
E-mail the SciFi Channel's feedback page at feedback@www.scifi.com.
Call the SciFi Channel viewer comment line: (212) 413-5000.
Call the SciFi Channel programming line: (212) 413-5821.
Call the SciFi Channel comments line: (212) 413-5577.
Barry Diller is now Chairman & CEO, Ron Meyer is President & COO.
ADVERTISERS
Please Note! This list was compiled from internet sources late Friday night on 06 September. No addresses, phone numbers, or emails have been verified at this time. It will be corrected and updated as necessary. If you have better information, please email me with the corrections and I will post it asap. Thanks!
Ace Hardware
email: http://www.acehardware.com/root/contact_form.asp
(630) 990-6600
Ace Hardware Corporation
Attn: Consumer Affairs
2200 Kensington Ct.
Oak Brook, IL 60523-2100
Mazda
(949) 727-1990
Mazda North American Operations
P.O. Box 19734
Irvine, CA 92623-9734
or, check parent company's Ford Motor Co's Investor Relations page.
Honda
American Honda Finance Corp? Probably not, but it's worth a shot.
(310) 212-6619
Dell Computers
Dell's Media Relations Team
(512) 728-4100
see this page:http://www.dell.com/us/en/gen/corporate/media_media.htm
Kia
Consumer affairs email: ca@kia.com
Volkswagen of America
Customer Care contact number: 1-800-822-8987 (USA & Canada)
Land's End
recently acquired by Sears
try their Investor relations contact:
Shareholder Services Department
3711 Kennett Pike
Greenville, DE 19807
Phone: 1-800-732-7780
Fax: 1-302-434-3156
Email: sears@sracweb.com
OfficeMax
(order line) 1-800-283-7674
Cingular
Customer care number: 1-866-CINGULAR.
Or, try this number in Torrance, CA: (310) 782-7903
Orkin
Parent company: Rollins, Inc:
Rollins, Inc.
2170 Piedmont Rd., NE
Atlanta, GA 30324
Phone: 404-888-2000
Fax: 404-888-2662
Mailing address:
P.O. Box 647
Atlanta, GA 30301
Home page: www.rollinscorp.com
Best Buy
Corporate Headquarters
Best Buy Co., Inc.
PO Box 9312
Minneapolis, MN 55440-9312
Tel: (952) 947-2000
If I can come up with more relevant contacts, I'll post them here later. I'm going to Atlanta this evening and maybe I'll get righteously drunk and try not to think about this.
Yesterday I sent the Cemetery Dance interview off, and worked on the manuscript for Low Red Moon. I attended to the many odds and ends that have piled up while I was thinking about nothing but finishing the novel. So, I wasn't able to make the Crüxshadows show at The Masquerade, but hopefully a few of you did. We had some rain, I think (my office has no window and I have to rely on the noise of raindrops on the roof), but the temperature reached about 95F. Ugh. Maybe I'm beginning to look forward to a cold Rhode Island winter. About sunset, First Avenue, and our building, was deluged by some sort of "art" festival. People in the streets. Music blaring from loudspeakers. I stayed in and waited it out. But I think it starts up again today.
Keep watching the skies.
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