If by "the same" you mean embarrassing and poorly attended, the answer is yes. But these cancellations seem to have really brought out a more "Squeaky Fromme" element.

What I find sad interesting is this reliance on old tactics like protests and pickets. As much as these people like to cite the success of other fan campaigns, they clearly haven't bothered to study them, or talk to people involved with them to shape their strategy. Nobody from Jericho or FNL stood out on the streets screaming at people. These people are fighting a 21st century battle with a 1960s mindset.

But that's how we got here to begin with isn't it?

You forgot to #ironicAlanisMorrisette

If by "the same" you mean embarrassing and poorly attended, the answer is yes. But these cancellations seem to have really brought out a more "Squeaky Fromme" element.

What I find sad interesting is this reliance on old tactics like protests and pickets. As much as these people like to cite the success of other fan campaigns, they clearly haven't bothered to study them, or talk to people involved with them to shape their strategy. Nobody from Jericho or FNL stood out on the streets screaming at people. These people are fighting a 21st century battle with a 1960s mindset.

But that's how we got here to begin with isn't it?

Whats sad is that they are priding themselves on this. I was reading some of the comments on the Hollywood Reporter article and talking about how the protests

will continue, how they got literature to so many advertisers attending the ABC event(not sure what literature they distributed) while Frons walked right by them and allegedly laughed. It not only embarrasses me for them but makes me feel sorry for them because they think they are really accomplishing something. BUt I guess if it makes them feel they are making a difference, more power to them.

If by "the same" you mean embarrassing and poorly attended, the answer is yes. But these cancellations seem to have really brought out a more "Squeaky Fromme" element.

What I find sad interesting is this reliance on old tactics like protests and pickets. As much as these people like to cite the success of other fan campaigns, they clearly haven't bothered to study them, or talk to people involved with them to shape their strategy. Nobody from Jericho or FNL stood out on the streets screaming at people. These people are fighting a 21st century battle with a 1960s mindset.

But that's how we got here to begin with isn't it?

That's pretty much it. I'm surprised there aren't any "Phone your Congressman" signs in that crowd.

It just irks me that the only time these people make enough noise to get noticed by news outlets is when the soaps get cancellation notices or when a soap isn't giving them spank bank material. It irks me. Crappy treatment of vets, increased focus on fan non-faves, horrid writing for women, very little writing for ethnic minorities, half-ass writing for LGBTs, stale storylines, predictable storylines, overdone storylines, redone storylines, "brazen, topical" social issues stories that are misleading and inaccurate, desperate attempts to be hip, alienating the core audience while doing absolutely nothing worthwhile to attract a new audience, failing to keep up with the times, condescending behavior towards viewers, ignorance of history and continuity, and on and on and on...all of that should have merited mass boycotts and protests as early as the late 90s, before I even started watching these damn things. Protesting those things wouldn't have been as futile either because, unlike these cancellations, which have been pretty much set in stone since last year, the shows themselves could have changed. If our voices were loud enough then, maybe we would have gotten the changes we always talk about.

If, in 2003 or somewhere around there, someone came up with a creative way to make the networks listen (NOT Frons, NOT Bloom, NOT whoever was head of NBCD at that time) to our very real concerns about the quality of the shows, maybe we wouldn't be here right now. IDK.

I think the problem is that writers have forgotten that characters have to be believable in order for the joke to work. It's not enough just to have a character around for comedic purposes, they also have to have storylines and interactions with other characters in order to make them three dimensional and human. Passions isn't the best example, but the problem wasn't that the show was campy, the problem is that they never seemed to finish a thought or storyline. There was humor, but the stories and characters never went anywhere, they were stuck in the same loop for months. Every soap has this problem. In order for people to see and believe the humor or the tragedy in a storyline, people have to believe in and care about the characters.

That's true. It also can't be used as a bandage to try to hide inability to tell a story. OLTL spent years on the story about Asa's son, only for it to somehow end up with a never-ending parade of Tuc Watkins spits out one-liners. That's basically telling viewers to not bother investing in a storyline.

How do sci-fi fandoms come together and protest?

This GH blog has two entries on the event. Soap Fans Rally To Make Impact at ABC UpFront Meeting and RALLY DAY!! Soap Fans are AWESOME@!!

That's pretty much it. I'm surprised there aren't any "Phone your Congressman" signs in that crowd.

It just irks me that the only time these people make enough noise to get noticed by news outlets is when the soaps get cancellation notices or when a soap isn't giving them spank bank material. It irks me. Crappy treatment of vets, increased focus on fan non-faves, horrid writing for women, very little writing for ethnic minorities, half-ass writing for LGBTs, stale storylines, predictable storylines, overdone storylines, redone storylines, "brazen, topical" social issues stories that are misleading and inaccurate, desperate attempts to be hip, alienating the core audience while doing absolutely nothing worthwhile to attract a new audience, failing to keep up with the times, condescending behavior towards viewers, ignorance of history and continuity, and on and on and on...all of that should have merited mass boycotts and protests as early as the late 90s, before I even started watching these damn things. Protesting those things wouldn't have been as futile either because, unlike these cancellations, which have been pretty much set in stone since last year, the shows themselves could have changed. If our voices were loud enough then, maybe we would have gotten the changes we always talk about.

If, in 2003 or somewhere around there, someone came up with a creative way to make the networks listen (NOT Frons, NOT Bloom, NOT whoever was head of NBCD at that time) to our very real concerns about the quality of the shows, maybe we wouldn't be here right now. IDK.

But people did protest. The turned off the channel. The people who seem to be protesting dont seem to recognize the problems you mentioned or don't care and

are still entertained. That's the audience that remains and thats why the people in charge don't care.

How do sci-fi fandoms come together and protest?

I've never been part of a sci-fi protest. Mostly because sci-fi is a genre that renews itself. When one show dies, another one starts and the dead show just becomes another costume option for conventions.

Crappy treatment of vets, increased focus on fan non-faves, horrid writing for women, very little writing for ethnic minorities, half-ass writing for LGBTs, stale storylines, predictable storylines, overdone storylines, redone storylines, "brazen, topical" social issues stories that are misleading and inaccurate, desperate attempts to be hip, alienating the core audience while doing absolutely nothing worthwhile to attract a new audience, failing to keep up with the times, condescending behavior towards viewers, ignorance of history and continuity, and on and on and on...all of that should have merited mass boycotts and protests as early as the late 90s, before I even started watching these damn things. Protesting those things wouldn't have been as futile either because, unlike these cancellations, which have been pretty much set in stone since last year, the shows themselves could have changed. If our voices were loud enough then, maybe we would have gotten the changes we always talk about.

Anybody who tried to call attention to those things was called "disgruntled" and told "If you don't like it, don't watch." See how well that worked out?

I'm not even gonna lie, it pisses me off when fellow soap fans shoot down fresh, interesting story ideas with that pathetic, pathetic cry of "It's not soapy!"

Same here.

I draw the line at stories that deal with the supernatural and occult, b/c, I, like Robin Strasser, am concerned about what movies and television bring into our homes and consciousness. Aside from that, however, any subject is "fair game," as long as it is grounded in character-driven drama. Even "fun" and "campy" have to be grounded in character-driven drama.

Edited May 18, 201114 yr by Khan

Khan I hope that you may still watch Robin's movie The House that Cried Murder. It's a bit scary but also quite fascinating, and it's a rare look at Robin of that time.

Delete - wrong post

Edited May 18, 201114 yr by JaneAusten

Sci-fi fans are used to turn over with programs of that genre. So of course, while at times they get angry (see fans of Roswell sending tabasco sauce to the WB who did renew the show, though this was prior to terrorism via the mail making this a possible tactic.) When Nathan Fillion made a comment about if he had the money to bring back Firefly he would do it. Some fans took it upon themselves to figure out how much that would cost. Thankfully people involved with that show spoke up before money started to be collected en masse. The idea that fans would even contemplate trying to buy the rights to a television show is pretty extreme. That said there are some fans of that genre who avoid or no longer watch certain stations due to the treatment of particular shows. They just wait until any programs they may like become available in another format to watch them.

I wonder if some soap fans are freaking out because soon there may be no traditional American soap operas. Plus you can buy DVDs and such. There really aren't conventions, so seriously what is left, beyond finding a new hobby.

I wonder if some soap fans are freaking out because soon there may be no traditional American soap operas. Plus you can buy DVDs and such. There really aren't conventions, so seriously what is left, beyond finding a new hobby.

I think that's a huge huge factor in it. Because soaps have been stuck in the daytime ghetto forever, we'll probably never get reruns or DVD releases. AW on Hulu and AW/SFT/EON/Texas on AOL's video thing were all flukes, because I don't think we'll ever get streaming reruns again either.

I love it when so-called soap fans degrade other soap fans for protesting.

"Good heavens! I'm not one of them!"

Besides, I'm not sure if I'd want "SoapCon" to happen. "ComicCon" is crazy enough. A soap fan convention, made up largely with people who are not keyed into reality, sounds like another Jonestown waiting to happen.