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for troubled shows
SaveThatShow.com, where fans vote their hearts
By Jeff Bercovici
TV lovers trying to follow the new fall schedule can sometimes feel as if they're at the mercy of a harsh and capricious god.
No sooner have they discovered a new show that seems to have promise--"Freaks and Geeks," say, or "I’ll Fly Away"--then it disappears without warning, never to return.
A remedy for this may exist in the form of a new web site, SaveThatShow.com.
Launched last month by a Queens, N.Y.-based entrepreneur and professional lifeguard, SaveThatShow.com gives viewers a way to keep tabs on and voice support for new series.
And as the site grows in influence, it may be able to offer networks the opportunity to get to know a show’s audience with a degree of intimacy Nielsen could never provide.
Or so its founder thinks.
Christopher Burrell says he came up with the idea for the site after helplessly watching new favorites like "The Fugitive" and "The $treet" bite the dust.
"Until they got taken off, you didn't even know they were in trouble," says Burrell.
While rumors of imminent death for a show like "Emeril" may circulate in industry circles for weeks beforehand, "What about everybody else who doesn't read trade newspapers?" he asks.
The site lists the rookie offerings of the six broadcast networks. Clicking on a show's name takes you to a page where you can vote on whether the show should be kept as is or preserved with improvements.
Although you can't vote to scrap it, space is provided for comments, which are then emailed to the appropriate network.
You can also write a more detailed letter to a network to express anything that's on your mind. Burrell says that he prints out every such letter and sends them by the U.S. Postal Service.
Viewers without access to the Nielsen rankings or the insides of network executives’ heads can get a sense of which programs are headed for the rubbish heap by looking at how their fellow users voted.
Burrell, whose favorite new series are "Alias" and "UC: Undercover," watches at least a couple episodes of every new show and rates them from one to four. (Rather than stars, he uses the SaveThatShow logo: a cartoon television with a life preserver.)
He also features a review of a different series every day.
SaveThatShow.com went live on Dec. 6.
Despite some promotional efforts, including one that saw Burrell dress up in a Santa suit and hand out fliers in Times Square, in its first three weeks the site attracted only about 300 users total. But after being mentioned on the TV news site Zap2it.com on Dec. 28, it has been getting about 5,000 hits per day, according to Burrell.
As traffic continues to grow, he plans to add advertising to the site.
Another possible revenue stream is to sell the information he collects to the networks in the form of market research rather than giving it away free.
"I just want to see how it pans out," says Burrell. "Everything is in the future."
Also in his future is law school, which he will attend beginning in the fall. That is, assuming that he doesn't end up hiring a staff and turning SaveThatShow into a full-time business.
"I don't think I would put off law school to do this, but you can never say never."
January 4, 2002 © 2002 Media Life
-Jeff Bercovici is a staff writer for Media Life.
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