Letter Campaign

[on:]

I'm going to try to get the letter campaign going, like the one that was talked about in the petition thread. I'm basically doing this for four reasons:

1) To see if there is any intrest in the general PEEL population to try another one of these out.

2) Seeing as how I wasn't here for the orginal petition, I want to at least be able to say, "At least I tried something to get one of my favorite shows back on the air."

3) I've noticed that not many people in the petitions have mentioned why Fox should actually give a damn if Futurama comes back or not. They obviously don't care about emmys or CN ratings, so I'm trying to appeal to their wallets.

4) And of course, to try to get Futurama back on the air.    
Here's the first draft of the base letter, at this point the third argument is kind of weak (I haven't got the data to back it up yet), and I have not yet cited the sources which I've gotton the facts from.

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To whom it may concern,

    In  August 2003 your fine network aired the last episode in season 5 of a show called Futurama. It has recently come to my attention that this was the final episode to enter production, and the series has been canceled. I believe that this was a grave mistake, not only from the point of view of a fan of the show, but from a marketing point of view as well.

    First off, if one was to go over the Nielsen ratings for the show while it was on the Fox Network, a trend that developed can be seen. The rating for the second season premiere, "A Flight To Remember" on Sunday,
September 22, 1999 was 7.3, which is higher than the Fox Network's average prime-time rating of 6.0 for the week of March 22 to March 28, 2004. Futurama continued to draw a larger audience than the Fox Network's current average prime time rating for new episodes until February 26, 2000 when the episode titled "Why Must I Be a Crustacean in Love?" drew a 4.2 rating. Notice that this was the first week that the show was placed in the 7:00 Eastern time slot, rather than the 8:30 time-slot season 2 premiered in. Had Futurama been left in the 8:30 Eastern time-slot it would have continued to draw ratings in the 6-8 range. This would have allowed the Fox Network to set higher rates for advertisers, which would have been more profitable for Fox and it's share holders.

    Ratings however, are not everything. It's a well known fact that Futurama is a more expensive show to produce than other Fox hits such as "Malcolm In The Middle", and "That '70s Show", but one also has to look at the
situation from marketability standpoint. Futurama being at it's core very adventure oriented show, has much more marketability in the lucrative video game market. Recent studies show that 45 million American homes own a video game system, which creates a massive market for Fox Interactive to sell well developed Futurama video games into. Besides video games, Futurama action figures have increased marketability over action figures based on non-animated Fox properties. Much like "The Simpsons", Futurama features outlandish colorful characters which are likely to appeal to children. If a well distributed line of Futurama action figures were released it may prove to be a profitable venture for Fox and it's share holders.

    Finally, if more seasons of Futurama were produced, Fox Home Entertainment could also profited through DVD sales. Data from various indicates that Futurama Season DVD sets sell fairly well as it is, but if the series had the increased exposure of being aired on the Fox Network on a regular basis, the DVDs would have the potential to sell much better.
 

    Through these points, one can see how the endeavor of bringing an established show like Futurama back to network television, can prove to be very profitable to the Fox network.
 

Best Regards

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If this recives a halfway positive response  (IE: more than 3 Peeler's will participate), I'll make a website, and try to spread it around the internet and all that good stuff.

[Reply #1 on:]

I really like how you gave factual information about ratings and such. Great job newhook_1!

[Reply #2 on:]

Wow. What's with the influx of optimism lately? I thought the Futurama community had become a gathering of grumpy, disenchanted, nostalgic geeks who had abandoned all semblance of hope some time ago.

[Reply #3 on:]

Blame Family Guy offically comming back.

[Reply #4 on:]

Family guy is a LOT cheaper to produce (I mean, come on, look at it) and has a wider fan base (due to lack of real substance and an abundance of sex jokes).

[Reply #5 on:]

But still, it's worth a shot ya know? At this point it's pretty much now or never.

*Edit* And I've actually heard that an average Family Guy episode costs over a million to produce.

[Reply #6 on:]

At this point we have nothing better to do anyway. I support the movement.

[Reply #7 on:]

As we all must Anarchist! Power 2 da People!!

[Reply #8 on:]

i'm in

[Reply #9 on:]

I'm In. It was really good how you found all those facts, it really makes the case stronger. I am down for this its a strong letter that raises some good points.

[Reply #10 on:]

Hey, that actually reads halfway proffesional, Newhook! Go man, go!

[Reply #11 on:]

 

Originally posted by Anarchist:
Wow. What's with the influx of optimism lately? I thought the Futurama community had become a gathering of grumpy, disenchanted, nostalgic geeks who had abandoned all semblance of hope some time ago.

Well, similar to newhook, the original petition was before my real futurama obsession started. (i wasn't a huge fan until about june.) the only episodes i ever saw on fox were Obsoletely Fabulous, Bender Should Not Be Allowed on TV, Spanish Fry, and Devil's Hands. Thus, I want to give something back to the community, if you will. That's why i started the petition. it seemed like the ideal time, and that's why i started the petition (see my sig).
I would gladly assist in a letter campaign, but i would never be able to write a letter even half that well. I would be more than happy to make a website advertising it, though, if you need any help with that.
keep up the good work!

[Reply #12 on:]

I'm in. One thing: Shareholders is one word not two, and I think this   

Data from various indicates that Futurama Season DVD sets sell fairly well...

should be   

Data from various sources indicates that Futurama Season DVD sets sell fairly well...

Just some friendly editing, that is some great work there.

[Reply #13 on:]

2nd... or 3rd.... im in

[Reply #14 on:]

I'm sorry but i don't understand, whats this letter campaign? If it helps futurama i'm in though.

[Reply #15 on:]

What's so hard to understand about it? We all mail this letter (with the names changed, of course) to Fox in the hope that Futurama might have a second chance.

Anyway, I'm definately in, although for the record - 'canceled' should have 2 Ls.

[Reply #16 on:]

All at pretty much the same time, though. For maximum effect. Rinse and repeat.

Edit: Should this be a "To whom it may concern:" thing? Isn't this specifically to Fox Broadcasting, not an open letter to the public?

[Reply #17 on:]

Cheers Beamer. Sorry for double posting, but whats the address?
P.S this is a great idea

[Reply #18 on:]

Im in.  Good job to newhook too on putting in the facts, they can only help the cause.  Also, I think there may now be a bigger fanbase to Futurama then there was when the show was first cancelled, as it being on CN has probably exposed it to more people.

[Reply #19 on:]

I'm in! Oh, and "it's share holders" should become "its shareholders". Apart from the shareholders thing (which was already mentioned), "it's" means "it is", "it has" etc. For possessional-type grammar, go for "its". But it sounds fantastic. I hope we can get a lot of people doing this, and decide on a date!

[Reply #20 on:]

id be more than happy to help in any way that i can.

[Reply #21 on:]

I will definately be in on this. Like i said in the petition thread, I would be sending the letter from the UK so we wud have to arrange it properly so that everyone's letter got there at the same time.

[Reply #22 on:]

 

Originally posted by Anarchist:
Family guy is a LOT cheaper to produce (I mean, come on, look at it)

Not as much as you might think. I don't have the exact figures but I believe that FG episodes cost something in the region of $1 million on average wheras Futurama episodes cost about $1.3 million.

And, yeah we might as well try this - there is still some hope even if it is very slim and the worst that can happen is that we waste a bit of time and the cost of sending these letters and nothing happens. We really need to get some figures regarding DVD sales before sending these off though.

Also, anyone thinking of sending a letter should at the very least modify this template a bit. If FOX simply receive a huge number of identical letters they will assume that at best a whole bunch of mildly interested people have printed off a letter they saw on the internet and at worst this is the work of a small number of nerds repeatedly sending the same letter under false names.

[Reply #23 on:]

-I agree that everyone should make their own little alterations to the letter to make it different, but keep in mind that everyone will have a different return adress. It will be obvious that it isn't just one person.

-Anyone know a good site which keeps track of DVD sales?

-I'm working on the web page and some other good stuff like that as we speak.

-If someone could proofread the letter, and pick out the grammer mistakes which I am horrible at it would be a great help.

[Reply #24 on:]

 

*Edit* And I've actually heard that an average Family Guy episode costs over a million to produce.

That must include the hookers and coke. Because they're definitely not spending it on good animation or a writing staff over 15. Not that my inner-15-year-old doesn't think Family Guy's funny.

[Reply #25 on:]

Ok, if anyone still cares, expect the website to be up tomorrow. I've got a .tk adress and a host, I'm just working on the HTML.

[Reply #26 on:]

thanks for sharing newhook_1. I'll check it out as soon as it's up.

[Reply #27 on:]

Newhook, you're just lovely. Therefore I love you. I'm in.

[Reply #28 on:]

I guess I'll participate.

[Reply #29 on:]

 

Originally posted by Venus:
i'm in

I second that motion with gusto. I'm not sure, but maybe if there are so many petitions, FOX will get sick of them and give in. Hey, it could happen.   

[Reply #30 on:]

 

Originally posted by Young_and_Angry:
 I second that motion with gusto. I'm not sure, but maybe if there are so many petitions, FOX will get sick of them and give in. Hey, it could happen.   

But FOX has superhuman wills of steel! They are invincible!!


But hey. It could work i guess

[Reply #31 on:]

I am most definately in. It's for the best cause ever, after all! 

*writes letter*

[Reply #32 on:]

Fox can ignore people with 84% effeciency.(I'm still in) Also, we have an address right? shouldn't that be posted?

[Reply #33 on:]

Wait till the webpage is up. It's essential that there are senders outside of PEEL and that they are all recived by snail mail on the same day.

[Reply #34 on:]

Wouldn't it be good to maybe send all the letters to one central address outside of FOX, and then from there forward them all to FOX directly.  That way they would be asured of arriving at the same time, all bundled together in a nice neat package   

[Reply #35 on:]

But if they come from the same place, then they will know that they're are from one group.

[Reply #36 on:]

Sure, Im in.

[Reply #37 on:]

Im in too

[Reply #38 on:]

Dr.Morberg is exactly right. We want FOX to think this is an effort by "real" people, not just a nerd minority, which if we get enough outside sources it won't be.

[Reply #39 on:]

Okay, I'll round up all the tradesmen and bankers I know, and you guys can fetch the businessmen and sports fans.