I heard over at Meg Cabot’s blog that there’s a rumor going round that the SciFi channel might not renew The Dresden Files for a second season. What is it with all the good shows only lasting one season? Well, like Meg Cabot, it is one of the only shows on SciFi I look forward to. In fact, I downloaded the entire season to date off Itunes last year when I discovered the show midseason. I myself am also partial to Eureka, which happily just returned with a second season a couple days ago, but in general a lot of shows have died a premature death. (Jericho comes to mind, but to me that’s because the writing died an early death halfway through the first season–I mean, I could drive a truck through the plot holes and survival mistakes in that show. It felt like it was written from the perspective of that D.C. tax investigator who’d never stepped foot on a Midwestern farm until that day of the attacks. Really, someone in that town ought to have known how to preserve meat, perhaps even been a regular hunter and trapper. And didn’t they have any Mormons in town with food storage?? And all the waste of generator power and lamp oil for a picnic when the next ep. was about how the hospital generator fails? Those writers should have read Life as We Knew It.)
Anyway, Meg has all the linkage you’ll need on contacting the SciFi channel if you, too, feel like it’s a tragedy that should be averted. I myself have written an email to the executives her link mentions, as well as filed away a plan to print and mail that email via snail mail because apparently snail mail has more effect.
Here’s an excerpt of what I said in my own email behind the cut below. If you have watched this show and loved it, you might consider dropping a note of your own. If you’ve never watched it, you might consider doing so. I liked it. As I’m sure you can tell.
Dear Mark Stern and Bonnie Hammer:
There is a rumor going around on the internet that SciFi is thinking of not renewing Dresden Files for another season. Please say this isn’t true! Between Dresden Files and Eureka, you’ve actually got me and all my friends back as a viewer. My roommates and I watch it together, and not only do we love Dresden (what single girls wouldn’t love a hot wizard who lives in Chicago?) we love the premise of the show and all the great trouble Dresden gets in.
As an editor and reader of books like the Dresden Files–finding the show led me to the books, which I’ve also loved. I devour shows like this, especially when they’re so well-made. This is far and beyond better writing and acting than Charmed ever had, for example. It’s Law and Order with magic (I am a HUGE L&O fan), only from the perspective of the handsome rogueish wizard character. My only quibble with the show–being a former Chicagoan–was that the location feeling really needed to be much more Chicago, with a better focus on getting the lingo right (South Side, West Side, North Side, but no East Side, because that’s the lake, for example) and making the streets look a little less Vancouver and a little more Chicago. But hey, we’re talking about a wizard who can really do magic, and my suspension of disbelief really kept me into the show b
ecause I love the character and the magic system so much.
What worries me with this show–as much as the cancellation of Jericho did a few months back, when it became clear that the network didn’t actually take into account the viewers that they’d been advertising to reach on the internet via less traditional methods, like downloading from Itunes–is that you might not be taking into account the number of people who watch online either on the SciFi site or via Itunes. I myself downloaded the entire season to date when I discovered the show midway through the first season. Have you considered doing some sort of poll on the SciFi site or an advertising campaign that gauges just how many viewers you might not have noticed via the traditional Nielsen means?
You also might be interested to know that bestselling author Meg Cabot, author of The Princess Diaries, has blogged about this, too: http://www.megcabot.com/diary/?p=503. Apparently it’s one of her favorite shows.
Granted, we science fiction and fantasy fans are a small lot compared to the wider population, but I think you also recognize what a loyal lot we are, or you wouldn’t have an entire cable channel just for us. I love that Eureka has returned this summer, and hope it continues a long and happy life, and I also hope that you will have the same kind of consideration for the Dresden Files. And hey, give us this kind of quality all the time, and we SFF people might start to think of the SciFi Channel as a home for quality SFF TV!
By the way, I also blogged about this (self-referential address).
signed, etc.
%3
Cp>
Speaking of Meg Cabot, just finished the first book of the Mediator series, Shadowland, and I’m working on the second on my commute (via audiobook). Highly recommend it, and I can’t believe I didn’t ever hear of this until the last year or so. Speaking of a book that should be made into a TV show, there’s one right there–much better concept than that of Ghost Whisperer (which I don’t care for) or even (much as I actually like it) Medium. Nothing like a little ghost butt-kicking. Except, they should probably make Hallowmere into a TV show first. Gotta have my priorities in the right order!