Letter to TV Guide

[Aerie]

What happened, Uncle Gordo. Where's the letter?

[sseattle]

I like it - it's brief and to the point. "Speechless" pretty well sums up a lot of peoples' reactions to Fox's programming decisions.

[orchidee]

^^LOL !

here's his letter (had to close the other thread sorry, wasnt mean from me):

The following is the text of a letter that I sent to the TV Guide.

I am curious whether you are aware the devoted and loyal fans of the series Dark Angel have been engaged in a concerted email, post card and telephone campaign against the cancellation of this series for two or more months against the Fox Network in the USA and whether you be prepared or interested in looking into this outrageous cancellation and how the fans of this series have reacted.

Although I live in Toronto I have been very active in this campaign because the Fox Network have cheated the fans of this series which was carried by the Global Network in Canada, and the fans in Canada feels the same as the American fans and that is they have been cheated and betrayed by Fox. This series received good to excellent ratings and market share for the season 2000/2001 and because of the actions of the Fox Network themselves the show was moved from the ideal demographic time slot of Tuesday at 9:00 to 10:00PM to the demographic grave yard of Friday at 8:00 to 9:00PM before the start of the 2001/2002 season. This course of action proved to be the death knell for the series which had and still does have an international fan following for both the series and the young beautiful and talented actress who starred on the series namely Jessica Alba.

The final episode of the 2001/2002 was directed by the director James Cameron who created the series at the request of the Fox Network. The final episode which was excellent in my opinion, was called the Freak Nation and unfortunately left at least four or five storylines outstanding with absolutely no conclusions so many of the fans were left feeling cheated and betrayed and wanting more. This episode was meant to be the season finale and certainly not the final episode of the series. What also infuriated the fans of this series is that the powers that be at the Fox Network won't acknowledge or respond to our campaign so we are elevating our campaign and we are now contacting many various media outlets directly to express our anger and frustion.

What makes this cancellation all the more unbelievable is the fact that the Fox Network as you no doubt know is controlled by the international media corporation News Corporation Limited which I understan has television and cable outlets worldwide. On their corporate web site in June 2001 they were bragging how well this series was doing and it was one of the top action dramas of the 2000/2001 season, and they as corporate parent of the Fox Network would allow the cancellation to happen. I would think this is the kind of series that they would want for current programming at their various international media outlets and for future syndication.

Unfortunately the individual at TV Guide who would receive this kind of email is on vacation until the first week of August, but I did get an automatic respond informing me that they got the email, so we have to wait to see if they are interested in looking into this this matter.

[sseattle]

This is an excellent letter - I hope to hear that you get a favorable response from them and that they will at least consider doing an article on the campaign.

[X5-452akaMax]

Another great letter. I hope that they reply.

[UncleGordo]

This the second part of my previous letter to TV GUIDE CANADIAN EDITION, I think it is self explaining when you read two parts.
August 5, 2002 FINAL REVISED COPY
Further to my email to you dated July 29th concerning the cancellation of the above mentioned series, in which I informed you of the protest campaign regarding this cancellation, what I did not do was tell why I among many other devoted and loyal fans are so enraged, resentful and angered by the cancellation which the Fox Network announced on May 17, 2002
It is my opinion that this series is truly original and unique and so vastly superior to any other programming not only on the Fox Network but judging by the comments that I have been reading regarding the new season it sounds like a rehash of old series and old themes on the other networks as well, so when we have a truly unique series it is a shame not to refine and to promote it. Dark Angel deals with current and future controversies such as government abuse, illegal diversion of government funds, scientific experimentation on humans, corrupt government officials and covert operations by secret government agencies , as well as secret breeding cults whose members have infiltrated the government and are in fact actually cold blooded killers.
It a story about a group of young kids in their early teen years who were genetically engineered in a secret government laboratory called Manticore, and then trained to be perfect soldiers designed to carry out whatever action the government needed them to do whether it was to be the perfect army or to carry out assassinations of enemies of the government, However eleven or twelve of these young people escaped from this covert government laboratory. This resulted in a concerted effort by the very government that created them to either capture or kill these escapees. At this point we are introduced to the central character of the series by the name of Max who is also known as X5-452, a beautiful young woman in her late teens who is trained in the Marital Arts and whose is a cat burglar to keep food on her table, but more importantly to obtain the money she needs to accomplish her true goal, and that is to find the other escapees from the covert laboratory whom she considers to be her brothers and sisters.
This young woman is a truly exceptional person who is concerned with the welfare and protection of her siblings, and her desire to destroy the secret government laboratory who made her and many more like her, and to expose the government conspiracy which allows it to operate
The issues which the series spoke to were police and government corruption , love i/e the budding relationship of Max and her fellow crusader Logan who she met when she tried to break into his apartment, family dynamics i/e her efforts to find and protect her fellow escapees who she considers her brothers and sisters, friendship and loyalty, i/e her relationship with her co-workers where she worked as bicycle messenger, and her desire to expose the secret breeding cult which has infiltrated the government and who are actually cold blooded killers with their own power agenda. These characteristics that Max displayed are of a person who was created in a laboratory and never had the love or guidance of parents.
However prior to the beginning of the second season the show was moved to the demographic waste land of Friday night at 8:00PM thus killing the main viewing audience of the series. In my opinion this series was hi-jacked by the so-called intelligentsia of the Fox Network and I believe a former executive producer of one of the Star Treks who convinced the creators of the series Cameron and Eglee to agree to the move to Friday night,
I truly believe that this series is totally original and unique in its concept and presentation and deserved not only a renewal for a third season, but many more as well. Quite frankly the Fox Network is the armpit of all the networks and in realty they did not deserve to have this series in their schedule at all but it does so we have make the best of it.