Rescuing the Knight
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| Title: | Rescuing the Knight |
| Creator: | Cynthia J. Hoffman |
| Date(s): | February 1996 |
| Medium: | essay in on-line journal |
| Fandom: | Forever Knight |
| Topic: | fan campaign to save the show from cancellation |
| External Links: | "Rescuing the Knight" (Wayback Machine copy) |
| Click here for related articles on Fanlore. | |
"Rescuing the Knight" is an essay by Cynthia J. Hoffman about Save Forever Knight, the campaign waged in 1996 by Forever Knight fans on the FORKNI-L mailing list to save the show from cancellation, and how the organization of the Forever Knight Wars played a significant role in their ability to organize their campaign. The essay was originally posted on-line to Bad Subjects Issue #24, February 1996. At the time, the campaign to save Forever Knight was still in full swing.
In writing "Rescuing the Knight", Cynthia was aided by Catherine A. Siemann, Susan M. Garrett, and Dianne T. DeSha.
Excerpts
In the past few years, I have learned from personal experience the ways in which the Internet is, in fact, a kind of community. Most notably, on August 9, 1995, I got considerable comfort from an international "family" following the death of Jerry Garcia. The outpouring of that community was so great that a book was published (Not Fade Away: The On-Line World Remembers Jerry Garcia) of the spontaneous gatherings on the web and over mailing lists and bulletin boards so that those people who weren't online could have a taste of what happened. Clearly, grief and mourning are a force that can create a sense of community where one might not generally expect to find it.I have, however, also discovered that community can be consciously created on the Internet in the most unusual of places, from mailing lists about politics, to fiction-writing lists based in media (television and movie) fandom. And the communities created in these places are capable of doing remarkable things.
In December of 1995, Forever Knight was dropped from USA Network's lineup — abruptly and without fanfare. Most people never know that a show has been canceled until they read that line in TV Guide: last show of series. Some discover cancellations in the entertainment page of their paper; still others discover cancellations from fan clubs and other fan organizations.[...]
We only had ten full days before anything was set in stone: in addition, it was, after all, Christmas break and television production offices were already closed, including USA Network. The Internet community could move faster than a traditional fan base ever had before, which we had to do in order to save the remainder of the third season of the show, which according to the news we received, wasn't going to be completed. And since we had the organizational knowledge available to us from fighting fiction wars over the past three years, a massive campaign to pressure Tri-Star into continuing to produce the show for a syndicated market in spite of USA's pullout was underway before major portions of the television industry were even aware that there was trouble in the offing. In short, a new form of grassroots organizing has been born: within hours of hearing of the possible cancellation of the show, members of newsgroups, discussion lists and fiction forums were mobilizing in an effort to bolster the chances of Forever Knight's continued production for a complete third season, as well as its renewal for a fourth.
The news of the cancellation of Forever Knight began circulating on Friday, December 22, 1995, and by Friday evening, ideas about how to save the show, addresses for whom to write, and various ways to get publicity were being suggested. By Saturday morning, battle lines were drawn and members of the Internet community were ready for action. Someone volunteered space for a web page in order to have a central location for more efficient dissemination of information. By Sunday morning, organizers were in place, and by Christmas Day — barely four days following the first rumblings of potential trouble — plans were finalized, courses of action set, letters written and ready to send and foundations laid for involving people outside of the computer community and the web page was up and running.