Putting Power Into Viewers’ Fingertips?

Television viewers have often been depicted as passive and solitary, numbly absorbing what spills from the tube into their living rooms. Even ABC lampoons that “couch potato� image with slogans like “Don’t just sit there. OK, just sit there� as part of its cheeky ad campaign.

The Internet, however, is helping to showcase another segment of the TV audience, consisting of people who are surprisingly passionate about the programs they watch, using computers to instantly register opinions and forge bonds with like-minded fans.

Though online followings have played a role in the success of such shows as “The X-Files� and “Xena: Warrior Princess,� providing a venue for hard-core followers to debate minute nuances and drool over the stars, the Internet’s most profound influence could be in its ability to rapidly mobilize supporters of low-rated and canceled series.

In recent months, online groups have launched well-organized media-savvy campaigns on behalf of such programs as “Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman,� “The Magnificent Seven� and “Prey,� an ABC sci-fi drama that ranks a mere No. 127 among the 157 prime-time series broadcast since last September.

More than two months after “Dr. Quinn’s� cancellation by CBS, its proponents persist in taking their case to the network’s affiliates, advertisers, other networks and the press, hoping to keep the series alive while challenging CBS’ rationale in dropping it.

Those backing “The Magnificent Seven�--which CBS has since renewed for next year--raised thousands of dollars through individual contributions to place ads in the Hollywood trade papers, hand-delivering copies to network executives. “Prey� organizers have done the same under their “PREY for Us� theme, in addition to distributing promotional packets to various networks urging them to buy the show once ABC passed, contacting major-market newspapers and producing items like “Prey� bumper stickers and T-shirts.

Elizabeth Bird, an anthropology professor at the University of South Florida, has monitored a “Dr. Quinn� online group for roughly two years and has been especially struck by the close-knit community that’s formed.

“They can swing into action almost immediately,� she said. “That can happen very quickly in a very organized way. . . . It contradicts many of the common stereotypes of television watchers.�

Bird added that many fans use the show as a jumping-off point for detailed exploration of broader issues, functioning like an electronically joined book club or literary club. The nature of that interaction, she said, takes on a life that extends beyond the show itself and is “a long, long way from the image of the crazed fan who sits all day at the computer and doesn’t really have a life.�

In general, television programmers haven’t put much stock in such online followings. A successful television program, they note, must attract millions and millions of viewers, so inspiring loyalty among a few thousand people--no matter how rabid--isn’t enough alone to make a program commercially viable.

For the networks, Bird said, “they’re easy to dismiss. They’re seen as unrepresentative, in that they are so much more involved than the average viewer is.�

Even so, as network ratings dwindle and cable channels focus on siphoning off narrow slices of the audience, such groups become increasingly difficult to tune out, in part because of the technology at their disposal.

Gina Evers has spearheaded the “Prey� push, coordinating the show’s far-flung supporters using nothing more than her $1,500 computer.

The 42-year-old Ocala, Fla., educator stresses, as do many other online fans, that she is new to this sort of activism, having been captivated by the show. Evers says she watches only four or five hours of television a week, making her the sort of sporadic viewer networks struggle to reach, and describes her cohorts as “really discerning TV viewers who want to make sure their voices get heard.�

Realizing that “Prey� backers face long odds in championing such a little-seen show, Evers--having taken the equivalent of a crash course in the business of television--contends that the high failure rate of new series (roughly one-fifth of new shows survive to see a second year) suggests that broadcasters ignore such messages at their own peril.

“I know they may not be listening to me, but common sense tells me if you’re failing with 80% or 85% of your products, something’s wrong. You’re going to go broke,� she said.

“If you get a group of people together who are this enthusiastic about a product, if we’re willing to do this, we must represent other people out there [who aren’t being as vocal about it]. I think you should say, ‘Hmm. Maybe we should take a look at a product that can enthuse people that much.’ �

Upset by CBS’ stated reasons for axing “Dr. Quinn� (that the show’s audience was “too old and too female�), that show’s loyalists have pleaded their case directly to advertisers and the network’s affiliated stations. Some Web sites even offer a guide on how to compose such letters, with details like providing age and income level--factors that networks and media buyers consider in determining a program’s commercial worth.

Kelly Kahl, CBS’ senior vice president of scheduling, said the e-mail regarding “Dr. Quinn� is “by and large well-reasoned� and often very emotional. Unfortunately, he said, the network has no way of putting a price on such ardor, and ultimately “the ad dollars [a network can charge] aren’t set by the number of letters we get.�

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No one is certain when small but impassioned audiences will be enough to sustain programs. Pay-per-view technology could theoretically allow viewers to pony up for the privilege of seeing a favorite show, but officials say they have yet to reach that stage.

Even in failure, these campaigns offer a sense of satisfaction to producers whose work once would have sunk more quietly into the prime-time quagmire.

William Schmidt, who created “Prey� but was removed from the show after a creative dispute with the studio, said he’s pleased to discover the concept “obviously captured some people’s imagination� despite the low ratings.

“It’s the only really nice thing that’s come out of it,� he said. “When I got into this business it’s because I was sitting at home in a small mill town outside Pittsburgh, watching ‘Bonanza’ and being entertained. It’s nice to know that happened even for those 3 [million] or 4 million people.�

Florida professor Bird acknowledged that the nature of online groups invites discussion of larger issues, among them whether ties forged via the Internet have flourished because of a lack of such connections through more traditional activities; still, whatever inspires these relationships, they are clearly significant to those involved.

“This community is working together, with trust and confidence in each other,� Bird said of those amassed behind “Dr. Quinn.� “I think that’s kind of impressive, no matter what [objective] it’s aimed at. . . . It does sort of indicate television isn’t quite the vast wasteland it’s made out to be. There is potential there.�