Fans of the Canadian science-fiction series Lexx have banded together to try and convince the Sci-Fi Channel in the United States to continue buying the show.
Devotees of the satirical and sexy series -- sometimes described as Star Trek's evil twin -- are in full letter-writing campaign mode. The outpouring of support comes after a direct appeal by show producer Paul Donovan of Halifax-based Salter Street Films to an e-mail discussion list. "The reason I am sending this today is to tell you that unless our ratings go up a bit (particularly in the U.S.) there is not much chance for Lexx 4," Donovan starts. In the rest of the letter, the producer describes to fans the travails faced by a production company like Salter Street. He also offers a crash course on the workings of modern publicity machines.
"[We]are outside the system, and do not have the ability to strong-arm entertainment editors to print articles about our show," he says. "The studios all have well-developed relationships -- and sometimes even cross-ownership -- with much of the publishing world. They also pay the costs for many critics' 'publicity junkets' to meet famous stars in nice resorts. All these things put pressure on editors to give the studio the ink it needs to help get those ratings. Studio publicity departments exist for this sole purpose and they do their job rather well, which means more stories about the studios' upcoming new shows and fewer stories about Lexx."
At the same time, Donovan writes, not everyone can be bought. "The TV critics (some of them anyway) are human beings as well and they might respond with some ink for our show, which might give our ratings a boost."
The drop in ratings follows a strong start for the series back in January when its first show received the highest ratings of any premiere on the Sci-Fi Channel. In April, the channel ordered another 13 episodes of the hour-long program.
This is not the first time fans have pitched appeals for a show. La Femme Nikita was brought back from the dead last month after fans flooded the Internet following the show's cancellation in May. Similar devotion may save Lexx. One message from a Lexx fanatic asks for support for Donovan because, it "is his ceaseless vigilance that protects our universe of entertainment and order from the disentertainment and out-of-order-ness of bad Sci-Fi."