The Difference Between Fan and Fanatic?
June 24, 2008 by brian
Our discussions about Jericho and Moonlight have led to some of the most real, heartfelt debate we’ve ever had on this site. We’re all about keeping it going.
Cynthia brought up an interesting point. A guy that paints his chest multiple colors to support his favorite football team gets treated completely differently than a guy who wears Spock ears in public. Both are making a unique fashion statement, but only one of them will likely be accused of living in his parents’ basement.
For what it’s worth, I’m just as likely to be caught wearing a giant football helmet as I am a Green Lantern shirt in public. Some of my earliest memories are watching the original Star Trek and Twilight Zone with my mom. As I’ve said before, my gig here was a natural evolution for me. But since the question’s been talked about a bit, I figured I’d pose it to our readers. Where is the line between someone who’s really passionate about their favorite show and someone who needs mental help? Is there a line? By all means, keep up the passion as this has been the best debate on the channel in my opinion.
I think the threshold is where passion disconnects them from reality. Saving Jericho for example is only realistic if it’s a feasible business move for it’s owner and a good career move for it’s actors and writers. Life goes on for the creators, and the owners aren’t going to fund it as a charity. If the fans want to keep a show around let them create a compaign to fund it’s production, that’s the only thing that would save it when the industry recognizes it’s a poor business move, and the actors and crew can make a living by moving on.
a fanatic i believe are the “Jericho” they have gone far beyond the duty to save their favorite show to no avail. At some point they will piss off a company and that will be the end of it. They have to realize that a lot great shows have been canceled before their time and that a new one wil show uo in the future.
Either way, things are certain to be interesting. We’ll probably still be talking about Jericho’s campaign as a textbook model of fan passion years from now.
By the way I do think it’s possible for the fans to fund it’s production. If the show costs $2M per episode what the cost per viewer for a whole season? $50? Not an unrealistic number to attain if they have that many people that really want it back, and not to mention what a revolution for the industry it would be if the audience funded a show’s production. It would turn the business upside down and rightly so.