Tracy Press

The public should no longer feel powerless with regards to effecting change in areas it feels strongly about.

To those who suffer in silence and say their votes don't count or their protests don't do any good, I offer the example of the CBS show "Jericho." This is a drama series introduced last year with fairly high ratings at the beginning, but which lost fans after a 3-month network-imposed hiatus. When CBS didn't schedule the show in the fall 2008 lineup and cancelled the series altogether, the many loyal fans inundated the network with e-mail, over 115,000 signed the petition at www.petitiononline.com -- and almost 18 tons (!) of nuts were ordered and shipped to CBS (in reference to a storyline about "surrender" in the series). Following the massive fan campaign, it was announced today that CBS has backed down and new episodes of the series have been ordered -- three weeks after the show had been cancelled. Believe me, I was skeptical about this campaign... but IT ACTUALLY WORKED!

(By the way, the nuts went to charity and the troops overseas.)

This gives me hope I shouldd start a petition to bring back Arrested Development. I loved that show but it only lasted 3 seasons. Has anyone ever watched that show?

Unfortunately, the window of opportunity to bring back a favorite show narrows considerably the longer the show has been off the air. Significant cast members often disperse and go on to other projects. The main character in Jericho gave up a movie commitment to return to the show. Without his re-signing, the campaign would have been commendable, but too late.