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New York Area Fans Save EE From Cancellation, Again
By Larry Jaffee
As luck would have it, just as the
last issue (No. 73) of the Walford
Gazette was being mailed, I
learned through the grapevine that
WLIW in New York was planning
to cancel EastEnders on Feb. 28.
Thankfully, the show was
saved, and more than the $18,000
needed was contributed by viewers
who responded to various on-air,
online and emailed appeals over a
several-week period.
Congratulations to the organisers,
led by the “E20” online
newsletter. An effort quickly mobilized
to privately raise the funds,
although the Walford Gazette did
not act as a clearinghouse this time,
unlike the successful January 2005
campaign that generated nearly
$35,000.
A major difference between
what happened six years ago and this
past February was that the station
helped publicize the need for
funds, which they flatly refused to
do in 2005.
On Feb. 9, I received an email
from Laura Savini, WLIW21’s vice
president of marketing and communications
(who announced on
April 29 that she is leaving the station;
see sidebar), in response to
my suggestion that the station offer
a thank-you gift of either the Walford
Gazette or my books to viewers.
“We are not offering a thank-you
gift around the show, but thank
you for offering us the opportunity
to purchase your book and newspaper
in relation to this campaign.
“There are considerable resources
from the fans and station
going into this effort. WLIW will
have short spots on the air alerting
viewers to the need to reach this
goal. There is online activity, and
email blasts will alert viewers as
well. It has been a long relationship
that we hope will continue.”
Based on her comments, it’s a
far cry from the resistance we received
from WLIW management in
January 2005.
Ms. Savini does respect EastEnders fans’ passion
for the show. Whether she will
be involved in EastEnders going
forward remains to be seen. If not,
let’s hope other WLIW executives
will stand by the series if she no
longer is involved with EE.
And for the record, I
think the best way to show your
support for EastEnders is to contribute
when asked no matter
where you watch via public television.
This is especially true if you
live in the New York area and have
watching via WLIW all these years
and have not contributed. By the
way, I donated $60 to WLIW in
December.
With WLIW’s good news
comes a sour note. The Denver
PBS station, KBDI-TV, quietly
cancelled EastEnders in December
after airing it since 1988. The station’s
membership director recently
wrote me:
“I think the bottom line is that with
budgets tightening and the show's
ratings declining, the programming
department found it hard to justify
spending so much of their budget
on this one program.”
I hope we don’t hear this type
of thing again from any of the remaining
nine stations.
