SciFiTV News

Visible Fans Decry 'Invisible' Cancellation

Fans shine light on The Invisible Man's disappearance

DATELINE: South Bend, IN. Ever since the original Star Trek series was resurrected from cancellation, scifi fans have been tenacious in fighting for their beloved shows. However, the I-Maniacs -- fans of The Invisible Man -- faced a unique twist in this age-old fight: the network's refusal to admit the show's cancellation. As a result, thousands of fans worldwide are still woefully unaware of their fellow fans efforts to save the sophomore hit series.

The Invisible Man -- one of the SciFi Channel's top 3 original series and consistently one of the top 10 genre shows in syndication -- was abruptly cancelled after negotiations fell through for not one, but two more seasons in late September 2001. Online fans of the show only found out about the cancellation when a member of the cast posted it on SciFi's own The Invisible Man bulletin board (www.scifi.com/invisibleman).

When news leaked out that the show had been cancelled, the fans rallied sending flowers, cookies, blue Kool-Aid, even old shoes to SciFi to show their support. So many emails and phone calls were made to show the fans' commitment to The Invisible Man that both SciFi's and parent USA Networks' email and phone systems were overloaded. In fact, fans' efforts proved so persuasive that USA Network head, Barry Diller, called all parties back to the bargaining table. Unfortunately, neither USA nor SciFi was able to keep the show on its network.

Yet, while fans waited with baited breath for news of the show's fate, the SciFi Channel bigwigs refused to comment. It was only another cast member's post to the bulletin board, several days after the show was actually cancelled, that alerted fans to the show's second cancellation in as many weeks.

Still SciFi refused to admit that the show had actually been cancelled. Fans once again overloaded both SciFi's and USA Networks' viewer relations and programming departments. In fact, the ensuing fan response was so strong, that not only was the network prompted to issue a press release admitting the show's cancellation, it also had to post on its own The Invisible Man internet bulletin board to ask fans to stop sending the I-Man care packages to the network. I-Maniacs still have not given up hope, however. While the last five episodes of The Invisible Man's second season began airing in January 2002, a massive write-in campaign is currently underway to get The Invisible Man picked up by another network. Efforts to date have included one online petition that closed as of December 7, 2001, with over 3000 signatures; ads in the New York and Los Angeles editions of Daily Variety; and a charity donation to help victims of the September 11th terrorist tragedies. A new online petition, begun December 16, 2001, can be found at www.petitiononline.com/imans3/petition.html and has already garnered over 1500 signatures.

About The Invisible Man

The Invisible Man premiered to critical acclaim in June 2000. With a fresh, hip retro style and sly, witty tone, this show is utterly unlike anything else on TV today. The characters are beautifully flawed and human and the scifi conceit never gets in the way of the wonderful banter and chemistry this top-notch cast and crew create each week. For two seasons the fans have been treated to a roller-coaster ride of plot twists, clever dialogue, comedy, drama, and unpredictable plot lines. The chemistry between the two lead actors, Vincent Ventresca and Paul Ben-Victor, has garnered numerous accolades and the entire cast was recently named as the best ensemble by TV Zone magazine.

The show has also created quite a buzz in the creative community, attracting such luminaries as: Armin Shimmerman (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Buffy the Vampire Slayer), George Huang (director of Swimming with Sharks), Justine Miceli (NYPD Blue), Joel Bissonette (Boulevard, Fight Club) and Adam Storke (Prey).

For more information on The Invisible Man, its fan club or the campaign to renew the show, please email quicksilver@imaniacs.org

URLs for your reference: Message boards:
I-Maniacs.org: pub63.ezboard.com/bI-maniacs
Perseusproject.com: pub36.bravenet.com/forum/...9588&cpv=1
Official SciFi board: www.scifi.com/bboard/brow.../1/5/1831?

Sites devoted to the show and campaigning for season three: I-Maniacs Fan Club: www.I-maniacs.org
Perseus Project: www.perseusproject.com/FAQ/Dispatch_Index/I-ManPassion/i-manpassion.html
"Save I-Man" pages:
home.att.net/~skates/SaveIMAN.htm
and
katslairontheweb.com/sTIM/index.html

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