[Phone The CW's viewer comment line at 1-818-977-6878 throughout the week. Let's fill up the comment line mailbox as quickly as we can every day between now and next Tuesday, September 18th.]

[Ward Cleaver] Hi, honey!  I'm home! [/Ward Cleaver]

Yes, I know, I know.  I'm cutting and pasting this from my Home Page note at http://www.savethelorelais.org , but y'know, I do want to hear from people that aren't over at STL but are stilll interested in getting the show a real ending, too, y'know?  So when I cross-post like this, I do want to hear from people.  Especially since I'm still a member of gg.org (our favorite website at STL.org) anyway.

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Tonight, the series season finale of Gilmore Girls airs and then the show disappears from The CW, airing only in reruns on ABC Family until its revival is eventually announced. In honor of the occasion, it's time to declare this week The Season 8 Phone Blitz Week. Phone The CW's viewer comment line at 1-818-977-6878 throughout the week. Let's fill up the comment line mailbox as quickly as we can every day between now and next Tuesday, September 18th. If your cell phone plan includes unlimited local/long distance, then do it. But DO NOT call the line more than once a day per person -- any individual jamming the line with multiple calls in the same day will not help the cause of Gg (or even Veronica Mars) in any way, shape or form.

For more information on etiquette for calling the network's viewer comment line or similarly blitzing them by email, check out http://www.savethelorelais.org and if you're new to the campaign to revive Gg for a real[/u] conclusion, please sign our petition at http://www.petitionspot.com/petitions/great8mandate . We're now at 7,800 signatures closing in on 8,000 in the next week or so, toward our eventual goal of 10,000 (or more) to send to The CW on Nov. 13th.

Important Reminder: Also, since this is going to be the last airing of the show on The CW until the eventual revival is announced, let's be patient with the network and remember that some political considerations that weren't the network's fault (I say obliquely) contributed to the collapse of the negotiations for the show's 8th season. In other words, even though The CW's president of entertainment, Dawn Ostroff, is our target at the network, the point-person to go to at the network to encourage the show's revival, the show's cancellation is not her fault. Please don't blamethrow (which revolts the people at the network) or threaten boycotts (which don't ever work). Just state your case in the affirmative about why you think that the network should revive Gg as a movie, a miniseries or even a full season. In other words, tell them why you lurves you them Gilmore Girls and why you want to see more of them!

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Okay, that said.  Bizarre co-inky-dink:

1) Yes, it's 9-11-07

2) Yes, it's the last rerun, the series season finale, of Gg on The CW.

3) It's also Scott Patterson's 49th birthday.

  -- Rob

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Season 8:  Because a show about snow should end with snow, not rain.

@ Everybody -- Yes, when the petition hits 10,000, I'll figure out how to deliver it/who to deliver it through.  Might be certified return receipt.  But we just passed 6,000 anyway and are on a 500-signatures-per-week pace, so I've got plenty of time even after I get back from my vacation (went to the Grand Canyon today) to figure it out.  Also, the impending writers' strike, which is 90% certain to happen in September, will have the happy side-effect of giving the campaign a lot more time.

@ ary -- Don't panic, get your towel, come to www.savethelorelais.org and have yourself a pangalactic gargleblaster.

  -- Rob

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Season 8:  Because I know a Loretta Lynn song that would be perfect for a certain storyline not involving Lorelai and Luke.  And no, The Fifth Dimension has never sung it.

Did we send out the daisies?

I was wondering if anyone is interested in going to other network website forums like; the NBC, ABC, etc. and post a little something about our fight for another season and the link to the petition. If you do please make sure you post in the appropriate(sp?) topics areas so we don't aggrivate anyone. Most forums have an "Other" or "General Topics" section we can post this in. It has to be a short but informative post. Is anyone interested in doing this? I would do so myself but I'm too busy with part-time work, a writing class I'm in, and family issues that I barely have time to be here.(it's 2:07AM here right now)

Any volunteers to be on Jillian's Website Action Contact Team? (aka WACT -- a name I just made up because it sounds, err, whacked -- oh, and Jillian, you've just been drafted because you're the one who came up with the great idea    ).  Let's start with a few points.

1) the first five volunteers to join WACT should PM Jillian either here or through www.savethelorelais.org .  I think WACT should have its own page in the STL forum and the members of the WACT Task Force should be posted in the opening post.

2) when spreading word of the campaign, the Mandate thread and the STL website, please be polite *especially* when people try to discourage you, flame you or otherwise tell you in not so many words to "let it go."  Respect the rules of the website and don't just spam them with the links.  Remember that just as Heidi is doing by letting this thread continue in its own little side-world, these sites will be more receptive by engaging them in their modes of netiquette, but that also doesn't mean that you have to take it.  If it seems like you're really conflicting with someone personality-wise, then PM/IM/email that person.

3) keep a list of the sites/threads that you're monitoring.  We've got a lot of info on sites already, but not really about any individual threads.  If you start a thread in a given forum, please note the link to that thread in the WACT thread at STL.  If a thread already exists or if a thread drifts into Gg conversation, then post those links.

4) once members of STL get an idea of *where* Gg s8 has its own discussion thread or is otherwise being discussed, then start adding more volunteers to the WACT force and start spreading the word farther and wider, but don't be a poseur -- only go to sites that you're already interested in.  For example, if you like underwater basketweaving and you know that your friends on the underwater basketweavers' have their own Gg discussion thread in their Forum, then link to that forum, but if you have no interest in underwater basketweaving, then don't recruit from that website, let someone who's into underwater basketweaving recruit at the site while you post to the forum of your true second love (ie: besdies Gg), Bathtub Catfisheries of Pomona.  Or something like that, y'know.

  -- Rob

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Season 8:  Because Lorelai would be a member of the Bathub Catfisheries, Hartford.

[the Serenity movie exists *because* the Firefly Complete Series set sold so well.]

Question: With the complete series box set already set for release a season 8 just wont happen IMO..why fight for something thats sooo unlikely. Rather shouldnt we petition a GG movie which is more likely?

1) Ostroff said at the TCAs this week that The CW (semi-paraphrase) "doesn't normally do movies-of-the-week" regarding the continuing question of a Spike movie.  That's a fairly ambiguous statement for her to make.  IMO, it's certainly a statement that we can and should take to pressure them even more to give us *something* as soon as possible.

2)  Just because there's a complete series box set doesn't mean that they can't release more.  First, Serenity certainly came after the complete Firefly boxed set -- the Serenity movie exists *because* the Firefly Complete Series set sold so well.  Second, the MASH series finale has been released in A) the season 11 set, B) the complete series set and C) by itself in a multi-disc special edition.  The studios can and will double- and triple-dip on supposed sets when they can.

So IMO The Complete Gg DVD set is entirely a non-issue.

Well, other than giving them enough motivation to give us a "More Than Complete, Fun and Flirty, We Listened To You and Gave You Another Season Or Three Set" complete with all those commentary tracks that the actors won't let released until the studios start paying them the residuals that they do deserve for the DVDs.

There's no downside to the release of the Complete Series set.  Get the s7 set by itself, get the complete series set by itself.  DO NOT DISCOURAGE anyone from buying the complete set -- at the very least, the sales of the Complete series set will give Warner Studio information on not just whether they want to do more Gg but how much and where (if the CW isn't interested, perhaps ABC Family will, perhaps Warner would want to do, say, a miniseries in direct-to-DVD form.

My advice, therefore, is for as many people to PRE-ORDER the Complete Series set from Amazon or their favorite other retailer AS SOON AS POSSIBLE.  Demand creates supply, after all.  Also, since it's not cheap, ordering it ASAP will give everybody that can't immediately afford it to save $ up for it.  It'll be, like, 30-40% off the SRP of $260 from Amazon, so at least there's that to look forward to.

  -- Rob

PS:  When you're going to be in Tombstone, AZ for 2 days, remember to put on your sunscreen.  (I don't wear shorts, but the back of my neck is very burnt.  And the Best Western there didn't have wireless access even thought it was *supposed* to.)

PPS:  Tombstone has a diorama presentation that must be *seen* to be believed wrt "To Live and Let Diorama."  TL&LD is closer to reality than you think it is.

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Season 8:  Because there's still no reason to let up.

Rob, what's the word about the 2nd daisy campaign are they going to be sent by the end of this month or do you think we need to extend the date to raise a little bit more money? I would add more but my hours at work have been up and down like a rollercoaster and I have been juggling that with my summer writing class.

Heather had a death in the family (I hope she's not pissed that I mentioned this), but the whole thing about the deadline about the 2nd Daisy Campaign (LDDC) has made me decide that putting a deadline on it was a mistake and what it should be is "whenever we've got enough daisies bought to be sure that we're as big a pain in the CW's neck as Jericho was to CBS."   

Without doing any research on it (I don't have the time, of course), I'm willing to bet that the Jericho campaign didn't have a deadline, they just went "Holy Crap, we've got a lot of orders, let's do it now!!" and that's when they sent 'em.  When I hear from Heather again, we'll see not just what the orders look like in terms of orders but also how many more daisies we need to go based on the size of the daisies and comparing them to the two(?) large pallets of peanuts sent to CBS.  That's the size that we're aiming for.

  -- Rob

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Season 8:  Because I wonder if Emily will ever decide to emulate both Rory and Cybill Sheppard and switch to sneakers.

Gilmore Girls.......no Emmy nominations. Not even for Lauren. I am so mad/upset  .

Those of us who've been demanding that the Emmys include an equal opportunity for shows not on the Big Four, HBO or Showtime got used to Gg not being represented years ago.  IMO, the academy incorrectly equates any shows on The CW/The WB/UPN as sub-Disney Channel.  (Well, starting this fall, they're right, but that's entirely beside the point.)  Quite a number of Gg fans are also Buffy fans, so those of us Buffy fans are even more jaded about the Academy's lack of taste.  I mean, Boston Legal?!  Ut, no.

  -- Rob

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Season 8:  Because the Academy needs to learn how to find KTLA (the local CW station in LA) on their televisions after sundown.

Is 10,000 sigs just our goal? n Or, do we need that much?

Yes.

10,000 is the *current* goal.  No deadline on when to reach it except that if we do reach it by July 28th or 29th (ie: in 10 days or so), I will print them all out and deliver them personally.  If it takes longer than that, then it takes longer and I'll send them by mail, or make other arrangements for someone who *can*deliver them in person to do so.

Do Iwe need that much?  Actually I think that question is better asked as, "do we need that *little?*  let's put it this way:  Jericho got 114,000 or more signatures during their petition drive which was supporting other, more camera-grabbing campaigns (the peanuts being the biggie, the LDDC would be the same for us.)  Given that the show 1) is on The CW, which has a substantially lower number of viewers and 2) that Gg was cancelled in May with little warning whereas Jericho fans had at least 3 months warning due to the ratings and 3) there are always a certain number of fans of any show who are so disappointed in its cancellation that they just don't want to hear about it anymore, 10,000 signatures gathered as soon as we possibly can after the cancellation of the show would IMO be as good as if not better than Jericho's 114K.  Especially since we don't have a Las Vegas Radio DJ organizing our campaign.  Heck, this is the first non-SF/Fantasy genre campaign since Cagney & Lacey that I can think of.  Considering that SF/Fantasy campaigns have 40 years of infrastructure built into them, in some ways, we're doing something very new in trying to get a show revived.

Also, when Heather gets back online (she had a family emergency right after she got back from vacation), we'll be able to start at least one more high visibility project.  Again, the petition will help that.

  -- Rob

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Season 8:  Because I noticed that the StL of my St. Louis Cardinals baseball cap looks a lot like it could stand for "Save the Lorelais."

I find it very rude that people take away your points for talking on here. I have never said anything bad and I have only offered info and questions. I am sorry if i have been busy and atleast call the CW but cant always have the time to keep up to date on here all the time. If people are going to be rude you will lose members.

When have you been attacked on here?
I'm sure everyone understands that people have lives and can't mandate every second.

Speaking of having lives and not being able to Mandate every second . . . my motel in Weatherford, OK didn't have free wireless access last night, but now that I'm in a Best Western here in Albuquerque, I've got free wireless access in the room!  Now I can catch up and say that the petition is just two short of 5,000! 

  -- Rob

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Season 8:  Because just because I'm having my own life and can't mandate every second doesn't mean that I'm not thinking of Lorelai every second.

Savethelorelais is for getting more seasons, right?

SaveTheLorelais is for whatever we can get beyond just a 2-hour movie that just isn't going to be enough, but without badgering them so much that we lose out on the chance of even a two-hour movie.

Let's put it this way:  it became impossible for the show to start up again right at the start of the fall season when the cancellation was announced and Lauren signed onto a gazillion Wife Roles in a row and then Scott got cast in the instant trainwreck "Aliens In America."  It's not even close to too late to campaign for either a midseason replacement (of 8-to-13 episodes) or even a miniseries of between 4-and-8 episodes.  One thing we really don't need to worry about is whether or not it's going to be on this season because there's just so many combinations of *how* and *when* a show can be revived that pretty much anything *can* happen just because it *has* happened with other shows. Heck, as a dramaturge in live theater, I'm trained to *not* give a yes-or-no answer because it's my job to present the possibilities and probabilities.  I know you wanted to hear a "yes" or "no" answer, but the truth of the matter is that there are no absolutes or guarantees in Hollywood or any other type of showbiz other than that I'll present a printout of the petition to The CW, Warners and certain actresses should the petition reach 10,000 unique signatures by July 28th or 29th. 

One thing *is* for sure:  when we (politely) scream loud enough, we'll be heard.  And Amy wants to do at least a 2-hour movie, so we have no excuse not to keep going until that happens.

  -- Rob

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Season 8:  Because Lorelai wore too many sun dresses/muu-muus/whatever over the past couple of years and it's time to get her back into jeans.

[www.savethelorelais.org]

That's great about the GG reference! It'll be a pop culture phenomenon...

And, I think that maybe any season 8 campaigning should just be geared towards a "So Much More to Say" approach, not "Give us a Better Ending", because that does imply that we're assuming (and already accepting) it to be the the last. And really, how many pseudo-finales can we make people write, and watch? Ooh, and, wouldn't it be nice if ASP let Danny boy off his leash for a little while and let him run the future of GG? 

I am not going to get into the "So Much More To Say" approach versus the "Give Us a Better Ending" other than to say that my real approach is the "I'll Take What I Can Get Other Than This" approach.  Finessing this situation isn't going to be easy since it's not about money and of the three participants in the contract talks, only Lauren came out of it scott free -- despite her own disappointment with the season finale and how it didn't measure up to her own intentions.

BTW, I just decided that we've done all that we can do ahead of time without nitpicking it to death, so the nitpicking will continue and everyone should go to www.savethelorelais.org now and spread the word.  I think my essay-long welcome there is, like, enough explanation for the time being given that I don't have time to write a press release for another couple of weeks.  It's a modest site for right now, but then again, it's a new site, so it should be.

OK.  Divine is going to kill me now for not telling her in advanace.  It's just that I suddenly realized that a website is never actually finished -- it grows like a beehive. 

Also, I emailed Heidi a week ago and she's fine with it.  I don't expect the Mandate thread to close here because there are already too many links out there to this thread and I expect that conversations will *still* break out in this thread as new people continue to  join in.

Yes, Thunderbirds Are Go!  Save the Lorelais (.org), Save the World!

Okay, I just had to make that joke just to get it out of the way 'cause you *know* that someone was gonna say it.

www.savethelorelais.org

Spread the word.   Especially since I'm busy making sure that I can still access the Internets while I'm on vay-cay. 

  -- Rob

ETA:  Petition count is currently 4707, so we added around 100 signatures today.

ETA #2:  In case anyone is wondering, yes, I sure as heck am staying a member of Gg.org.  I like my community points and number of posts.   

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Season 8:  Because we should take it one step at a time.  First season 8, *then* when they do that, we remind them that the parts for women in movies generally *suck.*   And when they don't, Julianne Moore, Kate Winslet, Cate Blanchett or Gwyneth Paltrow have already gotten them.  (But at least Nicole Kidman has completely lost the ability to recognize the difference between good scripts and bad scripts).

[We cannot command them to revive the show for even a short run of a real conclusion; we can only try to persuade them to do so.]

Wonny, take it from a person who knows he's wordy and prefers to write in essays (like the one that I write below), it's painful to read even a single paragraph that's that long.

But to answer your point:

We're shooting for Season 8 to round out the series with a real ending because that's realistically as good as we can get, whether it's as an 8-to-13 episode midseason replacement, a miniseries of some sort, a 2-hour movie or even the unlikely event that it would be renewed for a full 22 episodes.  For a full 22-episodes, it would have had to have been renewed in May so that it could start filming right about now, but that doesn't rule out, say a full 22-episode order and splitting it up over two 11-episode seasons.  It's all up to the actresses and the network and whether or not we can persuade them to come back to the negotiating table and *then* when they're back at the negotiating table, it's dependent *entirely* on what *they* agree is best for *them.*

The campaign is predicated primarily on the concept that no matter how good the season finale was -- and most of us agree that it was good as a season finale -- it's wholly unacceptable as a series finale, being more of a chapter break 100 pages before the book ends than an epilogue.  Having the campaign focus on having a Season 8 of some length is a message from the campaigners to the actresses and the network and perhaps even Amy herself that a 2-hour movie in "a year or two" is not good enough.  The year or two could stretch out to a reunion in 20 years and we've already seen the trainwrecks of The Dukes Of Hazzard Go to Hollywood and The Harlem Globetrotters on Gilligan's Island, not to mention A Very Brady Christmas.  We'll take a 2-hour movie in the next year or two if we have to, but it's not good enough.

We already know that most of the actors (including Lauren and Scott) continue to have great affection for the show.  Patterson seems willing to jump back onto the show in a heartbeat, and Lauren, despite (or because of) all the Wife roles she's currently taking has been soliciting input from fans on *why* they'd like to see a 2-hour movie and what they'd like to see in a 2-hour movie.  But, like Melissa McCarthy and everybody else, Lauren and Scott have to move onto their next gigs in the meantime.

For that reason, IMNSHO, trying to petition them to do additional seasons beyond season 8 is at this point wholly premature and, moreover, amounts to nothing but badgering them.  It's overkill.  If/when we can get the actresses and the network back to the negotiating table and agree on something, we want it to be longer than just a 2-hour movie and if/when we can get that, *then* it becomes reasonable to hope that it inspires them to do more seasons.   And *then* we can move onto that next step and petition them with our enthusiasm for more seasons.  So let's not get ahead of ourselves.  The campaign for season 8 is a simpler, more reasonable and much more focused campaign than also trying at this time to get the future seasons that we all feel the show still has in it.  We cannot command them to revive the show for even a short run of a real conclusion; we can only try to persuade them to do so.  Pushing them further than one of the three necessary persons seems willing to go will only serve to push that person away and will thus accomplish nothing.

Or, metaphorically speaking, why use a blowtorch to catch the mouse when a little bit of cheese will do?

  -- Rob

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Season 8:  Because it feels like Madeline should be the blonde one and Louise should be the brunette one.

@to the creative people here

Please, who was it who created the buttons back in February??? I'd need help - I tried to make a T-shirt for my trip to the US where we will also do the WB tour! But the buttons are only "72 dpi" and I would need at least "300 dpi" for the T-shirt-print!

When I try to change the dpi's, it becomes where "un-sharpened", doesn't look good!

Anyone can help me??? It's kind of urgent because I should have the print out at the copy shop by Monday Afternoon (European Time).

Thank you!!!!!

Regards,
Billie

Heidi made the logos herself back in February.  IMO, she's the best person to ask about getting a usable version of the logo.

My suggestion, if by the time you read this you're really stuck on time, would be for you to make up your own logo, a daisy of a size just big enough to go over your heart (like many t-shirt logos) and in your favorite type, write in a circle around the daisy:  "Save the Lorelais (.org)!"  and "We want a real ending!"

And on the back, type in large letters, "Hockey puck, rattlesnake, monkey monkey underpants!" -- Lorelai Gilmore

  -- Rob

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Season 8:  Because the daisies on Madeline's swimsuit looked kinda like a pair of umlauts.

Nvr2old4gg:  The flyer thing is a good idea, but unfortunately, they became a huge nuisance in the mid-90's and many cities have laws against them.  While I do subscribe to the concept that even bad publicity is good publicity, I wouldn't want to be held criminally liable for anything[1], especially after The Big Project (I suppose I should have called it the Challah ala Lost) is launched.

  -- Rob

[1]  My late, Emily-like-in-a-non-drag-queen-sort-of-way father was a police officer for a decade.


ETA:  I will be away from the board for the rest of the day to do a lot of editing for The Big Project.


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Season 8:  Because Morey's Salty Nuts sounds like a reference to Chef's Salty Chocolate Balls on South Park.

I'm sorry but SVU will be on forever-- give Lauren her last chance Emmy damnitt! Just because the submission is based on the FMP epi, don't voters know what a phenomenal actress all around she is and dominates this show??

*Can I be reminded what the deadline is for the Little Daisies??

I'm inclined to change it to "whenever we get enough of them to be a *huge* nuisance.    Right now, though, it's Tuesday, July 24th at 3pm ET.

*If I wanted to email someone the link to the petition, could I just copy and paste that one above in Frannie's post??

You'll have to ask Frannie about that (OTOH, I'd do it anyway).  But Idea for the big project ahoy.

  -- Rob

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Season 8:  Because bringing in a Ringer for a snowman-making contest is just *wrong.*


And combining two adjacent posts . . .

One thing that may be affectnig the poll downward is that Lauren voters voted early while Mariska voters voted late.  Another may be that, well, Lauren didn't pick a good submission tape -- she picked "Farewell, My Pet" rather than either "The Long Morrow" or "Bon Voyage," which are the two I would have suggested she pick between to submit.  That aside, a LOT of Gg fans at G-Derby *hate* the Titanic references in FMP just because they're references to Titanic -- not me, me lurves the Titanic imagery for the doomed ship of the Lor-Chris 'Ship, so to speak -- but it's very possible that Lauren's submission choice is affecting her vote.

Yea but I think people hate the "your the man I want to want" line more then the titanic reference! I didn't really like the titanic reference either but you made a good point (the sinking ship of Chris/Lor) so I feel slightly better about it but I would have much prefered she picked Lorelai?Lorelai? or even better...Bon Voyage cause despite what everyone else thinks or says, I think Bon Voyage was an amazing episode and I think I would have been ok with it ending there (cause IMO, Bon Voyage did seem like a series finale) if the rest of the season had been as good. Plus LG's acting in both episodes was better then in FMP. JMO of course.

ITA.  But going back to the Titanic reference, I think what most people miss with the Titanic reference is that Lor and Chris aren't Rose and Jack, they're Rose and, well the snooty little ick-pray played by Billy Zane.  Rose's Mom (Emily) was tightening the corset at the same time that BIlly Zane (Christopher) was trying to assert a cro-magnon control over a woman with a mind of her own.  So she jumped off the boat with Jack (Luke) instead.

  -- Rob

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Season 8:  Because Zach's acoustic instrumental version of My Heart Will Go On was kinda sweet in a ridiculous sort of way.

@ The petition passed 4,500 signatures about a half-hour ago.  Nearing the halfway point.  Hope the Big Project helps when it officially launches on Tuesday(-ish).

@ Lauren vs. Mariska in the poll at GoldDerby -- The way it was explained to me at GoldDerby a couple of years ago, Mariska has a huge gay following and GoldDerby, being an awards site naturally has larger contingent of gay men, thus she gets a huge amount of support at the site.  I'm straight and a huge fan of the site even though I go on long sabbaticals from it, so I want to make it clear that this is NOT a criticism, just an observation.  Of the choices in the poll, I knew that Lauren and Mariska were going to be the two main choices.  One thing that may be affectnig the poll downward is that Lauren voters voted early while Mariska voters voted late.  Another may be that, well, Lauren didn't pick a good submission tape -- she picked "Farewell, My Pet" rather than either "The Long Morrow" or "Bon Voyage," which are the two I would have suggested she pick between to submit.  That aside, a LOT of Gg fans at G-Derby *hate* the Titanic references in FMP just because they're references to Titanic -- not me, me lurves the Titanic imagery for the doomed ship of the Lor-Chris 'Ship, so to speak -- but it's very possible that Lauren's submission choice is affecting her vote.

  -- Rob

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Season 8:  Because T.J. probably thinks that a flash drive is when you moon the cops from the window of a moving car..