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.
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