An Open Letter to Fox: RE Red Band Society

Last night was the “Mid-season finale” of Red Band Society. First off when did shows start this mid-season finale thing … I get they take the month of Dec. off to spend time with family and for the holidays and cause frankly there’s so much going on in real life and tv specials to watch that they don’t wanna compete but why does it have to be this big “finale” thing as if we aren’t hooked enough on these shows. Anyway … I’ve jumped off topic, that's another blog posting.

This post is about Red Band Society and what FOX is going to do to it… at least if reports are true. The show incase you didn't know focuses on a group of teenagers living together as patients in a hospitals pediatric ward, all have a different ailment keeping them there, aka they don't all have cancer. These kids form a close knit "family" atmosphere helping each other get through their daily grind, the treatments, and even each other. The red band signals their alliance and the fact that each and every one of them has had or will be having surgery. 

 

Basically the network ordered 13 episodes, with last night’s episode 10 of them have aired. Now instead of just showing the other three, Fox is pulling it from the schedule for a mid-season replacement (again if reports are true) and it may or may not come back. AKA we may never see the last three episodes, which for a story that won't be finished anyway seems like someone pulling the last chapter out of a book then handing it to me. Which is just evil and that person deserves the 9th layer of hell. Apparently the ratings aren’t as “good” as Fox had hoped it would be and this tactic is being seen as a way to create buzz about the show. I personally think it’s a giant slap in the face to anyone that worked on it as well as those that watched it.

I admit I missed the first episode of Red Band Society, after a lot of buzz about the show it came on without me realizing it. I then set a reminder on my phone for every Wed as well as a TIVO season pass so that it would not happen again. For me it's definitely been Must See TV ever since. I’m not saying Red Band Society is my favorite show ever … what I am saying is that it’s been a long time since I watched Fox regularly, like back when Party of Five was on the air, man I LIVED for those days when PO5 was going to be on my TV. I have VHS tapes of recorded episodes (to this day) so that I could relive them all week long. Now it's true that I’ve been watching Sleepy Hollow, but that’s more to support Neil Jackson, tho I admit it’s not a big sacrifice on my part it's a great show. I also Tivoed Gotham but haven't watched any of them yet and since Tivo started killing them off due to space it's likely I won't unless it's in reruns this summer. The point is that Red Band Society is really unique to anything else that’s on Fox right now. However it takes me back to a time when Fox was the network to watch for exactly this type of drama. Back when Aaron Spelling basically set the Fox lineup.... you know shows like 90210, Melrose Place, The Heights, and other “teen” type dramas.

Let’s be real for a second …

• Red Band Society is up against Modern Family and Blackish two pretty strong comedies on another network, apparently. I’ve never seen Blackish and haven’t really watched Modern Family in a few seasons.
• The lead in for this show is Hells Kitchen. Really Fox. WTF! The placement of this show makes zero sense to me. I'm not going to listen to a dude yell at people about salt for an hour then curl up on the couch to watch a show like this.
• The biggest issue with Red Band Society is that it will be on one week, take a week break for whatever reason, then come back for a week or two then it's gone again. It's hard to get into a rhythm of watching a show when a rhythm is never formed.
• People see it as a show about “kids with cancer” they connect it with being sad and depressing and while it’s not jolly every second it’s not as depressing as people think. However that initial thought kept a lot of people from reaching for the remote.

Main Cast at the series premier party L-R: Brian Bradley (Dash-Cystric Fibrosis), Dave Annable (Dr. McAndrew), Nolan Sotillo (Jordi-Ewing Sarcoma), Ciara Bravo (Emma-anorexia), Griffin Gluck (Charlie - AKA Comma Boy), Rebecca Rittenhouse (Nurse Dobler), Zoe Levin (Kara-enlarged heart needs a transplant), Octavia Spencer (Nurse Jackson), and the heart and soul of Red Band ... Charlie Rowe (Leo-Osteosarcoma) via the Fox Website

Sadly not pictured above is the fantastic Wilson Cruz (Kenji) whom I ADORE especially on this show.

It is really a damn shame that this show has not gained the following that it deserves. Those people have missed the following:

• Nurse Jackson walking into the room and seeing “Comma Boy” aka Charlie was awake
• Nurse Jackson singing to prove she still "has it" 
• Leo and Emma getting back together (tho I'm not sure that was a good moment)
• Dash painting the mural on the wall to leave his mark on the world
• Nick (Thomas Ian Nichols) singing to Charlie and when it was revealed that he was more than a hospital volunteer
• Kara realizing that she's NOT the center of the universe
• Jordi realizing the sad reason he got to keep his leg
• The devastating moment when Jordi's mom walked out on him, again
• The hormones running rampant in this hospital for both teens and adults who know better

The point is that there are some really fantastic actors on this show doing even better work and while this won't be the last stop for any of them I'd like to see where they'd take these characters. This show deserves so much more than what it is getting. To bail on the show and leave three episodes in the wings is just … annoying.

Here’s the deal Fox, pulling this show won’t get it new viewers and will more than likely cause it to lose the viewers it has gained. People don’t jump into a sinking ship, if people think it’s over it’s already over. Even if you bring it back to the outside world based on articles being written left and right it has been cancelled. It’s hard to come back from that. If you are making the call to cancel it then at least finish it off first (I've never understood why a network has shows in the can, done and ready to air and just ... don't) so that we can all move on. So basically Fox you need to shit or get off the pot.

I do wonder tho what happened to the network that stood behind a show and allowed it to find its ground and gain an audience before bailing on it. I get that television is a business and the bottom line is that a show needs to have viewer to attract sponsorship (AKA commericals), which at the end of the day make it profitable for a network. That writers, cast, producers, costume people, make up, set designers, lighting people and many other behind the scenes people need to get paid and the more profitable the show the more a network jumps behind it. However sometimes the gamble pays off in the end. Might I remind you that Party of Five ended up being a good gamble, as did How I Met Your Mother for CBS, and a ton of other shows that had a slow start out of the gate. Fox used to be a network that would dig its heels in and fight for a show, it was a network that used to take those gambles and fight cause it was a scrappy little network that had to fight for each point, each viewer and each show. It was cutting edge and it was fun to watch.

Kinda sounds like the Red Band Society actually ... these kids have that same drive and perseverance they are facing horrible odds where everyone has basically given up on them but their doctors and themselves. I urge you to get back on their side and let the writers, actors, producers, directors tell this story. Give it the chance it deserves cause 10 episodes is not really enough to fall in love with a show … especially one like this. I want to find out if Charlie runs down the hall, I want to know if Leo plays soccer again, I wanna know if Emma is ok--seriously for the love of all that is right with the world someone tell me if Emma is ok!!!!!!!!!!! Will Jordi continue to slide down the slippery slope of the law just so he can have his surgery, will he get caught? Will Nurse Jackson ever be happy outside of the hospital, is Dash going to be different now that he thinks he's the "leader," there are stories left to tell here is my point. 

So come on FOX PLEASE join the Red Band Society … let the Red Banders continue this story …. Be the network you set out to be when the network began back in 1985. Don't make us start a ground swell and send Red Bands to the Fox Network .... with social media that won't be hard to pull together.

Thank you for your time,

Marcy