ABC should be ashamed, but are they really?

The American Broadcasting Company has been around since 1948, and at one time was both a risk taker and a provider of truly quality programming. This was the network that took the risks when other networks wouldn't with such quality shows like The Outer Limits, The Time Tunnel, (which just happens to be one of my favorites) Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, and another favorite of mine The Fugitive. The American Broadcasting Company was daring and bold with the release of the sitcom Bewitched. And proved it was a risk taker with the legendary campy, action, comedy adventure series Batman, and what was suppose to have been Bruce Lee's smash hit The Green Hornet.

The American Broadcasting Company, ABC for short has been producing quality programming for decades with such hits as Happy Days, Laverne and Shirley, Three Company, Taxi and the memorable Barney Miller. ABC rocked television with such hit miniseries like Rich Man, Poor Man, and the ever classic Roots. Even in the late 80's, ABC continued to provide quality programming with such favorites as Moonlighting which launched Bruce Willis's career and Who's the Boss, and who could forget MacGyver. MacGyver still lives on in the Simpsons with Marge's sisters who both love MacGyver and why wouldn't they? It was a great show from a one time great network.

In 1996, The American Broadcasting Company was acquired by the Walt Disney Company and under Michael Eisner both the Walt Disney Company and ABC flourished. As I truly believe that Michael Eisner had the true vision and direction of the late great Walt Disney himself. As Mr. Eisner brought back the Wonderful World of Disney each week hosting it and I remember watching it on a steady basis. I remember T.G.I. Fridays which brought back quality entertainment on Friday nights with Boy meets World and Dinosaurs. Even as I write this article I can hear the famed line of the baby Dinosaur saying, not the ma-ma, as he would hit Earl Sinclair over the head with the frying pan. It was classic family entertainment that you could sit down to every Friday night and watch, not like the programming ABC offers today. 

Mr. Eisner himself was ousted from the Walt Disney Company in 2005 and replaced by Robert "Bob" Iger and since then Walt Disney and ABC has gone down hill. The quality programming on ABC has been replaced with a lot more reality shows like The Bachelor, and now The Bachelorette, and Here Come the Newlyweds, Extreme Makeovers: Home Edition, Dancing with the Stars, Supernanny, Wife Swap and such quality programs like Desperate Housewives, Private Practice, Grey Anatomy, Brothers and Sisters, Eli Stone, (why on this one, really why?) and my all time favorite Ugly Betty. (Which is not really my favorite, but I thought I'd say it out of sarcasm anyway.) These are all popular shows on ABC only because of the A.C. Nielsen family audience and not because of all the other television viewers out there including myself. I mean seriously how many of you out there actually watch any of these shows? Each of them are either recycled material or tasteless forms of entertainment, not at all anything like what ABC once aired like Benson, Soap, The Love Boat, Charles Angels, Mr. Belvedere, Growing Pains, Hotel, Dynasty, ,or The Wonderful World of Disney.

Yet this is the new ABC, just like this is the new Disney. As Disney like ABC, refuses to listen to it's fans and when ABC does finally create a great show like Pushing Daisies it obviously has to kill it, as it's too good to be on prime-time television seeing Pushing Daisies was family friendly, with an excellent cast, amazing story telling and incredible cinematography. This was a show you could sit the whole family down to and watch without worrying about the content or fearing the fact that you might not have a good time watching each and every episode.

But just like all those Disney Kim Possible fans out there and Disney American Dragon, Jake Long fans out there. ABC refuses to listen or budge on uncancelling Pushing Daisies. It's like Disney executives and ABC executives just don't want to hear what the fans out there truly want too see. No matter how hard the Kim Possible fans and American Dragon fans have been trying for more then a year to get Disney to reconsider renewing Kim Possible and American Dragon, Disney just refuses to listen to the KP and Dragon fans, so it should come as no surprise that ABC refuses to listen to all those Pushing Daisies fans out there that are begging and pleading with ABC to renew Pushing Daisies for a third season.

Even earlier back when ABC decided to cancel Batman and most of all the Green Hornet, was there really a reason for that? I mean Batman even today is loved as a campy and fun show and the Green Hornet was never even given a chance to fly. No wonder Bruce Lee was so upset about it's cancellation. Yet I bet even back then ABC executives refused to listen to the fans who probably wrote in protesting the cancellation of both series

What all these network and studio executives need to understand is we the fans are not going away and neither are we giving up on our shows. We might not win, we might just be wasting our time, and we might even just be nothing more then a nuisance to you all. But we're the fans. We're the ones that watch your network and buy your products and support your shows and we deserve a little respect and a little dignity and most of all, a little understanding when we ask, let alone beg for you to renew our favorite shows. I mean I could understand if no one was watching Kim Possible, or American Dragon or Pushing Daisies, but all three of these shows have a huge fan following and if ABC and Disney would be willing to take a risk and renew all three of these shows they could start up a new T.G.I. Friday's. With Kim Possible and American Dragon, Jake Long back to back, followed by Pushing Daisies. That could be a rating's hit for both Disney and ABC if they'd be willing to take a risk and listen to the fans of all three shows out there.

What we the fans are asking for from network and studio executives isn't that much? I mean Fox at least has started to listen with renewing Family Guy and now Futurama and trust me the fans including myself, as I'm a huge Family Guy and Futurama fan are forever grateful to Fox. Now wouldn't Disney and ABC rather have all those fans out there thanking them and forever be grateful to them, then to simply keep ignoring all of the fans out there like there doing right now.

There is however something each fan of Kim Possible/American Dragon and Pushing Daisies can do. There are numerous fan sites that are still devoted to these shows and devoted to saving them. One of the sites is Save Our Shows http://www.saveourshows.org/ which is devoted to saving not just Kim Possible/American Dragon and Pushing Daisies, but other shows like Firefly and the 4400. For Kim Possible fan they can check out all these numerous sites. Animation Communication Central http://markandbobsforum.proboards83.com/index.cgi and Save Kim Possible http://savekp.proboards.com/index.cgi and of course The Fight for Kim Possible site www.fightforkp.com/ and the Kim Possible Fight For Five site http://www.firewebs.com/kimpossiblefightforfive/index.htm  as well as the social Kim Possible site http://ronstoppable.proboards89.com/index.cgi 

For Pushing Daisies fans there's a Pushing Daisies forum http://pushingdaisies-tv.com/forums/index.php as well as an ongoing petition  www.petitiononline.com/daisies/petition.html and for American Dragon, Jake Long fans there's Save the Shows http://www.savetheshows.com/ and American Dragon, Jake Long fans can be found at http://www.tv.com/american-dragon-jake-long/show/26513/summary.html as well as at the Fight For American Dragon site http://fightforadjl.com/v2/

Each person who reads this article and believes in what it stands for, can make a difference. It isn't just about Kim Possible/American Dragon or even Pushing Daisies. This is about how the fans are treated and how fan favorite shows like Jericho are just discarded regardless of the out cry of fan support. Unless we as fans stand up united together for a common cause this will continue on happening as it has since the beginning of television. So for fans of ABC's Castle look out, cause I wouldn be one bit surprised that Castle could see the chopping block real soon. Just like NBC's Chuck, which could easily disappear next season unless the fans out there fight to keep it alive.