SOS CAMPAIGN FRONT PAGE ON TV GUIDE ONLINE - May 29 1998

The following appears on the front page of TVGEN and links to an article by John Walsh.

Sci-Fi The Sentinel's loyal followers fight to keep the show alive; Star Wars prequel site tweaks Godzilla.

TO BE CONTINUED?

Is Blair Sandburg (Garett Maggart) really dead? Fans of The Sentinel are clamoring to find out.

After its recent season-ending cliffhanger in which Maggart's character apparently dies, the supernatural cop show is absent from UPN's fall lineup. "It hasn't been pulled," says a network spokeswoman. "It is up for consideration as a possible midseason replacement."

Sentinel fans have responded with a multimedia campaign to save the show, bombarding the network with letters, phone calls, faxes and email. In response to the increased call volume, UPN established a hotline number last week with recorded announcements about the series.

"We received over 13,000 hits in the 48 hours subsequent to news of the non-renewal announcement," says Karen Irving, spokesperson for the Support Our Sentinel web campaign. Irving, a 35-year-old manager of an Australian graphic design and marketing company, helped launch the worldwide fan effort last September, when rumors of The Sentinel's cancellation began to surface. Since then, the site (http://world.std.com/~sentinel/) has been a rallying point for fans. "Our main goal is to impress UPN that sticking with The Sentinel is a better choice for them than canning it in favor of yet more untried programming with no base audience," Irving says. "All fans of The Sentinel want is for UPN to keep the promise they made to viewers all over America last Wednesday: TO BE CONTINUED."

UPN says it "appreciates how vocal the fans have been," but has not yet announced any decision concerning the series. 

They had  also established a TV Forum for fans to leave messages in support of The Sentinel.

CINESCAPE WISES UP TO UPN - May 29 1998

Sentinel Backlash Growing

Despite the denials of UPN officials earlier this week, the Insider has learned that the network has established a separate phone line to handle the influx of calls protesting the series cancellation. Thanks to a (BIG) number of helpful Cinescape readers, yours truly was able to locate a phone line that has been established by UPN to keep people up-to-date on The Sentinel.

Unfortunately, it is an automated system that does little more than let callers know that there is no news about the show. When the Insider contacted a source familiar with the situation, however, it was clear that the powers that be were unprepared for the strong support that the show's core fans have shown and this source admitted that cancelling the show with so many key plot points left untied was probably unwise.

If you want to show your support for the program and discuss the latest developments on The Sentinel front, click here and visit Cinescape Online's special Save Sentinel Forum (does not exist anymore).

SCI-FI SNEAK ATTACK - DEAN VALENTINE SPEAKS - May 29 1998

(TV Guide Entertainment Network)
By John Walsh

"We want to embrace the science fiction audience," UPN president Dean Valentine says. "That audience is typically affluent and intelligent, and they can be very loyal."

The network's first five-night season up from the current three nights will see the return of Star Trek: Voyager (featuring Jeri Ryan), helmed this time out by Brannon Braga. But this fall's lineup also boasts two new sci-fi series and a slate of original genre movies.

Seven Days, created by Chris Crowe and starring Jonathan LaPaglia, is an adventure series whose heroes use recovered Roswell UFO crash technology to travel up to a week back in time. Mercy Point, another new show, "is primarily a hospital drama that just happens to be set in outer space," Valentine says.

The name game is important to Valentine: "My concern is that some viewers may be intimidated by the dense mythology of science fiction shows," he explains. "We want to branch out to people who might prefer, say, hospital dramas" and hook them on a sci-fi series before they know what's hitting them.

AUSTRIAN MEDIA SUPPORT - May 29 1998

Journalist and fan, Ingrid Gabriel reports she had the following article printed in KURIER, one of the biggest newspapers of Austria.

Fans fighting for TV-Show

The Sentinel overheats phones at UPN

After "killing" one of the lead characters from successful TV series The Sentinel in the season finale, the UPN network also dropped the show from its fall schedule. However, they did not reckon with the fan response.

Twelve hours later phones to UPN and Paramount - who produce the series with Pet Fly Productions for UPN - were clogged as thousands of fans from Austria, Germany, USA, Canada and Australia voiced their displeasure, pointing out that The Sentinel was the second-highest rated UPN show after Star Trek:Voyager.

The protests did not go unheeded. After putting additional receptionists on duty to handle the influx of calls, negotiations continue for the return of the show in an attempt to disprove the famous saying: "How do you recognize a hit-show? UPN cancels it".

E!ONLINE - May 29 1998

"Canceled last week by CBS, (Dr Quinn) the Jane Seymour family western is now the center of an impassioned save-our-show campaign by fans.

Similar rescue efforts also are being mounted by loyalists to another fallen CBS western, The Magnificent Seven, and the axed UPN action-fantasy series, The Sentinel.

(Dr Quinn) fans (have been incited) to lobby CBS executives, including programming chief Leslie Moonves, with calls, faxes and e-mails. On Tuesday, Moonves reportedly received 500 cyber missives from the Quinn faithful... But one week and counting later, the network isn't budging--viewer protests or no.

And as for The Sentinel? Despite a "Support Our Sentinel" campaign that has helped flood UPN switchboards in Los Angeles with calls, the fledgling network is offering no concessions, no signs of hope for the low-rated psychic cop show.

Says UPN's painfully polite recorded telephone message to Sentinel fans: "At this time, there is no new information concerning future episodes, but we hope you will continue to enjoy the network's lineup of prime-time shows."

SENTINEL CAMPAIGN FRONT PAGE ON ULTIMATE TV - May 27 1998

Our fight is now on the front page of the Ultimate TV website, with a pic of Richard Burgi, and a link that says:

The Sentinel Cancelled, What Do You Think? Fans are angry about The Sentinel's cancelation. Should UPN have kept this series, ranked 97th out of 100? 

This links off to the Interact Forum thread about the show where fans can leave messages in response to this question.

UPN SETS UP 'SENTINEL HOTLINE' - May 26 1998

In response to the barrage of calls they have been receiving about the future of The Sentinel, UPN has now set up a "Sentinel Hotline" which plays the following recorded message:

"Thank you for calling UPN regarding The Sentinel. At this time there is no new information concerning future episodes, but we hope you will continue to enjoy the network's lineup of primetime shows.

We appreciate your interest in UPN."

There is no apparent opportunity for callers to leave a message, or evidence that calls to this line are being logged.

ULTIMATE TV REPORTS FAN CAMPAIGN - May 26 1998

"Sentinel" Fans Band Together

Why did UPN not renew its reported second highest-rated series, The Sentinel? Enquiring (and persistent) fans want to know and have allegedly innundated UPN with phone calls and faxes protesting the netlet's decision not to bring the series back. In the season (later to be revealed as the series) finale, a major character (Blair Sandberg) was killed off (or at least had drowned and was being resuscitated). Although UPN has suggested that the series might return for midseason renewal, avid fans are grassroot campaigning for a fall renewal.

The following articles appeared online from USA Today, VARIETY and Hollywood Reporter, announcing the new UPN season. Ironically, the USA Today article featured the below photo of Richard Burgi as the front page lead in the TV section.

HOLLYWOOD REPORTER - May 22 1998

By Lynette Rice

NEW YORK -- Candid about hoping for "any" kind of ratings growth next season, CEO Dean Valentine said UPN will target hard-working people with "real lives ... who don't work for magazines and who have wacky friends."

Valentine and executive vp entertainment Tom Nunan unveiled a fall lineup Thursday that includes three new comedies and three new dramas -- half of which are from Paramount TV. UPN also will program a fifth night consisting of movies (HR 5/21).

UPN's CEO reiterated the emerging network's goal next season is to target Middle American viewers with shows in the vein of Roseanne and Home Improvement. Narrowcasting with urban shows is not in the network's best interest, Valentine said, which speaks to why many of the network's shows from the 1997-98 season didn't make the cut for fall.

Urban sitcoms In the House, Sparks and Good News, as well as action drama The Sentinel, were pulled but not canceled as they could be considered as midseason replacements.

Still, 1998-99 is largely bereft of urban shows, save Guys Like Us from Columbia TriStar TV that stars Maestro Harrell, an African-American. Instead, the lineup appears to skew older and to families, from the period drama Legacy to the family sitcom Diresta.

"We needed to get going in a new direction as soon as possible," said Valentine, referring to when he joined the network late last year. "It's not a time to be overly cautious. We need to be aggressive and smart."

On Mondays, Guys Like Us airs at 8 p.m. and tells the story of Jared and Sean, two twentysomethings who live with Jared's 6-year-old brother. At 8:30 p.m., UPN will broadcast Paramount TV's Diresta, a comedy based on the true life of a transit cop.

At 9 p.m. Monday, UPN will air Paramount TV's The Secret Diary of Desmond Pfeiffer, a period satire about the head of the kitchen at the Lincoln White House. Malcolm & Eddie will return to the schedule at 9:30 p.m.

Moesha and Clueless will air from 8-9 p.m. Tuesdays, followed by the new Columbia TriStar TV drama Mercy Point at 9 p.m. It tells the story of an emergency outpost in the farthest outpost in the explored universe.

At 8 p.m. Wednesdays, UPN will air the new Paramount TV drama Seven Days, featuring Jonathan LaPaglia as a CIA agent sent back in time. Star Trek: Voyager stays at 9 p.m.

On Thursdays, UPN will launch its Way Out There Movie night, which will feature a variety of science fiction, fantasy and adventure flicks.

A new drama from Atlantis Communications will serve as a lead-in to Friday's Love Boat: The Next Wave, which is expected to get a new executive producer and some additional cast members come fall.

Legacy from Atlantis Communications airs at 8 p.m. and is a drama set in 1880s Kentucky that focuses on a horse ranching family. Love Boat from Spelling Entertainment bowed midseason and will air at 9 p.m.

Speaking of the Friday lineup, Nunan said, "It's a much more natural night of escapist television." Nunan said UPN doesn't plan to fill holes with specials next season -- a trend that popped up during the 1997-98 season with dreadful results.

 

---

TV GEN - May 22 1998

By John Walsh

UPN Sets Sail for New Season

Robert Urich and his Love Boat: The Next Wave crew will welcome aboard some special passengers in the show's season premiere: cast members from the original seabound series.

Has Congressman Gopher, Fred Grandy, signed on? "Not yet," says UPN honcho Dean Valentine, adding that the show "plans to feature some of [the original cast] in upcoming episodes, but nothing's firm yet."

Dish caught up with Valentine while he was in New York to present UPN's new fall lineup, which features five nights of programming, up from three nights last season. The new network president chatted with us about his tell-all profile in this week's New Yorker magazine.

"The worst thing that can happen when you're trying to feel presidential," laughs Valentine, "is to read some magazine story about how you used to go down to the Tunnel [a New York nightclub] and chug a fifth of Wild Turkey."

What prompted Valentine to risk so much on a full five-night schedule so early in his tenure as UPN boss? "The idea must've come to me one of those nights at the Tunnel," he shrugs.

What kind of ratings would he be happy with in this new season? "Any," Valentine says, without missing a beat. "I'm not kidding!"

Here's what the network will offer come September (all times Eastern; new shows in bold):

USA TODAY ONLINE - May 20 1998

Updated 09:30 PM ET
By Gary Levin, USA TODAY

UPN to hit 5 nights this fall

UPN is delivering on a promise to radically remake its schedule, adding sitcoms and dramas with broader appeal to its mix of ethnic and science-fiction series.

The mini-network Thursday announces plans for three new sitcoms, all on Monday, and three new dramas. UPN is also expanding from three to five nights for fall, adding a movie on Thursday.

New sitcoms are Guys Like Us, about roommates who take in one's 6-year-old brother; DiResta, starring an ex-New York transit officer; and The Secret Diary of Desmond Pfeiffer, a period comedy about an English nobleman who works in Abraham Lincoln's White House kitchen.

The dramas are Mercy Point, about an ER in space; Seven Days, with Jonathan LaPaglia as a crime-fighting time traveler; and Legacy, about life on a Kentucky horse farm after the Civil War.

Love Boat: The Next Wave moves to Friday. Good News and Sparks are canceled; In the House and The Sentinel might be back midseason.

 

---

VARIETY ONLINE - May 21 1998

By Jenny Hontz

UPN shakes up fall sked
Adding two new nights of programming

NEW YORK - UPN today will announce a major overhaul of its primetime schedule for fall, which features two new nights of programming but just five returning series and only three that remain in the same timeslots.

It's the first schedule from UPN's new CEO Dean Valentine, and the netlet is expected to add three new comedies, three new dramas and a movie. Three of the six new series will be produced by UPN's parent studio, Paramount.

Gone from the fall lineup are Paramount's The Sentinel, 20th Century Fox's Sparks and Good News, and NBC Studios' In the House, but a couple of the series could return midseason. UPN will also launch an animated series based on the Dilbert cartoon strip at midseason, and Dilbert will be featured prominently in the upfront presentation.

Spelling TV's The Love Boat will return, but is changing course to 9 p.m. Friday, one of the netlet's two new nights. The other new night is Thursday, which will feature the movie from 8 to 10 p.m.

All three of UPN's new comedies will air back-to-back on Monday night, with one veteran, Malcolm & Eddie, filling out the Monday lineup at 9:30 p.m. Launching three new comedies in a row is a risky, but perhaps inevitable strategy when a nearly complete programming revamp is being attempted.

Anchoring Monday night at 8 p.m. is the new Columbia TriStar TV comedy Guys Like Us, which stars Maestro Harrell as a kid whose brother takes care of him. At 8:30 p.m. comes the new comedy DiResta from Paramount Network TV, which is about the life of a transit cop and his family. The two family comedies will compete against sitcoms on CBS and NBC, 7th Heaven on the WB and football on ABC.

At 9 p.m. Monday, UPN will launch the comedy The Secret Diary of Desmond Pfeiffer, also from Paramount, which is a period satire about the head of the kitchen at the Lincoln White House. Malcolm & Eddie, which has been airing Tuesday nights, follows.

UPN will keep its Tuesday 8-9 p.m. block intact, with Moesha returning at 8 p.m. and Clueless returning at 8:30. The netlet will launch the new Columbia TriStar TV/Mandalay drama Mercy Point at 9 p.m. It stars Joe Morton as a doctor on a space station.

On Wednesday at 8 p.m., UPN will launch another Paramount drama called Seven Days, which stars Jonathan LaPaglia as a CIA agent sent back in time. Star Trek: Voyager stays at 9 p.m. Wednesday.

On Thursday night the netlet will launch its Way Out There movie, with 22 titles combining sci-fi, fantasy and adventure.

On Friday nights, the new Atlantis drama Legacy will compete at 8 p.m. against the new John Wells family drama Trinity on NBC and comedy or reality shows on the other networks. While the Wells family drama is set in New York, though, Legacy is set on a Kentucky horse ranch after the Civil War. (With Desmond Pfeiffer, that means two new UPN series are set around the time of the Civil War.)

At 9 p.m., The Love Boat: The Next Wave will compete against Fox's Millennium, NBC's Dateline, CBS' new drama Buddy Faro and ABC comedies.

UPN is making some big changes at a time when most of the other webs are slowing down the pace of change. Out of UPN's five nights of programming next season, not a single one will return intact, and four of the five will lead off the night at 8 p.m. with new programming.

The schedule is fairly balanced between comedies (six) and dramas (five). Most of the other webs skew heavily toward either comedies or dramas, but UPN is trying to move away from niche programming and target a broad audience. 

JERI RYAN GUEST STARS IN SEASON FINALE - May 8

By John Walsh - TV Guide Online

Jeri Ryan comes down to Earth and turns to a life of crime. In the Wed., May 20, episode of The Sentinel, (8 pm/ET, UPN) Star Trek: Voyager's Seven of Nine plays Alexis Barnes, a woman gifted with the same extraordinary senses as series hero Jim Ellison (Richard Burgi).

"But the difference," our friend on the set says, "is that Alexis uses her abilities to commit robberies." Ellison's Guide, Blair Sandburg (Garett Maggart), recognizes her abilities and begins coaching her. Meanwhile, our source says, "Ellison has been tracking a string of robberies in the area without knowing that Sandburg has been helping the thief to get better and better at her work."

Our snoop says Jeri loved the break from starship life, "and the episode's ending leaves open the possibility that this character may return."

USA TODAY'S SAVE THESE SHOWS POLL - May 8

In the lead-up to the official announcements of televisions 'Keeper or Goners', USA Today ran a ballot for its readers. They listed all the shows that are awaiting news of renewal and invited readers to vote on whether or not to keep them.

Ruth Calkins reports on the results:

The results from the USA Today Save These Shows poll were in today's paper (5/8/98).

The results for UPN Shows were as follows:

	Keep	Drop	Don't Care
The Sentinel	23.9%	18.5%	57.6%
Clueless	13.2%	27.3%	59.5%
In the House	11.8%	24.2%	64.0%
Good News	8.4%	24.1%	67.5%
Sparks	7.0%	25.3%	67.7%

As you can see, The Sentinel was by far the UPN show people most chose to "Keep" and it's "Drop" number was relatively low (in fact, out of 33 shows total, The Sentinel had the 4th lowest "Drop" percentage, and the lowest UPN/WB "Drop" and "Don't Care" percentages).

While its "Keep" percentage was not as high for some of the shows on the Big 4 networks (for example, Nothing Sacred got a 39.5% "Keep" percentage, and Dr. Quinn got a 52.2% "Keep" percentage and most of the other Big 4 shows got "Keep" percentages in the 20s and 30s), The Sentinel's "Keep" percentage was higher than any other UPN/WB show by more than 10% (its closest neighbor was Clueless).

(Thanks Ruth and Linda)

BIG ADVERTISING PUSH FOR THE SENTINEL - May 4

In conjunction with the introduction of new regular character, Megan Conner and the exciting new opening credits, fans across the US reported a significant increase in the visibility of promos for The Sentinel leading up to the episode Foreign Exchange.

New ads were reported on the following cable channels: Arts & Entertainment, The Discovery Channel, USA, Comedy Central, The Prevue Channel, Sci-Fi Channel and Lifetime. This coincided with increased radio advertising with a Waltzing Matilda theme to promote the new Australian character and various magazines and local newspapers carried promotional spots and press ads such as the following, which was a half page in TV Guide and The New York Post:

(Thanks Jenn, Lianne, Kathi C, Shannon, Rayner, Jean, Moz, Barb, Dee Dee, Cheyenne, Carrie, Wolfine, Sammy, Ailish, Mick C)

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