Sci-Fi Storm

The ad is the perfect follow-up to the campaign’s April 16, 2003, ad in “The Hollywood Reporter.” In each case, the group (now numbering in the thousands) raised thousands of dollars to purchase the ads in order to talk back to the networks ? and to show their support for ?Miracles? as a potentially valuable property. The April 25 Variety issue, and the April 16 issue of the Reporter, were chosen in particular because of the key television coverage in those issues, and were achieved by the Save Miracles campaign thanks to the generous contributions of scores of generous fans worldwide via MiraclesTV.com.

The advertisements in Variety and The Hollywood Reporter directly ask network executives everywhere to consider “Miracles” as a terrific option for pickup, and one offering a built-in fanbase of millions, even though the show only ran six episodes before cancellation on ABC.

The ad was created and coordinated by ?Save Miracles? members Anne-Marie Cabral, Candace Callen, and Selina Asgar. The ad?s timing was designed to work in tandem with the high-profile PR campaign and coordinated fan-mailing effort by the group, consisting of thousands of postcards, letters, and ?GOD IS NOW HERE? napkins to ABC, as well as to prospective networks FOX, Sci Fi, UPN, WB, CHUM, and ?Miracles? advertisers like Pepsi-Cola. Harnessing the power of the Internet, and involving the coordination of fans, TV critics, and media professionals worldwide, the group?s dedicated members are hoping to make TV history in much the same way ?Cagney & Lacey,? ?Roswell? and ?Farscape? fans have done ? resulting in the show?s renewal at ABC, or a relocation to another network.

About ?Save ?Miracles??
A new, suspenseful, and exciting new genre drama, ?Miracles? debuted on ABC on January 27, 2003 at 10 p.m., and was greeted with overwhelming acclaim by approximately 8.7 million viewers. Critical raves soon poured in ? from dozens of newspapers and magazines across the country, including such top news sources as The New York Times, TV Guide, USA Today, Variety, The Hollywood Reporter, US Weekly, The San Francisco Chronicle, The Chicago Tribune, The Austin American-Statesman, The Denver Post, The Orlando Sentinel, and dozens more. Fan response was also overwhelming ? fansites and webrings sprang up across the web, and the ABC bulletin board hummed with thousands of excited posts and discussions. Yet the show soon began to face constant preemptions and last-minute program substitutions (prompting an early petition by Leigh Lewallen on the web at http://www.petitiononline.com/mir8453/petition.htm l), and within one week of the airing of the long-delayed sixth episode (entitled ?Hand of God?), the writing was on the wall, and ABC put ?Miracles? on indefinite hiatus.

By the thousands, fans immediately began intensive work to help save the series with letter-writing, e-mail, ?napkin?-writing (in honor of the pilot episode), and other creative campaigns, as well as ?Miracles? T-shirts and other potential fund-raising merchandise. The co-organizers of the ?Save Miracles? campaign include Cabral, Callen, and Asgar, as well as Angela Mitchell, Lara Giesbers, Heather LaFlame, Peter Tretter, Regina Loveless, Terri Jones, and many more. Comments Mitchell, ??Miracles? is a story worth finishing ? and we hope this ad sends that message to the industry.?

Visibility for ?Save Miracles? ? from TV Guide to the Examiner
Since ABC?s April 4 hiatus announcement for the show, the ?Save Miracles? group?s efforts have now resulted in newspaper and media coverage nationwide. Press for the campaign?s efforts thus far includes high-profile articles in TV Guide, The San Francisco Examiner, Scifi Wire, The Daily Southtown, Corona?s Test Pattern, The Arizona Reporter, and many more.

The group?s progress has also resulted in a new website coordinating fan and media efforts (at www.MiraclesTV.com), plus a consolidated core team of campaign founders, the SODALITAS QUAERITO newsletter, a coordinated fanbase numbering in the thousands, and a series of highly organized campaigns to ABC and major show sponsors by fans. Other significant results also include a second-place ranking for ?Miracles? in Scifi?s Scifiwire poll on ?which genre shows most deserve to return next season,? with over 70,000 total votes cast. Next up? A follow-up ad to continue momentum, this time in Variety.

A New Trend ? as Viewers Talk Back to Networks
The ?Save Miracles? campaign is the latest in a string of successful fan campaigns launched by viewers to save the shows they?re passionate about. Chief among these is the highly visible campaign launched by ?Farscape? fans in late 2002 (at www.savefarscape.com) following the show?s abrupt cancellation by Sci Fi, and which resulted in coverage for the show by TV critics worldwide, as well as additional opportunities for the show to live on through potentially independently financed episodes, films, or other incarnations.

About ?Miracles?
Launched by ABC to widespread critical acclaim on January 27, 2003, and airing on Monday nights at 10 p.m., ?Miracles? tells the story of Paul Callan, a young man who embarks on an astonishing journey of discovery following his investigation of several mysterious occurrences and unexplained ?miracles? worldwide. In the midst of Paul?s crisis of faith, he encounters a young boy who saves his life (encountering the words ?God is now here? in his own blood in the process) ? and who hints that something ?dark? is on the horizon of the world. He then teams up with Alva Keel and his mysterious organization Sodalitas Quaerito to search for answers ? and his journey begins.

?Miracles? stars Skeet Ulrich as Paul Callan, Angus Macfadyen as Alva Keel and Marisa Ramirez as Evelyn Santos. The series is produced by Touchstone Television in association with Spyglass Entertainment. Roger Birnbaum, Gary Barber and David Greenwalt are executive producers. Richard Hatem is executive producer and writer.

For further information on the ?Save Miracles? campaign, please contact: