Who’s running this show?

Teen drama The O.C. started last week on Channel 4 - but is the story solely the work of the show’s writers? Website fans in the US think not. Bobbie Johnson reports

Monday March 15, 2004

The Guardian

The O.C.: website fans have questioned whether writers are using their ideas

Critics have touted new teen melodrama The O.C. as a Beverly Hills 90210 for the 21st century, and it may be living up to its billing in more ways than one. Set in a cash-rich Californian enclave, the show, which started screening on Channel 4 last week, sparkles with the kind of fashion references that make trend-obsessed hacks dribble with anticipation. But those who turn to their computer screens think the show might be helping to drag mainstream American television forward in a different way.

American viewers reported a variety of remarkable changes as The O.C.’s first series wore on. After a handful of episodes, one geeky character - who had built up a sizable band of lusting internet groupies - suddenly became more confident and successful with girls. The same devotees fretted on their online message boards at the introduction of a major new character. He was biting the Californian dust within a few episodes.

By the 11th episode, when one of the characters uttered the lines "I didn’t know they had musicals in Chino," fans were convinced they were influencing the show’s writers. The words, they believed, were drawn from the popular fan website Television Without Pity, and slipped into the show as a kind of hat-tipping exercise.

"You’re outed, buddy!" wrote one fan gleefully, recognising the veiled reference. Others posted messages to the show’s creator, Josh Schwartz, applauding him on this "shout-out".

But despite these claims, a meet-the-viewers event last week saw Schwartz publicly refuse to bow to such fan pressure on the web.

"One fan stood up and praised the show, but asked whether it was the networks that made the writers add in some of the schmaltzy elements of the show" says Joe Adalian, the TV editor of American showbusiness bible Variety. "Schwartz replied: ’No, it’s contempt for the fans.’ It was a joke, obviously, but it was his way of telling them not to take things too seriously."

Schwartz’s public rejection of online fans may muddy the waters, but if the show’s producers have given in to the desires of web fans, they would not be the first. Some senior television executives believe internet fan groups are a way to keep track of how viewers feel about particular shows, and look to them as a source for ideas and criticism.

"We always have someone on the writing staff assigned to keep track of them," says John Wells, the executive producer of hit shows including ER and The West Wing. "I don’t overreact to the boards, but I pay real attention to messages that are thoughtful. If you ignore your customer, you do so at your peril."

"I’m very hesitant to take any credit for changes that shows make," says Sarah Bunting, the co-founder of the Television Without Pity website. The site’s acerbic review pages and forums are frequented by a number of producers and writers, and it is widely recognised as the market leader in internet fandom. "We joke about it, but in terms of actual influence? I don’t believe it until I hear it directly.

"When we started we realised there were a number of people who watched TV the same way as we did," says Bunting, "hoping it would be good, but knowing it would be pretty shit."

Bunting remains cynical about the effect TWoP has on the processes of television - "Most of the producers are aware we exist, but that’s as far as it goes" - but from time to time the site’s citizens are reminded that even if their opinions are ignored, their voices are at least heard.

"One time on a show a messenger walked across the background with our logo printed on his bag," she says. "That was visual evidence." And then there was an infamous incident with Aaron Sorkin, the creator of The West Wing.

Sorkin famously fell foul of TWoP critics after entering into a message board row with fans. The scuffle eventually made its way into an episode of the White House drama when one of the show’s characters became embroiled in a similar online furore. The damning verdict on the show’s site moderator as "a dictatorial leader who I’m sure wears a muu-muu and chain smokes Parliaments" was clearly a barb aimed at Sorkin’s online opponents.

"My first thought was, ’Do your research - I smoke Camel Lights,’" laughs Bunting.

But despite Sorkin’s disparaging remarks, some evidence supports the suggestion that internet fan sites can exercise a degree of influence, however minor.

"I’m sure some producers use the web as an informal focus group, although they probably wouldn’t admit it," says Variety’s Adalian. "But even if a website is visited by half a million people, it’s not enough to make a huge difference; the average hit US show has 15 million viewers."

British television also has a thriving fan community, but its nature means it is less open to viewer pressure. Whereas American drama series run for 24 weeks, British shows have much shorter spans and are filmed entirely before the first episode goes on air. This precludes the in-season alterations exhibited by The O.C., and means that any influence fans have on the UK’s television screens is less direct.

"The net is too easy for people to use," says Stephen Garrett, the joint managing director of Kudos, the company behind television hits such as Spooks and Hustle. "You have to remember that it’s just a tiny minority of people. That’s not being contemptuous or arrogant."

Organised online pressure groups complained en masse about an episode of Spooks last year, which featured an Islamic suicide bomber. But Garrett says it is necessary to put such protests in their place.

"It’s a very slippery slope for programme-makers if they become too sensitive to that kind of criticism. You have to trust your instincts."

Of course, responding - or not responding - to fan feedback is far from a new phenomenon. Ever since the birth of the TV industry, executives have been reshaping shows to make them more popular. This is most notable in soap operas, which have long, ongoing narratives that allow the writers a substantial degree of freedom.

Viewers have always had a degree of influence over ratings-chasing television executives. Would Dallas golden boy Bobby Ewing have made his miraculous reappearance on the show without viewers’ outrage over his exit? Without the loyalty of fans, would Dirty Den have slinked his way back into EastEnders 15 years after he had apparently been shot dead?

Caroline van Oosten de Boer, who runs Buffy the Vampire Slayer fan site Whedonesque.com, is appropriately laconic about the possible influence that fan sites might wield. "I recently learned that some of the writers and staff on the shows do check out the site, which was nice to hear," she says. "But ultimately, the site is there to provide a service, not to influence anyone."

Perhaps television fans on the internet are just the same old fans as they always were. After all, 20 years ago fans of Cagney & Lacey embarked on a massive letter-writing campaign when the show was cancelled at the end of its first season. Their support brought it back from the grave. With the web’s ability to link and organise disparate groups of people, perhaps the change is one of degree rather than kind.