Our Flag Means Death was cancelled. Its fans are fighting back: ‘Unhinged – in a good way’
Our Flag Means Death was cancelled. Its fans are fighting back: ‘Unhinged – in a good way’
A campaign to save the Taika Waititi show has bought billboards, hired planes and raised tens of thousands of dollars. It’s the latest flex from TV fandoms – but it doesn’t always work
After two seasons, the queer pirate romcom starring Taika Waititi and Rhys Darby was cancelled by HBO’s Max earlier this month – and its fans quickly mobilised. They raised more than US$21,000 for the campaign, which was used to purchase a billboard in Times Square and have a plane fly over Hollywood with a banner reading “Save Our Flag Means Death”. They also flooded Max’s social media, phone lines and customer feedback inboxes en masse, and launched a petition that has just under 80,000 signatures at time of writing.
Fucking hell, how can people not realise that less is more?
Look at all the classic sitcoms. Did they get strung out for 20 series? No, they stopped
Look at the reviews on IMDb for British shows, almost every one is "Oh my gaaad the Briddish make the best shows, but I wish they were laaaanger"
They're better because they're shorter, you daft cunt
Quality over quantity. However, I think 2 seasons is too short. I'm in the 4-5 seasons camp, especially if there are less than 10 eps each season.
In typical Internet behaviour, I tried to think of a rebuttal however immediately thought of what happened with Red Dwarf...
Black Adder had the right formula: different time periods in each series.
I can't even watch the renewed Red Dwarf. Should've ended way before Series 8.
Yeah, I loved the show and was gutted to see it end. And then I remembered that season two ended with a happily ever after (to the historically possible extent) and I can re-watch it in a couple of years.
Yeah, I agree for the most part, but I am always scared of shows ending up like My Name is Earl
They’re better because they’re shorter, you daft cunt
Not just because they're shorter.
The production schedule on scripted US shows is often absolutely insane. Ridiculously long hours, multiple episodes per week, sometimes even writing the scripts and plot as the show airs on network television, which is why you'll have breaks or bottle episodes, to allow the writers to catch up.
From what I understand, a lot of the good UK tv shows, they have far more time to make it. Not the lower tier stuff (soaps, etc.) obviously, but that stuff doesn't really get much of an audience outside of the UK.
On the other hand most of my favorite shows of all time had 22-24 episode seasons.
I totally agree that less is more but OFMD had some unresolved plots and stories. I’m pretty sure it was planned from the get-go for 3 seasons so losing the last one is a big deal.
If you need some more island Rhys Darby in your life, there's a great TBS show called Wrecked where he's a plane crash survivor in modern times.
It's not streaming anymore, but my buddy Stede said anything can be found on the high seas.
It's a highly underrated show.
Not to mention it features Whitest Kids U' Know's very own Zach "gallon of PCP" Cregger.
That's *some *dedication! I liked the show, but I'm also lazy, so...I hope it works!
Isn't the real answer piracy?
Like... Did you learn nothing from the show?
How does piracy get the show picked back up for a third season?
When executives have cannons aimed at their homes and are threatened with walking the plank, things get done quickly.
This is the best summary I could come up with:
In 2019, a woman named Emperial Young went on an eight-day hunger strike outside the Netflix building in New York, protesting against the streaming giant’s decision to cancel the cult hit TV show The OA.
After two seasons, the queer pirate romcom starring Taika Waititi and Rhys Darby was cancelled by HBO’s Max earlier this month – and its fans quickly mobilised.
They also flooded Max’s social media, phone lines and customer feedback inboxes en masse, and launched a petition that has just under 80,000 signatures at time of writing.
“It’s been great to be involved in, not just to see everyone’s dedication, but how creative and hilarious some community members are in their tactics, which span from ‘respectful and sincere’ to ‘fairly unhinged’ – in a good way,” McKenzie says.
In 2023 alone, cancelled shows included Disney+’s Willow, Netflix’s Shadow and Bone and Mindhunter, Paramount’s Star Trek: Prodigy and Max’s Gossip Girl, to name just a handful.
Anne With an E fans used many of the same tricks as Our Flag Means Death, including buying billboards and social media strategies; they even had Ryan Reynolds tweeting his support.
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I wonder if their fans will get as notorious as Zack Snyder's fans if they keep this up