The Rover Write-In

The Rover Write-In
Like other Road Rovers fans out there, I'm rather displeased (to say the least) that the show didn't even get a second season, even though its ratings were in the area of Superman's.
However, I'm not going to just stand there. I'm actually going to do something about it. This page is the page for a mass-mailing campaign to the WB to re-renew the show. This is nothing new of course, since previously, there were 19 mass mailings made under the "R-Day" banner. However, those happened way back in '97. Except for a subsequent letter to various execs responsible for the show (as part of Road Rovers Apprecation Day on Oct 12 1998... look for my name on the list), there haven't been any letter-writing efforts. So, I've decided to chip in with my own effort.
Basically, there are just 4 steps to it:
1. Write a letter
When I drafted out a letter to be sent to the WB, I sent it to Krankor for checking and here's what he said:
"I think you need a more positive spin on it. Don't try and sound like you are making assumptions or accusations (whether true or not), I feel this would just turn WB off. I know if they were made towards me I would lose interest after the first few sentences. I would stick with the basics. There are a lot of fans out here that still love the show, even new ones that have never seen it (learned about it through websites) It is okay to question why the show was canceled and why the extra footage was never shown. Even pointing out that their view point has appeared to switch to teens. But keep them as questions, let them come up with the answers. You want to get them on your side so be nice and pleasant. That's my 2 cents." Using these suggestions, I've re-drafted my letter and here's what I've come up with. Enjoy! (But please read what I have to say after the letter.)

Let's get right to the point. If you were to conduct an Internet search on the term "Road Rovers", you would find quite a few fan sites devoted to this Saturday morning cartoon. This should be a decent indicator of how popular the show was. This show was, quite frankly, just as good as Animaniacs. In fact, we hear that its ratings reflected this, as they were in the area of Superman's ratings. But you cancelled the show without giving it the benefit of a second season, and you also kept Superman. Well, it wasn't a bad show, but if it got the same ratings as the Rovers, logic would dictate that you would have cancelled this as well.
You might be asking why we waited so long to take action on this. Actually, when the show was first cancelled, fans organized mass mailings for about a year or so. We've even sent a letter to various people responsible for the show (it got more than 100 signatures).
Another thing we're not pleased at is that when you last aired the show on the WB (in September 1997), you promised that we would get some extra footage in that airing (it was a rerun of the final ep of the season). But when it aired there wasn't any extra footage. You even cut out a song because some person complained that the last line of the song sounded like someone cursing. Also, the promised extra footage could have been included later in broadcasts on the Cartoon Network, to which you moved Road Rovers in 1998. But the worst thing is that your official explanation mentioned the coverage of Princess Diana's funeral. One, you're an entertainment network (i.e., no national news service), and two, even if you did, you probably would have pre-empted that final showing altogether (just like ABC did, pushing back the premiere of some of its Saturday morning shows by a week).
You never explained why you cancelled the show, but some people in the fan community believe that it was because it appealed to teens and young adults more than the kids you were going for at the time. Now, it seems that, judging from your line-up of shows, you're practically going for the teens and young adults now. And now that your line-up consists mostly of rather dramatic programming (with the occasionally comedy thrown in for good measure), it would be a good idea to put in a comedic program to balance out the drama. Road Rovers would fit the bill perfectly.
As we're writing this, you've probably already picked out the line-up for this fall. Perhaps you could squeeze in reruns of Road Rovers come midseason to replace under-performing shows.
In conclusion, we in the Road Rovers fan community are rather determined to see Road Rovers back on the WB schedule, at the very least in reruns, but preferably, new episodes altogether. If you want to bring the viewers back to your network, you've got to start somewhere.

Mind you, the letter above is only an example. You should write your own letter. You have to realize that the minute the WB gets two letters that look identical, they're bound to think, "it's just a bunch of diehard fans trying to sound like they represent the kids out there - ignore them like we ignore the online petitions." But, as Krankor said, at least stick to the basics.
2. Gather signatures
Without getting into too much technical detail, anyone can create a decent-looking signature gathering sheet in Microsoft Excel (or, for that matter, any spreadsheet programm that allows for formatting). Just print one out and pass it around to be signed.
But if you want the (somewhat) technical details:

Fiddle around with the Column Width and Height options: you should make the "cells" to be large enough to take a signature, and you may also want some space between the columns.
To create a header, just merge a row of cells with the Cells option (not the whole row of 256 cells, just the cells you're using), and type the header you want (using the Font options to make it look good). If you need the header to be more than one line, just merge the cells one row at a time.

It's actually possible to do it in Microsoft Word (or, for that matter, any word processor that allows for formatting), but in my opinion, it's much easier in Excel.
3. Make copies
After you've written your letter and gathered your signatures, you should make multiple copies of them, as there are many parties involved in this whole mess. I'll give the addresses in the next section.
4. Send them off
Before you send the letters off, it would be a good idea to email me a copy of your letter (for inclusion here) and list of signatures (and maybe even the name of the town you're gathering the signatures in). And then, you mail them off to the addresses below. I gathered them from R.U.F.F., so they may be inaccurate. Also, I can NOT find the names of the current WB execs. If you can fill me in, email me and I'll put them up.

Warner Bros. Television Animation
15303 Ventura Blvd.
Suite 1200
Sherman Oaks Ca, 91403

The WB TV Network
4000 Warner Blvd.
Bldg. 34R
Burbank, CA 91505

The President of Warner Bros. Television Animation
4000 Warner Blvd., Bldg. #34R
Burbank, CA 91522

Program Chief of WB
4000 Warner Blvd.
Burbank, CA 91505

Director, Public Relations
4000 Warner Blvd.
Burbank, CA 91522

If you want to see merchandise:
Warner Bros. World Wide Retail
4000 Warner Blvd.
Burbank, CA 91505-9785

Besides these addresses, you could also try writing Cartoon Network (which incidentally was where the Rovers last aired), though you'll have to fiddle with your letters a bit if they're directed more towards the WB:

Cartoon Network
1050 Techwood Dr. NW
Atlanta, GA 30318
You may write to either the VP of Original Animation or Senior VP of Programming.

Cartoon Network
300 N. Third St.
Burbank CA 91502

Now that you've read this whole page, you should start your participation in this campaign. Okay? Now back to the main page you go.