Tuesday, July 3, 2007

Press Release For Crackers

Save The Black Donnellys Campaign
For Immediate Release
July 4, 2007

Nuts for Jericho, Crackers for The Black Donnellys

On Sunday, July 1st, the Save The Black Donnellys Campaign purchased 9,600 crackers to send to Carolyn Strauss, President of HBO Entertainment, in the hopes that she will consider adding the recently cancelled drama to HBO's regular programming lineup. The "Firecrackers" from the Save The Black Donnellys Campaign believe that this prematurely cancelled NBC series about a family of four brothers involved in the Irish mob will be a success with HBO's viewers and deserves to be picked up for a second season. Recently, similar fan campaigns have resulted in renewal for the CBS drama Jericho and a future comic book series for fans of the CW's series Veronica Mars. Now The Black Donnellys fans are hoping for a little Independence Day victory of their own.

The campaign was created by Black Donnellys fans who dubbed themselves the "Firecrackers" after the name of the fictional bar owned by the Donnelly family. The crackers are a reference to the show's ninth episode, titled "All of Us Are In The Gutter". In that episode, Jimmy Donnelly, one of the main characters, purchases a new bar sign for the family bar, the Firecracker Lounge. According to Jimmy, the "flame" + cracker on the sign symbolizes the "new beginning" or fresh slate for Jimmy and the other Donnelly brothers. Similarly, for the Firecrackers, NBC's mishandling of The Black Donnellys serves as an opportunity to give the series and its fans a much needed new beginning on HBO.

Notably, the Firecrackers decided to contact Carolyn Strauss from HBO rather than targeting NBC because they believed the show would be more successful on cable and would be a great fit for HBO's programming. In the past, Ms. Strauss has brought successful dramatic series like The Sopranos and Oz to HBO. Further, several letters, phone calls, and emails were previously sent to NBC network executives like President Jeff Zucker with no response. In fact, NBC has actively prevented any fan uprising from occurring. NBC board moderators suspend fans and delete threads from NBC's online message board whenever there is any discussion about saving The Black Donnellys or the possibility of a second season. This censorship sparked the Firecrackers' renewed campaign targeted at HBO.

Over the past three weeks and as of July 2nd, the Firecrackers have raised $783 in donations for their cracker campaign which will allow them to purchase 41,760 crackers (261 pounds) to be shipped to HBO. As they are still receiving donations from fans eager for a second season of The Black Donnellys, the Firecrackers will continue to send shipments to HBO so long as donations continue to be received.

Along with the crackers, fans have also sent quarters and shamrocks to HBO to show their support for The Black Donnellys. In addition, fans complete daily action items to promote the series and help secure support for a second season. The petition to save The Black Donnellys has close to 37,000 signatures to date. Other campaign efforts include streaming online episodes from NBC.com, downloading episodes from iTunes.com, subscribing to HDNet (which is airing the first season of The Black Donnellys on Wednesday evenings), and pre-ordering The Black Donnellys first season DVD from amazon.com.

For more information, contact:
Save The Black Donnellys Campaign
info@savetheblackdonnellys.net
http://www.savetheblackdonnellys.net

The Firecrackers meet at The Firecracker Lounge
http://www.thefirecrackerlounge.com

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