kaelyx-zac01

[kaelyx-zac01]

there is, in fact, a "platonic explanation for this" if you're not a coward

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I can't hear you.

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OFMD fans gathering in the comment section of Max social media asking for season 3

[kaelyx-zac01]

Now we are cooking with gas in the Big Ideas department, guys. All the emails, spam posts, and tags do get people listening. Not to mention Max stock is plummeting(fyi stocks have dropped below 10 percent today). They expect to wear us down and well stop. Guess what, we won't!

This fight is not just about our show.

This is about the state of the entertainment industry being decimated by late stage capitalism until all that's left are shit Harry Potter reboots and exploitation porn reality shows. Art to these people is dead. Just tax write offs amd insider trading. If a show this successful is axed no show will be safe I guarantee you.

[kaelyx-zac01]

Go check out @renewasacrew for actions you can take now!

[kaelyx-zac01]

I only started watching OFMD a few weeks before season 2 came out. I'd vaguely known about it since it was first released, but I'd been holding out on getting a Max subscription. It's funny, but I didn't actually become obsessed with the show until I'd watched the whole first season. Then something clicked in my brain. I was a goner.

I'm so glad I was there to experience season 2 as it was released. (What a month October was, huh?) But now, knowing there is no season 3 to come, it just feels like I missed out on so much. I've been lurking in the fandom for a few months and now… the show's over? I was clowning along with the rest of you and the cast and the crew, thinking it was going to be renewed, and I thought there would be the long wait until the release of season 3, and then the teasers, and the release, and then months and months of season 3 content coming out both from the cast and the fandom even after the show was over. But here we are.

And I see people saying "you should watch these other queer shows instead", but as an autistic person, with the way my brain works, this is it for me. There is no other show that could come even close. Trying another show sounds as absurd as trying to form a relationship with a random stranger you met in a bar when you've just come out of a relationship of 20 years.

Because I don't want other queer characters. I want Stede, with his whimsy and his bitchiness and his struggles with becoming who he is while learning what love is. I want Ed, with his childhood trauma and his battles with his demons and his discovery and acceptance of his soft side. I want the crew of the Revenge, with their diverse looks and ages and identities and disabilities and their love for each other. They are the family I found in the sea of queer representation.

I am so grateful that the show happened at all, that we got a second season, that the writers were kind and far-seeing enough to leave our pirates in a good place just in case this exact thing happened. But goddamn am I grieving for what we could've had with only one more season.

One. More. Season.

As long as any hope remains that there is the slightest chance for the show to be revived, for WB/Max to reconsider their decision or for another streaming service to pick it up, I am clinging to my clown wig and doing everything I can.

To quote the only other piece of media that's ever mattered as much as OFMD to me:

And you know what? That hope was enough for those characters. It could be for us, too.

[kaelyx-zac01]

[kaelyx-zac01]

the really really cool thing about all of the @renewasacrew efforts is that, even if it doesn’t end up getting us OFMD 3, it’s still very much, if you’ll pardon the expression, making waves.

It’s letting Max and other networks know that there is a large, passionate audience for queer television and films, who do take notice when queer titles are axed prematurely. It’s showing other networks that following in Max’s footsteps could lead to real financial loss. It’s showing that show cancellations in general, especially for shows that are unique and boundary-pushing, make people very upset and can have genuine consequences for a brand.

Somewhere down the road, a queer show that a network is unsure about may be up for a renewal, and some executive might recall our campaign and how much money Max missed out on by canceling a queer show. At some point, a queer film that would’ve otherwise died on the cutting room floor might get a second chance, because the network has seen how much queer media truly means to people. Even if we’re just in the back of their subconscious, our outpouring of support for queer media has a very real possibility of leading them in the right direction.

So yeah, even if it doesn’t end up saving our show (which it still very well could!), it won’t all be for nothing.

And I just think that’s really fucking cool.

[kaelyx-zac01]

Another hopeful article. The ending killed me😭😭🖤

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WE ARE BEING NOTICED. KEEP IT UP SLUTS!!!

[kaelyx-zac01]

here’s the thing.

if you’re one of the people celebrating our flag means death’s cancellation for whatever reason right now, i need you to realize that this is just a sign that whatever you love is next.

and i’m not saying that out of spite. having your favourite show cancelled is awful, i wouldn’t wish it on anyone. but if our little-gay-pirate-show-that-could can’t get its third and final season, the future of queer media is extremely grim.

ofmd was the definition of a sleeper hit. hbo max had no faith in it when the first season came out. it gained popularity purely through word-of-mouth. but it became one of max’s biggest shows, and it’s since been marketed as their flagship series.

it was the #1 most in-demand series in the world for 8 weeks (7 of those weeks consecutively). it’s currently in the 99.7th percentile of the comedy genre, meaning it’s in higher demand than 99.7% of all comedy series in the u.s. it has a 94% audience and critics score on rotten tomatoes. it’s the most in-demand hbo original series even above euphoria, succession, and the last of us.

it was nominated for 16 awards for the first season alone, including a GLAAD award and a peabody award. the second season was just nominated for an art directors guild award, which it was previously nominated for and won in the same category for season one.

besides awards, ofmd is critically-acclaimed and praised for its representation (including a cast of majority queer, bipoc, and disabled characters) and themes of anti-colonialism, challenging gender norms/toxic masculinity, and self-discovery/acceptance. it also has a diverse team of directors and writers consisting of several bipoc, women, and queer/trans/non-binary people.

on top of all of this, the plan for the show all along was only ever for three seasons. david jenkins only wanted three seasons for the full romcom structure to tell ed and stede’s story. that’s it. nothing more.

this isn’t an attempt to make you care about the show. but ofmd’s cancellation isn’t just a loss for the fanbase and the cast/crew. it’s a sign that it does not matter how successful or profitable shows highlighting lgbtq+ (or otherwise inclusive) narratives are or how many big names are involved. ofmd would not have been cancelled if it were a straight romcom. they would’ve magically found the budget. but corporate greed doesn’t care about us. they have no respect for queer people or queer media. and in the age of streaming, it’s only a matter of time until we lose all of it.

[kaelyx-zac01]

If we got married...would that be cool? Gentlebeard + Marriage Symbolism/Foreshadowing

[kaelyx-zac01]

If I'm still hoping Hannibal will get S4 renewal, then you bet your ass I won't give up on my little gay pirate show. I'll write about this show and hope to death for its renewal even if it kills me.

#I'm tired of capitalism stealing everything from us wth #what happened to art for the sake of art itself #is there no value to the joy that art gives fuck me #ofmd #our flag means death #our flag means death season 3 #renew as a crew #saveofmd #save ofmd #hannibal #hannibal season 4

[kaelyx-zac01]

Read more here

[kaelyx-zac01]

I’m going to level with you all and take off my clown wig and nose for a minute. Are the chances slim? Yes. Is it so so easy to lose hope in these conditions? Yes. But if we have even a sliver of a chance I will not stop. This show gave me everything I ever needed. A place to laugh, a community, safety, love, tears, but most of all it gave me love for myself. To see myself on that screen in a romantic way? That changed everything for me. I am lovable, my love is beautiful, this show gave me that. And I will never EVER stop fighting for it to get the ending it deserves.

[kaelyx-zac01]

Considering how OFMD is one of Max's high, if not its highest, performing shows, cancelling it is not only a fiscally shitty decision but also borderline a hate crime. What do you mean you'll cancel this popular proudly queer show but easily renew popular cishet normative shows? What else could possibly be the reason for Max to make such a blatantly stupid choice?

#can't the gays have one good thing for one second #this reminds me of that one meme #if max doesn't retract their cancellation there will be hell to pay #ofmd #our flag means death #ofmd s2 #renew as a crew #renewasacrew #saveofmd #save ofmd

[kaelyx-zac01]

OK, this common refrain:

Just move on! You OFMD fans are so annoying!

Ridiculous.

What is happening with OFMD right now is UNPRECEDENTED. This isn't a cute little cult show: this is a juggernaut for Max. It's its #1 original show right now (using the metrics available right now since Max hides numbers). It's 30x in demand than the average streaming show. It was Peabody nominated. Max spent significant money on a FYC campaign for it. Its audience grew between S1 and S2, and S1 was already beating off Marvel and Star Wars shows on the charts. It can pull thousands of fans into conventions. It had a Times Square billboard just in October. Most of Max' social media interaction is from OFMD. If reports are to be believed, the S3 scripts were readied and they were already scheduling time for filming, releasing announcements, and interviews. It has succeeded in every metric a show can be measured in, and passed these expectations beyond any studio's dreams.

But it was derailed last minute by a tantruming CEO, a CEO whose incompetence is bleeding hundreds of millions out of the company and is destroying the reputation of and industry confidence in the company. The company stock has fallen over 6% since the OFMD announcement two days ago (not the sole factor but one of the biggest factors). If a show like OFMD cannot succeed at Max, no show can succeed at Max. If Max cannot support this show, it cannot support being a streaming service at all.

Is there a show cancellation that has ever compared to this?

This announcement is not because a fringe minority in and outside the fandom thought S2 was "bad", or that some people didn't like certain plot points of S2 (no hiding it here that I'm not a fan of certain fanons, though I enjoy all characters). Taika Waititi was excited and onboard; he wasn't "bored" and decided to move on. They didn't cram the original ending into S2 just in case. There is still story to be told, and this series earned the right to be able to finish that story. Ed and Stede are still in the shaky beginnings of their relationship! They need to dance, have domestic moments, have affectionate moments, get married (what was the point of David Jenkins hyping matelotage at every step?)! How does our pirate community actually move on with their lives past the English encroachment (personified in Ricky)? This isn't a video game, and the story didn't end because they reached a "Get to The Revenge" checkpoint. What personal paths are our beloved crew members going to go on? There is still so much story, and we didn't have a clean break.

We're telling ourselves that fan campaigns have worked before. These examples, the shows were all deserving, but they were not the juggernauts that OFMD is. Firefly, for example, was 98th in Nielson ratings, and it was nowhere near the biggest audience for FOX shows. Imagine if FOX had randomly decided to cancel its top rated scripted show for the lulz. Would FOX have ever recovered or been able to court new talent? (ETA: 2002 FOX. 2024 FOX already can't court talent. A rather expensive spectacle show like 911 smoothly and immediately transitioning to another, more stable network is not why I'm here.)

The streaming competition is tight right now, and Max had a miracle in OFMD, all without even bothering to promote it. OFMD has a passionate audience. It has deeply resonated with thousands and thousands of people, and it is not silly to have emotions about creative projects because that is the entire point of creative projects. We have invested real time and money into this. We've created a community. We believe in David Jenkins and all involved, and these are real people we want to support because they brought joy into our lives. The respect and comradery this crew has with the fanbase is refreshing and rare. They revel in the fans' returned creativity and passion where most others have chosen to mock instead.

I am not going to just accept the whim of some random guy in a suit. I'm not just going to shrug and say "Got me there!" I'm not going to be ashamed of having passion, any excitement, any thrill at a unique work that is unapologetically sweet, joyful, and sincere and gives us the beautiful diversity we see in our lives. If this can happen to THIS SHOW, this juggernaut, there is no point in ever being invested in a new creative project again, and that is not a world that I'm willing to accept.

I am going to fight and keep fighting for as long as it takes. If this annoys you, learn how to use mute and block functions and don't expect me to change because it's your first day on the Internet. Why shouldn't we expect excellence in media we invest in? Why shouldn't we be angry that studios are trying to collapse into one with mergers and reduce all output to five IPs with cookie cutter releases? Why shouldn't we expect that a show that has met all expectations to be rewarded by the studio for the value it added? Why should we be expected to just shrug at every cruel decision like this (a decision that doesn't even make financial sense) and hand over our money to some passionless, generic alternative? Why should we just consume whatever terrible product the studios spit out at us instead of fighting for ones that deserve to thrive?

It is not hyperbole that this is a turning point in the industry. We just spent the summer with studios demanding AI be able to replace all pieces of the creative process unchecked, and now we have an absolutely unprecedented strike down of a creative and unique show at the top of the industry because there were a few more (entirely imaginary) pennies to be had. This is inexcusable.

This is a long haul situation. Zaslav blindsided us, so alternative streamers wouldn't have even been on the radar at the beginning of this week. David Jenkins and company also can't make comments on any possibilities we have since they have to keep working relationships in this industry and they need contracts finalized first.

There is always hope, no matter how slim.

Don't give up, and don't give in.

Remember to @renewasacrew

#ofmd #renewasacrew #our flag means death #saveofmd #save ofmd