Hello Pitches,
I know we all took and continue to take the Pitch cancellation hard no matter how much time has passed. For many of us, including me, it still feels fresh. As an aside, I believe I went under the name leftenantscullbagg or Leavingwestcovina when I was active in the Pitch fandom. Some of you may know me by my AO3 handle, 2shytheshippy. I worked closely with PST and was one of the many fans who donated money to fly the banner. :) This is all to say, despite my inactivity, I’m not new to this fandom and had to remove myself because of how devastating it was for me. I was in the trenches with many of the pitches back then.
Here’s the thing: Pitch almost came back in 2019 or 2020 and, as much as I hate to admit it, Disney had a point when they said Pitch doesn’t really fit the Disney plus brand (or even Hulu for that matter).
But here’s the other thing: No doesn’t mean never. The old writing staff was literally called to begin planning a season two storyline. MPG was beginning to grow out his beard again. This was a real thing that almost happened. Then, once it fell apart, we went quiet. I know how emotionally draining campaigning for a show is, however, we have to reapply the pressure. There are several ways a long dormant show can come back and to name three of them: an exec who has interest in reviving a show, a powerful person in Hollywood advocating for the show, and/or persistent fan campaigns—sometimes a combination of all three.
The X-Files got brought back because Dana Waldman (then TV exec for Hulu now like the president of Disney television or something) and Gary Newman were excited to revive it, esp because they’re the ones who originally got it on air. Justified is returning because Quentin Tarantino was interested in shooting something for a later book in the series and things snowballed from there. Veronica Mars was brought back because fans never gave up on the show—the fastest kickstarter campaign to reach 2 million dollars in like less than a day, which led to a movie being made. Down the line, this likely HEAVILY influenced execs to revive the show on Hulu. That movie was made SEVEN years after it’s first cancellation and the revival happened TWELVE years later.
Now some perhaps immediately noticed that all of these shows had multiple seasons, which is true, but it’s also besides the point, which is: there is always a chance, esp when it almost came back, if you’re persistent enough and execs know a fandom (read: money) is there.
Things that also helps: Pitch was a critical darling, this show still has articles that directly writes about it or mentions the show in various lists even in 2022, and Dan’s success with This Is Us including Emmy success—nomination and win(s). That means something. Maybe not a lot on it’s own, but with persistent and increased fan support, it could make a helluva difference.
Now, some of you may be thinking about me saying “Disney had a point”, so am I like contradicting myself or something???
Here’s one more thing: Disney plus isn’t the only service/channel the Walt Disney co has. They also have Hulu (also may be out), ABC, FX, FX on Hulu, and Freeform. As mentioned, I don’t see Pitch being a match for Hulu, ABC is also questionable for me, and Freeform is a hard no. I also think that Pitch doesn’t gel with cable FX, which leaves FX on Hulu. That’s where we should advocate where Pitch’s new home should be. It may sound confusing because “it’s still Disney, right”, but it makes a difference to the Walt Disney Group. I also think that FX is more supportive and takes more chances on it’s shows. Their content is also very diverse, I believe.
But the other option, the non Disney option: Apple TV Plus.
I promise you all, back in 2017–way, way before Ted Lasso was even pitched to execs (I know this IP has existed since 2013, but I believe it I was pitched either 2018 and after), I literally wrote like a card or letter to Apple, but never sent it. I think this was before their streaming service launched, but I’ve always seen the potential in Apple TV Plus.
Why?
Not only could Apple do cross promotion out of the ass in a way that isn’t obvious promotion (or promotion that will get them called out on), they could exploit so many branding deals with Ginny’s character (read: Nike, who Apple has a close relationship with and who canonically sponsor’s Ginny; Beats, which she wears, athleisure wear, you get the point), and they (now) have a deal with the MLB, which Disney doesn’t since FOX sports is it’s own separate thing.
The biggest thing would be selling Apple on picking up the series. It’s not uncommon for show’s to be shot on one studio lot/produced by someone else and air on another channel/studio. That is effectively what was going on with Pitch. Hell, when Timeless was picked up for a second season, Sony sold their shares to NBC to offset the shooting cost. This was after NBC, I believe, tried to get another network or streamer to pick it up.
And by being on streaming, Pitch doesn’t have to have network ratings—they can have more grace and flexibility than trying to achieve ratings that’s only really possible for procedural, certain comedies, and truly break out hit shows. It was never a good fit on FOX and they dropped the ball when backing this show. Streaming is a much better fit.
Someone also pointed out that now since This Is Us has ended, it’s the perfect time for Pitch to return to TV since Dan is free as far as we know. Yes, Kylie is currently on a show, but we can always start with a special or whatever.
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If you can’t bear to go down this road again, I can understand ignoring this and moving on. If you want to see how far we can take this, click the discord link and tag people if you know of any who’d be interested in participating.
I’m currently still brainstorming about effective campaigns we can run, who we can talk to, and how to cultivate interest in this show to get more people watching. We need all of these things in our favor to turn the tide in our direction.
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I said last week that I would give Class of 09 one more episode for me to determine if I would continue watching or not.
I’m still on the fence about it but I’m a bit more intrigued now. So I will continue watching for now.
Only negative so far is that it’s looking like Poet is about be that magical white woman character that I hate. You know the one I’m talking about. The bland white woman that everyone supposedly desires, admire and sacrifice their whole existence for. Think Sookie Stackhouse. Lol I might be wrong. But we will see what they do with her character in the upcoming episodes.
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