Let's get Enlisted on Yahoo Screen!

After yesterday's announcement that Yahoo's budding TV service, Yahoo Screen, is picking up the NBC-canceled comedy Community for a sixth season, fans had a great idea:  why not also pick up Enlisted, which in its single season on Fox earned a loyal audience, for a one-hour comedy block?

Yahoo Screen and 20th Century TV, the studio behind Enlisted, have yet to comment on this idea -- but if you like the idea of saving the show, tweet your support!

Click here for the full story on TheWrap.

Enlisted's Last Stand

Of all the shows cancelled this past month at the broadcast networks' annual upfront presentations, one that the critics are already mourning most is Fox's short-lived Enlisted.  The story of three brothers on a military base in Florida, Enlisted was a sweet and funny comedy with the potential to grow into a solid hit -- but Fox has always had an itchy trigger finger when it comes to their comedies.  (Another worthy new comedy, Surviving Jack from Cougar Town producer Bill Lawrence, met the same cancelled fate.)

Starting this Sunday, June 1, Fox is bringing back Enlisted for its final four -- and, according to the show's creator Kevin Biegel -- best episodes.  Biegel and his fellow producers are holding out hope for this last ratings battle, pointing out that if Enlisted experiences a ratings bump, it will help their case in being able to sell the show to another network or platform.

Below, a message from Biegel asking you to check out Enlisted -- and I'll add my voice to that, too.  Catch this worthy comedy before it's too late.

New episodes of Enlisted start this Sunday, June 1 at 7/6c on Fox.  

There are 4 new episodes, and they will be on every Sunday in June with the finale airing on June 22. 

These are the best four episodes we did.  The episode airing June 1, our first one back, is one of our funniest, and the finale is one of the best pieces of TV I've ever been lucky enough to be a part of. 

Here's a recent article from Foreign Policy that speaks to how much the military community has embraced the show:
http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2014/05/01/fox_enlisted_television_veterans_ptsd

If we get any even the slightest rating bump, it can help us live.  This may seem like a fool's errand, but even a little bit of hope is still hope.  I love this show and believe in this show too much to give up.

If you can, spread the word about the show coming back.  Forward this email to your friends, ask them to do the same.  If anyone knows or knows of a Nielsen family, beg them to watch.  Beg, really? That's strong. How about ask?

I do hate asking favors, but I fear no one will know Enlisted is coming back on the air for the final 4.  If we can get even a slightly decent rating we can show a new home that this show has a real fan base.

Thank you so much,
Kevin

Save Enlisted

Remember how they sent peanuts to CBS to save Jericho?  (Or how, 30 Rock hilariously joked, they sent douchebags to HBO to save Entourage?)  Well, it's time to save Fox's underappreciated Friday night military comedy Enlisted.  In this case, I don't know what gimmicky gift you should send Fox's president Kevin Reilly, but a plain old letter of support is a good place to start.

In an exclusive Must-Hear TV interview yesterday, Enlisted's creator Kevin Biegel said he's pleased that fans have already begun writing to the network prez to show their support.  For one thing, he pointed out, there's a glitch in the TV ratings system that may be causing Enlisted's true fans to be undercounted.

"We know the show is reaching a giant audience of military folk that literally can't be measured by Nielsen boxes because they don't allow boxes on post or in military housing," Biegel explains. "It basically discounts any and all military audience."

"Basically, fan support is what has kept us alive, and as the very vocal community of fans continues to be vocal, it gives the show a shot at Fox or even at a new network," Biegel said.  "We believe every voice matters.  And because actual letters seem to speak much louder than emails," he continues, "if you have two seconds and a stamp," why not write a letter of support to:

Kevin Reilly
Fox Broadcasting
10201 W. Pico Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA  90035

In another great show of support, some fans have had an even better, win-win idea:  they've started donating to the Wounded Warrior Project in Enlisted's name, and have listed Kevin Reilly's information as the contact.  (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/03/18/six-reasons-to-watch-enlisted_n_4986442.html)

Enlisted has fought a tough battle, getting stuck with a January premiere (despite what the poster here says; it was pushed from November, signaling scheduling troubles from the start) in an unenviable Friday night time slot, paired with the fading (and now cancelled) Raising Hope, and then suffering from changing lead-ins, including the low-rated Rake.  Let's show Kevin Reilly we'd love to see Enlisted live to fight another season.  (Sorry, I'm not good with war metaphors, but you get the idea.)

Rally Around Cougar Town

Just a few weeks ago, I wrote a piece for an upcoming of CBS Watch Magazine, about the historic moment when, due to popular outcry, CBS' '80s cop show Cagney & Lacey was brought back from the dead.

Since then, only a select few shows have been saved by the fans; as Judah Friedlander's character Frank Rossitano once said in my favorite line from 30 Rock, "They sent peanuts to save Jericho, and they sent douchebags to save Entourage" (although I don't think in real life Entourage was ever in any danger.)

Now, in today's social media world, Cougar Town is taking the same approach -- but, brilliantly, they're doing it preemptively.  When the show didn't land a spot on ABC's schedule for this past fall, we Cougar Town fans were worried -- as was Abed on NBC's similarly endangered Community, who in a brilliant gag, had to console himself with YouTube episodes of the show's British inspiration "Cougarton Abbey."

But this winter, when ABC announced its spring schedule with Cougar Town STILL missing, that's when fans really got worried -- and the show's creator/executive producers Bill Lawrence and Kevin Biegel began a clever word-of-mouth campaign to keep their show alive.  As Lawrence notes in an email just this morning to TV critics, "Trying everything; we just all like our jobs too much."

Presumably at the show's expense, the producers have flown the CT actors to appear at episode screening parties in cities across the US, and plied fans with T-shirts -- and as Lawrence admits, to ABC's legal department's dismay, also free wine and the chance at a walk-on role.  In another ballsy move, they even held a cocktail party for the critics of the TCA last month, in the bar of the very hotel where ABC had presented its Cougar Town-less spring schedule just hours before.

Luckily, when the network's Work It bombed after two episodes (too many), it became clear that Cougar Town could inherit that half-hour time slot, and it was quickly announced that that was the plan.  So the show is now set to return on Tuesday, February 14 at 8:30 PM Eastern/Pacific.  I'm concerned that this fun, snarky show might have an incompatible lead-in in Tim Allen's new family sitcom Last Man Standing, but I'm not going to quibble -- I'm just glad that Cougar Town season 3 is about to begin.  (And as Lawrence notes in his email, at least Fox was kind enough to take the time slot competition Glee off the air for 7 weeks.)

Below, the season 3 highlight reel teasing great stuff to come on Cougar Town.  I've seen several of the episodes, and can tell you that the show remains as sharp and funny as ever, with many romantic, beautiful moments masterfully mixed in.  Enjoy!
 
Bill Lawrence on WhoSay