Jonathan Storm: Save my show!

Spring: The grass turns green, and fans start to worry about their TV shows.

Will they dry up and blow away? Or will network suits listen to the viewers' cries of anguish, and grant reprieves?

Unfortunately, like your lawn, TV series find the seeds of their success best planted in the fall, so they can grow roots all winter long. Emergency springtime revival efforts usually fail.

"In January, when a show's beginning to sag, that's where you begin to maybe not think about cancellation, but you're starting to mentally write it off," says NBC Entertainment president Kevin Reilly. "By the time people have truly mounted a campaign, it is 99.9 percent of the time too late."

But that doesn't stop viewers from trying. Last spring, Veronica Mars fans hired a plane to fly a "Renew Veronica" banner over the office of CW Entertainment president Dawn Ostroff.

In 2005, cases and cases of bananas wound up in the office of Fox network boss Peter Liguori. Fans were reminding him how important the fruit was to the business prospects of the dysfunctional Bluth family on Arrested Development, and how important the show was to them.

"I had the highest level of potassium of any executive on TV," Liguori says.

Hard to say whether the efforts turned the tide, but both shows were picked up. Arrested Development made it only partway through its additional season, however, and Veronica Mars this year is on life support.

Younger fans get particularly enthusiastic. "You couldn't walk into my office," says Ostroff, who in 2006 had significant series culling to do as the WB and UPN merged. "Every day it was packed with flowers, with gifts. It was just out of control."

The stuff went to charity, and the network picked up a surprising number of WB shows, but a series that had one of the largest showers of gifts behind it, Everwood, was axed.

Cancellation is the likely scenario, especially at the Big Three networks, once a show seems in jeopardy.

In trying to save an endangered show, sci-fi fans can be particularly rabid. Roswell, a WB series about teen aliens addicted to hot sauce, was perpetually on the ropes, and it spurred the most famous food frenzy ever designed to save a show.

At the end of the first two seasons, in 2000 and 2001, fans peppered network offices with more than 10,000 bottles of Tabasco sauce. The effort eventually branched out to include charitable donations tied to the show, but none of it was enough to get Roswell past its third year.

All five network chiefs say the campaigns are fun, but there's only one sure way to keep a show on the air: Get more people to tune in.

"It really comes down to numbers, and how many people are watching these shows," says ABC Entertainment president Stephen McPherson. "If the writing's already on the wall, it's very difficult to resurrect."

But, McPherson says, "if they can motivate people to watch and bring the numbers up, then they can have an impact."

And that's just what Cloud Watchers, the group that organized on the Internet and arranged for last spring's airplane, is trying to do this year for its darling, Veronica Mars.

"A flyer campaign is our main campaign this year," Gaby Allen, a student at Cedar Crest College in Allentown and member of Cloud Watchers, said in an e-mail interview. "A professional street team has been hired to distribute 30,000 flyers - 10,000 each in Los Angeles and New York and 5,000 each in Chicago and Philadelphia - the last weekend of April, promoting the stand-alone mysteries that the show will have when it returns May 1."

So far in its efforts to save Veronica, the group has raised about $50,000 in donations and through the sale of Mars clothing and tchotchkes, Allen said. "I'm still kind of stunned about how much has been accomplished."

She said fans could download the flyer themselves (at www.watchveronicamars.net), but that the group felt individuals might have a limited impact. "That's why the street team has been hired to help in those top four Nielsen markets."

Just because they're TV freaks doesn't mean they're unsophisticated.

Big-time organized efforts may get outside attention, but all the networks have easier ways for their fans to communicate by mail or e-mail. And even though actually saving a show can be a long shot, all the network heads encourage viewers to express their opinions.

"If you feel strongly about something, you have to speak up, or you're never going to be happy with yourself," says CBS Entertainment president Nina Tassler.

"It tells a network that there is a loyal fan base there, and maybe it's worth trying to develop something similar again, and to really analyze what went wrong so you can fix it next time."

Says Fox's Liguori: "Sometimes you have to make a business decision, where you would prefer to make a creative decision. It's not easy for anyone. That's the game we're in.

"But I think people should be passionate about their shows. It's not a big waste of time.

"Don't send bananas. That's all I ask."

"Friday Night Lights" fans could send NBC truckloads of footballs to help get their show renewed, but the networks prefer postcards, phone calls or e-mail. Here's the best way to contact each one:

Renew (Name of Show)

ABC Inc.

500 S. Buena Vista St.

Burbank, Calif. 91521-4551

or

http://abc.go.com/site/contactus.html

Renew (Name of Show)

The CW

4000 Warner Blvd.

Burbank, Calif. 91522

or

feedback@CWTV.com

Renew (Name of Show)

NBC Television Network

3000 W. Alameda Ave.

Burbank, Calif. 91523

or

http://www.nbc.com/Footer/Contact_Us/

212-975-3247 or 3248

or

audsvcs@cbs.com

» READ MORE: ask.fox@fox.com

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It's obvious that many series - including "The Nine," "Kidnapped" and "Daybreak" - won't be around next fall. Others, such as "Prison Break," "Ugly Betty," "Men in Trees" and "Shark," already have been picked up or are shoo-ins for renewal.

But a lot of shows could still go either way. Here, with a percentage prediction of their chances of survival, is a list of endangered series:

The Knights of Prosperity

Network honchos like low-rated laugher. 40 percent.

According to Jim and The George Lopez Show Tired sitcoms fading. 30 percent.

Six Degrees Back soon for a second chance that will determine its fate. 30 percent.

What About Brian On two seasons, never found an audience. 25 percent.

Rules of Engagement.

What passes for a hit in the current sitcom world. 90 percent.

How I Met Your Mother. Seems safe. 80 percent.

The New Adventures of Old Christine. Doing decently. 65 percent.

Jericho Ratings dropped precipitously after long hiatus, but has strong executive support. 50 percent.

The Class Another show with inside support, but low ratings. 40 percent.

Close to Home. No buzz at all, mediocre numbers. 30 percent.

Gilmore Girls.

Virtually certain Alexis Bledel (Rory) won't return full time. Lauren Graham's (Lorelai) contract is up, too, but network may try to forge ahead if she re-signs. 35 percent.

7th Heaven. Out of gas. 25 percent.

All of Us. Ditto. 25 percent.

Veronica Mars. Microscopic audience, even for the little network. 20 percent.

'Til Death

and

The War at Home.

Both sitcoms on shaky ratings ground. 30 percent.

30 Rock

and

Friday Night Lights.

Network bosses see promise in both underperformers. 70 percent.

Medium. Mediocre ratings, but it's younger than Crossing Jordan. 65 percent.

Law & Order and Law & Order: Criminal Intent. One's almost certainly going, which makes the odds 50 percent.

Crossing Jordan. Tired. Amy Brenneman working on a new pilot. 35 percent.

Scrubs. Too expensive for NBC's tastes, but ABC might pick it up, if discarded. 35 percent.

Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip. Suits don't see much hope for this one. 20 percent.

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