Recently I have been re-watching one of my favorite TV shows from my youth. The show is Lois and Clark: the New Adventures of Superman and it’s still one of the coolest things ever to come out of the 90′s. Shut-up. The 90′s were awesome. They’re still awesome. Leave me alone.

During the time the show was on the air, some significant changes were made to the series. I was curious why some of these changes were made and did a little research. What I found was all too typical.

Between the first and second season, the show runner was fired, because the network was worried about ratings. They let go one of the main actors (who would later star in a movie that I totally worked on) and replaced him with someone young looking, because they were concerned about getting ratings for young teenage girls. Because let’s be honest, the world’s economy revolves around teenage girls.

Immediately following these changes, the show’s ratings dropped dramatically. It wasn’t until the show returned to it’s original format that ratings improved.

The networks were of course, convinced that it was they who in fact had redeemed the show from the ashes. They decided to continue meddling trying to grasp those elusive ratings in the 8pm-9pm time slot.

First there would be a wedding. Then there wouldn’t be a wedding. Then the wedding was on. Then it wasn’t.

Viewers got annoyed. So much so that they started turning off their televisions (the faithful like myself remained).

And THIS people, is what happens when you let non-creative people take control of the creative process.

The network executives couldn’t figure it out. They had crunched so many numbers and appealed to so many demographics!

In the end, none of that mattered though. Because when none of the networks wanted to air the new Wonderful World of Disney reboot, Michael Eisner (CEO of Disney at the time) went out and bought ABC and cancelled Lois and Clark personally so that he could use the 8pm-9pm Sunday night time slot. You know, because network executives know better.

Thanks a lot Eisner. Way to wrap up a series and make the viewers happy.

Thank the heavens we now live in the days of the internet. In which content producers can create and publish directly over the web. Your days are numbered network executives. And your disservice to our favorite shows is at its end.

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Sometimes writing for different characters can be a bit of a challenge. Recently I finished the first draft of my -cough- highly anticipated screenplay, and I find that the character that gave me the most difficulty was my main protagonist. I worried sometimes that he was being overshadowed by more dynamic characters, and that his character arc wasn’t complete enough. I suppose that is what second drafts are for.

I have also encountered this challenge while writing for Raccoon Toons. There was a time when I felt that Michael wasn’t as strong as a character as he needed to be. There were times when I felt like he was standing beside me screaming in my ear demanding to be let out so he can wreak some havoc of some kind. Wendy was likewise a major problem for me until I consciously made an effort to refine her as a character. I’m pleased with the progress they’ve all made, but hopefully they’ll be lots more comic strips and cartoons to continue to develop their personalities.

I think one of the coolest experiences in writing happens when your characters dictate the story to you. There are times when I write that I sit back and let the characters tell me what’s happening in their stories. I think those are the most rewarding not only because I get to be surprised at what’s happening in the story, but also because I feel that if the characters are strong enough to write themselves, then maybe I’ve done something right in getting them to that point.

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