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PREY
Campaign Articles
The
Indianapolis Star, August 8, 2000
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Local woman 'preys' for return of sci-fi series By John Norberg, Journal and Courier Thursday, July 13, 2000 "Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world," anthropologist Margaret Mead said. "Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has." That statement has become the battle cry for an international organization trying to do what some would consider impossible: breathe life back into a television show canceled by ABC more than two years ago. And helping to lead this effort is a Lafayette woman who is using the Internet to communicate with people around the world. "Talking with these people has become part of my life," says Jeanne Winstead. "We keep thinking all this has run its course and it's going to go away, but people keep finding us and joining us. "A lot of fan-based things like this are flash in the pan," she says. "But we've been going for two and a half years. And we're still going strong." Winstead, a programmer analyst at Purdue University, has become passionate in her efforts behind a television show titled Prey, a science-fiction program that grabbed her interest the first night she saw it and never let go. The program premiered on ABC in January 1998. It aired at 8 p.m. Thursdays, opposite the popular NBC program Friends. That was enough competition as the program struggled to find an audience, Winstead says. But on top of that, ABC moved the show around. "It got pre-empted by the Olympics, and to watch it, you had to hunt for it," Winstead says. "It never got a fair chance. Sometimes it was on at 2 in the morning. Sometimes the network skipped it for a week." To her, the hunt was worth it for a program that was thoughtfully done. Prey featured a new species of man that had evolved and that had the upper hand on Homo sapiens. You couldn't always tell the good guys from the bad guys, and the plots were filled with twists and intrigues and questions. "It's not very often that a television show comes along and really grabs you, that you can't wait to see every week," Winstead says. But Prey was that kind of show, she says. It didn't last long. By April 1998, ABC had aired only eight episodes. When the program's share of the viewing audience fell below expectations, Prey was put into hiatus. There were enough viewer complaints that the network brought the program back during the summer and aired five more shows. But that was it. Only 13 episodes were ever made. Winstead got involved with the Internet and Prey before it was even canceled. She went there to find other people who wanted to talk about the program, and found plenty of like-minded fans. When Prey was canceled, they decided to take action. Gina Evers, a Florida school teacher, became the national coordinator of a group named PREY for Us. Evers said Prey had intellectual and educational values. "The premise intrigued me," Evers said in a 1998 interview that appeared in the Journal and Courier. "I had never been this intrigued by a television show before. The whole concept of what is 'desirable' in terms of human development and character was an intriguing issue, one that we, as a society, struggle with." Winstead became Webmaster for the effort -- she maintains the Web site. Supporters of the program took their efforts to newspapers and complained to the network and advertisers. They placed advertisements in the trade publication Variety. In one of those ads they called Prey "emotionally and intellectually stimulating, a journey for the heart and mind; passionate, provocative, powerful. "Prey has captured our hearts and loyalty," they said. "Our hearts, resources and passions are behind Prey." They urged the network to find a place for the show. It never happened. But instead of enthusiasm for the show waning and fans giving up all hope, interest in the program and the group's Internet site spread. Prey aired in a number of other countries, where it picked up new fan bases, people who then found the PREY For US Web site. Last January, fans of the program were at least partially rewarded for their efforts when the cable TV network Sci Fi started airing the 13 episodes on a weekly basis. Sci Fi aired Prey last Sunday at 7 p.m. Winstead has enjoyed seeing the show again and has made new tapes of the episodes. She provides them at-cost for people who want to see a certain episode -- or any episode. Last month PREY For Us took its message to a sci-fi convention in Los Angeles. The convention was sponsored by an organization titled Agamemcon. While the conference didn't focus on Prey, Winstead and others held a mini-conference within the convention to support their favorite program. They also got to meet William Schmidt, the original executive producer of Prey. "He said there is beginning to be some new interest in picking up the show," Winstead says. That's what fans of the program really, ultimately, want. It would have to be done with new stars, since some of those in the original Prey have gone on to other successful programs. For example, Debra Messing was an original Prey star. She now stars on the television show Will and Grace. But Winstead wouldn't mind new actors and actresses. She just wants the program to continue in some way. "We would like to have a movie to resolve all the cliffhangers," she says. "But the best case scenario would be continuation of the show. "It was just good, thought-provoking television," she says. And, Winstead says, there isn't much of that on TV these days. Note: The Journal and Courier also published an article by Joel McKinney on Prey and the campaign to save it on July 3, 1998. Copyright
2000 Lafayette Journal and Courier
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