As a fan of FlashForward and a TV Blogger I could not pass up the chance to attend an actual protest down at the local ABC affiliate's office here in Seattle. It seemed like it would be a lot of fun and super dorky, which is right up my alley.
Unfortunately a demonstration consisting of three protesters looks more like one of those creepy anti-smoking commercials than a protest. Especially when the demonstration is to culminate in all members participating in a two minute and seventeen second blackout.
I stopped on my way to the demonstration and bought a couple of balloons onto which I taped "SAVE FLASHFORWARD" signs. In a world without wind, this was a brilliant idea. Unfortunately I live in a world where these balloons spent the next hour treating my head like a speed bag. I showed up at 10:40 AM, 20 minutes prior to the beginning of the protest in the hopes of getting a good spot and interviewing some of my fellow protesters.
Well, I had my choice of spots. However no one else had bothered to show up early so looks like no interviews. Maybe afterward I thought. Fifteen minutes passed before the next person arrived. It turns out that being the only person at a protest is kind of embarrassing. Everyone looks at you like you are crazy. I eventually began to question my own sanity.
Thankfully Amanda, the organizer, showed up at 10:55 AM. She had a very good looking sign, it looked exactly like the logo on the opening title of the show. She was quite nice, and was just as surprised as I was to see that none of the other 30 people who had RSVP'd had bothered to show up. Within a couple of minutes our group picked up it's third blacker outer and that was it.
With our numbers trebled security could no longer turn a blind eye to our rabble rousing. A security guard approached us to ask what was going on. When Amanda tried to explain he told us he doesn't watch TV. Rather than leaving it there he divulged that this was because Ecclesiastes in the bible says "There is nothing new under the sun." He then referenced something about Plato and Aristotle which I couldn't quite understand. He also alluded to the fact that the oil spill may cause the end of the world twice in our short conversation.
When Amanda told him the premise of the show he then compared it to Star Trek IV. Thankfully he went on to explain what happened in Star Trek IV. Seriously dude?! I have a tattoo of the Batman symbol on my arm and I am standing in front of a TV station to protest the cancellation of a Sci Fi show. You think I haven't seen Star Trek IV? If I were Fisher Plaza I would hire Security Guards to keep the crazy people out, rather than hiring crazy Security Guards.
After we got up to a full fighting compliment of three we weren't sure what to do. The Blackout was to have been at 11:17 AM, but no one was here yet. We went ahead and stalled until 11:30 AM to give people time to show up, which they did not. Amanda tried to recruit some passersby to no avail. I think it is hard to sell people on "participating in a global blackout." In fact I think some of the people she spoke to may think we were terrorists.
During our extended wait Security Guard #2 sprung into action. Or more precisely, rolled into action. There are two buildings at Fisher Plaza. They are approximately 30 feet apart from entrance to entrance. If you were going to exit building 1 and enter building 2 you could probably cover it on foot in 10 seconds. That's not how Security Guard #2 rolls! (rimshot) He jumped on his Segway and traversed the distance in eight seconds flat. I can't stop obsessing about him using his Segway to go 30 feet. Why the hell does he even have a Segway?
11:30 AM strikes, and we make our grand display. We all gently collapse to the ground. This is the true genius of the balloons. I figured it would look kind of dramatic if they floated away when we blacked out. Unfortunately it appears that our camera person was unfamiliar with the camera and failed to tape our actual blackout. It appears that our only footage is of three adults lying on the ground. We are if nothing else consistent. We failed on this thing in just about every way possible.
Surprisingly after our three person performance piece the ABC executives did not send a delegation out to announce that we had swayed them from canceling FlashForward. But it was nice to meet some people who felt passionate about the show. And now the next time my mom starts talking my ear off about marching in the 60's, guess what bitch! I was there on the front lines when John Cho was forced to make Harold and Kumar 3 to make ends meet. Where were you!?
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