Miracles" Viewers Speak Out with Full-Page Ad in "The Hollywood Reporter!"

High-Intensity Fan Campaign to Save Critically Acclaimed ABC Show Achieves National Coverage -- and Full-Page Ad in Vital Hollywood Trade (The Hollywood Reporter) on April 16, 2003

HOLLYWOOD, FL. (PRWEB) April 26, 2003 -- When ABC stopped believing in Miracles," thousands of fans of the drama from all over the world decided to start a massive campaign to prove them wrong.

And on April 16, 2003, the Save Miracles" fan campaign (www.MiraclesTV.com) took its efforts a step further, raising thousands of dollars to purchase a full-page advertisement in The Hollywood Reporter in order to talk back to the networks -- and to show their support for Miracles" as a potentially valuable property. The April 16 issue of the Reporter was chosen in particular because of its annual coverage of the television industry, and was achieved by the Save Miracles campaign thanks to the generous contributions of scores of generous fans worldwide.

The advertisement in The Hollywood Reporter acts as a letter from fans directly to network executives -- at ABC, and beyond -- and asks that Miracles" be given a new chance to succeed. The ad was created and coordinated by Save Miracles" members Anne-Marie Cabral, Candace Callen, and Selina Asgar. The ads timing was designed to work in tandem with the high-profile PR campaign and coordinated fan-mailing effort by the group, consisting of thousands of postcards, letters, and GOD IS NOW HERE" napkins to ABC, as well as to prospective networks FOX, Sci Fi, UPN, WB, and Miracles" advertisers like Pepsi-Cola.

Harnessing the power of the Internet, and involving the coordination of fans, TV critics, and media professionals worldwide, the groups dedicated members are hoping to make TV history in much the same way Cagney & Lacey," Roswell" and Farscape" fans have done -- resulting in the shows renewal at ABC, or a relocation to another network.

About Save 'Miracles"

A new, suspenseful, and exciting new genre drama, Miracles" debuted on ABC on January 27, 2003 at 10 p.m., and was greeted with overwhelming acclaim by approximately 8.7 million viewers. Critical raves soon poured in -- from dozens of newspapers and magazines across the country, including such top news sources as The New York Times, TV Guide, USA Today, Variety, The Hollywood Reporter, US Weekly, The San Francisco Chronicle, The Chicago Tribune, The Austin American-Statesman, The Denver Post, The Orlando Sentinel, and dozens more. Fan response was also overwhelming -- fansites and webrings sprang up across the web, and the ABC bulletin board hummed with thousands of excited posts and discussions. Yet the show soon began to face constant preemptions and last-minute program substitutions, and within one week of the airing of the long-delayed sixth episode (entitled Hand of God"), the writing was on the wall, and ABC put Miracles" on indefinite hiatus.

By the thousands, fans immediately began intensive work to help save the series with letter-writing, e-mail, 'napkin-writing (in honor of the pilot episode), and other creative campaigns, as well as Miracles" T-shirts and other potential fund-raising merchandise. The co-organizers of the Save Miracles" campaign include Cabral, Callen, and Asgar, as well as Angela Mitchell, Lara Giesbers, Heather LaFlame, Peter Tretter, Regina Loveless, Terri Jones, and many more. Comments Mitchell, 'Miracles is a story worth finishing -- and we hope this ad sends that message to the industry."

Visibility for Save Miracles" -- from TV Guide to the Examiner

Since ABCs April 4 hiatus announcement for the show, the Save Miracles" groups efforts have now resulted in newspaper and media coverage nationwide. Press for the campaigns efforts thus far includes high-profile articles in TV Guide, The San Francisco Examiner, Scifi Wire, The Daily Southtown, Coronas Test Pattern, The Arizona Reporter, and many more.

The groups progress has also resulted in a new website coordinating fan and media efforts (at www.MiraclesTV.com), plus a consolidated core team of campaign founders, the SODALITAS QUAERITO newsletter, a coordinated fanbase numbering in the thousands, and a series of highly organized campaigns to ABC and major show sponsors by fans. Other significant results also include a second-place ranking for Miracles" in Scifis Scifiwire poll on which genre shows most deserve to return next season," with over 70,000 total votes cast. Next up? A follow-up ad to continue momentum, this time in Variety.

A New Trend -- as Viewers Talk Back to Networks
The Save Miracles" campaign is the latest in a string of successful fan campaigns launched by viewers to save the shows theyre passionate about. Chief among these is the highly visible campaign launched by Farscape" fans in late 2002 (at www.savefarscape.com) following the shows abrupt cancellation by Sci Fi, and which resulted in coverage for the show by TV critics worldwide, as well as additional opportunities for the show to live on through potentially independently financed episodes, films, or other incarnations.

About Miracles"
Launched by ABC to widespread critical acclaim on January 27, 2003, and airing on Monday nights at 10 p.m., Miracles" tells the story of Paul Callan, a young man who embarks on an astonishing journey of discovery following his investigation of several mysterious occurrences and unexplained 'miracles worldwide. In the midst of Pauls crisis of faith, he encounters a young boy who saves his life (encountering the words God is now here" in his own blood in the process) -- and who hints that something dark" is on the horizon of the world. He then teams up with Alva Keel and his mysterious organization Sodalitas Quaerito to search for answers -- and his journey begins.

Miracles" stars Skeet Ulrich as Paul Callan, Angus Macfadyen as Alva Keel and Marisa Ramirez as Evelyn Santos. The series is produced by Touchstone Television in association with Spyglass Entertainment. Roger Birnbaum, Gary Barber and David Greenwalt are executive producers. Richard Hatem is executive producer and writer.

For further information on the Save Miracles" campaign, please contact:

Angela Mitchell
Media Relations and Coordination
Save Miracles
(954) 983-5877, Paramitch@aol.com or SaveMiracles@MiraclesTV.com
www.MiraclesTV.com

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