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An Open Letter to ABC, RE: "The River"

Dear ABC,

Look, I’m not going to mince words here. I have one thing to ask of you, and I will ask it plainly: FOR THE LOVE OF GOD AND ALL THINGS HOLY, BRING BACK THE RIVER FOR A SECOND SEASON!

There have been a few new televion series that have caught my eye this year, just as there have been every new season, but none have so captured my attention as The River. It is smart, interesting, and anything but predictable and it deserves another season on televion to capture the audience that just needs to discover it.

It’s scary. It’s ACTUALLY scary. When was the last time anyone saw a series on network televion that was scary?! Blood, gore, violence, the hallmarks of a horror film, are finally making it into the mainstream. It’s no worse than what you might see on your average cop or hospital drama, but it’s something fresh and different and we need it on televion.

It’s different. Let’s face it – we don’t have much in the way of options in terms of televion these days. Every channel puts on its own veron of the same damn show; we moved from ER to Grey’s Anatomy, three different verons of Law and Order, from The Practice to Boston Legal to Harry’s Law, from JAG to NCIS to NCIS: LA. Don’t get me wrong – I watch some of these shows (okay, one of them), but the repetition is just too much. Lost blew us away because it was different, but it was also disjointed, confung, and ended in a very unsatisfying manner. The River is on track to bring about a whole new era of televion.

The show has addressed real folklore, brought the found footage genre to network televion, played upon the very human fears of the unknown and even macabre medical deviations.

Trust me on this one. You do NOT want to let this series go. Even MASH had crappy ratings in their first season, but there were people smart enough to give it a second chance.

Here’s what you do: Rerun the entire series over the summer. Promote the hell out of it, make it that irrestible something scary on summer tv that we all crave. Find your audience.

And give us loyal viewers a second season. We’ve traveled the Boiuna with the Magus and its makeshift crew. Let us see where it can take us next.

ncerely, A Loyal Fan

Sadly, i only caught 3 episodes. I gotta wait for it to come out on DVD or too Netflix. But i agree with you. I think it was a great original series. Its great too see shows like The Walking Dead and An American Horror Story and hopefully The River getting to come back for a 2nd season. Hopefully if these shows take off it will open up doors for more horror on TV! :)