‘Roswell’ Finale All for the Fans

Thanks to Karen, Greg, and Kristi for sending this in.

From: Zap2It

LOS ANGELES (Zap2it.com) – Jason Katims, executive producer of UPN’s “Roswell,” has never let fan likes and dislikes dictate his writing, but the show’s third-season — and series — finale on Tuesday, May 14 may be an exception.

“Normally, when I write,” he says, “I try not to think too much about how the audience is going to respond. You just try to write the best story and hope that people are going to respond to it, because you’d drive yourself crazy [otherwise].”

“In writing this episode, I had very much the audience in mind, particularly the loyal fans of the show. I wanted to write something that I felt would be a satisfying ending for people who have been with the show since the beginning.”

“I feel it certainly has a lot of story and twists and turns and all that, but what’s more important to me, it has a lot of heart. We go back to what I think has been the central relationship of the series, which is Max and Liz.”

For three seasons (two on The WB, one on UPN), “Roswell” has centered on the dangerous liaison between two teens — alien Max (Jason Behr) and human Liz (Shiri Appleby). Also in the mix since the beginning have been Max’s sister, Isabel (Katherine Heigl), their alien friend Michael (Brendan Fehr) and Liz’s best pal, Maria (Majandra Delfino).

“There’s definitely closure for Max and Liz,” says Katims. “At the end of the episode, our characters essentially are — I’m not sure, I’m just thinking as I say this whether I should say this — at the end, there’s a sense of them going off together as a group, leaving Roswell, but being together.”

“I like the image of that ending, because it gives you the sense that these characters are still out there somewhere.”

Since its premiere, “Roswell” has lived on borrowed time, much of it bought and paid for by the dedication of the show’s fans. Subject to time-slot shifting and frequent hiatuses while on The WB, “Roswell” lasted through two seasons there, in part, because fans deluged the network with letters, e-mails and bottles of the aliens’ beloved Tabasco sauce.

While the most loyal fans followed “Roswell” to UPN, the show still fell short. Even putting it after fellow WB expatriate “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” on Tuesday nights didn’t keep ratings up in the competitive slot, home to several top dramas, including freshman hits “24” on FOX, and “Smallville” on The WB.

“We just got crushed,” says Katims, who cites the ratings drop as his biggest disappointment.

But the fans make him proud. “They are responsible for keeping the show on the air, which is amazing,” says Katims. “Their campaigns for the show had a real effect. The other thing that I’m very moved by is they have joined together not only to be fans of the show, but also to do things. They’ve raised money for different charities.”

“It makes you feel great. You feel like, in some way, you created this thing, and now it’s doing some good out there. That’s the thing I go to as the thing that’s most meaningful to me, how these fans have responded to the show and how much it means to them. That really is humbling.”