Sci Fi-Roswell Article

Thanks SO MUCH to Michael for sending this in. I apologize for the delay in posting it.

He wrote:

I scanned the following from the October 2000 issue of Sci-Fi Magazine
which is published by the Sci-Fi Channel. Of interest is that on page 87
of the magazine there is an ad from a company whose web site is :
www.uniquecollectibles.com which is
offering various autographed pictures of Roswell stars for fees of $35 for
Fehr and Heigl, $45 for Behr and Appleby and $150 for the cast (Behr, Fehr,
Applelby, Hegl and Delfino). I wanted to leave it to your discretion
whether it should be posted since although they claim there is a certificate
with “lifetime guarantee of authenticity “ included, I obviously can’t vouch
for their honesty.

Tabasco sauce seems like an odd token of affection, but apparently, it
worked: The fan-driven campaign, which involved sending bottles of the
Roswell aliens’ favorite food to WB execs, helped spur the show’s renewal.
We may never know just how much of an influence the various mail-in
campaigns really were on the powers-that-be, but it’s clear that they made a
difference.
“They led us to believe that it went down to the wire,” remarks
executive producer Jonathan Frakes (Star Trek First Contact). “I personally
feel that we were in a pretty good position. The last six shows of our
season were so strong, and it was such a new direction [for the series].”
Having spent more than a decade experiencing the Star Trek fan
phenomenon up-close-and-personal, the Enterprise’s former second-in-command
wasn’t surprised by the outpouring of fan support when the future looked
questionable. “I thought that was great,” says Frakes of the clever Tabasco
sauce campaign. “I was thrilled that [that degree of fan loyalty] happened
for Roswell; that was kind of a treat.” In contrast, Frakes noted, those on
the cast and crew who were not accustomed to such reactions “were amazed by
it.”
This grassroots support will only gain more followers as the
series gains more viewers. “I think people will catch up with [the show] this summer who haven’t seen it—there is great word of mouth—and I think it
will do much better on Monday than it ever did on Wednesday.” Frakes
maintains.
When we last saw local Roswell high-schooler Liz (Shiri Appleby)
and aliens Max (Jason Behr), his sister Isabel (Katherine Heigl), and
Michael (Brendan Fehr), the group had opened up a Pandora’s box regarding
their past. But where the series ended, its first season wasn’t particularly
part of any larger vision, admits Frakes. “It evolved, in all honesty, into
a show much more about the mythology of the aliens than about the angst
about teen romance. It’s really become, in a lot of ways, as [creator] Jason
Katims likes to refer to him, ‘not unlike Michael Corleone.’ He tries to get
out, but he’s always brought back. He is the leader, he is the number one
alien; it’s a great character for that.”
In first season’s final episode, Frakes says, “we certainly let
them know that our aliens are not the only aliens out there, which is also
an appeal, and fuel for a lot of the season next year.”
The growing mythology of the series is what prompted Frakes to
encourage Katims to bring fellow Star Trek alum Ron Moore on staff as a
co-executive producer of Roswell. “Ron Moore was the leader in creating the
Klingon mythology that became such a big part of [Next-Generation] and Deep
Space Nine.”
Of the show hitting its stride in the second season, Frakes
notes that “there’s a nice history of second seasons kicking in. Hill Street
Blues certainly comes to mind, [as does] The X-Files, and I certainly think
that Roswell is going to follow in that lexicon of television.”