The beauty of picking up Enlisted: from a fan perspective
Enlisted is such a strong show, that as someone who is on the outside - as a fan of television - it seems obvious that any financially-responsible content provider would be jumping at the chance to pick it up. It's a "safe" bet for anyone who is looking to expand their programming. I’m sure the creator/executive production team have business plans (or industry-equivalent) prepared with actual numbers, facts and data but from the fan perspective, certain things are readily apparent.
Enlisted is a known product: It comes with an experienced and proven creative team, there are 13 episodes that demonstrate how solid the writing is, and its cast possesses both talent and chemistry. There is no need for the show to find its footing, or its voice, or learn its assets and strengths. The show is ready to go.
It's funny! It's heartwarming! It really is a New Classic. Enlisted came out fully realized, with a firm vision, an incredibly strong cast and talented writing staff. The cast is one of the strongest on television, especially in the comedy genre, for chemistry and talent. Their individual talent is multi-faceted and they represent a wide range of abilities across the board. The strength of the writing means that episodes hold up for multiple viewings and the show overall employs a variety of comedy styles - successfully. The show is highly quotable, plus it delivers in its more dramatic, relationship-based and heartfelt moments. Last, in production value - the show is beautifully shot and lit, and allows its directors some creative freedom from episode to episode. The success of casting for Enlisted in chemistry and talent, plus creating a cohesive vehicle quickly has been rightfully compared to catching lightning in a bottle.
Enlisted utilizes valued and important themes. The show is built primarily around the theme of family - the one you are born into and the one you create, and from there incorporates military service and offers one of the few accurate portrayals of how individuals deal with PTSD. Additionally, it passes the Bechdel test and offers testament to the value of both female friendship and brotherhood. It also passes the "mirror test" for diversity in its characters and in casting. It is already representing what viewers expect from our media, which has been proven for higher ratings.
Enlisted has a built-in fanbase: The fans of Enlisted are loyal and vocal (as anyone monitoring the @YahooScreen twitter account can attest) and have demonstrated their dedication. They appealed to Fox to give the show a better chance and they donated to Wounded Warrior Project to demonstrate their commitment to what Enlisted represents. They stuck with the show through schedule changes, and when the show was removed from the broadcast schedule, they organized viewings and tweet-athons to watch the show anyway. After cancellation, the remaining episodes aired on Sundays in June at 7p eastern and 6p central - and the numbers stayed steady. I repeat: Viewer support never wavered, to the point that they watched the show in the summer, on Sundays, at 6:00p. The only thing left is to give the show an opportunity to grow its fanbase, which providing a home and accurate marketing will accomplish.
It has support from military members and families, including the Army Times. It also needs to be mentioned that Nielsen doesn't track viewers living in military barracks housing. Based on social media, we know the audience and fanbase for Enlisted is already larger than Nielsen ratings have captured.
Viewership numbers are strong: Maybe not the Nielsen listing. But there has to be more to it than some chart reflecting "Nielsen viewers" - a mythical person that you never actually meet in life. Here's how I know that viewership must be pretty decent - Enlisted episodes continue to be made available for streaming and VOD. I've spent time re-watching episodes and ads for those episodes get longer. Episodes that expire in their run come back to the listing a few weeks later. Entire runs are extended for availability by a few months. More ads are incorporated. I review the Fox OnDemand listing every so often, and Enlisted - a cancelled show - has remained as an offering, with a very high episode count, currently until the network relaunches its fall schedule. I am not seeing that same showing for other Fox shows, cancelled or those with vocal support from the network. What I've witnessed for the past four months strongly suggests that Enlisted is financially viable for the network and show distributors, which means that viewership is there. It has to be. Additionally, an Enlisted behind-the-scenes initiative - a mobile app for iPhone users - is being used for research for additional financial opportunities (i.e. hey app users - did you love the content enough to pay for it?). Also, the show's audience created such a strong presence on social media that the show attracted two corporate sponsors (potentially at a time when the show wasn't even on the broadcast schedule). The audience for the show must be larger than how the television industry currently measures it.
Social Media and Fan Relations: The creative team and cast actively engage with the fans and audience for Enlisted, plus they encourage discussion around all feedback. Enlisted comes equipped with cast members, writers and production team who have demonstrated competency and dedication in social media relations. Willingly. Because they love the show they are creating and they respect the show's audience.
Enlisted has support from television critics: I'm not getting into content/episode analysis because it has been covered wonderfully by professionals, including:
Les Chappell for A.V. Club
Alan Sepinwall for Hitfix
Maureen Ryan for Huffington Post
VyceVictus, an Active Duty Service member and Veteran, for Badass Digest
Additional Thoughts: Enlisted is a show that cultivated a very passionate following in a very short timeframe. There is a vibrant community on Twitter who organize viewing parties and tweet-athons to prospective networks/services, and get crafty to both celebrate and promote the show. I'm not sure that anyone believes the chances of another network or service picking up Enlisted for additional seasons are very strong. But they tweet. They are trying. Because when a show is as good as Enlisted, you gotta try.
It made it to air as a midseason show and was confidently placed on Friday nights with very little promotion, after an initial marketing trailer - from the previous summer - received a poor response from prospective fans. The trailer was cut without the creative team's input but the show runners and cast executed a fan relations social media plan that was successful in getting prospective fans to give the show a chance.
I started watching Enlisted because I was a fan of a couple of the actors involved in the show. It quickly became the highlight of my week for any tv, films or reading consumed. A couple months in, the show was pulled from the Fox schedule and I realized that a valuable part of my week was missing. Enlisted made me laugh out loud, and true enjoyment and entertainment- a reason we watch tv, movies or plays - offers a break from the stresses of life and a chance to share an experience with others. So I started re-watching episodes. I've never re-watched tv episodes before, at least not without a multi-year break.
I find that I keep describing Enlisted as "strong" which isn't exactly helpful. Here's the deal - I have watched episodes of this show numerous times. At first, because I just plain enjoyed it. And later, in an effort to show viewership support. The reason I can keep watching it - it holds up. The writing is incredibly assured, the performances are fantastic and it's lovely to look at.
The writing is strong because the characters are fully realized and the jokes hold up. The performances are fantastic because the cast possesses talent (across the board - no weak links) and they are each dedicated and present in their work. Each time I watch, I pay attention to a different performance and it always pays off - everybody is doing something that renders a different take on the scene, completely in character, and it is just wonderful. It's lovely to look at because the show doesn't have a visual template, its composition isn't static. It employs various lighting techniques and camera-work. The look of the various storylines contribute to the mood and atmosphere for that episode or story. It's a sitcom that isn't afraid to go cinematic in style and substance (see: the closing of "Alive Day") and it's a dramedy that loves and respects broad humor.
Enlisted's modus operandi is to make you laugh, move you to tears, and then somehow get you to a place where you are laughing and crying simultaneously. It makes you feel, all of the feelings, especially happiness. So if all we have are the existing 13 episodes, that's okay, because we'll always have them and we're lucky to have the show to begin with. But there are reasons why we should get to have many more. The television "process" doesn't always create television that is good. Somehow, we got Enlisted - and it will continue to be loved and appreciated - because television that means something to its audience is eternal.
