No More, Without Feeling - Fox Nixes Buffy Sing-Alongs

I will say it right off the bat: I am not a Buffy The Vampire Slayer fan, but the “Once More, With Feeling” episode was one that I would check out if I was cruising the channels. If you’re not familiar with the Buffy-verse, in “OMWF,” the residents of Sunnydale would express their innermost feeling, but would do it by breaking into song. Written and directed by show mastermind Joss Whedon (who also wrote all the lyrics), it is considered one for the most-loved episodes of the cult series. But when someone came up with the idea to give “OMWF” a Rocky Horror Picture Show-style treatment, complete with a live cast and lyrics sheets, Fox thought they had gone too far.

According to The Associated Press, Twentieth Century Fox has shut down future screening of “Once More, With Feeling,” because they feel the organizers have gone beyond what their original licensing agreement stated. What this probably means, in a language people can really understand, is that the percentage that the organizers paid Fox to take the episode on the road was too small, considering the screening began in one theater in Boston and had grown into a nationwide midnight-movie event.

Clinton McClung started the “One More, With Feeling” screenings over a year ago. After a successful run in Boston, he launched a version of the sing-a-long in New York City, where the audience would dress up like Buffy characters yell back at the screen. He would get also get ten super-fans to perform the songs live as the episode played on a screen above, just like Rocky Horror. Until Fox shut down all future screening, a three-night, sing-a-long engagement was planned for St. Louis starting Friday, with one of the nights already sold out. Also, McClung says Halloween costume parties and “Once More, With Feeling” screenings in ten other cities all had to be cancelled. McClung says that Fox is not being malicious by shutting down the screenings, but just trying to figure out their share, since the success of the “OMWF” events is unprecedented.

But the Battle of Sunnydale isn’t over yet. According to MTV, Joss Whedon and his army of loyal fans are fighting back. In a statement, Whedon said, “I will do everything in my power to find out the exact reasoning for this and try to convince those responsible what a mistake it is. Of course, the words 'my power' might confuse my gentle readers into believing I have any. I don't know what I'll be able to do, and I've no idea even where to start. Nor do I think this was done maliciously or capriciously. But it's lousy news and it's bad business." Also, McClung has started an online petition to let Fox know that the fans are out there and they want their Buffy-oke back. As of this writing, the number of signatures on the petition was nearing the 3,000-mark.

In a time when DVD Sets of TV shows have become as important as when they air first-run, even suspending these screening for a short time is a mistake. Say an uber-Buffy fans takes a group of friends to one of these screenings who have never watched the show before. Now you have exposed a whole new audience to the show, and some of them might go buy the DVDs. Instead of showing appreciation for the fans who are keeping Buffy alive and getting more people to buy more DVD sets, they have now alienated their core. They should have taken a lesson from Rocky Horror, which was a movie no one saw until it was turned it into a huge money-making machine by fans. C’mon Fox, embrace the sing-a-long, let them screen it “Once More.”