Unless you are a die-hard Kyle XY fan, like my self, then you're probably have no idea what save the tub means. Fortunately, hundreds of people who have been cluttering up the message boards on ABCFamily.com know exactly what that means and are doing everything they possibly can to save it.
First I feel that a little background information on the show is necessary. Kyle XY is a show on ABC Family about a young man named Kyle, played by Matt Dallas, who wakes up in the middle of a forest just outside of Seattle while suffering from amnesia. The show revolves around Kyle and all of the things that happen to him while he tries to solve the mystery of who he is.
Now about the tub, Kyle sleeps in a bath tub and instead of bloggers begging ABC Family to save Kyle they have dubbed the saying "Save the tub" instead. That is just one of the many mysteries to Kyle.
The series premiered in June of 2006 and has produced three complete seasons. Then, on January 31, 2009 Kyle XY fans everywhere got the worst news they could possibly imagine, the show had been cancelled. This show was ABC Family's number one show for two years! It lost a little bit of ground when the channel came out with their hit series "The Secret Life of the American Teenager", but how many seasons can the show possible last? It's about a 15 year old girl that gets pregnant, will she get knocked up again in the second season? Highly doubtful therefor I think Kyle XY would have probably been the smarter choice to keep on. From almost the moment the announcement was made massage boards all over ABC Family have been filled with pleas from fans of all ages.
The thing about Kyle XY is that it related not just to kids but to adults in their twenties, thirties, and even forties (according to the message boards). The question that most people are wondering is, why would ABC Family cancel one of its top shows? In this economy most networks have completely gotten rid of the scripted show merely because of the amount of money it takes to make a pilot. With reality TV it costs barely anything. I think that the expense of a pilot is just the price one has to be willing to pay for quality programming but I wouldn't want to bad mouth the wonderful creations of such channels as VH1 who spawned the masterpiece Rock of Love. Please tell me everyone realized the very large amount of sarcasm in that last remark. Now that ABC Family has found a show that works it would only make sense to keep it around and at least get a few more seasons out of it. But no, they have ripped it away from us and many ABC Family viewers aren't having it. According to the massage boards if ABC Family does not bring back the tub, they will lose more than they think.
Personally, I do not believe that all of the people who have said they are going to boycott the station are actually going to act on what they have said. I think that they will continue to be angry until another network picks up the show or ABC Family creates something else as genius as Kyle XY. Will Harris, a blogger on premiumhollywood.com, had the idea that fans should push for ABC family to create a regular season of 2 hour Kyle XY movies for the series. Not only would this bring back the Kyle XY viewers, but also it still leaves room for the networks new series'. Maybe hollywood could even capitalize on the idea and make a full length motion picture.
I think that if ABC Family does not have room for Kyle XY on their station, why don't they make it an online exclusive? Then the show could still be sold on DVD and for the people who love the show, we don't have to go another day wondering what exactly happened to characters such as Tom Foss, or if Kyle and Jessie are technically brother and sister. And if they are, why is ABC Family having them make out? Our questions about the show have not been answered and ABC Family needs to find a way to make that happen. If they don't, then what was the point of the show? Thats 43 hours of my life i will never get back. Well 86 hours if you count the second time i watched the entire series. Nonetheless i don't think we have seen the last of Kyle, or his tub!
I have never watched the show Kyle XY but obviously it has a lot of followers. My first reaction after reading the blog was--whoa how cool is that, the message boards are getting swamped with replies. Meaning people are connecting with the stations through the internet. That just shows the importance of network websites that are interactive to the public. I agree though that it doesn't make sense that ABC would cut a show that is doing well. I wonder how much of that decision has to deal with the economy? Also if ABC chooses to keep the show running it would be a testament to how the network actually reads the message boards that audience members are posting on. It is a shame though that since reality t.v. is so much cheaper than scripted shows that scripted shows, which have artistic qualities, and replacing them with shows that are not creative.
I think it's crazy that they didn't even tell the audience that they were taking it off the air. Maybe they knew people would be upset so they decided to catch the audience off gaurd. Maybe since it was growing to be such a popular show, actors were wanting more money and it was cheaper to just cancel the show and focus on gaining attention to another new show, but if this continues i am sure 'the secret life' won't be around much longer either. i agree you can't have 'the secret life' going on for too much longer, eventually it's going to be boring, and there isn't going to be anything else to say. I am sure they had their reasons for canceling the show. Maybe an actor quit, if the fans keep flooding the message boards and ABC Family actually reads them then hopefully they'll come out and say something.
I used to follow reality tv more than I do now, so I can't judge those people too much, but I do agree that a scripted show to follow, that actually GOES SOMEWHERE would be a much better use of television time. I don't get the logic behind canceling a popular show out of nowhere, when it is obviously able to bring in high viewing numbers! I agree with the previous response, that actor popularity could have created some actor/network tension in the area of money. I haven't had the opportunity to see that Secret Life of Teens what not, but I think that we have exhausted the idea of pregnant teens with reality tv and magazines...everyone is pregnant now days. Hopefully the networks don't lose sight of the importance behind more grounded shows.
As I type these word on my Dell computer, a rerun of one of the most innovative/clever comedies in television history is playing in the background: ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT. Undoubtedly one of the funniest shows of all time (agreed by anyone who actually watched the show!), A.D. was canceled after 2-1/2 seasons because of poor ratings. I was a bit down when it went away.
Sounds like Kyle XY was a good show . I am sorry for your loss. It happens all the time. It appears that the only way a program has a chance of returning after being canceled is if it does remarkably well in the DVD market; that's how Family Guy returned. But I don't see that becoming the norm. Viewers should voice their anger, but in the end, letters, blogs and email don't turn a profit.
And 25% of adolescent mothers have a second child within 24 months of the first, so maybe "the American Teenager" will have a baby in the second season. Can Kyle get pregnant?
bahahaha OMG justin you crack me up.... Kyle can't get preggers i don't think but i am sure the girl version of Kyle (her name is jesse) probably could. Now there's an idea! Maybe you should call up ABC family and save my show :-)
ABC Family is simply following in a proud tradition that Fox has turned into an art-form. Kyle XY might come back, like Family Guy did, but it will probably go the way of Firefly. (A similarly canceled show that only got one season.) It seems sci-fi shows are particularly prone to cancelation. Perhaps the networks will eventually learn that the viewerships of these shows, though fewer than some, are extremely loyal and reliable.