HGTV is on facebook. Here's another opportunity to tell them what you think: HGTV/Facebook
Very special thanks to Susan Harris at Garden Rant and Marie Iannotti at About.com:Gardening for helping get the word out.
This Campaign was originally scheduled to happen one day only - April 13, 2009 - but it received such a huge (and I mean HUGE) and positive response, I'm leaving the information here for those who didn't get a chance to participate and still would like to. There are going to be a lot of people not buying a lot of products this summer.
I imagine the execs at Scripps are hoping we'll all just silently fade away - which will never happen.
A great, big thank you to all that joined in on the 13th! Let's all cross our fingers that Scripps finally understands the need for some real gardening shows in their HGTV program lineup and brings back Paul James. Seriously, we love Paul - WHAT are they thinking?
Here are what some angry viewers have had to say about Paul, and HGTV:
Paul James - You've Got Mail, and on the Sorry State of HGTV.
HGTV's Paul James, "The Gardener Guy".
What happened to the "G" in HGTV?
I Want My. . . I Want My GTV.
Guilty of Using "Garden" with no Evidence of Gardening.
Home but not Garden Television.
"HGTV" is a Misnomer.
Where's the G?
Where Did The G Go?
Why HGTV is a sham.
HGTV sucks (once again).
HGTV Has It ALL Wrong.
Even The Wall Street Journal can see a problem with HGTV.
An estimated 40 to 45 billion - yes, that's a "B" - is spent on gardening annually in the US. And this number is set to skyrocket this year with at least 7 million new households saying they'll begin gardening in 2009, a 19 percent increase. Seed sales have shot up by at least 40 percent.
Why HGTV continues to ignore gardeners is beyond me. 40 billion bucks! Talk about a lost opportunity for them to market to the fastest growing demographic in the US.
WHAT:
A group effort to let advertisers on HGTV know we won't continue buying their products if they choose to advertise on a gardening channel that continues to omit gardening content.
WHY:
Gardeners' are mad as hell at HGTV, and they aren't going to take it anymore!
Viewer emails directly to HGTV result in nothing more than a form letter reply or are totally disregarded and receive no reply at all. That silence speaks volumes to viewers. They've cancelled every gardening show they've ever had in their lineup, including one of the best - Gardening By The Yard with Paul James.
OK, one inside guy says he's cancelled, another says he isn't (personally, I think he's full of it), and back in September, Paul himself said his contract was not renewed. He also told someone a couple weeks ago at the Home and Garden Show in Reading, Pennsylvania, that he was cancelled. So, even the people that are suppose to be in-the-know don't know? Anyone else smell something really fishy going on here? And this, from Lauren White Steele, producer at Screaming Flea: Produced "Gardening by the Yard" with host Paul James for the HGTV network until the show was sadly cancelled in 2008. (She's changed the page content since the posting of this link which really makes me raise an eyebrow...or two) And, from March 21, 2009 Enid, OK news article: "(Paul) James reminisced about his 16 years hosting the show and told us he’s been cancelled".
WHO:
Everyone.
WHERE:
Right here.
WHEN:
(original date: April 13, 2009) Join me in contacting these companies in protest of HGTV removing real gardening programming from it's lineup.
HOW:
You can email the people below at Scripps Networks (parent company of HGTV) and also use the list to contact the advertisers directly. Click here to access the list.
******************
John F. Lansing
President, Scripps Networks
and executive vice president
of Scripps Networks Interactive Inc.
lansing@scrippsnetworks.com
******************
Tammy Esser
Vice President of
Viewer services
tesser@scrippsnetworks.com
Quote from Ms. Esser -
"We try to keep our finger on the pulse
of what our viewers are saying or
wanting and turning around and feeding
that same group with more of what
they're asking for." (Oh, REALLY?)
*****************
Ms. Cindy McConkey
Senior Vice President,
Corporate Communications
1-865-560-3976 (not toll free)
cmcconkey@scrippsnetworks.com
******************
Gary McCormick
Director of Public Relations
1-865-560-4143 (not toll free)
gmccormick@scrippsnetworks.com
******************
A single voice may not be able to accomplish much, but together, we can make a difference.
*** Well, well, well. It looks like we got a few hits from Scripps Networks (The Scripps Networks Interactive side) and right from their own HGTV forums to boot! Are you finally paying attention to the fact the viewers want their G back in the programming lineup, guys and gals?! I'm betting not.
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About Me
- Tina
- I grew up on a farm in rural Upstate NY and have gardened for almost 40 years. I'm an average mom/wife that finally had enough of HGTV cancelling gardening programming and decided to do something about it.
37 comments:
Count me in and I will help spread the word. Why they are doing less instead of more in this day where more and more people are deciding to garden is beyond my understanding.
Oh yes, they'll be hearing from me.
I'm in too. I'll spread the word on Twitter and on my gardening site at About.com.
With all the grassroots gardening efforts spreading now, I've never had more gardening questions coming my way. HGTV is being foolish
Just one more reason to keep HGTV shows out of my DVR. Grrrr. You can count on my and all of MY gardening buddies to pitch in and flood them with emails!
I'm posting this up on my gardeningblog, http://www.gardeningblog.net right now.
Paul James is my favorite TV personality, well, tied with Alton Brown, and they're just so wrong. So so so so wrong.
I've posted your link on my blog as well, http://joenesgarden.wordpress.com.
I wonder what planet Scripps Network execs hail from.
How fabulous! You might want to consider adding your event to Tinker (event tracking for Twitterers). http://ow.ly/1NX5
Thank you for this spot to complain about HGTV canceling 'OUR' Gardener Guy. Have they completely lost it?
(Besides the loss of gardening programs I am tired of the all the same show with a different name! The original is Designed to Sell and now look at the line-up. Also, the copy-cats are not worth watching.)
Thanks for doing this. I'll definitely be sending emails on the 13th. I'm also going to put a link to your site on my little blog. There has never been a bigger interest in backyard gardening than right now. What in the heck are these people thinking?
By the way, I wonder if the people at HGTV have ever heard of a family called the Obamas that live in a big white house on Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington, D.C.? It seems that they're going to have a garden in their back yard this year.
Personally, I never though HGTV did right by gardening in the past and always relegated it to poor scheduling times. I'd rather see a new Garden cable channel all on its own -- rerun the best ofthe past show's like Gardener's Diary and Paul James, while producing new shows and regional content as well.
Sent my email protest and posted it on my blog, http://joenesgarden.wordpress.com. Hope it helps! Thanks for spearheading this campaign.
My letter is here: http://floridabackyard.org/2009/04/13/i-want-my-g-tv/
Feel free to co-opt.
WoW! I wish I would have seen this before today to put on my blog - but I'll put it on now. I wrote to them once ages ago about this. They have gardening shows on at 4:00 am and who's up then besides me with insomnia. I especially miss The Gardeners Diary - loved that show.
I just sent each one a email.
I'm in! Your page is on my Blog, and I've already started my letter-writing!
Let's hope this works!
I'm not sure my comment showed up, so just in case: Twitter hashtag #gtv.
I stopped watching HGTV quite awhile ago because it seems like it's all about redesigning your house to sell it........I used to watch it because there was a lot of DIY projects for everything........crafts, cooking, GARDENING, etc. I rarely watch it anymore. I like the idea of a Gardening channel all it's own! I would love to see some of the "vintage" stuff that used to be on TV as well, like Victory Garden (I know it's still on, but I would love to see all the old shows, too!). Come on, HGTV, even Martha still has gardening in her shows! I'm tired of seeing just remodeling shows!
Thanks for your initiative in this effort. Just finished emailing all officers and all sponsors. Also shared with some other garden bloggers last week. Nice to see the number of people onboard at HGTV forum as well. Hope it helps.
thanks for doing this.
Should we do multiple emails or just one email per email address to be more effective. I did one with my work email and one with my home email to all of the Scripps people.
I also sent each one an email. fingers crossed!
I'm pleased to report that Sears actually responded, and it appears they even read the "content" of my note - saying the would pass it onto their Advertising Dept. That's the closest thing I got to an encouraging response! (Got a BUNCH of "Auto-responder" emails from some of the other advertisers!).
Of course, not a peep from the Scripps execs. But I'm still being "guardedly optimistic."
If nothing more, it oughtta give 'em an idea of just HOW MANY OF US there are out there. That, alone, ought to count for something!
I *really* hope this works!
Just emailed all the network execs. Thanks for putting this in action.
I don't understand why they would take this show off the air. Does anyone know why?
We need to do as much as we can, It is time that HGTV starts listening to its viewers. It's not only the gardening shows, The quality of the shows that they produce today, is really appalling. I feel that they have been behaving in an arrogant manner, disregarding everyone but themselves.
Good job, Tina, and thanks for including the link to my post from earlier. While we are asking for better gardening programs, how about requesting they import some of the British gardening programs, too?
hi-
missed the one day thing as I just learned about it....but would love to support you in the future... I have a blog about garden design (a subset of what should be covered under the G in HGTV) that has good and rapidly growing interest (perhaps because the topics is so under covered elsewhere?). (40K pageviews and 20k visitors per month at the mo).
Let me know in the future about protesting events, I would be happy to spread the word and help out!.
Rochelle At studio 'g' (http://studiog.greayer.com)
oh -- and having lived in the UK for 4 years...I wholeheartedly think that a super easy answer for G programming would be to import some of the excellent shows....great suggestion Carol.
I got a real response from Interstate Bakeries:
"Thank you very much for your inquiry. We have looked into the issue and wanted to provide you the response from HGTV, which is in sole control of its programming.
“HGTV has made the decision to transition some of its gardening videos and information, including content from Paul James' Gardening by the Yard to HGTV.com. The decision was made in response to the changing viewing habits of HGTV's audience and their increased ability to access step-by-step gardening instructions along with streaming video content on-line. HGTV.com and the free on-line HGTV Gardening Newsletter are excellent resources for viewers who are interested in more detailed gardening tips, ideas, products and information. Fans of Gardening by the Yard can expect to see new episodes of the series on-air through summer 2009 and the show will continue to air for the foreseeable future.”
Again, thank you for taking the time to contact us."
The problem with this "solution" is, if I'm not watching you on TV, you are not going to be my first stop on the web. There are plenty of GREAT independent sources on the web.
Thanks for the info. I totally agree and went ahead and added my comment to their page.
I need to spend some more time perusing your blog now!
Happy Gardening!
Hi, Sarah from Toronto Gardens here. Just discovered your protest today and we are writing about it on our blog. We're with you!
To bad to lose a very good show, very informative with humor. Just like Simply Quilts but you know one door closes another opens.....lets find the open door. Alex Anderson did and her online show is so much better than the HGTV format.
Can we get an update on what "huge" was?
Thank you for your comment on my blog, for linking to it here but most of all for posting his website!
I'm very happy to see it and hope he will have much success. I know I've already been browsing it for an hour and I'm currently writing him emails with suggestions.
So, thanks. If we can't make a difference with HGTV, we have already made a difference with each other and with Paul James!
Can anyone help me figure out the old (few years back) gardening show that featured an older man (white hair and beard) that would talk about the insects in your garden.
Really nice camera shots, nice calming voice and interesting learning opportunity.
Let me know if you know.
Thanks.
I've been enjoying Paul James and Gardening by the Yard for many, many years. The idea of his program being cancelled comes as a real blow to me. I suppose it will be replaced by another in your face, "you're totally worthless" reality type "improvement" shows where the host blasts stupid homeoweners for their lack of decor ability. WE DON'T NEED ANOTHER ONE OF THESE IDIOTIC SHOWS. PLEASE LET US KEEP OUR GARDENING BY THE YARD! Paul's show is intellegent, informative, funny and doesn't offend it's audience. HDTV will be making a major mistake by cancelling this wonderdul program.
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