Fan Culture @ Swarthmore

   Check this article out.    If you know me at all, you probably know that I am a diehard fan of Friday Night Lights on NBC (Fridays at 9 o’clock).      This New York Times article about the show brings up some very compelling points about the current trend of branding and marketing of television shows and how fandom has come to be a necessity of a product’s success.   Basically she argues that the show is a stand alone product and without the sort of active fanbase most runaway hit shows possess, it is doomed and inevitably headed for cancellation.  Interesting read.      Don’t know how disappointed I am that their won’t be any Slash fan fiction of a romance between Smash Williams and Tim Riggins.  That would throw off my whole world.     In response to this article, stand up comedian Aziz Ansari from the MTV2 sketch comedy show ”Human Giant” wrote a blog post called “Friday Night Lights: The Smash Williams Chronicles” with a hilarious premise of the show’s star running back being recruited by the CIA.  Who cares if it is intended to be ironic?  Any active fan activity for this diamond in the rough of a show is fine by me.