TV Enters the Blog World

Aside from the dharma Initiative and the freaky black smoke, one of the biggest mysteries on Lost has been Hugo "Hurley" Reyes' weight. Over the years, viewers have often wondered why island life hasn't trimmed down the heavyset character. In February 2005, the Web site Common Sense Isn't even jokingly speculated that Hurley "has four suitcases full of candy bars which he is hoarding for himself." Back in Hollywood, Lost's creators finally copped to bloggers' collective bitching in April 2006, when they aired an explanation: Hurley had indeed been hiding a secret supply of snacks (and ranch dressing) that he'd stored in the trees.

That won't be the last time television bows to the blogosphere. As the fall season begins, networks are increasingly relying on the online community to help determine the content and fate of shows. "TV used to be a one-way pipe -- all you got was a Nielsen number," says Lost's co-creator Carlton Cuse. "Now the audience is being completely heard on every aspect of the show. That has changed the nature of television and the kind of shows that get programmed."

Last May, when CBS abruptly canceled Jericho, blogger Shaun Daily rallied behind the post-apocalyptic series at BlogTalkRadio.com. At Daily's urging, Jericho fans mailed 40,000 pounds of nuts -- a nod to a character who said "Nuts!" during a key scene in the finale -- to CBS Entertainment president Nina Tassler. "We got intimate insight into our audience that we wouldn't have had otherwise," admits Tassler, who decided to bring Jericho back for more episodes.

CBS isn't the only network paying attention to fans online. This summer, the CW proposed aging characters by four years on its teen drama One Tree Hill. In July, more mature photos of the show's boyish hero, Lucas Scott, were leaked onto MySpace, complete with manly razor stubble. After sites such as the Big Bad Blog praised Scott's older look, the fall season went ahead as planned. "Blogs are immediate, real-time audience testing," says Michael Roberts, executive vice president at the CW. Roberts also notes that on the CW's Supernatural, a character named Gordon was promoted from a short-lived spot last season to a more prominent role this fall because of online cooing over Sterling Brown, the actor who portrays him.

Which sites do networks troll? Top bookmarks include the Futon Critic, TV Squad and the favorite, Television Without Pity. Launched in 1998 as a forum for recapping and discussing episodes of Dawson's Creek, Television Without Pity has become the Net's premier place to bitch-slap any show. The smart writing and snarky quips ("Hasta la Vista, Spy Barbie!" the site says about Alias' cancellation) has made Television Without Pity a must-click for fans -- and producers. Industry research shows that fifty-one percent of its visitors are TV professionals, and its recappers have been hired as writers for shows such as America's Next Top Model and Tough Enough.

Producers from programs including Battlestar Galactica and The Office also confirm that they surf the page. When Veronica Mars creator Rob Thomas was working on his series' first season, he used Television Without Pity forums to check viewer expectations about the show's central mystery: Who killed Lilly Kane? "I wanted to make sure our ending would be a surprise," says Thomas. When he felt fans weren't hot on the trail of Aaron Echolls, the dastardly character played by Harry Hamlin, he continued to prep that character as the murderer.

In March, Television Without Pity got a plot twist of its own: The site, whose moniker is "Spare the Snark, Spoil the Network," was purchased by Bravo, which is owned by NBC Universal. According to Jason Klarman, Bravo's executive vice president of marketing and digital, shelling out the undisclosed sum for Television Without Pity has sharpened the network's pop-culture street cred. "We would have built it if it didn't exist," he says. This month, Bravo will debut its Project Runway spinoff, Tim Gunn's Guide to Style, in part because the site's community loves Gunn so much.

Still, some network execs warn against taking the blogosphere so seriously. "If you're like a statistician, you don't care about the opinions of people who participate in blogs," says Greg Daniels, executive producer of The Office. Daniels notes that some online fans obsess more about Jim and Pam's frustrated romance than the fate of the show's star. "They don't talk about Steve Carell as much as the average fan," he says. "If we listened to them, he would have a much smaller role on the show."

But despite the dangers of following bloggers, most television scribes still can't help opening the hatch. "Blogs tell you all the reasons your show sucks," says Lost co-creator Damon Lindelof. "It's a one-way ticket to hell," confirms Cuse, "but we as writers feel a responsibility to answer questions." From Rolling Stone #1035