The Campaign to Save Constantine Gets...Informational

As the amount of specialty media coverage of entertainment has increased, so has the knowledge base, and in some cases the effectiveness, of fan campaigns to save endangered TV shows, comics and other such projects.

The Save Constantine campaign, taking place across social media and the Internet but headquartered at the link above, is an indicator of that expertise. The website features a petition, of course, signed by over 17,000 fans so far...but it also has a little tutorial on the importance of social media traffic to a troubled show, including the formula used by Nielsen to account for Twitter traffic in the ratings.

Constantine is regularly one of NBC's biggest performers on social media, especially now that it's common knowledge that the cast and crew are live-tweeting every episode. 

The campaign website also provides fans with e-mail and snail mail addresses to reach out to NBC, and guidelines for what makes a successful and memorable letter, with examples like no threats (even those as benign as "I'll never watch NBC again" and no form letters.

Constantine has trended up in the ratings nearly every week since its second episode, but it hasn't been enough to keep the show off the chopping block; it didn't get a back nine order and while a second season is still on the table, the network hasn't said much about it.

A new episode airs tonight at 8 p.m. ET/PT.