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Petition To Bring Back Constantine Near 50,000 Signatures

It’s been gone for months, but with a resurgence of interest following Matt Ryan’s appearance on […]

It’s been gone for months, but with a resurgence of interest following Matt Ryan’s appearance on Arrow earlier this month, Constantine fans have renewed their efforts to bring the show back from the dead.

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Here’s what they have to say on a Change.org petition that has reached almost 50,000 signatures:

“The dark supernatural TV series Constantine originally aired on NBC for one 13 episode season only to be cancelled. This left a very strong and avid fanbase without any network for their show to call home. Constantine needs to be saved by another network to give the fans closure. This situation would be a win for both sides. The network to pick it up will receive a boost in ratings and revenue while the fans will be able to see their beloved show live once more. On November 4th, 2015, it was proved that the Constantine fan base is still very much alive as evidenced by the reception to the character’s appearance on the 5 episode of Arrow‘s fourth season. We encourage you to sign this petition to show the various networks available to pick this show up that there is in fact interest for the show to live on.”

Arrow‘s Constantine crossover episode incorporated elements from the defunct series, most obviously series star Matt Ryan, and saw a bump in the ratings from previous episodes this year. It’s also the most highly-rated episode of Arrow ever in our TV Database:

The petition is targeting El Rey Network (who air Constantine reruns), The CW (who air Arrow), Netflix, Yahoo Screen, AMC, and the USA Network. In the case of USA, the thinking is that it’s a cable net with ties to NBC, who aired the original 13 episodes.

It’s arguably been harder for Constantine to attract new audiences because digital sales of the existing season were ceased on Amazon, Vudu, iTunes and other services earlier this fall. It’s unclear whether this could be in preparation for a potential DVD release, as some fans hope, or just to force fans looking to catch the show to watch on El Rey.

While NBC wasn’t able to keep Constantine afloat — officially I think the answer was that it cost too much — it’s worth noting that with similar numbers, Constantine could be a legitimate hit on cable. Fridays at 10 p.m., where the show aired, is the second-lowest-rated time slot in TV. Still, the series averaged a solid .9 in the all-important 18-49 demographic . Arrow has done slightly better than 1.0 so far this season, and obviously that’s one of CW’s biggest hits.