Or, to be more specific. At us. You and me. I wanted to title this post “Showtime Prez Affirms His Belief in Kickstarter,” but then I got all freaked about people missing the irony…and my anger.
Cuz Showtime President David Nevins wasn’t being positive about Kickstarter in any way when he mentioned it the other day. In fact, he was being a dick. In other words, if you think the Borgia family is a bag of bad, wait’ll you get a load of this guy.
According to the Hollywood Reporter, Nevins was on his way into the Beverly Hilton Hotel for a Television Critics Association press tour event when he saw a protester with a message to save Showtime’s recently cancelled series, THE BORGIAS.
His first reported response was the “right” one, as in:
“You can’t do it all. I would love to do the final two-hour movie, but you have to marshal your resources and put it behind things that you think have future growth,” Nevins tells The Hollywood Reporter of the save-our-show campaign.”
But then Nevins went on to complain that he’d talked to the protester “and he’d never watched the show. He’s a paid protester.”
Which led to his next comment, referred to in the Reporter article as “a message to The Borgias dedicated and vocal fan base:”
“‘Kickstarter seems to be the financing mode du jour,’ he says.”
Considering that a Kickstarter campaign to continue a much-loved TV series in some form can only be initiated by those who, you know, own the rights to the series, Nevins either was demonstrating remarkable ignorance for somebody who’s supposed to be smart enough to run a network, or it was a dick move, pure and simple, an asshole way of showing his contempt for fans. And by fans I mean those who support Showtime by subscribing and watching its output.
Congratulations, David Nevins. TVWriter™ is proud to make you our first Very Special Television Dickwad of the Week.
Hmm, I like this idea. Something tells me we’ll be doing it again. There are lots of candidates in the wings, that’s for sure.
Thank you so much for the article and for giving such great awards when they are truly deserved. My belief is that he knew all to well that fans couldnt start a Kickstarter He apparently said the next day or so to interested fans who called and asked, that he was’nt at all serious when he suggested Kickstarter. He is truly deserving of this award. Thank you.
One of thousands of those crazy Borgia Fans