SAVE DERPY

In order to be a successful television show, producers must listen to their audience. The audience consumes the media texts, applies personal experiences to the situations, feels strongly about certain situations or characters, and thus become fans and regular consumers of the text. When a  favorite character leaves the show, so do the consumers (like Grissom leaving CSI). Producers must accommodate the needs of their audience as best as they can, instead of ignoring the fact that consumers bring their desires when they watch TV, not just their ratings. A certain event has come to my attention recently, and offers the perfect narrative to explain and utilize this idea of reader-oriented criticism.

There is a growing fan base for Hasbro's My Little Pony show on the Hub. And they are mostly men. Called "bronies." Yes, bro+pony=brony. Demographically, they are 87% male, aged from their teens to their 30s, and 43% have had some college education!

Their story goes like this: An animator for the My Little Pony show crossed the eyes of a background pony as a joke, and bronies became instant fans, naming her "Derpy Hooves." What started out as a joke, became such an impressive fandom that animators moved her character from the background to the foreground. She became the "community's pony" as one fan put it, and was treated like a Where's Waldo as a challenge for viewers to spot the silly pony in the episodes. In this instance, the animators listened to their audience and adhered to their requests to their benefit.

However, things got bad. To the bronies' fury, Derpy's eyes were uncrossed, her voice was "underped" and she lost all the magic that was Derpy Hooves. Unfortunately, many critics posited that Derpy was "one big retard joke" and Hasbro complied to their requests to tone down the mentally disabled actions of the pony. Even though Ponyville is a place that fosters friendship and acceptance, Derpy just did not make the cut.

According to Gawker.com, "Bronies have become a rather unlikely internet powerhouse, but it's unlikely they'll persuade Hasbro—who must feel both blessed and cursed by a fanbase as entitled and obsessed as that of any adult sci-fi series or comic book—to restore their beloved Derpy." But this instance goes to show that the audience has heart, not just ratings for a show.