Over the past few years, Scandal has become one of America’s primetime drama television series. This loaded television show can be a bit ridiculous at times with the elaborate plot lines and over the top dramatics, but thousands of people continue to tune-in weekly to watch. The show is so diverse and versatile attracting such a broad audience from former Presidents to the average American mother (Bravo,2014). Scandal’s massive following of dedicated and loving fans has helped grow the shows’ popularity and has allowed the actors to receive major recognition for their shocking on-screen behavior.
Whether people like the drama of a soap opera or the mystery of a lawsuit, Scandal appeals to a wide range of audiences. Fans are constantly re-writing scenarios about Olivia Pope and President Grant’s affair. They are creating new outrageous scandals that the professional crisis management office must solve. In the show the members of the Pope and Associates team refer to themselves as “gladiators” in suits. This term has quickly spread to the fans who now consider themselves gladiators as well (ABC). There are many websites and blogs set up that are only targeted towards Scandal that help fans express their attitudes and feelings about the drama that appears in the show. People are constantly reviewing and commenting to stir up any controversy they can to get a rise out of some people. ABC has set up a few websites dedicated to fan-based content. These websites include a home page with upcoming details on new episodes, a photo gallery, a comment section and review page allowing fans to post their thoughts and feelings about the show.
In 2013, a rumor was going around the fan fiction world of ABC’s Scandal that one of the top fan bloggers was revealed to be an employee of the ABC network. Fans were outraged that they have been listening to the most influential voice of Scandal without knowing she is a part of the network. The director of special sales for the ABC network, Courtney Pajor created a fake twitter account, @Scandal411 which soon had one of the biggest fan following of any other Scandal accounts. All 26,000 (Nededog,2013) of her followers checked her page daily for recent updates and just curiosity of the show.
The Wrap, which is “the leading digital news organization covering the business of entertainment and media”,(Nededog,2013) began investigatng this Twitter scandal and found that @Scandal411 also had a related website, Scandal411.com. Once the investigation started, Pajor quickly set her @Scandal411 page on private and created a new Twitter account under the name of @GrantForPrez which soon was quickly deleted when her identity was displayed in the media. “The accusations range from incidents as minor as calling other fans crazy and tweeting f*** you atas when Kerry Washington didn’t win the Best Actress Emmy in September to attacking journalists, all unbecoming behavior for an employee of the network,”(Nededog,2013).
It was said to believe that Pajor used her internal connections with the network to promote messages to the public, which resulted in “plot inconsistency.” (Nededog,2013). This inappropriate behavior that came from the ABC employee sure stirred up major controversy within the fanfiction world. But in the contrary, could Pajor just be a fan of the show and happens to be an employee of ABC as well. Some may argue that she should not be limited and have her rights of free speech taken away just because she has a relationship with the network. In a way, Pajor was just being involved in the participatory culture of fandom. But, the reason why so many people got upset was because she was knowledge that was unknown to many of the fans. “ Show bloggers and fans have said that Pajor has crossed the line in her exchanges with fans and journalists who don’t share her opinions,” (Nededog,2013).
Pajor’s reputation in the online world of Scandal has actually helped the network by increasing the show’s social media interaction. “Socialguide ranked it the seventh most-tweeted show of 2013, with 3.5 million interactions over the first six months of this year,” (Nededog,2013). It is unsure if Pajor got fired from the network or not but some believe that her actions were intentional to gain more attention and popularity for the show but ABC claims to have no ties or acknowledgement of this going on.
As Scandal continues to grow in popularity, the more fans become intrigued with the show itself. Many issues such as race and gender equality, politics, infidelity, and others are all components of the show that attract such a large audience of people.
References
ABC. ABC Sandal fans. Wordpress. Retrieved from http://abcscandalfans.com/about/
Bravo Media LLC. (2014) Scandal’s steamy fan fiction. Bravo. Retrieved from http://www.bravotv.com/watch-what-happens-live/season-9/videos/scandals-steamy-fan-fiction
Nededog, J. ( 23 October 2013). Contentious ‘Scandal’ fan blogger exposed as ABC sales director (exclusive). The Wrap. Retrieved from http://www.thewrap.com/prominent-contentious-scandal-fan-blogger-revealed-abc-sales-director-exclusive/
Scandal Fan Site (11 April 2014). Scandal. TV Film News. Retrieved from http://scandalfans.com/
Photo: Retrieved