The Fall of the Letter Reads

[Torgo]

I've been watching some MST lately. I always liked the letter reads during the CC era. They made the show seem more personal with its fanbase. But the last letter they read was in Escape 2000 (not counting Peanut's letter in Deadly Mantis). We all know the reason why the Invention Exchange was dropped was because the prop comedy was Joel's baby, but has there ever been a reason why the letter's ceased? Did they become sparse? Did they start the eighth season intending to do them as they began getting mail in reference to the Sci-Fi era but just kind of fell into a new groove? And what about Scarecrow's brain?

I also miss "Push the Button." It gave the episode better finality than the simple fade out. I liked that small homage to it in Diabolik when Pearl pulled the plug. While I grew up with the show during the Sci-Fi era, these are little details from the earlier years that gave the show more personality and I'm a bit disappointed they weren't maintained.

[dph]

I think it's because they felt it kinda grinded the show to a halt, so they did away with it. That's what I heard at least. It wouldn't have made much sense anyway since they were lost in time and space for Season 8.

[Crowfan]

I loved the letters. I wrote a letter in hopes that it would be read on the show(it wasn't). But I think by the time the show went to the then "Sci Fi Channel" they wanted a story arc and as dph pointed out, they were also lost in time and space.

I'm old enough to remember when Comedy Central was going to cancel the show. There was a huge letter writing campaign, yes, we wrote letters back then in the old days, kids, and I for one was thrilled when Sci Fi decided to pick up the show. They made some changes, like the story arc, for example. When the shows were repeated, if they were out of order the host segments would not make sense, especially for those who hadn't seen the show before, which I always thought took away for new people. Just my two cents worth.

[Monophylos]

I thought the letter-reading segment often struck a sour note at the end of the show. Joel would often seem bored when reading them, stumbling over the text, and occasionally they'd make fun of the letter. Awkward, especially when it was clear that the letter-writer was probably some excited kid.

[Torgo]

Aug 3, 2014 8:05:05 GMT -5 dph said:

I think it's because they felt it kinda grinded the show to a halt, so they did away with it. That's what I heard at least. It wouldn't have made much sense anyway since they were lost in time and space for Season 8.

If you want to get technical, the fact that Dr. Forrester allowed them to get fan mail in the first place didn't make sense, since it boosted their morale.

[Triple_sSs]

Yeah, the letter readings was one of the things I liked most from the show, it was great to see Joel & Mike interact with the fans like that. I kinda miss that aspect of the show when I watch Sci-Fi era episodes.

[Mod City]

I liked the letters, personally. It gave the show that local-cable-access feel to it. And "push the button" is, indeed, the best way to end the show.

[nondescript spice]

eh, i wasn't a huge fan of the letters. they were funny sometimes, but i think it was more joel's thing and it didn't seem to fit as well with mike - though he did a good job with them too. even so, if they read a letter from me and made fun of it, i would consider it a badge of honor.