#SaveTimeless Campaign Turns Times Square into ‘Timeless’ Square
Timeless fans aren’t giving up! On November 28th, they’ll be taking over two billboards in Times Square in the hopes of drawing everyone’s attention to the critically-acclaimed time-travel drama once again.
With a month until the bonus episode air, the timing is anything but coincidental. Hoping to catch traffic from the tree lighting at 30 Rock. The #SaveTimeless fan campaign hopes to grab the attention of thousands of new viewers.
Alyson Lamble, one of the chairs of the #SaveTimeless campaign discussed the date choice in a press release.
“We were already well into planning the billboards and considering dates when NBC announced the December 20 air date for the bonus episodes in late October. As soon as we were able to confirm availability for the billboard locations on the 28th, it just felt right,” said Lamble in a press release.
“Times Square is, of course, a major tourist destination any time of year, but even more so over the holidays. With the Christmas Tree lighting ceremony at 30 Rock bringing added traffic into the city on that date, tens of thousands of people are going to see our message, with the potential to spread even further on social media. It was an opportunity we couldn’t pass up,” said Lamble.
The thirty-second spot begins with a teaser advertising the show’s premise – “What would you do if you had a time machine? Would you change the past or try to protect it?” – and then include information about how to watch the series on Hulu, and Christmas-themed messaging advertising the bonus episodes airing on NBC.
The slot will run ten times per hour in a 24-hour period in the following locations.
Location #1 – Above the McDonald’s on Broadway between 46th and 47th streets. The 31’H x 55’W screen faces west onto the Broadway pedestrian plaza, adjacent to the TKTS booth and Duffy Square.
Location #2 – Above the Disney Store on Broadway between 45th and 46th streets. The 41’H x 72’W screen also faces west onto Times Square.
The #SaveTimeless fan campaign has been busy throughout the summer and fall following a successful flight of their 4,000 square-foot banner over San Diego Comic Con.
The campaign raised more than $23,000 in less than two weeks to fund the flyover with a second helicopter to videotape the stunt for fans that were not able to be there in person.
In the wake of their flight, the #SaveTimeless fan campaign has coordinated their efforts on social media, been in contact with the production studio, Sony Pictures Television, as well as contacting various streaming outlets in an effort to find Timeless a new home.
They also launched a website SaveTimeless.com where new viewers and returning fans can track the campaign-related projects and get involved in the group’s efforts.
Another group went to LA Comic-Con the weekend before Halloween to staff a table all three days of the convention, spreading the word about the show and the two new episodes. The convention attracted 106,000 attendees and gave the campaign a chance to meet with Timeless co-star Annie Wersching, who plays Rittenhouse operative Emma Whitmore.
Timeless ran for two seasons on NBC, following historian Lucy Preston (Abigail Spencer), Delta Force Operative Wyatt Logan (Matt Lanter), and software engineer/pilot Rufus Carlin (Malcolm Barret) as they traveled through time, fighting an evil shadow organization known as Rittenhouse.
Each week, viewers are taken to a different era in American History as Rittenhouse attempts to alter events for their own nefarious purposes.
The team meets historical figures such as Marie Curie, Hedy Lamarr, Ernest Hemingway, Abraham Lincoln, and John F. Kennedy while taking viewers back to events like The Hindenburg Disaster, Watergate, the Moon Landing, and the day Reagan was shot.
The series was praised for its honest portrayal of lesser-known historical figures from Bass Reeves, the first black U.S. Marshal of the West, and Katherine Johnson, one of the women who helped win the space race. The show also highlighted stories of women, people of color, and the LGBTQ community.
Timeless also has the rare distinction of being saved not once, but twice. Fan outcry brought the show back from the Season 1 cancellation, giving viewers a 10-episode second season.
Following the season finale, Timeless Season 2 Episodes 9 & 10, “The General/Chinatown,” it was canceled again with the hope of a movie. The successful banner flight over San Diego Comic-Con was instrumental in getting the two bonus episodes airing December 20th.
Fans are hoping for a third save so that the Time Team can continue their adventures.
Two more episodes of Timeless will air Thursday, December 20th on NBC. You can catch up on Seasons 1 & 2 on Hulu.
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Lauren Busser
Lauren Busser is an Associate Editor at Tell-Tale TV. She is a writer of fiction and nonfiction whose work has appeared in Bitch Media, Popshot Quarterly, Brain Mill Press Voices, and The Hartford Courant.