The convention was somewhat different from all the others that I had attended in the last six years. Along with the cast and crew of the show, the organizers invited real life law enforcement personnel to share their knowledge and experience with fans. Good thing they did because a few weeks before the convention, there were a few cancelations from the cast.
As Liv Moreno explained, “Slowly but surely over the past two weeks prior to the start of the convention they began to pull out. First it was Lorraine Bracco who stated that she had a work scheduling conflict. Then it was Sasha who said that she had conflict. Then it was Janet who said she had a family matter. Then at six pm the day before our convention started we received an email from a Senior Vice President of the Public Relationships for Warner Brothers who told us they regretted to inform us that none of the cast or crew would be able to attend our convention.
We did ask them why. We had over 200 people attend from across the world and across the United States. We had people from as far as Australia attending this convention and we wanted to know what to tell them. And we asked very politely, ‘Please give us a reason or explanation’. We had yet to receive an answer back. We honestly don’t know what the particular issue was. We followed all of the trademark and copyright rules as well as all the additional rules, so we don’t know, which is very unfortunate because these people spent a lot of money to be here. I hoped they had a good time. I’ve had a positive feedback but at the same time this could’ve been an even more incredible experience than it was.”
So, nobody knows what really happened but I do hope that WB knows that the fans are very important to the success of any show and treating them like they didn’t matter wasn’t a good idea.
Though the Q&A sessions with the cast and crew were canceled, there were other fascinating sessions and workshops that were entertaining and enlightening for anyone interested in behind-the-scene TV work and in the law enforcement real-life cases.
fyi says
FYI, Chely has stated many times that she has lost many fans because she came out. But she has gained so much more, including her wife.