'4400' Fans Plant Seeds of Hope

Got a hankering for sunflower seeds? Dill pickle-flavored sunflower seeds, maybe? Then hit up your sources at USA Network.

Fans of The 4400 are trying to flood the NBC Universal owned cable channel with the snacks in a last-ditch attempt to revive the sci-fi skein, which was cancelled in December after four seasons. Reruns appear Wednesdays at 3 a.m., according to USA's Web site.

The seeds are a tribute to one of the show's characters, Dr. Kevin Burkhoff (played by Jeffrey Combes). Burkoff is a fan of the snack in the show, which is about 4,400 people who reappear on Earth after having vanished in a beam of white light.

Fans have posted a link to a North Dakota distributor, Giant Snacks LLC, to order seeds for shipment to USA honcho Bonnie Hammer at 30 Rock. The Web site in turn has a link to “Save The 4400.”

4400 fans' choices include $5 for a 1.75 oz. bag; $20 for a 20-count bag of seed packets or $20 for a 12-count bag of dill pickle flavored seeds, including shipment. The site notes that 6,000 packages have been ordered and were shipped last week to New York.

(Dill pickle? We think we speak for most when we say “Blecch!”)

This isn't the first bury-'em-with-unwanted-junk attempt by fans to save a show. Arrested Development fans shipped foam balls to Fox and Invasion aficionados shipped bottled water to ABC executives, both to no avail.

But a peanut shipping effort on behalf of Jericho on CBS was credited, in part, for bringing that show back this month. (NBCU's Sci Fi Channel recently began airing Jericho reruns.)

As for The 4400, USA execs did not respond to questions about the possibility of the show returning to the schedule.

As for the seeds, they are destined for New York area food banks, according to the network.

Mangers Croons For Good Cause

Dennis Mangers, president of the California Cable Telecommunications Association is normally seen treading the halls of the state capitol, shaking hands.

But on Feb. 20 he'll be shaking something else — and it's all for charity.

Mangers has agreed to be one of the entertainers for “Blues for Baby & Me,” a fundraisers for Sacramento's Mercy Hospital Perinatal Recovery Network. He'll be in a “really tight jumpsuit” as Elvis, crooning “Jailhouse Rock” and “Blue Suede Shoes.”

The executive notes that the charity picked his role.

“How they decided a 67-year-old guy should be Elvis, I don't know. But it's for a good cause,” he said.

The program is an outpatient alcohol and drug addition program for pregnant women.

It's Alright, Ma, It's Only Cable

One television screenwriter got a little extra compensation for his family this week without going on strike.

If writer Rod Spence, who penned the Hallmark Channel's The Good Witch, were to pitch a story about how the deal went down, it might go something like this: Guy does interview with local paper in Evansville, Ind. Says he's there for a viewing party with his mom, Katherine. Seems guy's mother hadn't seen the movie he wrote for Hallmark because Mom doesn't have cable. Guy's employer thinks Mom should have cable, given that guy's movie earned the channel its second highest rating in its history (3.8 household rating, seen in 3.2 million cable homes, according to the channel). Mom gets cable.

Yes, once Hallmark heard about the article, it contacted the local provider, Insight Communications, to work out a deal to get Spence's mother a year's worth of free cable service. Her cable was installed last week.