User blog:Paul.rea/Teen Wolf News 060816

 Teen Wolf News 060816



 Where’s Dylan?

Seriously. I’m asking you because I don’t know. Dylan O'Brien has never been one to share his private life on social media. At most he would show up in Tyler Posey’s Vines, someone else’s Instagram or would once in a while post about the New York Mets or maybe respond to a fan.

He’s just never felt the need to interact online so it’s no surprise to most folks that Dylan has been silent on social media since before his accident on the set of The Death Cure. It’s no surprise but, paired with the lack of an official update on his condition, his total absence from the social sphere is behind a rising anxiety among fans.

The most recent photo of Dylan, taken by a privacy-invading fan as the actor left the doctor, came at the end of April. It’s no wonder folks, whose fandom hearts belong to Dylan, are becoming stressed. Is it so wrong that we need to know he’s okay and smiling?

 MTV Resumes Teen Wolf Social Media-ing

MTV’s “Fan Interaction” department got back to work this week posting a gallery of BTS images on Tumblr.

This is the first activity we’ve seen on the usually verbose account since Teen Wolf Season 5 ended some 2 months ago.

For comparison, there was a lessening of volume but no real gap in their Tumblr posts between the end of the first and second halves of Season 5 and no break at all after Season 4.

During the same “post Season 5” period, they’ve had a limited presence on Twitter but have offered a little bit of snapchat content since Season 6 started filming in February.

Since the network doesn’t talk to TWN anymore it’s a bit like Plato’s Cave over here but the shadows on the wall seem to suggest that MTV is gearing up for something by putting new people in positions to start promoting the show on social again.

 5 Years of Teen Wolf



There were a number of ways TWN could have celebrated the five-year anniversary of Teen Wolf. Ideas around the editorial meeting ranged from FIVE OMG MOMENTS FROM TEEN WOLF to FIVE TEEN WOLF MOMENTS THAT MADE US WET OUR PANTS.

In the end we decided to let you decide which FIVE we celebrate. Post your “TOP FIVE TEEN WOLF __________” in the comments below. We’ll add them to this special Anniversary Issue in the coming days and post them at teenwolfnews.com.

 Teen Wolf Cast Celebrates #5YearsOfTeenWolf

<p class="MsoNormal">@tylergposey - Here's to five more years of the show that changed my life <span style="font-family:"SegoeUISymbol",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family:"SegoeUISymbol"">🍻 cheers @MTVteenwolf

<p class="MsoNormal">@ReallyCody - The short amount of time I've been blessed with has been life changing. Couldn't be more grateful. Couldn't be happier. #5YearsOfTeenWolf

<p class="MsoNormal">@ColtonLHaynes - Happy 5th bday Teen Wolf! #5YearsOfTeenWolf #JacksonWhittemore Filming this show was honestly such an incredible experience & I'm lucky to have made lifelong friendships! Sending hugs to the fans :)

<p class="MsoNormal">@MelissaPonzio1 - yayYayYAY! #5YearsOfTeenWolf :))) thanks everyone who watches & thanks everyone who makes our show possible #TeenWolfFamily #Pride #TWS6soon

<p class="MsoNormal">‏@EaddyMays - #5YearsOfTeenWolf Altered my life forever. Because of the cast, yes, but mostly because of YOU #Fanily I LOVE YOU <3

<h2 style="padding:0.2em 0.4em; margin:0 0 -20px 0; font-family:Century Gothic,serif; color:#778899; font-size:100%; font-weight:bold; text-align:left;"> How Teen Wolf Happened

<p class="MsoNormal">EDITOR’S NOTE: ''While fans and cast members celebrated the fifth anniversary of the first airing of Teen Wolf on MTV this week, the show actually began forming about two years earlier. Teen Wolf News talked with Jeff Davis about how the show came to be and why it’s lasted so long. This story first appeared on FANDOM.com.'' <p class="MsoNormal">Teen Wolf Executive ProducerJeff Davis says he wasn’t expecting much when he first met with MTV executives back in 2008. “I call them water bottle meetings because you always leave with a bottle of water and very little else. The promise of ‘doing something together’ but with typically no real commitment and or actual intention to do so.”

<p class="MsoNormal">Davis was already well versed in this type of “general meeting.” He’d spent the previous five years developing, launching and producing Criminal Minds on CBS. <p class="MsoNormal">This meeting was different though. Davis was fresh off the first show he’d created becoming a major hit. MTV was moving into scripted programming and had just hired Justin Levy, one of the minds behind NBC’s Friday Night Lights series. At the same time MGM was sifting through their vault trying to re-energize some of their old intellectual property. This confluence of events led to Davis, Levy and MTV’s President Tony Disanto sipping bottled water and talking about Teen Wolf, a 1985 movie about a teenage werewolf that plays basketball really well. <p class="MsoNormal">“While I remember the movie pretty fondly,” Davis tells us, “I also remember it didn’t quite hold up that well (remember the Wolf Dance?) and would need a lot of reinvention.” <p class="MsoNormal">MTV already had producers Marty Adelstein and Michael Thorn attached to the project and Davis was already working with them on another pilot for the SyFy channel. When the trio turned their attention to Teen Wolf, they drew on another 80s movie for inspiration. “Thorn and I talked about doing Teen Wolf in the vein of The Lost Boys,” Davis explains. “What attracted me most to the project was being able to approach the show with a sense of humor. I had loved that about The Lost Boys. That it was funny, scary, romantic and that it had a great mystery underneath with a pretty brilliant third act reveal. I thought that could easily be the paradigm for the show.”

<p class="MsoNormal">Adelstein and Thorn teamed Davis with writer René Echevarria (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, The 4400) to further the project. “They set up a meeting for us to get together and René and I totally hit it off. We essentially developed the pilot story together. While I did the outlining René was there as a producer, mentor, and great sounding board. I would pitch him ideas and he would give me his thoughts. Then we’d wrestle over problems and notes from the network.” <p class="MsoNormal">Davis says it was Echevarria that came up with some of the most memorable beats in that first Teen Wolf script. “One of my favorite moments he came up with was Scott handing Allison the pen in the classroom when they first see each other. He was truly a great partner in the process.”

<p class="MsoNormal">MTV bought the script and ordered what they call a “presentation pilot” which is a shortened version of the pilot episode. It’s cheaper to produce and can give the network suits some idea if their big idea will actually work on screen. Davis and Echevarria went to work again, “We did our best to condense it down to a manageable script leaving out most of the fifth and sixth acts.”

<p class="MsoNormal">The producers then started looking for directors. “Russell Mulcahy (Highlander) was one of our first meetings,” Davis recalls. “He came in with fantastic storyboards and great visuals to complement the script. He had storyboarded the whole shower sequence where Scott first transforms. It was his style and approach that would really make the show special and something that looked as good as what the broadcast networks were producing.” <p class="MsoNormal">Even after all the pieces were in place, after putting together an excellent cast of familiar faces and undiscovered talent, Davis says they worried that their translation of Teen Wolf would be met with derision. “There was definitely a worry about the brand and the title. We were all well aware that we were essentially making the Twilight version of Teen Wolf. There was no way to get around that comparison. We were also aware that as brilliant as Battlestar Galactica was it never quite got the viewership it deserved because of its title.” <p class="MsoNormal">While their Teen Wolf was now a totally different animal, they still paid homage to the original. “I gave plenty of nods to the original movie throughout the pilot and first season thinking those might be clever winks to the older audience. But I was certainly ready for the ‘you’re ruining my childhood’ critiques. Still, I just wanted to write something entertaining that would scare people and make them laugh. That’s what I stuck to.” <p class="MsoNormal">Why Teen Wolf Worked:

<p class="MsoNormal">Although it borrows its title from the Rod Daniel 1985 film, Davis' supernatural series is a new and unusual beast.

<p class="MsoNormal">While you’ll find all the familiar tropes of the modern teenage drama, Teen Wolfalso trades heavily on myth and allegory, energizing its episodes with inventive narrative structure, engrossing characters and a hint of social commentary. Above all though, Davis says his team always strives to entertain. “I believe that goal, of being entertaining first, is probably what led to its success.”

<p class="MsoNormal">But Davis wasn’t the only one who tried this recipe. Another teen supernatural drama started in the same month in 2011 with many of the same elements. It was on a bigger network, with an established reputation for scripted programming, and debuted to critical acclaim but The Nine Lives of Chloe King didn’t find its audience and only lasted one season.

<p class="MsoNormal">Why did things go so very differently for Teen Wolf?

<p class="MsoNormal">'''1. Conversation''' <p class="MsoNormal">Perhaps the real secret to Teen Wolf’s success is the fact that it gets fans talking. Each season, tens of thousands of fans flock to Teen Wolf forums and social media to talk about the show and its stars. Dozens of fan conventions take place each year. There’s at least one on almost every continent now.

<p class="MsoNormal">'''2. Story''' <p class="MsoNormal">The show’s episodes over five seasons manage to consistently engage and enrage Teen Wolf fans. The transformation of good guy Stiles into a murderous Japanese vengeance spirit and the subsequent death of the heroic Allison Argent in Season 3 did both.

<p class="MsoNormal">The Season 5 storyline also proved divisive to viewers. On the one hand it placed Banshee Lydia Martin in constant danger but, on the other, allows her to kick ass with a new set of powers and martial arts skills.

<p class="MsoNormal">'''3. Stiles''' <p class="MsoNormal">Type “Stiles Stilinski” into any search engine and you’ll be inundated with fan generated images and information (some of it very NSFW). At first Stiles appeared to be the “goofy best friend” on the show but quickly grew into the role of detective and unexpected hero. He is far and away the most popular character on Teen Wolf and half of one of the most popular “ships” in popular fiction today.

<p class="MsoNormal">'''4. Ships''' <p class="MsoNormal">Paired with either brooding werewolf Derek Hale, high school crush Lydia Martin or current ex-girlfriend Malia Tate, the Stilinski character has spawned fandoms all his own. Sterek, Stydia and Stalia dominate much of the online conversation (and arguments) about Teen Wolf and eclipse other character relationships like Sciles, Skria, Maleo and Scallison.

<p class="MsoNormal">'''5. Fans''' <p class="MsoNormal">Right from the start a group of dedicated (some might say obsessed) fans began to grow and this fan support is the single most important element of the show’s continued success.

<p class="MsoNormal">Starting with the very first episode people lovingly embraced the characters Davis sketched out back in 2009. Artists and authors have generated literally thousands of pieces dedicated to Teen Wolf.

<p class="MsoNormal">There’s enough Teen Wolf fanfiction now to fill more than 100 seasons of television and some of those stories have proven more popular than the show that inspired them.

<p class="MsoNormal">“I’m stunned by the pieces of art and fiction that have been created,” Davis says. “I honestly had no idea that would happen. For a writer to create characters that inspire people to go off and create their own stories and spend hours upon hours creating pieces of extraordinary art is pretty amazing. It makes me feel like the show won’t be forgotten as a guilty pleasure but will be remembered fondly and appreciated for a long time.”

<h2 style="padding:0.2em 0.4em; margin:0 0 -20px 0; font-family:Century Gothic,serif; color:#778899; font-size:100%; font-weight:bold; text-align:left;"> Teen Wolf Among the Top Tweeted Shows and why it's No Big Whoop

<p class="MsoNormal">The number of people watching a television show and the number of folks talking about the show on Twitter don’t really correlate but Nielsen (the company that does the TV viewership ratings) is still pushing the narrative. The company is out with its latest list of the Top Tweeted Shows for the television season just past.

<p class="MsoNormal">The season is measured from August 31, 2015 through May 29, 2016 and Nielsen claims nearly a billion tweets about TV were posted during the period.

<p class="MsoNormal">The Walking Dead ranks number one on the Nielsen Twitter list of television series averaging 435,000 tweets from 150,000 individuals for each episode.

<p class="MsoNormal">Nielsen only counts tweets sent in the U.S. for the three hours before the show airs to three hours after the episode finishes. They only include specific hashtags, programs names, character and talent names and handles, as well as other program-related hashtags and words.

<p class="MsoNormal">To put TWD’s numbers in perspective, with an average audience above 13 million, about 1 percent of viewers also tweet about the show.

<p class="MsoNormal">Fox Broadcasting’s Empire was second on the Nielsen Twitter list with 387,000 tweets per episode. That translates into less than 1 percent of the average 17 to 18 million viewers the show draws weekly.

<p class="MsoNormal">It makes sense that two of the most popular shows on television would also be the most talked about shows on Twitter, except The Walking Dead and Empire aren’t the most popular shows on television.

<p class="MsoNormal">The top shows for the 2015-2016 television season according to Nielsen’s own ratings were The Big Bang Theory and NCIS both on CBS. Neither of the two most popular shows even made the top ten on Twitter and while Empire did rank 5th in the overall ratings, The Walking Dead’s average numbers wouldn’t crack the Top 10 of total viewership.

<p class="MsoNormal">The same is true for the 3rd most tweeted show of the year, HBO’s Game of Thrones. While it dominated the social conversation with 252,000 tweets per episode, only about 8 million people tune in to watch the show each week.

<p class="MsoNormal">Twitter also acts as a lens distorting the social perception of other shows, like Teen Wolf, which barely register in the overall TV ratings but show up all over Twitter.

<p class="MsoNormal">Top Twitter Shows <p class="MsoNormal">The primary reason for the difference in the shows being watched and the shows being talked about is the fact that the number of folks in the US watching television far outpaces the number of folks with a twitter account. There is also the fact that Twitter users tend to skew younger, while the average age of folks watching television shows when they actually air goes higher every season.

<p class="MsoNormal">What these Twitter rankings actually show us is that sliver of the Venn diagram of folks with twitter accounts who also happen to watch TV shows on the night they air.

<h2 style="padding:0.2em 0.4em; margin:0 0 -20px 0; font-family:Century Gothic,serif; color:#778899; font-size:100%; font-weight:bold; text-align:left;"> Meet the New FAKES same as the Old FAKES

<p class="MsoNormal">New fake news sources about Teen Wolf cropped up this week. It’s becoming hard to keep up with all the nonsense.

<p class="MsoNormal">In addition to our regular list below, you can skip the following when looking for genuine new information about the show: And, of course (say it with me now) MOVIEPILOT!
 * Sportsrageous
 * Gamenguide
 * MNR Daily (which is apparently recycling our old stories)
 * The Inquisitr
 * ChinaTopix
 * News Every day
 * Day Herald
 * Mobile & Apps