Late last week I received a “tweet” pointing me towards a new petition forming on Facebook urging MTV to bring their 2000 series 2gether to DVD.  I gotta say, the rash of petitions on Facebook these days wavers between intimidating and irritating (I frankly don’t care for Nickelback or pickles), but it just so happens that the wife and I have found ourselves pondering why MTV hasn’t released 2gether for years now.  It was a brilliant spoof, operating as both an earnest love letter to the boy band genre, and an irreverent take on their pop culture status.  And the music, the songs are hilarious!

I immediately joined the group and got a pretty quick thank you reply from Kelly, the creator of the petition.

 We exchanged a couple emails and she has been gracious enough to give us some insight into her journey to bring this now 10 year old sitcom to home video.

MH: Introduce yourself for us.
K: My name’s Kelly, and I’m from England. I started this petition because, like many fans, I’d love to see 2gether on DVD. I contacted Mark Gunn via Facebook a while back to ask about the broadcasting rights and who I could contact to get the series rebroadcast (I had been contacting the British TV channel ‘Trouble’, who showed 2gether in the UK, but they had recently gone bust) and he said a DVD release was more likely than any rebroadcasting. He mentioned starting a petition and suggested the target of 5,000 and if I did that, he’d help find the right executive at MTV to target. I recently decided to start a petition on Facebook, so I contacted Mark again to see if his offer still stood, which it did, and the petition was born!

MH: What has been the response so far from fans?
K: The response from 2gether fans has been amazing! We’ve got 1,000 members in five days. I’m very grateful to everyone that’s joined!

MH: What about the producers or stars of the show?
K: The response has been great!  There are a lot of 2gether related people in the group, most notably Kevin Farley (who played Doug) and producers Mark and Brian Gunn. Also, Evan Farmer (who played Jerry) tweeted about the petition on his Twitter page!

MH: You went with Facebook, do you have plans to expand the petition into other social networking sites etc.?
K: What I’ve done so far to promote the page includes posting videos on YouTube, using the fanpage on Facebook to advertise the page, promoting it on 2gether related websites (Wikipedia, TV.com, the fansite 2gether 4 Infinity) and I’ve sent approximately 600 messages to people in 2gether Facebook groups and people who have commented on YouTube videos.  I am using other sites (Myspace, Twitter) in order to promote the Facebook page, but not as an extension of the petition itself as I’d like all the fans to be in one place when we show it to MTV, instead of scattered all over various sites!

MH: MTV took quite some time to get the very popular show The State on home video, do you think you’ll have a similar lengthly battle with 2gether?

K: I have read up on The State and it appears the DVD was delayed for so long due to copyright issues with the music used on the show. Daria had a similar problem. However, 2gether only contains original material, so if MTV decide to release it, they shouldn’t have much of a problem with copyright!  The day I stop fighting to get 2gether on DVD is the day MTV releases it!  I’m in this for the long haul, and I won’t let anyone down!

MH: Why now?
K: There are certain advantages and disadvantages to beginning our petition now. The main disadvantage is that it’s much more difficult to locate 2gether fans. Back in 2000, there were countless fansites, and I bet we’d have got the 5,000 in the blink of an eye.  However, one big advantage is the prominence of social networking sites like Facebook.  It makes it much easier to advertise and spread the word!  Our main advantage, of course, is the help of co-creator Mark Gunn, for which I am very grateful. There have been many online petitions to get 2gether on DVD in the past, but I doubt any of them had a strong end plan like ours!  MTV are pretty difficult to contact, so even if these old petitions had a lot of support, I doubt they would have succeeded in getting them noticed.  I think 2gether is more relevant today than it was, say, five years ago. Boybands disappeared around 2002-2003, but nowadays, we are seeing a recurrence of the ‘cheesy, teenybopping pop’ which 2gether mocked, with artists such as The Jonas Brothers, Justin Bieber, and Miley Cyrus. A great aspect of 2gether‘s appeal is that it can be enjoyed both by people who love that type of music and people who hate it!

MH: What is your ultimate goal for a video release? Will you be happy with the series, or are you hoping for new material; commentaries, documentaries bonus CD of the music that kind of thing.

K: I would be absolutely thrilled if they released a DVD with new content or bonus material, but to be honest, I’d just be grateful for the episodes! I don’t believe in demanding that MTV include a whole host of new material. Some of the old petitions ordered MTV to include practically every 2gether appearance (TRL, live performances, audition tapes, etc). In the end, it’s up to MTV and I feel that demanding new stuff is a touch imperious and such a lack of politeness could cause hostility and a lack of willingness on MTV’s part to comply. So, I would LOVE bonus material and I will politely request that MTV include some should they release the series on DVD, but I shan’t be insistent!

MH: Any favorite memories, lines, episodes etc.?
K: The show means a lot to me. It’s been my favourite TV programme since I was 11 and I’ve never forgotten it. I’m lucky that I taped the episodes and I’ve watched them several times over the years. The albums have never been far from my CD player, and most of the top ten played songs on my iPod are 2gether! I have so many favourite lines that they would be difficult to list! I love each and every episode. One of the reasons I’d love to see a DVD is that two episodes were never broadcast in England (“Boss” and “Kiss”) so I’ve never seen them!

Thanks for the insight Kelly.  This is a truly well produced show that I think is long overdue for a little love in my DVD player.  Best of luck!