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Jake here, and I'd like to share with you a "fair and balanced" perspective (Fox News FTQ) on the airdate, looking at it from both sides here. Afterall, Dongbu Feng = Avatar (Dylan says CNN FTQ). Let's first look at it from Nick's perspective. Now I feel pretty confident Nick pays little to no attention to sweeps, so that does not factor into their decision-making. But consider Avatar is going off their network soon, and they need an "exit" strategy so to speak. For some shows this means rushing through the last few episodes and stuffing reruns on weekend mornings. For others, they will air the episodes weekly or bi-weekly and run promos and such. I believe the approach they are taking with Avatar will be the second one. Understand that Nick is *probably* still open to a season 4 of Avatar, but Mike and Bryan are dead set against it and Nick is respecting their wishes. But should they decide down the road to re-open the series, or do one-hour specials, they want to keep the door open and won't burn their bridges with the Avatar fandom. Likely at New York Comic Con we will know when/how the episodes are going to air for the rest of the season. This isn't definite 100% confirmed, but I'm speculating something will at least be announced during the two panels (specifically the Mike and Bryan panel). So why the delay? Like I said, they need a strategy. Knowing that Avatar is going to have movies and a possible return to their network (just speculation) they will not be reckless with Avatar. So how are they gonna pull this off with the DVDs and everything? Well DVDs can always be delayed, but I have a feeling SOMEHOW the episodes will air on TV before they are released to DVD. We will know a date soon, and they will air shortly after that. The Volume 4 DVD is supposed to come out in June. Why would they announce a second DVD if they didn't have a plan for the episodes to air on TV? Within the next two months, I'm 99.8% sure we will have seen episodes through 321. It's only a matter of time, so be patient. From a fandom perspective, it is frustrating. It seems as though Nick is neglecting us and AWS has gotten the best of us. But I assure you, Nick cares too much about us, and our money, especially the devoted online fandom. It's doubtful Nick has seen the number of websites and forums spawned as a result of Avatar before, and they see this as gold to them. The enthusiasm this fandom has shown for the show is tremendous - and Nick is not blind to this. They go to the Cons, they probably visit the fansites, there may even be some Nick employees who are posters on Avatara forums! The point I would like to make here is - I know you guys are up in arms about Nick not showing the rest of the episodes. BUT Nick is not dumb, they see the gold mine and potential for Avatar. If Nick hates Avatar, why have they licensed t-shirts, video games, trading cards, books, and other merchandise, and sold DVDs like they have? They LOVE Avatar. From a marketing perspective Avatar could not be any better: a dedicated following who will buy anything you put out and watch the episodes. So folks, realize they are only killing Avatar in our minds. One-million dollars-plus an episode and they decided to give us an extra one this season? Regardless, Nick has opened their wallets for Avatar, and we should open our minds when it comes to them. They have been kinder to us then we realize. |