He found the fawning fans difficult to take, too, shaking off claims of his genius or comparisons to Shakespeare. “I'd do anything to have much less attention. That's why I became a writer instead of an actor.”
Despite the negative experiences, Hanson remains an active Twitter user. “I am very interested in social networking and what it means, and I'm interested in other people's opinions,” he explained, saying he'll follow any TV writer he can find, from creators to critics.
Now that he's filtered out some of the noise, he finds Twitter has become a clearinghouse of interesting links and, sadly, an obituary channel. For example, he discovered one of his favourite singer/songwriters, John Bottomley, died — news he suspects wouldn’t have reached him for months otherwise.
“Let's call it an illusion of knowing what's going on that I like,” he added, saying he checks in on Twitter five or six times a day.
“And let's say there's a couple hundred people who holler at me on Twitter. I have thousands and thousands who might be interested in photos from the set, or musings on what happened this day on Bones, or what it's like to be a TV writer in LA, or what it's like to be a Canadian living in LA. That's generally what I tweet about for that quiet audience of 32,000 who are interested for whatever reason in what I have to say about what my day-to-day life is like.”
If The Finder is a success he may find his quiet audience numbers burgeoning even further — and find himself being hollered at by two shows’ fanbases. But that seems a better alternative than having no shows at all. That was a remote possibility in the weeks leading up to the network upfronts, when the renewals of seemingly sure-thing Bones and FOX-mate House were held up by licensing issues.
“My pal (House creator) David (Shore) and I are looking at each other and saying, ‘did you know there’d be this much difficulty going into this season?’ It’ll happen, there just has to be a lot of screaming and yelling and noise.”
So network negotiations sound a lot like Twitter.
Article comments
— go to most recent comments1 - Sophie
Having read somewhere that Mr. Hanson was joining Twitter, I so felt sorry for him. He obviously knew not what he was doing. Not Gormagon, not Epps, not the Gravedigger nor the crazy woman who shot Booth could even touch the dark and twisted ninth circle of hell of a mind of the uber-fan. Personally, I watch TV for the fun of it and I think Bones is one of the funnest shows on television. I'm just glad that Mr. Hanson survived the everyone's-a-critic experience and lived to tell the tale.
2 - Eric
As bad as the pilot of The Finder episode was. Hanson will not have to worry about being hollered at by two fan bases. The Finder will not last for more than one season. Most likely not even the full season. The Finder was just plain BAD.
3 - Laura
Mr. Hanson is correct. Some of his fans, me included, enjoy the behind the scenes pictures and updates. I am sorry that a few ruined the experience for the many who would like to interact with Mr Hanson.
4 - carolyn
to me mr. hanson has his reputation as showrunner/and his twitter page is reasons fans keep the off button pressed.
5 - Jenny
I adore Bones and I get that Mr Hanson has had some bad experience with twitter but honestly now all of his followers and people that respond to him (who aren't his friends) are at least slightly insane? Honestly twitter is a lot like life, you have people on it from all walks of life. I find it a little sad that he only highlights the negative experience, going completely past the fact that it's the same people who organise things like Project Bones (raising money for charity, making yearbooks and other cool stuff), who travel from all over the world to go to Comic Con or Paley Fest to support the show. Who have formed friendships over the show and on twitter. All I'm saying is it's not all bad and it would be great if he'd highlight the good stuff too. If we're reflecting but that probably wouldn't be interesting to read for the average fan/reader.
6 - gordon
mr.hanson has hurt his reputation as a showrunner/and twitter is a big reasons why.
7 - Jen
Hart Hanson and Stephen N have hurt their reputations through Twitter and through interviews because of their negative views of fans. SN's comment about fans wanting porn almost makes me want to quit watching Bones. They are insulting even to respectful "super fans." What they don't understand is there are super fans that are not on the internet because they didn't grow up using it. Think about it. Even David's generation (mine) has been slow to use the internet.
8 - Diane Kristine
Jenny, if you read again you'll see he's not at all saying all his followers are slightly insane, and in fact he says the vast majority just want to hear about life on the set. He said he encountered a "number of people" he couldn't deal with, and to avoid them he ends up avoiding everyone he doesn't choose to follow. If Twitter had a nutjob filter I'm sure he'd use that instead .
9 - BamaBelle
Twitter just makes it easier for all the crazies (who once led quiet, pale-faced lives in their basements) to experience the world under an umbrella of anonymity. 'Anti-social media users' is the perfect term for these folks who don't seem to understand that screaming and yelling at people they don't know from Adam is unacceptable behavior. I don't think Hart Hanson was being disrespectful! He simply made an observation about how human interaction has changed because of this new fangled thing called the internet. They can yell all they want, but at the end of the day, they're still hiding in the basement, and Hart Hanson is still turning out intelligent television.
10 - gordon
take a look at hart hanson twitter page/IT is offensive.
11 - Lisa
I'm pretty sure that "carolyn" and "gordon" are the same nutjob.
12 - Teresa
Dear Ms. Kristine Twitter has a "nutjob filter", and it's called "Block" command. If we are just talking about a "number of people", as you said answering to Jen, why not blocking those people who certainly inhabit this sometimes anti-social network and continue to respond to those who have always had great respect for his persona and his work, even when they have criticized him... respectfully?
13 - Denis McGrath
To Teresa, and to all the "highly offended" people commenting here. I think you all need to step back and recognize a basic lesson of the math involved here. If any of you also sport 38 000 followers, as Mr. Hanson does, please excuse the following because it's likely to sound patronizing. But I'm going to assume that none of you have anything close to 38 000 followers.
Now, when you get up into that number, it is impossible for one person to manage responses. The "block" command is not adequate. Is Hanson, in the midst of managing his multimillion dollar business, supposed to spend hours everyday managing his twitter feed? Because that's what it would take.
Say only 5% of Hanson's followers are problematic, offensive, or batshit crazy.
That's 1900 people. Close to 2000 people.
How about you count from 1 to 2000 out loud right now. See how long it takes you to do. That's not considering what they have to say. That's just, say, one a second to acknowledge existence.
But wait. You can't do that -- because you don't immediately know who the nuts are. No, sorry. Fraid you're going to have to count to 38 000.
Go ahead. We'll wait. I'd grab a bottle of water before you start, though.
Check your outrage. This is not a human scaled problem. Walk in the shoes before you criticize, and if you can't picture what those shoes might be, then at least extend a quality of mercy for the fact that, you know, you don't really know what you're talking about.
TV writing is punishing and time consuming. If you're a fan of BONES, and you watch the show and like it, your contract with Hanson is fulfilled. He owes you nothing. Stow your entitlement, and when you're finished counting to 38 000, maybe you'll have a slightly different perspective.
14 - cabri
I've enjoyed Mr Hanson's tweeting quite a bit and mourn the fact that he had to cut us off. Partly, of course, because I want to be the opinionated one that gets heard (after all my opinion is the only one that counts!), but also just because I enjoy the occasional give and take with the various writers I follow. TV writers, media writers, tech writers -- it doesn't matter, they're all smarter than the average loon and after decades of dealing with loonies it's nice to have an intelligent and civilized conversation every once in a while.
15 - Teresa
Dear Denis McGrath,
first of all I never said I was "highly offended" by Mr. Hanson behavior.
Second, nobody put a gun on your head when you decide to open a Twitter account and you are a public personality, so expecting to have less followers than HH reached when he joined this social network would it be really naïve of him, and I don’t think he is naïve, at all.
That said, using your math: given you have 38000 followers and a 5% of problematic people, this means, in a page of Twitter (with 30 tweets shown), you have an average of 2 messages (1,5 to be precise) that can be “problematic”, while the other are probably just innocent questions, which make the “problem” less huge than it appear, and given Mr. Hanson chose to find the time to answer to the fans before, I don’t really think the problem was wasting his time now.
He just chose not to read anymore, which " I already said " it’s a respectable decision, but I have the impression he lost the possibility to interact with interesting/honest/polite/intelligent people, as we lost our occasion to interact with him, and this just because a few didn’t know how to behave.
He was wrong when he decided not to interact with fans anymore? Probably not.
Is that a pity? Yes.
And that's the point: I wasn’t criticize his decision and I never walked in other people shoes, suggestion very wise, on the other hand, proposal you should follow yourself before being so snotty toward people who was basically just saing they were sorry that a misbehave of few people have led Mr. Hanson to this decision.
Have a nice day.
16 - gordon
lisa, are you sure you don't work for hanson.
17 - Denis McGrath
Teresa, you prove the point. You offered the block button as an alternative. It is not. That's a foolish and simplistic choice. As for the rest of it, if it doesn't apply to you, why do you choose to take offence at it?
This is the essence of how one person can never hope to respond to the mob -- even the polite mob. Was I to take the time to craft each comment I made and direct it individually to the commenter that it best represented? Was I supposed to qualify each thing so that there was no chance that Teresa and 37 999 other Teresas would have no possibility of taking umbrage?
It's untenable. You seem more interested in taking offence than visualizing the problem. And that, too, is part of the problem.
18 - Teresa
Oh, and I forgot to add that to be completely honest I would like to know why if he doesn't care about people's opinion on Twitter who do not represent the average fan because they yell more than the others (and I’m quoting) he chose, on the other hand, not to interact to everybody in this social network just because a few were yelling at him, do they represent the average Twitter user?
This seams to be a contradiction to me.
19 - Teresa
Really? Of 20 lines of answer you just chose to visualizing me taking your opinion as personal offense more than give a logic and rational objection to my doubts about your reasoning? You are absolutely right, it's untenable and a big part of the problem :)
20 - Diane Kristine
Teresa, I don't follow the syntax of your comment 18 and it's certainly not a direct quote of anything he said, but in response to why a block isn't the same as a nutjob filter: you have to see the nutjobs' comments before you block them, and there isn't a finite number of them. By not paying attention to a reply page, you eliminate the initial aggravation as well as ongoing aggravation.
21 - Teresa
Diane, (first of all sorry if I make mistakes, but I'm not English mother tongue), in my comment I meant that Hart Hanson always said that the fanbase on Twitter do not represent the opinion of the majority of the Bones fans, he repeatedly said that just because someone yell louder than the others doesn't mean he have to listen to them, which is absolutely true. But if this is his opinion, why listening to someone on Twitter that clearly do not represent the whole Twitter world, precluding to everyone to have a decent and respectful interaction with him, just because those few yell louder or they are more insulting than the others?
I hope I explained myself better.
22 - Diane Kristine
Thanks, I get you now (and your English is better than any of my attempts at a second language). The only answer I can give is that fans interacting with showrunners is not a right, and he has a right to use Twitter in a way that makes it fun for him and doesn't cause him to despair of humanity.
23 - BamaBelle
Denis McGrath is absolutely right. Visualize the problem as a whole, people. The problem is not the inadequacy of the 'block' button, but rather the existence of human beings with underdeveloped interpersonal communication skills who hide behind the internet to carry out their delusional rants.
Hart Hanson knows these folks don't represent his entire fan base because unlike the ASMU's, he's not hiding in a basement. These yellers and screamers don't exist in large numbers, but because they make so much noise on the internet, it appears that they do. Would these anti-social media users have the audacity to scream at a television writer in the flesh? Highly doubtful because that would require them to leave their basements to interact with something with an actual pulse. Ah, technology...
24 - osteon
Teresa, I agree with Mr. McGrath. Why take offense if in your heart you know that you are not one of the crazies?
Fans were given opportunity - a PRIVILEGE - to interact with HH&Co., but they have certainly abused it. If you are frustrated because the behavior of the ASMUs have lead Hart Hanson to rid himself of the crazies by not responding to and interacting with them anymore, thereby depriving you of an opportunity to interact with him, do not take it out on him; he's within his RIGHTS to do so.
25 - Me
Hart is extremely sensitive and that's the reason why I think he has no reason on twitter. He has a hard time accepting any criticism even from the friendly fans so then him and Stephen attack. Even when reporters or bloggers bring up issues they have with the show, Hart and Stephen get extremely defensive. I like the behind the scenes photos and things like that but in the long run, I wish he would just leave twitter.