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If you didn't make it out Thursday night for the live movie theater broadcast of Public Radio International's "This American Life" with Ira Glass, then shame on you. Not from a snobby "I listen to NPR" perspective, but because "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" creator Joss Whedon was there performing a song from the commentary track of "Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog."

To be honest, I remember hearing that Whedon was doing something for "American Life," but for some reason, didn't put two-and-two together that what he was doing was actually for the movie event I was plunking down $20 a ticket for.

As much as I enjoyed Whedon's performance (as I knew I would once I heard his name teased at the beginning of the program), there was one story shared by a special guest that really had me thinking afterward.

I can't remember his name, but he shared a rather funny, but moving, story about how his car was hit by a drunken driver. However, he ended up being told he had to pay $12,000 to fix the drunken driver's car because the police officer writing the report screwed up which car was at fault.

It was clearly the drunken driver, as he T-boned the other guy's car, and then even tried to drive off. The speaker could've died in that accident, but luckily walked away with very minor injuries.

However, no one would listen to him about having to shell out $12,000 when he wasn't at fault. Not the insurance company, not the captain of the police department, not even the type of lawyers that make their living chasing ambulances.

In the end, the guy paid the $12,000 because there were things worth obsessing over, and getting a drunk who got behind the wheel of a car to pay for the damages, and instead paying for his damages wasn't one of them.

It's a story that could easily be applied to fandom. In fact, I secretly think he was talking to fandom.

This year has been a rather bloody year for science-fiction and fantasy. We had a record number of genre-related shows on the networks, yet we probably also had a record-number of cancellations. There was a lot of death, and some of them were great shows.

And every time a show died, whether it was "Pushing Daisies" or "Knight Rider" or especially "Kings," fans of those shows found each other online and started to fight the almost impossible fight to keep those shows alive.

Seriously, though. How often do such campaigns actually work? Not too many, and when shows are brought back -- like "Star Trek" in the 1960s and "Jericho" more recently -- the show is lucky to even last another season.

The networks, of course, don't help those cases because they put them in crappy timeslots that no one is going to watch, but that's beside the point.

When the speaker was talking about giving in and paying the $12,000, my mind went immediately to these fan campaigns, and I knew he had a point.

But then I thought about it more. A drunken driver hits my car, tries to drive off, but doesn't get very far. I was perfectly sober. He was arrested. I was nearly killed but walked away with scratches. Why on Earth would I dig into my wallet and give the guy $12,000 so that his car can get fixed? I don't fucking think so. Not in this lifetime, and not at my level of sanity.

If it were me, I wouldn't have stopped at the police captain. I would've camped outside the office door of the police chief until I had it fixed. I would be calling lawyers, hell, even lawmakers. Maybe even the newspapers or local television. Whatever it takes to get it fixed.

Why? Because it's the right thing to do. I'm all for picking my battles, but I'm not going to bend over just because there's a point where it's easy to give up.

And I think the same goes for the fans who want to save their shows. Sure, the odds are stacked against you, but don't give up. Keep trying.

I know there are two shows I want to save, and one of them is "Dollhouse," a show our very own musical performer Thursday night created with Eliza Dushku, and it's worth saving.

I don't care if it's just the equivalent of $12,000. We fight because it's the right thing to do, and sometimes it's just right to fight for our favorite shows.

So keep it up, and never surrender.