Jericho returns to CBS July 6th
Scott McPherson
in Information technology, Popular Culture
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Good news for fans of the CBS serial drama "Jericho," and to fans of good television everywhere: The series returns to CBS this week.
If you are not familiar with Jericho, or the phenomenon that brought it back from the dead, allow me to briefly get you up to speed. Jericho, Kansas is a fictional town that is caught in the crossfire of a terrorist act, as the terrorists detonate an uncertain number of nuclear bombs across America. When the Denver nuke explodes, it plunges Jericho into a post-apocalyptic world of uncertainty, rumors, and forced self-reliance. Where is the government? What is happening in the adjacent towns? Who bombed America?
Those thoughts give way to a more pressing and even more deadly situation: One of the adjacent towns, New Bern, has none of the natural resources Jericho has. Jericho is blessed with an abundance of farmland, fresh water and a huge salt mine. New Bern is apparently only "blessed" with a paranoid lunatic charismatic sheriff, located somewhere on the false messiah barometer between Jim Jones and Hitler, who has taken the town over. New Bern's only deliverable appears to be the ability to manufacture crude mortars and ammunition. And they plan to invade, and conquer, Jericho.
Interspersed within this story are many intriguing subplots, some romantic, some involve deceit, infidelity, intrigue and possible treason, and some involving politics. in other words, something for the entire family! One continuing subplot involves the once-mayor, Johnston Greene, played in Emmy-caliber fashion by Gerald McRaney. Greene has been defeated for re-election, partly because he is so focused on keeping the town together, he did not bother to campaign. The populist themes of his victorious opponent give way to grim realization that Greene has what it takes to lead and the new incumbent does not. He gives Greene authority to organize and train the Jericho townspeople to defend their territory against interlopers (rogue mercenary types with clear hints at shadowy, Halliburtonesque connections) and, ultimately, against New Bern's invasion force.
Which is where the first season ended: With chaos, the fog of war, and the hint of some sort of New American intervention to stop the conflict before it gets any more complicated.
And that is where CBS stepped in, said "Nope, show's over, folks, nothing to see here, move along." Only the people did NOT move along. People got on the Internet and got busy. Almost overnight, once CBS revealed it had cancelled the program, viewers rebelled. Several "Save Jericho" sites sprung up. Those sites began linking, and collaborating, with each other. Finally, in a simple masterstroke, someone linked the seminal, pivotal line in the New Bern invasion story thread to the effort. New Bern's sheriff sends a walkie-talkie to Jericho's leaders. They demand surrender. The response: A history lesson in the Battle of the Bulge, when the American Army's 101st Airborne Division was surrounded by the German army at Bastogne in December 1944. The German commander called for the Americans to surrender. General Anthony MacAuliffe responded in one word: "Nuts." So says Jericho to New Bern: "Nuts." And so said Jericho's fans to CBS.
Thus began the most creative save-the-program effort in American television history. The Websites linked to a nut company that ships and delivers nuts. Within a matter of days, the president of CBS Entertainment was buried under 40,000 pounds of nuts, all sent by enraged Jericho viewers. In her reply to the fans of the series, Nina Tassler, President of CBS Entertainment, said the following:
June 6, 2007
To the Fans of Jericho:
Wow!
Over the past few weeks you have put forth an impressive and probably unprecedented display of passion in support of a prime time television series. You got our attention; your emails and collective voice have been heard.
As a result, CBS has ordered seven episodes of "Jericho" for mid-season next year. In success, there is the potential for more. But, for there to be more "Jericho," we will need more viewers.
A loyal and passionate community has clearly formed around the show. But that community needs to grow. It needs to grow on the CBS Television Network, as well as on the many digital platforms where we make the show available.
We will count on you to rally around the show, to recruit new viewers with the same grass-roots energy, intensity and volume you have displayed in recent weeks.
At this time, I cannot tell you the specific date or time period that "Jericho" will return to our schedule. However, in the interim, we are working on several initiatives to help introduce the show to new audiences. This includes re-broadcasting "Jericho" on CBS this summer, streaming episodes and clips from these episodes across the CBS Audience Network (online), releasing the first season DVD on September 25 and continuing the story of Jericho in the digital world until the new episodes return. We will let you know specifics when we have them so you can pass them on.
On behalf of everyone at CBS, thank you for expressing your support of "Jericho" in such an extraordinary manner. Your protest was creative, sustained and very thoughtful and respectful in tone. You made a difference.
Sincerely,
Nina Tassler
President, CBS Entertainment
P.S. Please stop sending us nuts :-)
Jericho is a serious television program for anyone who enjoys good apocalyptic fiction, science fiction, or survivalist fiction. Anyone in a post-9/11 world who speculates on what life would be like if "The Terrorists Win" should view this program. Anyone who ever read "Alas, Babylon" will flock to this show like crazy. And the emergency management types and homeland security types should consider this as a ripping good yarn!
This Friday night, the pilot airs, followed by the "catch up show" before the series was forced to take a break while new episodes were filmed. Then the second half episodes of Season One will air in successive weeks. Good news for a fine entertainment that was damaged by bad scheduling (it ran against pre-Idol shows on Fox) and premature discarding by a network that should have known better, but was willing to listen and to reconsider.
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