Fat lady sings as Jericho bows for good
Scott McPherson
1 Comment
A sad day indeed. Jericho, the groundbreaking CBS serial drama whose cancellation last May inspired the largest outpouring of fan outrage in television history, has gotten cancelled yet again. This time, I fear, the cancellation will stick. The reason: Just not enough Nielsen viewers to justify the resumption of the series.
The producers of Jericho, at the urging of CBS, filmed two endings: One in case the show was picked up again, and one in case the show was again cancelled. It is easy to figure out which version will air tonight.
While there is rumored to be some wiggle room in the finale for a segue to a cable network, the show's high production values and accompanying high per-episode costs are probably too high for anyone but HBO or Showtime. Come to think of it, Showtime, with its CBS link, would be a nice place for Jericho to land. So would USA. So would the Sci-Fi Channel. I would settle for Lifetime if it picked up the show and ran with it!
While we hate to see the program end, I do want to acknowledge CBS's commitment to bring the show back and bring the series to a conclusion without leaving viewers in the lurch. Closure is rare in television. The best closure example anyone will ever think of was the last Newhart episode. So off we go tonight at 10PM EDT to see which version of America wins the post-terrorist-nuke civil war/revolution.
Some Jericho trivia: At the beginning of each episode, you hear Morse code. Only practitioners of this almost-lost art recognized that the code changed with each episode. And the messages were designed to help the viewer figure out a puzzle regarding the main story line. That is the attention to detail, and the respect for the fans, that Jericho's producers gave us. All in all, quite a gift and quite a ride.
My last wish is that the Jericho Season Two DVD boxed set is reworked with deleted scenes and maybe some lost footage sufficient to create a backstory, in order to stretch the running time and, therefore, the satisfying viewing experience that was Jericho.
Nuts.
Reader Comments (1)
Ok Scott, lets talk... You said
Let's look at Sci-Fi Channel, which was purchased by NBC a time ago and has built some of the top number 1 shows in the past few years. I would say they have some cash flow to spend on Jericho because BSG will be coming out of production with Season 4 being their last season. So, I vote with you, Sci-Fi pick up this great show and make it better, take it to the next level where CBS could not.