Jericho

[Locutus]

Another positive outcome of the fan campaign: CBS is donating the protest peanuts to charities, including one that sends care packages to troops overseas.

This is my favorite part. The fight to revive the show has peripherally led to something good for charities.

I am so glad. They can at the very least finish the story line.

[Geekyfanboy]

“JERICHO” RETURNS TO CBS ON JULY 6

Rebroadcasts From the First Season to Air Fridays at 9:00 PM, ET/PT For the Remainder of the Summer
JERICHO, CBS’s drama about how residents of a small, peaceful, Kansas town band together to survive in the wake of a nuclear explosion, will return to the Network beginning Friday, July 6 (9:00-10:00 PM, ET/PT). Rebroadcasts of episodes from the first season will air in the Friday, 9:00-10:00 PM, ET/PT time period for the remainder of the summer.

JERICHO, which last week received a seven episode mid-season order following an impassioned display of fan support, will return on July 6 with a rebroadcast of the pilot episode. On July 13, CBS will present back-to-back broadcasts beginning with “Return to Jericho” (8:00-9:00 PM, ET/PT), which recapped the first 11 episodes, followed by episode 12, “The Day Before” (9:00-10:00 PM, ET/PT), which launched “Jericho’s” spring return.

The remaining summer broadcasts will consist of episodes 13â€"22, in which tensions continue to escalate between Jericho and the neighboring town of New Bern as they battle the Kansas winter, dwindling resources and the uncertainty of a new world. The citizens of Jericho must now find a way to unite against these hardships, working together to preserve their community and their way of life as they prepare for an all out battle for survival in the season finale.


Jon Turteltaub, Stephen Chobsky and Carol Barbee are executive producers of JERICHO for CBS Paramount Network Television.

[JoSpiv]

Such Good News!!!!

I was a big fan of Jericho.   Once they got past the cheesy "we're all friends" types shows it got really good.

[Geekyfanboy]

 "Jericho" Season Premiere Set‏


Written by: Michael Hickerson (SoSF Staff Journalist)

CBS yesterday announced that the second season of "Jericho" will begin on February 12, 2008.

The series will air Tuesdays at 10 p.m. EST for its seven-episode second season. CBS will lead into the post-apocalyptic series with the show that some see as one of the signs of the upcoming apocalypse, "Big Brother."

Fans of "Jericho" helped save the show with a campaign to CBS earlier this year. Fans sent in 40,000 pounds of nuts to the network to show support for the show, leading to its return.

The producers were given a seven-episode season to complete the series' on-going storyline. However, producers have said that while they've compacted their plans for a second-season story arc, they don't see these as the final episodes for the show.

Producers are hopeful the ratings may be enough to convince CBS to give the show a full third season or extend the second season.

[Geekyfanboy]

Jericho Takes A New Direction

Carol Barbee, executive producer of CBS' post-apocalyptic series Jericho, told SCI FI Wire that the upcoming seven-episode second season will tell a complete story--but that producers shot two endings in case the show is picked up for a third season.

"We don't end the show," Barbee said in an interview. "What we do, we did two endings. We shot two endings. And one of them basically just lets you know that everybody is OK." She added: "The other ending shows you exactly where we're going to go for the third season. ... I wouldn't call it a cliffhanger as much as I would say you say, 'Oh, OK, now I know where we're going to go.' But if there's not going to be a third season, the other one puts sort of a nice emotionally satisfying point to it."

Jericho returns next month with an episode that picks up the story from the season-one cliffhanger, in which the townspeople of the small Kansas hamlet--led by Skeet Ulrich, Ashley Scott and Lennie James--were preparing to go to war with neighboring New Bern. Barbee offered a few spoilers for the first episodes of the new season, "Reconstruction, Condor" and "Jennings & Rall."

"We get into Jericho and reconstruction has begun," Barbee said. "The Cheyenne government is in town. They're rebuilding. People are getting jobs, people are getting cell phones, life is coming back to Jericho. But it's changed, because now there's this government, Cheyenne, and they have contractors who are working for them named Jennings & Rall, and ... this company ... [has] set up a storefront on Main Street. And they're going to be a big presence in our lives for the next season."

Barbee said that the new season will take the show into new territory thematically. "The headline is [that] the first season was about surviving the nuclear attack and saving the town," she said. "The second season is about saving the country and our way of life, our system of government. And then the natural progression is to have that be save the world for the third season."

Jericho returns Feb. 12 at 10 p.m. ET/PT. --Patrick Lee, News Editor

[Geekyfanboy]

Jericho Narrows Focus

Carol Barbee, executive producer of CBS' post-apocalyptic drama Jericho, told SCI FI Wire that the upcoming second season will focus primarily on Jake Green (Skeet Ulrich) and Robert Hawkins (Lennie James), as well as a new character.

"The story is much more focused this year on Jake and Hawkins and on this one major 'A' story," Barbee said in an interview. "We have the addition to our cast of Esai Morales, who is incredible in this part. He is in every episode. He plays Major Beck, who is sent by the Cheyenne government to get this town under control, and he's a very good, decent man working for some fairly shady people. And he goes through a moral journey of his own. And he's a great addition to the cast."

Jericho returns with a seven-episode second season next month that picks up the story from last year's cliffhanger, in which the neighboring Kansas towns of Jericho and New Bern were preparing to go to war. The second season will bring back most of the show's regular cast members, except Gerald McRaney's Johnston Green, who perished in the first-season finale.

CBS ordered up the short season in response to fan outcry over the series' cancellation. The show's seven episodes were written and produced before the current writers' strike happened, and seven turned out to be the "perfect number for us," Barbee said.

"It's sort of a beginning, a middle and an end, and it's doable," Barbee said. "You can sort of see the end of the arc." She added: "What we did this time is we took the story we were going to tell for the town of Jericho, and we condensed it into seven episodes. ... There is no treading water. Something huge happens in every episode: major character changes, deaths, love, loss, war, the whole thing." Jericho returns Feb. 12 at 10 p.m. ET/PT. --Patrick Lee, News Editor

[Geekyfanboy]

Jericho's Time Is Near

Carol Barbee, executive producer of CBS' post-apocalyptic drama Jericho, told SCI FI Wire that this week is make-or-break time for the resurrected show--though she will try to find a new home for it if CBS goes ahead and cancels it after its current seven-episode second season runs its course.

"I think this next airing will probably tell the tale," Barbee said in an interview at WonderCon in San Francisco on Feb. 24, referring to the upcoming Feb. 26 episode, "Jennings & Rall." "Our numbers have been OK, [but] not great. Our [demographic] has been very good; they've been very happy with that. But we'll see. ... If we trend up this week, I think we'll look pretty good. If we don't trend up, or if we stay the same, I think we'll have to wait and see what they want to do with us. I mean, they're going to air all seven; it's just a matter of how they feel about producing more."

Barbee denied that CBS has told her the show is ending, notwithstanding speculation that the network has already designated the seventh episode the "series finale." (Just to be sure, of course, Barbee said producers have prepared two endings: one to wrap the series up and one with a bit of a cliffhanger that would propel the narrative into a third season.)

Just in case CBS does pull the trigger on Jericho, Barbee said she's already begun looking for a new home on cable television. "There were other people who were interested in us to begin with, and now, I think, with the whole nuts [fan] campaign, and also with the amazing reviews that we've gotten for these seven episodes, I feel like we have made this franchise more valuable to a cable network who would want to take us on as a niche market," Barbee said. (The "nuts campaign" was a successful lobbying effort by Jericho fans, who mailed tons of peanuts to CBS to bring the show back after the network canceled it after the first season.)

"So I think it's very possible," Barbee added. "We obviously have a relationship now with SCI FI Channel, because they're running our previous episodes. So I think that's a natural place to start looking. But I think that ... there are other people who would be interested in the show if it doesn't continue on CBS." (SCI FI Channel hasn't said whether it would consider picking up Jericho or not at this point.)

New episodes of Jericho air on CBS Tuesdays at 10 p.m. ET/PT. Reruns of the first season air on SCI FI Mondays at 10 p.m. --Patrick Lee, News Editor

[Geekyfanboy]

"Jericho" Fans Plan Pre-emptive Strike‏

Written by: Michael Hickerson (SoSF Staff Journalist)

Last season, "Jericho" fans bombarded CBS with tons of nuts to get their favorite series back on the air after it was pre-maturely cancelled.

This time around, fans aren't waiting for the renewal or cancellation announcement to mobilize. With three weeks left in the second season and the overall ratings for the show shrinking, fans are campaigning now to CBS to keep the show for a third season reports SyFy Portal.

The biggest difference this time is fans are not being asked to bombard CBS with nuts. Instead, the fan-based campaign focuses on "Jericho's" popularity in alternative distribution nodes like the Internet and timeshifted viewing, which grows the live audience by more than 20 percent according to releases issued by CBS.

The campaign is being facillitated by fan-forum member who goes under the screen name of Shumi. In an open letter to CBS, Shumi said, "With 'Jericho' you succeeded where your competitors frequently fail — you brought viewers back to network television," Schumi said. "You did that by taking a chance on a little show that was different and offered more than the usual fare of recycled drama plots, or mindless games shows and reality TV. But what you brought back was a new viewer, the viewer of tomorrow."

Shumi's goes on to say that CBS is passing up a "lucrative opportunity" with the network's "online opportunities."

One hurdle facing the campaign, according to SyFy Portal, is that many of the claims made by Shumi are difficult to back up with hard data and facts, which could ultimately sway network execs to keep or axe the show.

However, it can be said that a politely worded letter to CBS execs couldn't possibly hurt the struggling series' chances for a third-season.

[Locutus]

I don't know if any of you have been watching this show for the last few episodes, but HOT DAMN they are great! If they finish the story arc, I will be happy, especially since there can always be fanfic about the show.

I'm loving it.

[Geekyfanboy]

Jericho Gets Nuked

No amount of fan letters, emails, phone calls or campaigns would make CBS execs listen this time around and give Jericho a full third season, so don't expect a cliffhanger next week when the series ends its run on the eye network.

The excuse given by the honchos at CBS is the show simply couldn't generate large enough ratings beyond its ambitious and energetic fanbase. In TV talk that's no new viewers added to generate ad revenues.

It matters not that "Jericho" was the most downloaded show in the network's history, or seen by a huge share of the DVR audience, because until networks and advertisers can find a way to find a consistent way to make money off of those formats, their huge numbers mean nothing to them.

Next Tuesday will be the final time anyone will get to see a new episode of "Jericho" on CBS. It will be interesting to see how they wrap it up. Carol Barbee, the show's main producer, stated earlier at the beginning of this shortened season that two finales were shot, one with a cliffhanger, in case the skein was picked up for a third and one that gives satisfactory closure for its dedicated fans. Looks like those fans will be getting the latter on Tuesday.

"Without question, there are passionate viewers watching this program; we simply wish there were more," said CBS Entertainment President Nina Tassler. "We thank an engaged and spirited fan base for keeping the show alive this long, and an outstanding team of producers, cast and crew that went through creative hoops to deliver a compelling, high-quality second season.

"We have no regrets bringing the show back for a second try. We listened to our viewers, gave the series an opportunity to grow, and the producers put a great story on the screen. We're proud of everyone's efforts."

Of course will this placate fans into not drowning CBS in more peanuts? Probably not!

As fans of SF and related genre, we can expect to see more of this kind of axe-wielding as long as networks and advertisers continue depending on the outmoded, and outdated Nielsen system. If there was ever a time when this has become more apparent it's now with quality, intelligently written and perfectly delivered shows like this one or "Firefly," "Drive," "Dresden Files, "Journeyman" and "Blood Ties" being kicked to the curb because programmers can't get out of the crusty mid-20th Century with their ratings formula.

"Jericho" may just have one saving grace, its producer Carol Barbee. She has stated on more than one occasion that she will continue to work hard and endeavor to fine a different outlet for new episodes of this show, either on another network, such as the SCI FI Channel or one of the other new media formats.

[Locutus]

I'm starting to think releasing the show bible to the fan base is a good idea. Then they could create accurate fan-based literature to continue the story. Maybe the creators could have final say over the end products or something.

Journeyman would have been a cool show. Bionic Woman had special effects issues, but could have done really well story-wise. Star Trek, Buffy, Firefly - these have done well with fan-based stories, and now comics. Of course, the creators are controlling those properties and making money off of them, but no one is going to make money off of Journeyman, and there are a lot of stories to tell in that universe still. Like The Sentinal, or Nowhere Man, or The Invisible Man - these shows died early with much more to say. Fans write fan fiction, but they don't have all the info, so it is all speculation.

The only other option is to move the monolithic stations away from the aforementioned outdated Nielson system. Maybe we as fans should find a way to convince the stations it is their best interests to rely on downloads and internet viewings to boost ratings. Perhaps our fan campaigns should rely less on sending peanuts and more on deconstructing the current system.

[Geekyfanboy]

Barbee Works to Extend Jericho's Life‏

Written by: Michael Hickerson (SoSF Staff Journalist)

The second season finale of "Jericho" airs tonight at 10 p.m. EST on CBS and while CBS has given the show the axe for a second time, fans of the post-apocolyptic thriller shouldn't lose hope that this will be the last time they'll see the series.

Executive producer Carol Barbee confirmed that there are negotiations in place with some cable networks to pick up the series for a third season.

"I can't really say [much] about specifics, and, ... partially, it's because I'm not the one having those conversations," Barbee said. "[CBS] Paramount [Television, which produces the show,] has been pursing it, and our agents have been into that, so, you know, I am pushing those people and coming up with ideas to have those people pursue."

There were several ideas that have been floated, and there was some interest, but we'll have to see," she said. "It wasn't something that could be sewn up before we were going to air the finale. ... It would have been better had we been able to announce one with the other, but it just didn't happen that fast."

The cast and crew were informed of the cancellation last week and CBS has chosen the alternative ending for the series to air tonight. There were two endings–one that would involve a cliffhanger to lead into the third season and another that offered fans some closure while offering hints of where season three could go. CBS will air the "closure" ending tonight.

And should the show not get picked up by a network, there is hope in other avenues of new media distribution.

"There's definitely an Internet series to be had, and we always talked about a graphic novel, and ... a movie," Barbee said. "I mean, there are lots of things that I could easily see as a way to continue the story."

There will be a few hurtles to jump. Currently actors and production staff have been released to pursue other projects. In addition, the sets have been dismantled on the backlot used to film the series.

[Geekyfanboy]

"Jericho" Ends on a High Note

Written by: Samuel K. Sloan (FarPoint Media Executive News Director)

If you failed to catch last night's series finale of "Jericho" then you missed an opportunity to see what dramatic television should be all about.

The show that sparked a massive uprising by fans last year after CBS decided to cancel it after only one season, returned with a shortened second season, only seven episodes, but more than made up for its lack of quantity with a level of quality writing, directing, producing and acting that hasn't been witnessed in primetime, except for those rare exceptions like "Journeyman," "Firefly" or "C.S.I. Crime Scene Investigation." And, like "Jericho," two out of the three of those AAA+ shows were canceled without so much as a thank you by their networks.

"Jericho" ended on the same kind of high note that Kevin Falls gave to the final episode of "Journeyman" last season. Executive producer Carol Barbee can be very proud of her effort and she deserves a gold star for keeping the show, its actors and crew on top of their game throughout, knowing that this would be it, at least on network television, for the series.

I won't tell you anything about the final episode because I don't want to spoil it for those who have yet to see it, but just let me say, it doesn't get much better than what millions of fans witnessed last night.

And, the great thing is, even though it didn't end on a cliffhanger, Barbee left it open enough for its continuation by some other network or new media format.....And that, is a story for another day.

[Locutus]

I completely agree. The ending was fantastic, as was most every episode of this show, and everyone involved with it should be very proud of themselves.

The cancellation of terrific series like these, while shows like Charmed run for 8 seasons, makes me thankful that the return of Futurama included a running gag where the executives who canceled the show two years ago were fired then ground up into powder and now were used as Torgo's Executive Powder, which soothes burned tattoo removal sites as well as serves as food for fish and many other fine uses.

To paraphrase Hanover Fiste from Heavy Metal, "Hangin's too good for 'em, Burnin's too good for 'em, they should be cut into little bitty pieces and buried alive!"