Jericho Comes A Tumblin' Down

I hopped on the Jericho bandwagon way late. I had mistaken Jericho for more 24-style terror porn. I caught up during the writers' strike when jack all was on the telly.

I found Jericho to be the anti-24 -- a well written realistic drama featuring fully realized characters and the courage to kill some of them off. Its domestic terrorist-caused post-apocalyptic landscape was peopled with patriots, traitors, prodigal sons, lovers, duty-bound soldiers, Blackwater stand-ins Ravenwood, Halliburton/KBR clone Jennings & Rall, heroes, zeros and those in between, However, CBS deemed Jericho's first season ratings insufficient and canceled it.

An inspired fan campaign rallying around the war cry of the inaugural season's finale (recalling one of US history's great moments: the surrounded Gen. Anthony McAuliffe's response to German demands that he surrender) delivered 20 tons of nuts to CBS Television HQ.

CBS changed course mustering up seven more episodes. But its post-writers' strike viewership didn't come close to matching Season 1 ratings. So CBS scuttled Jericho less than halfay halfway thru Season 2. The Boston Globe has a Jericho appreciation here. The SciFi Channel is in negotiations to pick up the series. **fingers crossed** SciFi already has the rights to rebroadcast previously aired episodes.

Watch Jericho online or on DVD.

-AF