Jericho

[Rappy Veteran]

Slight Hope for Closure...

Less than a week after CBS pulled the plug on its post-Apocalyptic series "Jericho," fans have apparently been making contact with the network in droves, demanding that if nothing else, CBS find closure for the cliffhanger left at the end of Season 1.

That campaign has included letter writing and even the delivery of nuts to the network, highlighting one of the final words of the series when Skeet Ulrich's character of Jake Johnston tells the sheriff of the neighboring town of New Berlin that is at war with Jericho, paying homage to a World War II story by his grandfather.

The campaign may have paid off, with CBS making an announcement on the official "Jericho" message boards that there could be plans in the works to at least wrap up the story.

"We have read your e-mails over the past few days and have been touched by the depth and passion with which you have expressed your disappointment," wrote Nina Tassler, president of CBS Entertainment. "Please know that canceling a television series is a very difficult decision. Hundreds of people at the network, the production company and the incredibly talented creative team worked very hard to build and serve the community for this show -- both on-air and online. It is a show we loved, too.

"Thank you for supporting 'Jericho' with such passion. We truly appreciate the commitment you made to the series and we are humbled by your disappointment. In the coming weeks, we hope to develop a way to provide closure in the compelling drama that was the 'Jericho' story."

[Mathachew Veteran]

Hopefully it won't be like the craptastic stories of Countdown to Jericho. I mean really, talk about CRAP.

[heslo]

I hope they do provide atleast some closure so we can see how it ends, it was a great story that deserved a proper ending :(

[Rappy Veteran]

Hopefully it won't be like the craptastic stories of Countdown to Jericho. I mean really, talk about CRAP.

Were they the ones on the CBS website?

[Mathachew Veteran]

Were they the ones on the CBS website?

Yep

[Rappy Veteran]

Yep

In that case then they were bad I remember getting a couple on Youtube...

[Stephen Veteran]

hmm closure, but i want it to continue :p

ste

[Rappy Veteran]

hmm closure, but i want it to continue :p

ste

Same here but the chances of that are slimmer then anything...especially as they are only considering a closure episode and thats not definite...

[Rappy Veteran]

This is crazy!!!...

Jericho fans aren't just sending sternly-worded e-mails and signing petitions to save the show, they've also launched a 'Send NUTS' campaign that is really picking up steam. This fan website concocted the campaign after CBS announced Jericho's cancellation at last week's Upfronts presentation. The reason for the nuts is based on something a Jericho character, Jake, said when New Bern's commander asked him to surrender. He said "Nuts!" That also happens to be a famous response given by WWII Gen. MacAuliffe when asked to surrender at the Battle of the Bulge.

Fans have enlisted the help of a family-owned New Jersey nut company called NutsOnline, whose employees are working overtime to handle the sudden increase in demand for nuts. The business is taking orders and sending bulk shipments to CBS. As of Tuesday, nearly 5,000 pounds of nuts have been ordered and/or shipped. You can order here if you, too, think CBS is NUTS for canceling Jericho.

[dnast]

^ Haha, that's great.

As long as there's closure, I'll be okay with it. I'd rather have 3 or 4 weekly episodes for a month over the summer than a 2 hour finale. I don't want them to speed through the rest of the story (mainly the issue where there are multiple presidents and how that'll work out) in the 90 minutes of airtime that a 2 hour finale would give.

[Rappy Veteran]

^ Haha, that's great.

As long as there's closure, I'll be okay with it. I'd rather have 3 or 4 weekly episodes for a month over the summer than a 2 hour finale. I don't want them to speed through the rest of the story (mainly the issue where there are multiple presidents and how that'll work out) in the 90 minutes of airtime that a 2 hour finale would give.

Yeah I am with you there...a series of about 5 web shows or even just 5 on the network just to close it out...it deserves that much at least!!!

[benac]

Personally I didn't care for this show. However It is admirable that fans are protesting by trying to make a statement (Sending nuts to CBS).

Canceling anything without a given conclusion, or without some closure isn't good for any fan base.

[Rappy Veteran]

Personally I didn't care for this show. However It is admirable that fans are protesting by trying to make a statement (Sending nuts to CBS).

Canceling anything without a given conclusion, or without some closure isn't good for any fan base.

Imagine if they did that to friends...they didn't have that last episode they just ended it....granted the fanbase is much larger but still all shows need closure.

[benac]

Imagine if they did that to friends...they didn't have that last episode they just ended it....granted the fanbase is much larger but still all shows need closure.

I was thinking more along the lines of, What if they did that to Lost? :o

I would mail a bag of sand to ABC every day until they give me my damn answers! :laugh:

[Rappy Veteran]

I was thinking more along the lines of, What if they did that to Lost? :o

I would mail a bag of sand to ABC every day until they give me my damn answers! :laugh:

Yeah!!!

*benac sleeps outside ABC until they give him answers* :laugh:

[benac]

:shiftyninja:

[Rossi46]

I paid for some nuts :D

[Rappy Veteran]

If CBS were to reverse its position and decide to bring "Jericho" back in some form or another, at least one actor from the show said he'd be back for more.

"We consistently held 8 or 9 million viewers, even going up against [Fox's 'American Idol'], so everyone was really surprised and shocked that we were canceled," said Brad Beyer, who played farm owner Stanley Richmond on the show, according to Kristien Veitch of E! Online. "You have to move on and let go, but you see all this fan support and you keep that tiny bit of hope in your heart."

CBS officials continue to maintain that the status of the show has not changed, despite the outpouring of support, which includes more than $26,000 and 19,000 pounds of nuts being sent to the show by fans demanding a return of the series.

Karim Zreik, who was a producer on "Jericho," told E! that he was stunned when CBS rejected a second season for the show, but the fan effort to revive "Jericho" had "completely surprised us."

"This outpouring of support means the world to the 'Jericho' cast and crew," Zreik said. "Knowing that 'Jericho' touches so many people has completely humbled us."

CBS and Paramount is weighing different options, Zreik said, and there's a chance that more information might come out after the Memorial Day holiday.

It's not just the fans that are pulling for the show despite the cancellation announcement, however. It's producers like Zreik and even former showrunner Carol Barbee who are making their case to network officials.

"People are auditioning and the writers are trying to find work," Beyer said. "I think our great producers have been really hanging with the show. They're really still fighting for us."

Well maybe they could do the Stan show :D

[d3bruts1d]

I enjoyed the show... even if the characters did get a bit too emotional at times. But I'm ****ed that they canceled this. While it wasn't great, it was still far better than most of the crap on TV these days.

Even if we don't get a season 2 (or more), I'd settle for a couple of straight-to-DVD movies. At least give us some kind of resolve to the plot.

[Rappy Veteran]

As rumors continue to surface (and they are only rumors) that Jericho might score its miraculous second season, the first step for CBS would be to fix the show's marketing message.

If anything kept potential viewers at bay, it was one simple oversight: CBS never redefined the show from how it started to what it became.

Case in point, the original plot line read something like this...

A nuclear mushroom cloud appears on the horizon -- and for the residents of Jericho, a small Kansas town, it could mean they're the only Americans left alive.

I bounced this off a few friends and family members this weekend and none of them were interested. Who wants to see people die of radiation poisoning or be evaporated under the heat of a nuclear blast? We saw enough of that, years ago, with the movie The Day After, they said.

The descriptor is also responsible for most critics rounding up the serial as a "nuclear apocalypse drama," which conjures up those same images of radiation sickness and despair. BUT that's not the show that captured millions of fans despite a midseason break. These fans, the ones responsible for the biggest show cancellation protest in history, saw something else.

Jericho is a story of survival in a small Kansas town that has been mostly cut off from the outside world after a disaster shatters what most of us take for granted in America.

"Wow!" My friends and family, who have never watched the show, said. "Now that is something that sounds worth checking out."

Hmmm ... so a "small town survival drama" beats a "nuclear apocalypse drama." Go figure.

The above description of the show, based loosely on a compilation of fan comments I read over the last few weeks as they campaign to entice new viewers to download the series on iTunes, drives more interest and adds understanding why this fan protest has tipped from viral into the mainstream.

That's right. The Jericho fan movement has officially tipped, after capturing the attention of the The New York Times.

?We are impressed by the creativity of their campaign,? Chris Ender, a CBS spokesman in Los Angeles (which received far fewer nuts than Manhattan), told The New York Times. But so far executives haven?t changed their decision about the show, he said.

(Don't worry Mr. Ender. Jericho fans are lining up a West Coast nut company just so the Los Angeles offices will not feel left out.)

Maybe the executives will change their minds today. Dubbed "Super Nut Tuesday" by fans all over the world, today is the day that NUTSOnline delivers 5 tons of nuts to CBS offices today (the largest gift delivery of nuts in history and only a fraction of the 26,000 pounds purchased for CBS at a single store). At least ten "Jericho Rangers" (a name given to active fans) will be there when the nuts arrive to help unload.

Today is also the day that fan ads break in Variety magazine and The Hollywood Reporter, after the fundraising was so successful that Jericho Lives had to ask fans to STOP sending in donations (at least until the next ad).

These tactics are just the tip of a larger, somewhat makeshift but respectable strategy, which has also resulted in securing more than 90,000 signatures to save the show. For the most complete picture of the mounting news coverage and buzz, drop by Jericho Links.

Or, visit the CBS Jericho message boards where many efforts have unfolded in real time. The boards also include a growing number of actor and producer comments, thanking the fans for their support.

Dollar for dollar ... pound for pound ... the Jericho fans might produce some scrappy marketing material and unsure public relations practices, but the results speak for themselves. They have generated more media coverage, marketing buzz, and interest in the show after a few weeks than CBS did all season. You have to admire that, whether Jericho fans get their wish for a second season or not.

Getting Closer to that Second S:Dson :D

[Rappy Veteran]

It's Back!!!...well sorta!!!

Multiple sources are telling me that CBS is thisclose to sealing a deal to bring Jericho back for at least eight episodes, possibly at mid-season.

My spies caution that this is in no way official, but it certainly sounds like it could be by day's end. It's now just a matter of signing the actors to new deals and, according to one insider, finding a new soundstage to house the show's sets.

To say this would be a huge victory for crazy TV fans everywhere would be the understatement of the frakkin' millennium.

[d3bruts1d]

Yeah, I saw the possible 8 episode return of Jericho on Digg... there was a comment posted there that made me laugh and then cry.

They'll bring it back for 8 episodes and then just cancel it again in the middle of a storyline thus setting us, the viewing public, up for the never before accomplished "double d**king" - being f**ked twice in the same hole by the same network canceling the same show...again.

Now, I know that Jericho won't be around forever... but I wish they would at least end the story rather than just cutting it down with a pretty big cliffhanger. 8 episodes with the hope that there is enough interest to continue on. Yup, sounds like we're being set up for disappointment again.

[Rappy Veteran]

Yeah, I saw the possible 8 episode return of Jericho on Digg... there was a comment posted there that made me laugh and then cry.

Now, I know that Jericho won't be around forever... but I wish they would at least end the story rather than just cutting it down with a pretty big cliffhanger. 8 episodes with the hope that there is enough interest to continue on. Yup, sounds like we're being set up for disappointment again.

Yeah all I want is closure and answers I mean most things end without answers ever being given...

[Stephen Veteran]

cool:P hope its the same actors :p

ste

[Rappy Veteran]

cool:P hope its the same actors :p

ste

Yeah they are trying to secure to them to new deals...and make sure they are not doing anything else in the meantime...

More News...

What a difference 24 hours make. Yesterday, it looked like fans of Jericho might have been successful in their campaign to resurrect the canceled show. Today, it looks like they really are successful. Both Variety and the LA Times are reporting that CBS is in hurried negotiations with producers, writers and actors to resuscitate the show for an eight episode run, to return mid-season.

"The idea would not be to bring it back for eight and out, but to bring it back for eight with the hope that it would keep going," executive producer Carol Barbee told the LA Times. Barbee also said that when the fans initially responded to the cancellation, CBS suggested a two-hour movie to wrap up the series. But Barbee said 'no', because that wouldn't do justice to the series.

Barbee also makes an excellent point about the way networks are going to have to start looking at ratings. She says, they're going to need to consider online fan communities and online viewings and, "I think they have to understand that the Nielsens are not telling the story anymore." The networks need to find the coveted 18-49 demographic by going online. I thought they had figured that out by putting so many shows online, but apparently CBS wasn't taking that online community seriously.

So if the 8 go well its gonna be more!!!

Edited June 6, 2007 by Rappy