[Edit: Written in the depths of the upfronts, this article serves as an attempt to specify CBS’s reasoning for canceling Jericho. In the end, their logic has some sound bases, and that’s really the purpose of this article. For more on the Save Jericho campaign that developed after this article was written, head here. – Myles]
So, out of all of the upfront decisions made over the past few days, the one which has brought forth the most anger has certainly been CBS’ long-rumoured decision to cancel apocalyptic drama Jericho. And, I feel the pain fans are feeling at this moment, considering the show ended of a cliffhanger. However, while I hate to rain on the parade of anger [Currently ongoing over at Your Entertainment Now], I feel the need to point out that Jericho’s failure is not just CBS’ fault, and chances are they won’t be reconsidering anytime soon.
I stopped watching Jericho early in the season when it was mind-numbingly boring, long before New Bern (Is that right? I’ve just been reading about it) and all of the drama that followed, and Hawkins finally kicking some ass. I stopped watching because the show wasn’t holding my interest. If the show had ended its first half in a decent state, I think the show had a chance…but it didn’t. It was back-loaded. The same thing happened to Lost, but it had two seasons of goodwill keeping people around…Jericho had none of that.
I talked at length earlier this year about Sci-Futility, a principle that science fiction and other “niche” genres have a potential audience smaller than your normal show. When shows like Heroes or Jericho premiere, they gain some casual attention, but other time these casuals will get distracted by the latest new reality show or crime procedural once the storyline slows down a little. It happened to Lost, and this spring it happened to Heroes…but it affected Jericho the most. The show saw a drop from a strong performance to a middling return barely worthy of mention amongst CBS’ other hits.
What happened to Jericho was that those people who were iffy on its quality in the first half of the year suddenly had a new option at 8pm: American Idol aired weeks of its Boys/Girls performances in the hour, and the result was Jericho getting its ass handed to it. CBS knew this, sure, but from a business perspective a good show should have been able to hold its audience. This might not be the case at other networks, like NBC, which held onto low-performing Friday Night Lights in the same time period. They’re in need of a hit, critical or otherwise, to keep up their prestige. CBS, meanwhile, it not lacking in hits.
When you have the ability to repeat an episode of CSI and get better ratings than an expensive new episode of Jericho, which would you choose from a business perspective. I honestly believe that the network would do just that, not even bother ordering pilots, if they weren’t also trying to change their image…or appear to wish to. In reality, I think CBS is content with raking in piles of dough with their crime procedurals and just experimenting for fun with dramas like Jericho.
It’s not a question of quality: I’m sure that CBS were impressed with the strong upward movement in the show’s storylines as they reached the end of the season. However, those Nielsen ratings are more important than that quality for a network that has so many high-performing shows. CBS could never justify to advertisers, or their shareholders, why they would keep around a low-performing drama when they had so many other, better, more buzz-worthy options.
For those fans of Jericho who are upset about this, I really think that you need to think about this situation carefully. Jericho was never a good fit for CBS: look how many of you are quickly swearing off the network in the wake of this announcement. It’s a network of aging crime shows, one after the other, and the occasional spark of youth crowded out by the dead bodies puling up around it (The Ghost Whisperer, perhaps the closest the network has, has boobs, so that gives it appeal). The network was an odd place to find a post-apocalyptic drama, and as a result this was almost inevitable.
In the world of TV dramas in the 2006/2007 season, Jericho had everything working against it. It was a serial drama, so successful last year with Prison Break but shunned widely this year. It was on CBS, a network with incredibly high ratings standards, and where it didn’t really fit in. It was in a timeslot which would, at a point, conflict with American Idol. It had a three month hiatus in which Idol arrived and Jericho re-emerged into a hellish atmosphere. And, in the end, the casual fans who watched in the beginning didn’t stick around until the end. I don’t think we can blame just CBS for all of this, its scheduling. Other shows weathered the storm, and it didn’t.
So, saying goodbye to Jericho must be tough, but in the end CBS didn’t have a choice. Fan outrage or no fan outrage, Jericho failed to win itself a spot on the 2007/2007 schedule…fair and square.
Cultural Learnings 
YOU are an idiot! Just my opinion like the smelly turd you just blogged.
The months-long mid-season break kills many serial dramas (i.e. Everwood last year) but apparently other networks (NBC, Fox) have learned from that experience and made some changes for next season.
Indeed, Traveller, Jericho was just a season too early and got caught up in a rough season for them. Unfortunate, but true.
I agree with Troy, you are an idiot.
You probably love reality shows.
While I’ll admit that it was a little bit cold of CBS to replace Jericho with a terrible idea for a reality show (Lord of the Flies is fantastic because it’s gritty, not because it’s kids), it makes better business sense. ‘Kid Nation’ is a Cheaper show, and is likely to get comparable ratings.
Do I think it’s ideal? Absolutely not. But, network television doesn’t work that way, and sometimes it kicks us in the ass. I think that we need to learn to accept that.
This is my guess at how Jericho played out at CBS:
1) CBS knew going into the season it didn’t have a prayer against AI, not expecting much they stuck it there anyway…’just in case it caught on’,
2) then, they got surprised at its initial success so they (maybe too) quickly renewed it for the rest of the season,
3) then, they watched its numbers declining (as viewers realized that its premise was great but wasn’t being lived up to) and tried to change its direction(s),
4) then, they gave it chance for a miracle revival in the last weeks when it wasn’t against AI,
5) then, they pulled the plug when the miracle never appeared.
This article jumps all over the map in an effort to find excuses for CBS’ cancellation of Jericho. First it claims CBS has high standards for high-performing shows, but then it talks about aging crime shows with bodies piling up all over the place. I think the truth is simply this: CBS has no regard for quality drama and is ultimately concerned with ratings and dollars and, to some degree, politics. CBS will ultimately end up with an indistinguishable array of whodunnits and reality shows. (Oh, wait… that’s already happened.) The producers of fresh, new, groundbreaking series will learn a lesson here and take their shows to other networks.
You’re right John, CBS is not the place for such things. I jump around in explaining it because, with CBS, standards = ratings. They canceled Close to Home, garnering even better ratings than Jericho on Friday Nights, just because it wasn’t performing quite as well as they thought it should have been.
The article’s point is that CBS isn’t a normal network, and that quality isn’t part of their equation. I’m not excusing this, but just making it known: if I was in charge things would surely be different, but I’m not and there’s little we can do to change their mind except convincing our elders not to turn to the network for their CSI fix.
If CBS was leaning towards canceling the show, they should not have abused its 8 million viewers with such a cliffhanger of an ending.
Watching Jericho was like reading chapters in a book, the shows built upon each-other every single week. Having watched the first 22 chapters unfold, CBS built it up to this apocalyptic ending and then took it away. That’s why the killing of this show has angered so many people.
I am 46 years old, so I have seen a lot of shows come and go, but never before have I seen a show end its season with so much nail biting, only to get axed seven days later. CBS screwed me by wasting 22 hours of my life on a story that will never be finished.
Its as if Luke and the rebels were swooping in on the Death Star, when suddenly, credits star to roll. George Lucas defends not showing you the rest of the movie because not enough people were watching, ignoring the fact he stopped the movie in the middle for 11 weeks.
David, you raise an extremely good point, but an unavoidable one within the TV industry: as an On the Bubble show, you can’t do much more than hope. It’s the producers who made that call, hoping to catch a break. If the finale had come back with huge numbers, perhaps it could have gone their way…but it didn’t. In a similar position, I hear How I Met Your Mother did the same, and just happened to come out on the lucky side of the coin.
One can only hope that the producers can offer some form of resolution for the show’s fans…but it’s a tough role, being a bubble show.
You do not know what you are talking about, high standards? If you call CSI,”high standards” then you are a fool. CBS has lost a lot of viewers with this stupid move, including me. I have already deleted CBS from my channel guide, they can have their reality shows and crime shows because I will never watch CBS again.
I understand why CBS canceled it (ratings were simply too low), but I can’t help but place most of the blame for that declining viewership on CBS’s scheduling of the show.
It never “gradually” lost its audience, it lost it abruptly when they took it off the air for 11 weeks.
In the only demo that really counts when it comes to renewals/cancellations, its adults 18-49 figure when it premiered was a very solid (and better than average for the time period) 3.2. It never really faltered in that demo, and when it left us in November it went out with a still strong 3.1.
But after that long break, it could only manage a 2.3 in the demo, and then slowly faded to its season finale with a 2.1.
Here’s a quick rundown:
Premiere to Midseason finale to Season finale:
Households – 7.6/12 to 6.3/10 to 5.2/9
Viewers – 11.66M to 10.25M to 7.72M
Adults 18-49 – 3.2/10 to 3.1/9 to 2.1/7
But what was the other option? I don’t think we can blame CBS for thinking “Hey, that worked for Prison Break, why can’t it work for our similarly themed show?”. There was no real evidence against it, in theory, and at that point even Lost was doing it.
Sure, they forgot about American Idol, but their other option for the show was to just have short breaks between episodes (The Christmas break was unavoidable, and shows never return until mid-late January anyways) which has shown to be just as debilitating in the past.
I think the serial nature of the show was going to bring it down no matter what CBS did: only pulling a 24 could have kept it from happening, but we can’t expect CBS to be able to predict the future. I think fate, more than CBS, was behind its failure. They made some mistakes along the way, sure, but as far as situations where I’d blame the network for a show’s demise, I just can’t justify it in this case.
I second David’s sentiments. I too am 46 and given my career responsibilities I have little time to waste with a new series. I watched every episode of this show this past season, right through the end with an alternate flag, a sinister looking group running the country and the whole “Nuts” thing. I was so hooked on this series that I couldn’t wait until next season to see this storyline unfold. Now we’ll never know.
I understand your point about CBS, but I still disagree with you. Many times over the years networks have allowed low-rated shows to live on, only to see them grow and sometimes become huge successes (remember “Seinfeld”, anyone??) But CBS is all about business. The CSI shows are running their courses, there are few decent comedies left and reality programming appears to be the staple. This was a quality show that might have survived on another network, but as CBS has done in the past more often than all the other networks combined is pull the plug on a promising new series.
There has been quite a viewer backlash already. Blogs are popping up all over with hundreds expressing their displeasure with the Eye. I know it is unlikely this will make a difference, but at least CBS will get the message that viewers are fed up with their programming tactics.
Gary, you’re quite right: I guess the only frustration is that CBS had to learn that lesson with Jericho, and that it ends up being but a pawn in the game they play with the consciousness of viewers.
I guess, though, it could be of some use to fans of next season’s shows: I’d say that Viva Laughlin is the first to face the CBS stare of doom.
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I and my possee are exactly who would watch Viva Laughlin–and we’re not going near CBS after cancelation of Jericho.
Indeed, Captdeck; that certainly will prove an interesting challenge for CBS in the future.
I’m tired of hearing people say that they understand why CBS cancelled Jericho and blame it on the low ratings. The show was under-promoted and up against American Idol as well as taking a hiatis in the middle of the season. Do you think that any of these facts had anything to do with the ratings? With all of the adversity this show had to overcome IN ITS FIRST SEASON, it is amazing that it has the loyal following that is demonstrated by all of the fallout in the form of petitions, letters and calls to the network and endless bloggings like this one. I am a big fan of 24, and never miss an episode. I did not start watching 24 until the middle of the second season. If properly promoted, I believe that Jericho could enjoy 24-like success. CBS should promote the show, replay all of the episodes this summer and bring Jericho back for another season. If CBS truely believes the show to be a dud, then they should sell it off to another network.
One more thing: You call CBS a network with “high standards”? That is a laugh. Did you see the shows that will be replacing Jericho? From what I understand, one show is about swingers? If by “high standards”, you mean junk, then I’m with you.
The thing, Mike, is that their standards are high…in terms of ratings. While we could argue all we want about whether networks should care only about ratings (I think we’d be on the same side in this one), that’s not the reality, not will it ever be the reality. Even NBC, who stuck with two low-rated shows, only is doing so because they’re currently #4 by a fair margin. They have to takes risks, while CBS doesn’t.
It’s the same way that FOX was able to take a risk on 24 because that was before American Idol was the smash hit it is now. Then, they didn’t have a single successful drama under their belt. CBS has plenty of other successful shows, and thus they have less need to “take risks”. It sucks, but it was the reality Jericho faced.
The shows replacing Jericho are exactly like Jericho was: an attempt at something different. If they don’t meet the ratings standard of Jericho, then they too will fall by the wayside. This isn’t an anti-Jericho conspiracy, it’s an anti-bad ratings one. While that’s equally annoying, I think it’s also logical, if not fair to fans of the series which deserve better.
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Well, I certainly won’t be willing to try out any new CBS series after what they just did.
Ratings. Ratings? RATINGS?!?!?!
The Jericho ratings were completely phenomenal!! Averaging 8-9 million against Idol, what more do you want? Not to mention the ratings are skewed in a big way. If you are going to create a show, and specifically combine it with the internet, then you need to take into account the viewers that watch the show on the web.
Not everyone watches television on t.v. anymore. CBS wanted to test out the web “waters” using this show, and then failed to follow through by figuring the huge numbers of people that actually used the web t.v. format.
Sorry CBS, but you created this monster, now you have to deal with it!!
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I really enjoy reading your analyses, even when you ‘re placing a wet blanket of logic on my anger towards CBS.
However, I think there’s a dimension to these protests that has been down-played. The terms New Media vs Old Media has been debated. I think the terms New Markets vs Old Markets are even more interesting.
Let me quote Chris Anderson, marketing strategy expert;
“One of the big trends we’re seeing is that traditional advertising models are becoming less and less effective—and this is true for television, radio, print, and direct mail. Across the board, their efficiencies are declining, and people are starting to tune it out.”
Overall viewer numbers have dropped significantly and Television Industry Execs are anxiously trying to figure out why. I think that a big part of the answer to that question lies in the new market trend.
Of course, the NUTS campaign is an outcry from a devoted fan base. But not only, I think it is a writing on the wall. Not just Jericho fans, but many more shows, are going to discover that they can say – “we’re tuning out anless you start to put us in the front seat – not the advertisers. – and we want a different type of programs”
But for now, I just want to pass along one word to CBS – N U T S !!
I honestly feel that CBS is led by a liberal political group. The “Dan Rather Syndrome” was not accidental, and only led to his termination and other minor steps at CBS after an overwhelming public outcry exposed their political prejudice.
It was widely reported last year that having a show that exposed and reminded people about nuclear terrorism was not helpful to anti-war, Democratic Party, or liberal causes.
Going into the 2008 campaign, I have no doubt that those CBS liberal managers/execs had serious concerns that this show may negatively affect their political affiliations.
Jericho was an excellent drama that suffered from the 3 month hiatus, going up against AI, and poor promotion by CBS.
“Going into the 2008 campaign, I have no doubt that those CBS liberal managers/execs had serious concerns that this show may negatively affect their political affiliations.”
Hmmm…I think this is taking the conspiracy theory a bit too far. If CBS had canceled the show when it had its pre-hiatus ratings, then maybe…but with the lower ratings at the end of the year I don’t think conspiracy theories played into it.
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So Memles, what your saying is CBS doesn’t care about its views or the quality of shows it put out, but only if it gets ratings. They’ll just keep pulling the same crap over and over again, until viewers get fed up and stop watching any new shows they may attempt to promote simply because we know if the ratings aren’t there, they will leave you hanging with that series too.
So why should we as viewers even bother with watching any new shows on CBS.
Firstly, I am VERY pissed off at CBS for cancelling Jericho.
I’d just like to say that Jericho was a very good show. Slow at times yes, but worth the wait.
CBS made the mistake of putting in a 11 week hiatus in the middle of the show’s season. As has happened with more and more shows recently, this has done nothing but anger the shows’ fans. And while fans search for a replacement to occupy the time slot, they end up getting hooked onto other shows. So when the show comes back from hiatus, it’s lost a great deal of it’s viewers. This all shows that networks are running on an outdated model of TV production. People are not going to stick to a channel while their show is on hiatus and patiently wait for it to return. They want to be entertained NOW, not 11 weeks from now, not soon, NOW! If their show is not on, they will change the channel. Period. The TV world has changed and networks have SERIOUSLY failed to adjust. This only serves to prove the network executives incompetancy at understanding it’s audience. The failure was CBS’s, not the viewers. Strike one.
Next, the marketing of this show was less than stellar. Yet another mistake made more and more often with networks. You just didn’t see much advertising for this show, and no wheres near as much as most of the other shows on the network. That’s strike two.
Thirdly, apparently CBS doesn’t understand that shows are not hits overnight. This is particularly true of dramas, and even more so with serialized dramas. I’d like to remind everyone, including CBS, that even some of the biggest hits of all time started out a little slow. A good example of this was “Three’s Company back in the 70’s & 80’s. It’s first season was a bit iffy. So the network made some adjustments, and brought it back and look at how that turned out. That show is STILL on the air in re-runs in syndication, more than 23 years later! This only shows that, instead of cancelling a show, you make adjustments. If the show was good enough to make it past it’s pilot and first few episodes, then you don’t jump ship when you hit some rough weather. Strike 3.
Now, I feel CBS is headed for a SERIOUS problem within the next few years. The network has become too one dimensional. Just look at the majority of it’s lineup. There are 3 CSI’s, Cold Case, Without a Trace, Criminal Minds, NCIS and Numbers. That’s 8 shows that are extremely similar. I don’t know about you, but I’m on CSI clone overload. I like all those shows don’t get me wrong. But it’s just too much of the same thing over and over and over. Of those, only NCIS is something I try to make sure to not miss. And that’s only because it has some different elements to it, such as comedy and characters who are not all exactly the same. I’m not into Goth chicks, but that girl on NCIS, Abby Sciuto played by Pauley Perrette is just hilarious, and strangely hot for some reason. Point is, most of my favorite shows on the network are NOT it’s CSI’s and clones. My interest in the network has wained, and only new and different shows keep me coming back, like Jericho did. Many many other people feel the same way I do. And these are not young shows either. About half of them are quickly approaching retirement. What is CBS going to do? Wait until then and try to rebuild and get viewers back, or keep viewers’ loyalty by keeping good shows with a different flavor? Since Jericho is gone, my TV will be tuned to a different station on wednsday nights, but definitely not on American Idol. I can’t stand that stupid show, or any other craptastic “Reality” programming. Strike 4 CBS, you should be out by now.
Next we have the growing discontent of viewers with ALL of TV as a whole. How many times have we all heard the networks tell us, “It was a business decision.” OMG, gag me with a toilet seat. What they are really saying is, “We only want shows that make a select few of us filthy rich and we don’t give a shit about the viewers. It’s all about US.” If Jericho was such a bad idea, then why isn’t the person at the network who green lighted it being fired or made to pay a “fine” for a supposed flop? Short answer, it wasn’ta bad idea then, it’s not now, and it won’t be later on. The executives just didn’t make enough money off the show to fuel their extravagant lifestyles. They need 6 homes and 50 cars and $1000 haircuts you know. THIS is exactly what a LOT of people are becoming pissed about. TV networks are being run like businesses too much. Everything now comes down to the bottom line. Isn’t it telling that, as this becomes more and more extreme, people are tuning out more and more. The fact that the overall TV viewership has declined, dramatically clearly suggests this. Quality TV programming has nothing to do with TV anymore, it’s ALL about money. If you need more proof, then look at the “Reality” TV phenomenon. Networks have the greatest profit margins with these types of shows. Why? They have the lowest cost to produce. That means more money for them. Why do you think there is such a huge prevailence of those horrible shows? Profits, pure and simple. It may have been a good idea to have these shows for a short period of time, and in limited numbers, to generate interest, energy and quick cash for the network. But that time has past and it’s now causing more and more people to tune out completely. What networks need now, are shows that can capture an audience, slowly build on them, gain viewer loyalty, and be something different, like Jericho was. But alas, CBS thinks it knows better and it’s going to tell us what we want to watch. You know, NBC tried that stunt and look what happened. It went from the penthouse at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel to the basement of a sewage treatment plant in ratings and network ranking. CBS is heading that way too. Strike 5, aren’t you out yet?
So there we have it. Just some of the problems with CBS and it’s decision to cancel Jericho. I’m sure there are more though. The fact that people are taking the time to discuss it on the net, and send in packages of nuts should clue CBS in that the fans and casual viewers were paying attention intently and ready to support the show. CBS has dropped the ball. Yet again. Smooth move ex-lax.
So if CBS isn’t the network for the show, let’s ask NBC or Fox to pick it up. Their programming is more progressive than CBS’s anyway.
I don’t disagree with this article totally, but it’s no excuse to starting a serial drama just to cancel it when the ratings aren’t spectacular. And I have seen networks put a show on hiatus before and then blame it on the viewers. That’s BS. Viewers just want some continuity.
This is a horrible article for the following reasons:
1. It states as fact that the shows cancelation had been long coming; however, that’s actually not true. Many people weren’t sure what would happen. I recall reading an article stating Jericho was a “shoe-in” for a season two.
2. Shows like CSI and NCIS serve a much older demographic that buys almost nothing. The idea that CBS should stick with that demographic is a financially dumb decision; they should want to switch to Jericho’s demographic who is willing to spend $50,000 just to convince the network of its worth. Plus, many are sponsoring ads through google to promote a Jericho come back. This is a dream demographic!
3. Jericho was not a Sci Fi by any means. It was simply a drama. There is no attempt to stretch science or consider a world with different scientific principles than what exist now. The idea of calling Jericho a science fiction show is idiotic.
4. Stating that Jericho had its “ass handed to” itself once American Idol started is far from true. The Neilson ratings don’t count TiVo and online viewers, which are the ways that most young people watch television shows. Neilson rating flaws aside, CBS finished second the night Jericho’s season finale aired. So, it hardly had its “ass handed to it.”
Basically, the reasoning and assumptions in this article are very flawed and I hope the executives at CBS don’t listen to it because if they do, they’ll be missing out on excellent, free PR and an audience with deep pockets.
This article is really a poor attempt to disguise CBS’s guerrilla tactics to exploit the under educated, socio-economically deprived viewers. The truth is that the demo of the show was probably older, better educated, more affluent and contradictory to CBS’s liberal agenda, ratings be damned. I for one never watched a live broadcast.
Who else watches reality shows, CSI knock-offs, reruns and the rest of the drivel disseminated by CBS? Do you know how long it really takes to do a DNA test? Do you realize that a CSI doesn’t do detective work? Watch Dr. G on the health channel just once. Next they’ll have Elmer Fudd teaching gun safety.
Do we really want shows about promiscuous losers in the ’70s, reality shows about kids running a town? Would you admit to watching these shows in public? I don’t watch them and I would be embarrassed for anyone who admitted watching them.
I’m 43 years old with a college education and mid six figure income. I spend lots of money and I haven’t watched CBS since May 16th. I will not watch in the future and neither will anyone else in my 7 viewer household.
CBS advertisers are you listening. If you want to sell pony tail holders, tattoos, bongs and Hanna Montana souvenirs then stick with CBS. If you want to sell to an adult then find me on another network, probably cable.
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I liked the first season of JERICHO mainly because of GERALD MCRANEY. I didn’t mind the show being slower. The second season seemed very rushed in my humble opinion, although I fully understand why. Example: Jake goes away and we don’t even see him say goodbye to Emily.
KUDOS to Skeet, Lennie, and the rest of the cast.
They did an AWESOME job and I will never forget them.
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