A Home for ‘Jericho’?: Could Replace ‘Viva Laughlin’ on Sundays

[Edit: CBS now confirms that, for better or for worse, Jericho will not be taking the place of Viva Laughlin. Instead, The Amazing Race will reinherit the timeslot at some point in the future. At this point it will be replaced with CSI repeats. Looks like Jericho is waiting until at least TAR finishes its season, if this is the timeslot they’re destined for.]

After a disastrous Thursday preview, Viva Laughling didn’t magically improve when it debuted in its timeslot last night. The series dipped even further, with downright embarassing ratings in every account. The beneficiary could be fans of CBS’ almost-canceled series Jericho.

From PIFeedback.com:

But CBS has sprung a major leak at 8 p.m., with the time period-premiere of musical drama Viva Laughlin at a mere (and fourth-place) 6.77 million viewers and a 1.2/ 2 among adults 18-49. Comparably, year-ago occupant The Amazing Race 10 averaged 10.89 million viewers and a 3.8/ 9 in the demo (on Oct. 22, 2006), with retention out of lead-in 60 Minutes (Viewers: #2, 11.14 million; A18-49: #2, 2.2/ 7 at 7 p.m.) of just 61 percent in viewers and 55 percent in the demo. Viva Laughlin also dipped in the second half-hour by 1.60 million viewers (7.57 to 5.97 million) and 29 percent in the demo (1.4/ 3 to 1.0/ 2). My prediction is that CBS will pull Viva Laughlin off the schedule either this week or definitely next week.

Now, since CBS is likely to cancel the series soon, this is going to be their first timeslot to open up in which benched Sophomore series Jericho can rise again. It makes sense for a variety of reasons:

• Jericho has only seven episodes in its second season, which would be perfect for the network as it would allow The Amazing Race to return to the slot in January.
• Jericho skewed older than a lot of shows, which makes it a decent leadout from 60 Minutes.
• If they don’t start airing Jericho soon, the show will lose all of its momentum which is slowly leaking away despite the efforts of fans.

However, it also reflects a lot of the concerns that Jericho fans have: it’s still an early evening timeslot, it has tough competition in the form of Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, and it would mean rushing the show to air likely without the proper advertising campaign.

Either way, fans should prepare: there’s a good chance Jericho might return to the air during November Sweeps.