It was a long road for fans of CBS’ Jericho this past summer, but the end of that road is officially in sight. CBS announced their Spring schedule today, and Jericho will be airing its 7-episode second season at 10PM EST on Tuesday Nights starting on February 12th.
From Zap2it.com:
Let’s get the important business out of the way: Rescued from cancellation by an outpouring of nuts, “Jericho” will begin its seven-episode second season on Tuesday, Feb. 12 at 10 p.m. ET, airing in the time slot where “Cane” is currently struggling.
What does this mean for the series?
Competition: Law & Order SVU and Boston Legal – both shows have shown some slight decreases this year, although it didn’t help previous occupant Cane which could never gain traction in the time slot.
Lead-In: The show will be following a Spring Season of Big Brother, which was widely anticipated considering the Writer’s Strike. This could be postponed if the writers return in the very near future, which I think would benefit the show – while Big Brother is important to Jericho, it serves what I believe to be a considerably younger audience than the average Jericho fan. The Unit, the show usually in the timeslot, speaks better to some of the show’s more difficult serial elements. Still, at the very least the timeslot ensures that even if the Writer’s Strike continues, Jericho will be following new programming.
Schedule: By this schedule, Jericho’s episode would likely run out at the end of March. This would mean two straight months of Jericho episodes, with half of them occuring during the all-important February Sweeps period.
In case you were wondering, there are only 71 days remaining until Jericho returns to the airwaves. While this particular premiere date falls smack dab in the middle of my thesis deadlines, I will do my best to make sure there is plenty of coverage to drum up the show’s return.
Cultural Learnings 
I think this timeslot works well. I have been waiting for the new season for some time just like the rest of you. I love BB and the Unit so to me, this is a no brainer. I think the only thing I could say that would be a negative is CBS should have listened to us in the first place and given us a 13 episode season and they would have been cleaning up with sweeps because they would have had a more of a full season of Jericho instead of a truncaded one, which would have given them even more of a lead for the sweeps! At least we have all of them shot and in the can. On a personal note, I hope that your thesis goes well.
Hey Myles. I have to disagree about BB having a younger audience. I’m in my 30’s and I love the show & so do all my friends & family. I think the show just has a bigger and more diverse audience period. This will make for great cross promotion between shows, I’m thrilled!
Although different (reality & sci-fi/drama), the diversity is seen (by me) as a plus. One trend I’ve noticed is that in certain instances, shows of a certain genre that play back to back don’t fare as well as those that are opposing.
I’m not concerned about Boston Legal or Law & Order SVU at all, I imagine right now their respective networks are feeling a little “nuts” regarding the time slot announced for Jericho.
I agree that Jericho has to stand on its own whether the lead in is Big Brother or The Unit. I am so excited and am counting the days until Feb. 12, 2008 at 10:00 p.m.
I’ve never watched Big Brother so I can’t comment on their audience. I’m just glad Jericho’s been scheduled and it’s not going up against American Idol!
Hard to believe the ratings are so low for the drama Cane. Its the most intriguing show on television in that time spot. Given more time people will catch on and embrace it. If the soprano’s caught on I don’t understand why audiences in the 18-49 category are not watching it. More substance than the soprano’s.