Category Archives: Jericho

August 13, 2007 · 5:45 am

Weekend Wrapup: CBS Edition – August 13th, 2007

So, as you may have noticed, Cultural Learnings basically went black over the weekend. This was thanks to a camping trip to Kejimkujik National Park in Southwestern Nova Scotia, which was beautiful and wonderful. If you are interested (Testing my level of consistent readers here), there should be some Flickr photos on the right sidebar below. However, for those more inclined to learn what went on in TV Land over the Weekend, let’s take a gander at what CBS was up to over the three day period.

CBS’ Weekend To-Do List

Preempt “Jericho” without Informing Rabid Fanbase

So, CBS, let’s have a chat here. Because, really, I know that you’re trying your best to deal with this whole Jericho situation, but you need to learn a serious lesson in communication. Because preseason football preempting Jericho? It’s normal. In fact, it happens to every show every year. But you need to make that fact clear to the people who you clearly promised that you would air the show’s first season [almost] in its entirety this summer.

Because you’re really not doing it: you’re just pretending that a large portion of the country didn’t see last week’s episode, and you’re just going to mosey on to the next one. First off, people are clearly going to notice: you already learned that these people are smart and savvy and more than capable of realizing that their show is being messed with. And second, you’re trying to convince people to watch a serial drama: unless you’re packing that preseason football game with commercials for your online viewing service, you’re getting in the way of that goal.

So I’m off camping, missing this week’s episode, and it turns out that millions more are likely missing it too. If you’re seriously committed to the show, you should be doubling up on the reruns next week to make up for it, and continuing to do so to make sure these episodes are aired. I don’t think that’s too much to ask, personally, especially since some of us (I’m referring to me, eh?) are Canadian and can’t watch Innertube episodes.

Embrace Jericho’s Blog Potential

Admittedly, CBS didn’t do all wrong with Jericho: they’ve officially embraced their Fan Central portion of their website in an attempt to spread the word about blog posts about the series. I’m a little bit late in grabbing this news, but since they linked here to Cultural Learnings I took a peak at the site. Basically, they’re centralizing the “Diggnation” and other such initiatives that fans have been trying to move forward.

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August 10, 2007 · 6:30 am

Summer TV Wrapup: Most Watchable Reruns – “Jericho”

It is my view that summer reruns are an underutilized tool in promoting a series; however, I see where the concerns lie. There is little reason for people to turn into reruns: they’ve likely already seen the episode, and even if they haven’t they’re unlikely to choose a repeat over new programming on another network. However, some reruns are more watchable than others, and there is one distinct reason why: because people have a reason to watch.

When Jericho was renewed by CBS in June after a month-long fan campaign to save the show, there was a promise made that the show would be rerunning over the summer. Immediately, fans began to get people excited about this prospect. Jericho is the perfect series for reruns: it lost a portion of its original audience thanks to a hiatus, and it created buzz that made people curious enough to tune in.

And there’s where I think comes the show’s watchability: you feel like you’re watching something that has been earned, that has been warranted, and that has some sort of meaning. This isn’t just CBS filling the schedule: this is the work of thousands of devoted fans beaming into your television set Fridays at 9pm. I, personally, find that somewhat inspiring.

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July 27, 2007 · 10:00 pm

‘Jericho’ Rerun Report – “Semper Fidelis”

What fascinates me about this episode of Jericho is that it changes everything, in a way: we are now at a point where hope cannot be taken at face value, and where even a figure of authority can be a pure falsehood. This is what was missing early on in the series: I think that good and evil were too clearly defined, but now the world is as unclear as it really should be in the wake of an attack of this nature.

In this episode, the “Marines” represent the unfortunate future that lies ahead: the politics of this world are not crystal clear good vs. evil. It’s so interesting to see the reaction to word that South Korea and Iran have been bombed, and how quickly that news falls aside in favour of news of hope for the future. I think that’s a natural reaction, not some sort of ignorance to the ramifications of the bombs: on the list of pieces of information my mind would settle on as a member of Jericho’s community, I think “hope” would go above “war”.

And really, the stakes changed with Sarah and Hawkins as well. What seemed like a pointless and meandering story last week suddenly became atomic in nature: literally. Throwing the “package” into the mix certainly throws a further wrench into the loss of innocence, snatched away again by the revelation that the Marines are not the Marines. The Greens are the ones who figure this out, of course, but the townspeople remain unaware.

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July 20, 2007 · 10:05 pm

‘Jericho’ Rerun Report – “Heart of Winter”

This is a rather exciting edition of the J.R.R.: this is the first Jericho rerun that I’ve watched that I haven’t already seen! I missed last week’s episodes, but I caught up on them through Wikipedia recaps so I’d be ready to partake in this episode. I’ve heard some positive things bandied about, so I went in with some expectations to be sure.

And I think it met them. This episode brought a lot of things that I found were missing after the pilot: action, some level of intrigue, and a slight sense of humour that is really charming. Perhaps most importantly, however, the threats have become more real. Winter is not something like short term food shortages, it is a true threat that could cripple this community. Combine this with the amounts of peril found in the remainder of the episode, and you have a powerful hour of television.

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July 20, 2007 · 10:45 am

The ‘Jeriatrics’: How Baby Boomers are Saving ‘Jericho’

In May of 2007, CBS’ drama series ‘Jericho’ was canceled, and fans across North America weren’t happy about it. Their response took the form of a campaign to send peanuts to CBS (Referencing a line in the season’s final episode), and to spread their word through the modern communications methods available on the internet. It may be somewhat surprising, then, that these were not all twenty-something internet users who helped save this beloved series. In fact, some of them would be old enough to be their grandparents.

These viewers are not part of targeted advertiser’s demographics, and they certainly aren’t what people would expect when they picture someone who posts on internet message boards. These Baby Boomers are not just large in numbers: they also believe that they, too, can make a difference. They might not fully grasp MySpace or Facebook, but that doesn’t keep them from making their voice heard.

“You know what they say,” Jericho viewer Sharon Tomlinson, 53, writes, “60 is the new 40. It is a mistake for TV networks and advertisers to think that our age group is irrelevant.” There is no question that networks are not actively seeking out older viewers; one of CBS’ shows for next season is Swingtown, a drama about a suburban community of swingers. While there is an audience for that type of programming, it isn’t what viewers like Sharon are looking for.

They were looking for a show like Jericho, which according to Nielsen ratings struggled to engage younger viewers late in its season. However, it didn’t have any trouble pulling in viewers outside of that 18-49 demographic privileged by advertisers, if the events that followed are any indication. When the show was canceled in May, many of those most devoted to the cause were not internet-savvy youngsters, but rather boomers hoping to save something they cared about.

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July 15, 2007 · 11:22 am

Jericho Fans: Why Have You Stopped Using the Internet?

Dear Fans of CBS’ Jericho,

Hey folks, hope all is well in the world of rabid fandom. I know that it’s been over a month now since Jericho was saved and rejoicing commenced, but I have to level with you: I’m a bit disappointed. You see, when CBS announced that they would be bringing the show back for 7 episodes and repeating the entire first season, I seem to remember a lot of things being thrown around. Statements like “We need to promote this show!” or “This is the chance we’ve been waiting for!” seemed to be quite common. And I’m here to tell you that…well, you’re currently not living up to those statements.

The first two nights of repeats haven’t been disastrous, but they have certainly not been triumphs. After a decent reairing of the pilot, the two hour event on Friday struggled to pull in as many viewers as Friday Night Smackdown!, yet alone match last week’s numbers. There are all sorts of excuses being thrown around: The recap show was poorly made seems to be the most popular. I’ll be honest: it doesn’t matter how good that recap show was. All that matters is that, clearly, not enough people were going to watch in the first place.

I know how much work went into saving the show, as I witnessed all of your passion for this series here at Cultural Learnings. Whether you were yelling at me, arguing with me, agreeing with me, reasoning with me, I always remained fascinated by how much you loved your show. The fascination turned to admiration with time, and after the show was successfully saved I hoped that you could translate it into something positive, substantial for your series to survive.

And I haven’t seen it yet, folks. We’ve seen two weeks of repeats, and it seems to be like things have just reverted back to where they were before: no one seems to be talking about Jericho. While I know that many have taken a more grassroots approach at marketing the show to friends and family (Which is great), I think that this can only go so far. The way shows like Jericho become successful is through cultural consciousness.

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July 14, 2007 · 2:24 pm

Jericho Rerun Report: Ratings Setback in Week Two

I won’t attempt to sugarcoat it: last night’s ratings results for Jericho’s second week of reruns were disastrous in almost every single way.

From Zap2it:

NBC’s “1 vs. 100” won the 8 p.m. hour with a 3.6/7. A pair of “George Lopez” reruns on ABC averaged 2.5/5, just beating FOX’s “Bones” for second. “Friday Night Smackdown!” drew a 2.4/5 for The CW. “Jericho” trailed with a 2.1/4 for CBS, about a point lower than its return last week.

“Smackdown!” moved into the lead at 9 p.m., finishing with a 2.9/6. A “Las Vegas” rerun on NBC was close behind at 2.8/6. A second “Jericho” rerun on CBS improved a bit to 2.4/4. “Standoff” posted a 2.2/4 for FOX. ABC aired an episode of “Greek.”

The show caused CBS to fall to fall to a tie for third in viewers/households, a pitiful last place in Adults 18-49, and it even dragged down the numbers for, well, Numbers at 10pm. After gaining some momentum from reairing the pilot, it was clear that new viewers who came from Ghost Whisperer last week didn’t stick around.

Needless to say, CBS is not going to be happy with these numbers. The disastrous numbers amongst younger viewers are especially concerning, and the drop in the night’s other programs makes Jericho out to be a black hole of viewership. It’s a terrible parallel to the mid-season hiatus, where Jericho went from freshman success to on the bubble with a single episode. The same has happened here, and it isn’t good.

But all hope is not lost. There are some things fans should do in order to improve this situation.

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July 13, 2007 · 12:05 pm

JRR (Jericho Rerun Report) Week Two: “Recap” and “Black Jack”

It is regrettable, to say the least, that I won’t be able to be present this evening to watch what is decidedly the most important night for fans of Jericho and for those who used to be fans of Jericho. With much of the CBS show’s audience loss taking place after the mid-season hiatus, the recap special airing at 8pm EDT is a perfect way for those fans to return to the show with a refresher course followed immediately by “Black Jack”, the next episode, at 9pm EDT.

I am one of those people, one of those people who unfortunately stopped watching before things apparently picked up in the show’s second half. This was the night I was supposed to give it a big chance, start fresh with this series. Alas, I am actually heading to a White Stripes concert this evening, and will unfortunately be absent.

However, I still encourage everyone to check out these episodes of television if you’re at home and don’t have a White Stripes concert to attend. This is the moment that people should be rallying together for: while the pilot is fine and good, this is where the series both gets interesting and where it began to suffer in the ratings. The more people who get hooked now, the more that might be around when the show’s third season premieres.

Forget about ratings for tonight, even though they certainly are going to be the big story tomorrow: instead, focus on what this could mean from a fanbase perspective. This is huge, folks. Make it count.

Also feel free to leave your thoughts about the episodes after they air below.

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July 7, 2007 · 3:07 pm

‘Jericho’ Rerun Report: Week One Ratings a Mixed Bag

While certainly not a depressing defeat at the hands of the Summer Television ratings decline, CBS’ Jericho returned last night (Cultural Learnings Jericho Rerun Report – “Pilot”) with ratings that are considered a mixed result. There are some positives, but since this is just the pilot it’s hard to tell how being a serial will affect future weeks.

From PIFeedback:

The return of CBS’ Jericho, also a repeat, was the most-watched show at 9 p.m., with 4.74 million viewers — 210,000 behind the encore of lead-in Ghost Whisperer. Demographically, Jericho was second among adults 18-49, with a 1.1/ 4.

The Good News:

– Jericho won its timeslot in viewership, something that Close to Home had done in the weeks previous.

– Jericho held onto a large chunk of its Ghost Whisperer lead-in (4.95 Million Viewers)

The Bad News:

– The show finished behind last week’s episode of Close to Home considerably in total viewers, and by a small margin in Adults 18-49.

– The show failed to be even close to competing with Friday Night Smackdown! in key demos.

All in all, I’d say it’s a disappointment in the fact that the show couldn’t elevate CBS’ ratings over last week’s crime procedural. Still, the show maintained a great deal of its lead-in and there is still a chance that next week could see the series perform slightly better. However, it will actually face more competition next week when FOX burns off its remaining episodes of Drive in the timeslot.

And if Jericho can keep these numbers steady throughout the summer, I think CBS will be pleased.

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July 6, 2007 · 10:00 pm

‘Jericho’ Rerun Report – “Pilot”

Welcome to the 1st Edition of the J.R.R., or the Jericho Rerun Report, where we’ll be reviewing the rerun episodes airing throughout the summer. This is a unique edition of the J.R.R. since I’ve already seen this particular episode. So what’s it like watching a 2nd time around? Well, it’s kind of a mixed bag.

On the one hand, things move incredibly quickly in the early part of this episode with what is a lot of exposition crammed into about four minutes. We see Jake return to the strains of Brandon Flower and The Killers, entering into Jericho and providing a wide cast of characters with alibis as to his location for the past five years. The Navy, the Army, Minor League Baseball. We meet Stanley, Bonnie, Dale, Skylar, and all of the other casts of characters. What we learn? Jake’s been gone for a while, he’s mysterious, and he’s got daddy issues.

I actually think that this is a serious problem with the pilot: everything moves too darn quickly. It seems as if they were trying to fit all of this into a very short period of time, and it just doesn’t work that way. Here we’re getting years of history, family struggles between Eric and Jake, and we’re not even eight minutes into the episode. Starting out slow might have allowed the series to develop at a more natural pace. Instead, all of the “cool” setup is included in the pilot to “sell the show”.

And, to be honest, it sold me on the show’s potential quite quickly. The iconic shot in the image above is a stunning visage, and takes your breath away at first glance. The problem is that for the following ten or so episodes, it wasn’t about bombs and aftermath at all. It became a series about a community trying to return to a normal life, which we only got to see for about seven minutes. It’s hard to get attached to something that you only got to spend seven minutes with, you know?

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