March 21, 2008 · 11:44 pm

Reflections on the “Jericho” Cancellation

On this Good Friday, there is little good about the news coming from CBS. Nina Tassler, who nine months away resurrected Jericho from its premature cancellation has pulled the plug for good after unfortunately meager ratings. I’m still two episodes behind on Jericho, something I plan on fixing for Tuesday’s now Series Finale, but I wanted to stop in with a few brief thoughts.

For good reason, some articles are pegging this as the ultimate test of whether or not networks are willing to embrace the online success of series made primarily for television. Jericho was a highly streamed series, big on iTunes downloads, but these are still media in their infancy by industry standards. The result is that poor ratings, below even its performance against American Idol, is going to drag the series down in the eyes of advertisers.

It wasn’t a perfect time slot, no question – it really should have been placed earlier, but then it would have run up against American Idol. Or Lost. Or any other highly rated series that based on sheer numbers would damage Jericho more than a later timeslot would. Expectations from CBS were high, with a strike meaning less original programming airing opposite – when Jericho’s numbers failed to jump even after NBC’s Quarterlife drew abysmal ratings, the writing was pretty much on the wall.

I don’t blame CBS for their decision – they are more justified now than they were last May, having given the show a second chance and seen ratings only drop. I think that the fact they even gave seven episodes was a gesture of goodwill – their inability to market the show successfully is less negligence, and more CBS’s inability to market anything outside of their shows which sell themselves based on long-standing television cliches.

I also think that anyone who attempts to blame fans is out of their mind – the long wait between when the show returned to air and its original revival is reflective of not negligence but reality. People live busy lives during the summer, and people getting caught up in the fervor don’t always stick around. Any serialized show like Jericho requires a certain level of commitment, and expecting it to have been enough to substantially boost ratings is naive.

Really, this isn’t an issue of blame – there will be resolution to a show that was never supposed to have one, and when I reflect back on the show’s second season on Wednesday it will not be with remorse but remembrance. Hopefully, the episode lives up to that promise, and doesn’t leave fans even more frustrated.

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March 10, 2008 · 10:51 pm

Jericho – “Oversight”

First off, I want to apologize to everyone for a three-week absence – it was a period where a lot of things were due, and I ended up feeling as if the blog was just too much of a responsibility to keep up while completing everything else. I also apologize for leaving on a note of “I’m going in for surgery” and then disappearing without a word. In retrospect, perhaps not the smartest thing to do – recovery is going fine, and I’ve finally started to catch up on some of the TV I’ve been putting off.

Yes, indeed – not only was I not blogging over my three week break, I wasn’t watching much TV either. Much of this is to do with just being too busy, and also the fact that there were only four shows on that I’ve been watching with any regularity. I stayed up to date on Lost, but just wasn’t in a position to blog about it. Needless to say, however, “The Constant” was one of the best episodes the series has seen, and “The Other Woman” and “Eggtown” were more simple and containing small moments as opposed to large ones. Still, Lost? Awesome. However, I’ve been bored with “American Idol,” and am sadly a whole three episodes behind on Terminator: Sarah Connor Chronicles, but what I saw up to Episode 6 leaves me hoping for a second season regardless.

But, what I really want to talk about is Jericho, a show that I am really quite sad I wasn’t able to stay caught up on as time has gone on. As some may know, I’ve never been a huge fan of Jericho on a quality basis – it’s never been bad, but it just never seemed to pull together those moments that stayed with me on an emotional level. However, I can say for certain that this changed this evening, when I finally sat down and watched “Oversight.”

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February 19, 2008 · 11:57 pm

Jericho – “Condor”

“Condor”

February 19th, 2008

I’ve got a busy week ahead, but I wanted to leave some thoughts regarding tonight’s second episode of Jericho’s second season. If I had to summarize the reasons I’ve heard from fans for enjoying the series, I would say that it was its characters, its heart, and its premise. Now, all three of these are largely in jeopardy at this point, although to varying degrees – we’re getting less characters due to budget cuts, we lost the Green family leadership, and then the entire content of the show has shifted from a society in peril to a society threatened by constitutional rejiggering.

I’m not saying these are all terrible transitions, mind you, and I think that the new premise has, well, promise. However, at the same time, I want to take a look at how the show is handling these three issues, as opposed to a direct review of the episode, to see where the show heads from here.

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February 14, 2008 · 11:27 pm

Lost – “The Economist”

“The Economist”

February 14th, 2008

I had a sinking suspicion during tonight’s episode of Lost that what we were waiting for was a last minute reveal, especially during Sayid’s flash-forward. To be honest, it’s a story the show has told before: castaway falls in love, loses sight of their true objective (I’m thinking specifically of Sawyer, who also pulled the trigger in the end even though it certainly hurt him a little). As a result, you could tell that we were driving towards something, something that would throw us off the scent.

Well, we certainly got that, along with a series of small moments which help us to realize just why these new arrivals on this island are really there. We got Daniel’s test, Naomi’s bracelet and its inscription, Ben’s secret room, and Sayid’s ever-complicated flash-forward that tells us less than perhaps it poses.

For all of the spoilers about how Economists became interesting, click on.

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February 12, 2008 · 11:59 pm

Season Premiere: Jericho – “Reconstruction”

“Reconstruction”

February 12th, 2008

I have to ponder what it would have been like if Jericho had simply been renewed for another season, and I hadn’t been swept into an amazing fan initiative this past summer, what I would have thought of “Reconstruction,” Jericho’s triumphant return to television for the start of its seven episode second season. Many of the series’ problems remain present, with some of the new storyline’s potential left on the table, and yet I find myself being sucked in more than I expected. I don’t know if the episode was bad or good based on my normal standards simply because they kind of went out the window the second I returned to the small Kansas town.

Having had some time to figure things out, I think that “Reconstruction” is a solid hour of television that relies somewhat too heavily on fans’ nostalgia for the first season, but not so much as to render it unwatchable for new viewers. Those moments of reference to fan efforts, epitomized by the nuts in the show’s opening scene, largely disappear after the first episode, which allows the series’ governmental corruption storyline take center stage in the weeks ahead. Learn how that storyline is unfolding, and how the rest of the citizens of Jericho are faring, by reading the full review.

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February 12, 2008 · 11:44 am

A Whole Can of Nuts: Reflecting on the Return of CBS’ Jericho

In the summer of 2007, I had too much time on my hands when the network upfronts came around. As a result, when Jericho was cancelled, I was there to offer analysis, suggestions, commentary, criticisms, and praise for the stunning campaign which developed over the following months. I continued to follow the campaign throughout the summer, and into the fall months. However, unfortunately, I have been unable to do so in 2008 due to a variety of school-related commitments.

I am not happy about this, to be honest, because this is when Jericho fans deserve as much attention, and as much support, as possible. As a blogger who saw this campaign at first as an opportunity to get more blog stats, I have been consistently humbled by the amazing support Jericho fans have shown me and each other during this process. They made television history by earning the return of their show through a grassroots internet campaign, and that I am unable to in this moment reflect their efforts with more coverage of Jericho is going to bug me throughout the show’s seven-episode run.

But, I wanted to stop by and make sure that I congratulated all Jericho fans on an amazing accomplishment, and offer some of my own thoughts on what tonight means.

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February 8, 2008 · 5:37 pm

Deeply Superficial: Why NBC is the Prettiest Network on Television

[Due to a lot of commitments I’m a little late getting involved, but there’s still time for everyone to go back and enjoy South Dakota Dark’s Deeply Superficial Blog-a-Thon. I might be jumping in at the end, here, but many others have been busy throughout the week, so check out Todd’s index posts for all the details. In the meantime, here is my own contribution.]

NBC: Television’s Prettiest Network

If there is something to be said about Peacocks, it’s that their beauty is pretty much their only defining quality. It’s not as if a peacock does anything interesting outside of being attractive to look at – they don’t seem to have a personality or a story, but rather a lot of pretty feathers.

Now, I won’t say that this is true of the entirety of NBC’s television lineup, of which there are some shows I greatly enjoy (See: The Office, 30 Rock). However, they also have a bunch of shows where people are ridiculously attractive, beyond any sense of reason even. It makes NBC’s series flashy in a way that is honestly disarming – if people were this attractive in my life, I’d probably want people filming it at all times…although I’d probably detract from the process.

[Note: The following are the Top Five Prettiest Shows on NBC, ranked by a combination of level of superficial attractiveness and the level of guilt I would have if they ranked above #3 on any list I ever create. As a result, the most superficially pretty series might not be #1, because it would destroy my soul.]

5. ER

It is no coincidence that George Clooney emerged from within the world of NBC’s central medical drama, a rife location where enormously pretty doctors work in order to save the lives of famous guest stars. What I always enjoy in my brief forays into the world of ER is when they try to depict one of their characters in a gritty scenario, hiding their beauty in order to emphasize the dire situation at hand. However, let’s give credit where credit is due: the people on ER look closer to real-life doctors than say the enormously pretty Grey’s Anatomy cast.

Sidenote: STAMOS!!!

4. Heroes

When Heroes began, its two biggest heartthrobs were Ali Larter, the duplicitous Niki/Jessica, and Milo Ventimiglia, who portrayed the all-powerful Peter Petrelli. And, while I think that Peter has certainly had his moments, it is no coincidence that the series’ two prettiest individuals have become some of its most redundant and frustrating from a storyline perspective. Mainly Niki. Ugh.

Hayden Panettiere, who portrays the young cheerleader Claire, is perhaps the next down the line, and her storyline has been a frustrating fluctuation between great (See: Company Man) and awful (See: Most of the 2nd Season). I don’t really know how her prettiness relates, exactly, but I’m sure there’d be an equation if I had time to really delve into it. On the whole, Heroes is an attractive series, but attractiveness isn’t exactly a sign of an enjoyable character.

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February 7, 2008 · 11:38 pm

Lost – “Confirmed Dead”

“Confirmed Dead”

February 7th, 2008

Oh Lost. You are capable of telling us a lot in the span of 42 minutes, introducing four new characters who will play an important role moving forward. And yet, at the same time, I am infinitely more confused than I was before – for all of the things we learned about Dan, Miles, Charlotte and Frank, we are still unclear on why they’ve assembled in this fashion and why it is that their personal obsessions with Oceanic Flight 815 have brought them to the island.

Over the span of “Confirmed Dead,” we learned who was responsible for sending them, and their initial mission on the island in the immediate future. However, their larger plan is still largely vague, and there are still a boatload of questions (A freighter load, perhaps) left to answer. If Locke was frustrated when Ben was unable to answer his question about the origins of the Smoke Monster, we were doubly so…but in a good way.

The episode used four separate flashbacks for all of our four Freighters, each of them having some sort of connection to the story at hand. In each story, we had an odd glimpse at their personalities and, more importantly, an interest in not only Oceanic 815 but also the island and its various eccentricities.

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January 31, 2008 · 11:06 pm

Season Premiere: Lost – “The Beginning of the End”

“The Beginning of the End”

January 31st, 2008

It’s the event we’ve been waiting for since last May, when Lost ended its third season with a rattlesnake in the mailbox in the form of a new flash forward format. It was the episode that convinced many that Lost was back on track, and was a return to the buzz which met the show’s series premiere. But it raised a question for everyone: could the 48 episodes which will follow manage to live up to its potential?

“The Beginning of the End” can be taken literally, the first episode of the show’s final forty-eight. More importantly, it is the moment where the fate of our castaways is changed forever. With a glimpse to the future for one of the Oceanic Six, one wrought with psychological and personal trauma, Lost returns with an episode of what it does best: intriguing character studies and a plot that keeps you moving.

And if it all ends in just seven weeks, this beginning will be all the more sweet.

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January 31, 2008 · 8:25 am

Cultural Learnings Prepares to get ‘Lost’: Season Four Premiere and LiveCast Tonight!

Okay, so I might not have time for a huge Lost-related posting, but I’ve got some relatively exciting news for this evening. Starting at 11 EST, myself and David Chen from The Watchers will be broadcasting live through UStream (That’s the fancy link to your right) about the Lost Season Premiere. I hope to be able to have a post up before that with some of my thoughts on the episode, but tune in for a lot more detail and some really cool stuff all around.

In the meantime, if you’re still craving for your Lost fix, I figured I’d take us back in time to Cultural Learnings’ coverage of the end of Lost’s third season oh so many months ago.

Where Does Lost Go From Here? – May 24th, 2007

Just a day after the mind-blowing season finale, a review of which you can find below, I posed the question which we still don’t have a definitive answer to. It’s clear that the island’s drama will remain the central focus, which is about what I had figured, but the potential balance between flashforwards and flashbacks remains an important question we will discover in the future. For now, revisit my initial thoughts on where the fourth season could go.

Reviewing the Finale Ratings: Lost, 24, Heroes – May 24th, 2007

One of the big questions still floating around Lost’s return is whether or not the series is going to perform in the ratings. As it stands right now, it remains totally up in the air, but with nothing else on television and only Celebrity Apprentice as competition, methinks that the juggernaut still has plenty of life left in it despite Heroes’ slight advantage back in May.

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