Tag Archives: Save Jericho

May 23, 2007 · 8:48 pm

‘Save Jericho’: Much Ado About Peanuts [UPDATED]

UPDATE: Well, according to CBS, it appears that the peanuts are being given in a way quite similar to what was suggested here. Jericho fans = Smart, it seems, and CBS appears to be routing the peanuts for a good cause. This is a positive development, and considering that another 4000 pounds are on their way today [Maybe with media as well]…things aren’t done yet.

WCBSTV.com – ‘Jericho’ Fans to CBS: ‘Nuts!’

“CBS spokesman Chris Ender estimated Wednesday that about 300 boxes of nuts ranging in size from three pounds to 10 pounds had arrived.

“We’ve made arrangements for the bulk of the boxes to be picked up by Staten Island Project Home Front, an organization that focuses on fundraising and supporting military serving in Iraq and Afghanistan,” Ender told wcbstv.com. “We’ve also made contact with the Bronx Zoo to see if they’d like some of these, as well as local homeless shelters and food banks.””

Sounds like they’re headed to a good cause. Let’s hope that CBS, in the process of this, understands what is going on here on a larger level.

And now back to regularly scheduled analysis.

Okay, so over the past few days I’ve been delving into this Jericho question, and the more I discuss it the more I sympathize with the show’s fans. Much of this has to do with their level of argument within the two past threads (To be found Here and Here), but I have to admit: a lot of it has to do with the peanuts.

That peanut side of the story is quite simple: Skeet Ulrich’s Jake said “Nuts” in the season finale (As part of some form of surrender: I need to watch this finale at some point, eh?), and fans have used it as their battlecry. “Nuts to CBS” is a common statement amongst the show’s fans, but they didn’t stop there. As opposed to just sending their thoughts, they decided that they should send something more tangible: peanuts. Hundreds, if not thousands, of peanut orders started flying off from various online peanut delivery companies…however, one took notice.

NutsOnline.com – Nuts for Jericho

It was NutsOnline that did so, and they’re now sending mass shipments to CBS, the first of which should have arrived recently (There is to be video confirmation later).

In the meantime however, I figure that there’s a question that should be answered:

What should CBS do with all of these roasted peanuts?

My personal suggestion is to provide them to the writing staffs for their new fall shows, but to then refuse to provide them water, holding them hostage until they put out scripts which are good enough to meet their approval.

So, does anyone else have any suggestions on what they should do with the nuts? Perhaps Ms. Tassler should make a honey-nut glaze humble pie? Got another recipe in mind? Have some fun with it, I’m sure that there’s plenty of imaginative minds out there.

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May 23, 2007 · 1:37 pm

‘Save Jericho’: The ‘CBS’ Viral Conspiracy Theory

This will be a brief update, but it is something to consider. On the Official Jericho Boards, “colsteve” posted with news that someone apparently from CBS (Through StatTracker, this information was discovered) had arrived at their blog after searching for the following phrase:

“SAVE JERICHO CAMPAIGN FAILS”

That’s how it reads. First, let’s make this clear: there has been no official word as to the campaign’s success, and as a statement this is not true: the fight goes on.

Now, the theory is of course that CBS is trying to downplay the movement by spreading doubt as to its success. I think this is a little bit tenuous, however; that IP address could have been a mistake, the person could have been a low-level intern, and I don’t think there is any real justification in claiming that CBS is virally attempting to stop the movement.

That being said, I think it raises the interesting question: how ARE people reacting at CBS? It’s hard for us to imagine as non-executives, but for them this likely presents a huge public relations and media challenge, not to mention actually dealing with their coming development cycle. I almost can see why they would be interested in trying to start things in a viral fashion, because the traditional methods of damage control only work against much smaller “problems”.

Because the ‘Save Jericho’ campaign is a problem for CBS. Are these viral searches part of a vast conspiracy to undermine the NUTS drive? Theoretically. But, without actual proof, all we can do is wonder whether or not CBS is planning something substantial in response to it all. Perhaps we’ll see in the coming days.

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May 22, 2007 · 7:47 pm

‘Save Jericho’: Addressing the Hiatus Hernia, The Idol Factor and Promoting the Unpromotable

In an ongoing attempt to provide some analysis of the fall of Jericho and the subsequent rise of its fans, I’ve been fielding a wide range of questions, comments, criticisms, and attempting to provide a perspective for them. I’ve dealt with CBS’ logic for the cancellation, along with documenting the rise of the ‘Save Jericho’ campaign; however, as many have rightly pointed out, I have yet to properly address the claim very succinctly stated in a comment on this very blog by James Denison:

“Jericho was an excellent drama that suffered from the 3 month hiatus, going up against [American Idol], and poor promotion by CBS.”

In doing so, I might have to defend certain decisions CBS made, and I think that this is just: the network is not entirely at fault here. But, by investigating these issues further, I believe that was can increase CBS’s accountability for their own role in this problem. What I want to investigate are the following series of questions:

– Why do shows go on hiatus, and what other options are available?

– If CBS had shifted the show’s timeslot to avoid Idol, what would the effect have been?

– Is Jericho an easily promotable show?

In answering these questions, I believe that we can further understand the series of events that took place, and delve yet further into the questions of New Media, New Advertising, and just about everything in between.

Continue reading →

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May 20, 2007 · 7:05 pm

A Word of Warning to the ‘Save Jericho’ Campaign

I have written in the past about how I believe CBS had justification to cancel Jericho. However, I must admit that I am incredibly impressed by the outpouring of support found on the internet for the series. The ‘Save Jericho’ campaign has swept the internet to a level that I honestly didn’t expect. I myself felt some of this, but it is clear that these fans aren’t letting up, and that the momentum is only building.

‘Save Jericho’ Links

Online Petition to Save the Series

YourEntertainmentNow Post Featuring Series Supporters

Save Jericho @ BlogSpot

JerichoLives.com

‘Save Jericho’ @ Cultural Learnings

Much Ado About Peanuts (What Should CBS Do With Them?)

From the campaign to send nuts (A line from the finale) to CBS to the outpouring of anger and frustration, it is clear that the show has a rabid fanbase. And, to be honest, I would be sweating right now if I was CBS. However, I’d also be sweating if I was a fan of Jericho as we know it. Because, if CBS gives in to the fans and orders a 2nd season of the drama (As unlikely as it is), we have no idea what might emerge from that engagement.

Continue reading →

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May 16, 2007 · 10:51 pm

Network Upfronts Extravaganza – Why CBS Canceled ‘Jericho’

[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.

Link: “Save Jericho Petition”

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.

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