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Literally 24 hours after CBS used the online, itunes and DVR success of "Jericho" to push for Nielsen to come up with a combined rating for series, the network then dropped the axe and canceled the popular drama, centered around a small town in Kansas following a series of nuclear attacks.
Jericho's 7 episode second season, empowered by 20 tons of nuts being mailed to the CBS network in protest from viewers, ended up critically acclaimed for its analogies to the world today, including the Iraqi occupation.
CBS still opted to cancel the series, citing ratings. The Associated Press issued the following article this morning:
SORRY FANS, JERICHO CANCELED AGAIN
LOS ANGELES, California (AP) -- "Jericho," the post-apocalyptic CBS drama whose devoted fans rallied to save it from cancellation, has met its end.
Despite fervent fan support, "Jericho" just didn't attract enough viewers, said CBS.The show failed to increase its audience and will air its final episode Tuesday, the network said Friday.
"Without question, there are passionate viewers watching this program; we simply wish there were more," CBS Entertainment President Nina Tassler said in a statement. "We have no regrets bringing the show back for a second try."
"Jericho," which stars Skeet Ulrich, was canceled last May, triggering a fan protest that deluged the network with about 40,000 pounds of peanuts -- a tribute to the defiant "Nuts!" line uttered by Ulrich's character in the first-season finale.
CBS relented and ordered seven new episodes, which started airing in February.
Networks rarely reverse a show's cancellation, but CBS has proven its flexibility at least once before. In 1983, after "Cagney & Lacey" was canceled and the network was bombarded with protests, the police drama was brought back in 1984 -- and ran successfully until 1988.
The network also likely took into consideration the dent a long hiatus put in the show's viewership.
Last fall, "Jericho" was averaging 10.5 million viewers. When it returned in the spring, it drew about 8.1 million, about a 23 percent decline from the first half of the season. It's been averaging about 6 million viewers in its current run.
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Jericho fans, however, aren't ready to give up the ghost. Already credited with raising over $20,000 in donations for tornado-decimated Greensburg, Kansas and resurrecting Jericho once on CBS, the fan base has already mobilized to convince Paramount, which produces the series to find a new home.
Fans interested in contacting Paramount can do so via:
CBS Paramount Network Television
5555 Melrose Avenue
Hollywood, CA 90038
Attn: Nancy Tellem
President, CBS Paramount Network Television Entertainment Group
323 575 2380
Jericho Producers Dan Shotz and Karim Zreik commiserated with fans via online radio station BlogTalk Radio this past Friday evening, which you can listen to BY CLICKING HERE.
Shotz and Zriek both noted their sadness and surprise over the cancellation, but commented that no one involved with the production wanted to walk away from working on the project. They thanked fans and noted that as producers, they couldn't tell fans "what to do", but hoped to provide insight into where fans could focus their efforts after meeting with Paramount this week.
Carol Barbee, the head Producer for the series, has yet to comment on the cancellation, but Michael Gaston, who portrayed Jericho mayor Gray Anderson, posted the following on the official CBS Jericho message board:
I just wanted to take a minute to, once again, thank all of you for supporting our show. It has a been a very painful week for us as we all got the same word you all got regarding the show's cancellation.
While getting dumped by the same girl a second time may not be as shocking as the first go round, it's often even more painful; if just for the fact that you let yourself hope, in vain, that it would be different this time. But it is the second burn, so as the saying goes, shame on me.
That said, I wouldn't have missed this little season 2 JERICHO novella for the world. It was a golden opportunity to reconnect with all my pals to bring you all at least a little more of the story we had to offer.
It was a gift.
And we have you to thank.
Thank you all. It really was a pleasure.
While fans begin to mobilize, it will also be a much harder accomplishment to resurrect the series again, as it has the distinction of being canceled twice, having the overhead of a huge, talented cast, and of getting the property released by CBS to take elsewhere.
However, an irony being closely pointed out is that Paramount are the right holders to Star Trek, which was canceled from its first season and brought back following a fan revolt, which later led to the series being revived as a feature film and numerous spin-off series.
Whether history can repeat itself again, it's going to take more than nuts this time. Still, like a certain fictional town in Kansas, Jericho's fans again prepare to fight the good fight.
For more on Jericho and the latest fan movement to save the "little series that could", visit http://www.cbs.com/primetime/jericho/.
Mike Johnson can be reached at Mike@PWInsider.com.
