Watching Jericho

That’s what Rod Ellis says, anyway. As I was doing my normal technorati search yesterday, I found the website Author by Night, which is Rod Ellis’ blog and where I found this entry.

Long before CBS presented Jericho on television, Rod Ellis wrote Flight in Winter and sent it out to a group of readers. The time frame for this is easily proven. They know who was here first. They know where the idea for the television show came from and they have read something much more riveting than CBS can deliver. To prove that point, The Saga, the first in the Flight in Winter series has been released on the internet so that people can read what CBS is failing to accomplish.

The blog post links to another of his sites, Flight in Winter, where you can read the story that he says has a direct relationship with Jericho.

What do I think? I don’t know. I just found the site and haven’t had a chance to read the story yet. When I do a google search for either Rod Ellis or Flight in Winter, not a lot comes up. I’ll definitely be reading the story and let y’all know what I think.

Jericho, Rod Ellis, Flight in Winter, TV, television

Adam Buckman of the New York Post certainly grabbed my attention with his secondary headline on his recent story, The Year of Fear. He writes of the attention-grabbing trend of nuclear weapons in the hands of terrorists that has gripped our television sets and our minds.

“I think that’s what we’re all afraid of,” says Carol Barbee, executive producer of “Jericho” on CBS. “We’re all afraid that some crazy person will get hold of a bomb and will blow up the United States.”

When I was a kid, I remember seeing all of the 1950’s era “Stop, Drop and Roll” movies in grade school, a little scared and a little amused by the concept of nuclear bombs dropping and the cartoon characters attempting to show you how to survive. But they were dated by the time that I saw them, and once the Cold War ended, the only things that bomb shelters were used for were parties or an indoor skate park. While I was usually within twenty miles of nuclear weapons, since I was a Navy brat, it was more common to be annoyed with the anti-nuclear protesters that were blocking my way in and out of base than it was to worry about someone setting one of those weapons off.

But since September 11, things have changed, and a lot of people’s attitudes have changed. We’re back into that fear mode because of people beyond our control, and our entertainment shows it with shows like Jericho. Maybe it’s just our version of the Turtle in the Stop Drop and Roll shows, but it makes us feel better, and thats all we can ask from a television show, isn’t it?

Read the whole article here.

Jericho, Nuclear War, TV, television

Because you can never have enough Hawkins information, especially when you’re building up to the Spring Season premiere, CBS has released video on their site of Hawkins being interviewed, very similar to their video of Sara (i.e., the Mystery Woman), though these have been recorded in what looks to be Mary Bailey’s bar. While most of the video clips are open now, they still have just a few that are still locked as “Classified”, which of course make me completely impatient with waiting.

There’s also a particular thread that they’ve set up in regards to these videos over at the message board, which always brings up some interesting discussion points coming from people who notice things that I’ve missed, like this one…

I noticed something seriously wrong with one video in particular. The one where he talks about why no fallout was in Jericho. Now if you remember in the episode where it started to rain and he went to the storage unit, he made sure that he was protected from the rain, he had duct taped up his rain gear. That is something that you would do to prevent fallout in the rain from reaching your skin , but in the video he claims that no fallout would reach Jericho because it was too far away from the blast. Now either he is lying in the video which I just happen to think he is due to his body language. If you notice when he answers a question he keeps looking off to his right side this is a key indicator that someone is being less than honest. Normally when speaking to someone you maintain eye contact , but people that are lying tend to either look to the side or look down breaking eye contact .

Jericho, Lennie James, Robert Hawkins, TV, television

The Museum for Television and Radio is presenting its 24th Annual William S. Paley Television Festival on March 1 through 15, and they’ve added Jericho to their program on March 13.

What’s PaleyFest about?

Over twelve nights from March 1 to 15, 2007, MTR will unite stars, creators, and their fans for behind-the-scenes looks at the most talked-about shows.

PaleyFest ‘07 takes place at the DGA Theatre Complex at 7920 Sunset Boulevard in Los Angeles. Named for William S. Paley, founder of both MTR and CBS, the Festival is an annual celebration of television’s great programming and the creative process behind it. During these events, the audience watches episodes or highlights of the featured work and participates in a Q&A with the show’s cast and creative team.

On their website, they’ve listed Carol Barbee, Stephen Chbosky, Lennie James, Erik Knudsen, Gerald McRaney, Pamela Reed, Josh Schaer, Ashley Scott, Jon Steinberg and Skeet Ulrich as appearing at the 7:00 p.m. showing. So, if you’re in the area, and have some extra cash, you should grab up tickets fast and let me know in the comments how it goes.

Jericho, Carol Barbee, Stephen Chbosky, Lennie James, Erik Knudsen, Gerald McRaney, Pamela Reed, Josh Schaer, Jon Steinberg, Skeet Ulrich, TV, television

More has been written on the arc of the coming Spring Season involving Hawkins and his family, says Scott Nance of SyFy Portal.

“He’s got a storyline that’s kind of coming up, [where] he goes someplace where you really didn’t expect him to go,” actor Lennie James told SciFi Wire. “And maybe Hawkins will come back around. And also one of the other things that’s happened is that, because of where we’ve come back, in episode 12, there’s an arc that happens for Hawkins and his family that drags us to episode 15 [and then episode] 16.”

Lennie James goes on to say that he tried to purposely stay in the dark as much as the viewers at first about the character of Hawkins, just so he could get into the “moment” of the character. He says that after the first few episodes, he knew that wasn’t the right way to go about getting the character, and had to get completely enmeshed with Hawkins’ backstory. Once he did that, things became much easier, and we’ll all get to find out more once the Spring Season starts on February 21.

Read the whole article here.

Jericho, Lennie James, TV, television, Robert Hawkins

Have some computer-y icon-making skills? Love watching Jericho? Are you active on Livejournal? Don’t mind slash fan fiction? Boy, have I got a contest for you.

While slash fan fiction hasn’t ever been my personal cup of tea, the jericho_slash livejournal community has started an icon contest.

The community needs an icon so I was thinking how about a small contest

Create an icon for this community, can include any slash pairing from the show, or even just text of the comm name.

Closing date for the contest will be the Feb 28.

Entries to be posted in the comments here (which will be screened until all entries are in)
At which point they will be reposted together anonymously to be judged by the members of the commm and the winning icon will be used as the community default icon

So, open up Photoshop/Paint Shop Pro and get busy making some icons! Submit your icons to within the comments section over at the jericho_slash community livejournal site, and then leave a comment over here to let me know which ones are yours.

Jericho, icon, TV, television, contest

… At least that’s what the Houston Chronicle’s Lana Berkowitz says in her article, Boom and Doom, comparing the upswing in end of the world tales with the culture of wariness that’s become part of our culture in the post-911 world.

Atomic annihilation is nothing new in pop culture. There was a frenzy around 1959 concerning atmospheric testing, and then interest waned until the 1980s, Brians said. That’s when President Reagan’s talk about arms buildup and positioning of midrange missiles outraged Europeans, he said.

Comparing the lowering of nuclear-related stories out there after the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, the nation losing interest in end of the world stories, but then picking up after September 11, bringing disaster back into vogue with our entertainment. While you would think that would make us dwell on the worst aspects of the world, the shows like Jericho gives us one thing… hope.

“Shows like Heroes and 24 are about the dread thing happening, but also about the ability of the individual to combat them. There’s hope,” Braudy said.

And the people of Jericho seem to have hope in spades, at least so far through the story. We’ll have to see how that hope holds up in the coming Spring Season.

Read the whole article here.

Jericho, television, CBS

Want to take a trip out to the set of Jericho? CBS has a new contest where you can enter your guesses for what the Morse Code sequence will be for the Spring Season Premiere on February 21.

You’ve seen and heard the Morse code in JERICHO’s opening credits each week. The code in the credits for episodes 10, “Red Flag,� and 11, “Vox Populi,� form part of a sentence: It begins with six and ends with…. Your mission is to guess the end of the sentence, which will be revealed in the opening Morse code on the spring premiere, February 21, 2007. When you guess, you’ll be entered to win a special visit to the JERICHO set.

There’s been a lot of discussion about the “hidden� messages in the Morse Code during the opening of each episode, as we’ve discussed here before. I used to have a basic grasp of morse code when I was younger, as I held a HAM radio license, but I usually just look them up after the episodes play because I’m lazy and I’ve forgotten what little I needed to pass the exam in the late 1980’s.

Enter the Master the Code Sequence Contest here, and let me know what your guesses are in the comments.

Jericho, Contest, Master the Code Sequence, television, CBS

Joel Keller of TV Squad attended an “informal” press conference with Executive Producers Carol Barbee and Jon Turletaub, and stars Skeet Ulrich, Ashley Scott, and Lennie James, where they promised that viewers would be getting answers to some of the story arc by the end of the season.

By the end of season one, for instance, according to Barbee, “we always planned to satisfy certain mysteries and open other doors. You’ll know where Jake’s been you’ll know what Hawkins’ involvement is. And you’ll also know who’s behind the attack.” The “whys” and “who elses” behind the nuclear attack will be mysteries that will be answered next season.

I really hoped that they would confirm that at least some of the story arcs that were set up in the Fall Season would be resolved, because I hate for all the questions that they’ve raised to be kept up in the air. I think that’s why I got hooked on Lost for so long, because they would answer just enough of those questions to keep you going while they introduced new ones. I also liked that they slid in some more information that has really been released for a while via the “Sneak Peaks� that they release on the official site.

Expect to see a Hawkins family arc in the early part of the season’s second half, as well as some trouble with a neighboring town that Jericho barters with.

Outside of the above, I think I liked the article more than anything from Joel’s reaction to Lennie James and his British accent best, not realizing that he’s a British actor.

Go and read the whole thing here.

Jericho, TV Squad, Spoilers, television, CBS, Carol Barbee, Jon Turletaub, Skeet Ulrich, Ashley Scott, Lennie James

Watching this video just makes me more and more impatient to see the show return on February 21. I’ve always liked Five for Fighting, also, which makes this video even more of a plus.

The video itself gives a great encapsulation of the Fall Season, with touches here and there of future episodes laced through it. While it’s generally chronological to the series, I did notice that they have spliced pieces out of sequence, though to be honest, that’s more my weird trivia memory and it works through the video well. I’m really happy to see that CBS has started allowing embedding on their youtube videos, which they didn’t when I first started writing here.

On a side note, why is it that ever since I started watching this, whenever I see Hawkins putting the push pin onto the map in Atlanta, it sends chills down my spine? Maybe it’s just the fact that I’m not really used to living in a big city, but I’m a former Navy (submarine) brat, the thought of nuclear explosions never really bothered me before. You won’t believe how many times I was reminded through the years of what number on the “big list” of places to be bombed we were living next to.

Watch the whole thing here.

Jericho, Five For Fighting, Spoilers, television, CBS

The Jericho Wiki has been collecting all of the different plot theories and placing them all on one page for ease of discussion. Everything from China to the Aliens (á la Independence Day) has been represented in the list, and when you get a chance to read through them all, it’s really interesting, and sometimes a little disturbing how much people have gotten involved in thinking about these things. Everyone loves a good conspiracy theory, myself included, but I do have to laugh at some of them, and others really do get under your skin, thinking “Man, this could actually happenâ€?.

My favorites have to be split between the Coup and the Dream Theories, more because I just like the idea behind them, though I would be really upset if the writers end up using the Dream Theory. That’s a little too clean of an exit for me, and something that I consider weak writing.

Of course, the one that sparked my attention the most was the “False Flag� theory, using the supposition that America bombed themselves to blame someone else, but that may just be the natural cynic in me coming out.

See all the theories here, and let me know which ones are your favorites in the comments.

Jericho, Jericho Wiki, Plot Theories, television, CBS

CBS has released snippets of an interview with the Mystery Woman, known as Sara on the Jericho Wiki. So far, they’ve released sixteen of a total of twenty seven responses in what looks like an extensive interview, reminiscent of an interrogation scene from a movie. What I’m wondering is where and when this was filmed, especially since the write-up on the official site says that she was found in a car accident on her way to St. Louis, completely disorientated.

Of course, the interview also gives some information that conflicts with what was initially given for the woman on the official site, with Sara saying that she was in Washington, DC on business as an independent contractor, while the initial information said that she, like Hawkins, was a police officer in St. Louis. Of course, in one of the sneak peaks that CBS has released, it shows that Sara and Hawkins not only know each other well, but they are intimate enough that Sara kisses Hawkins. My opinion is that it seems more of a friend kiss than anything else, there’s been some discussion on just this topic on the Wiki. She also mentions in the interview that her family is somewhere in California, and absolutely nothing about St. Louis, which also increases her ties to Hawkins, since the whole St. Louis angle with him has been shown to be false.

See the interviews here, and read comments on the Wiki.

Jericho, Jericho Wiki, Mystery Woman, television, CBS

Anyone want to buy jericho-forum.com? Because the owner has posted it for sale.

Why is he selling it? He says:

The reasons I’m selling are twofold. Firstly, I’m only a few hundred dollars away from my new laptop I want to get. With this site I should have enough extra cash to purchase it. Secondly, between school and my other sites, I simply don’t have enough time to effectively manage it. All in all I still love the show and hope to participate on the forum once it’s sold - I just can’t administrate it.

He lists his Google Adsense revenue, along with screencaps of the pertinent information in regards to revenue and ranking for the forum. Included in the sale is also the domain jerichotv.com, which is empty at the moment, but with the forum doing well, it shouldn’t be too hard to get that up and running.

Bidding starts at $100, with a Buy It Now price (just reduced) to $650 from the original $850. While he hasn’t said exactly what his reserve is, he has posted that he would like to see something at least in the range of $350. While if I had the extra cash I’d be a little tempted to pick this forum up, but I couldn’t really see me having enough time to make a success of it. Of course, you might be tempted, and if you end up winning the bid, let me know, because I’d love to see someone who reads about it here to have picked it up.

Jericho, Jericho Forum, Serial Drama, television, CBS

Lots of articles saying just that, which couldn’t make me any happier. Both Variety and the New York Daily News are saying that while it seemed at the beginning of the season, everyone had jumped onto the serial drama bandwagon, but very few have survived the holidays, even some mid-season replacements, such as Daybreak (who was filling in while Lost is on hiatus) and others that didn’t make it beyond a few episodes (See Smith and 3Lbs.)

Variety reports:

It hasn’t been the best year for Eye rookies, but small-town post-apocalypse drama “Jericho” has performed pretty well in Wednesday’s leadoff hour, improving on the performance of comedies in the hour a year ago.

It’s also the lone serialized CBS drama, as the net looks to diversify beyond its deep stable of crime procedurals. As such, it has generated more Internet buzz than just about any CBS show.

While the New York Daily News sums it up pretty nicely:

NBC’s “Heroes” and CBS’ “Jericho” were also swept up in the fall finale frenzy. They return Jan. 22 and Feb. 21, respectively. These were also the only new serialized shows to connect with viewers last year - so don’t look for too many high-concept dramas to debut in ‘07.

Variety points out that CBS doesn’t seem to always “get it” when it leaves its stable of procedural shows, but that they’ve really got a good thing going with Jericho. Here’s to hoping that they don’t mess it up.

Is it February yet?

Read the Variety article here, and the New York Daily News article here.

Jericho, Variety, Serial Drama, television, CBS

While this is the first that I’ve ever heard of it, Variety is reporting that Jericho is a finalist for the Maxwell Weinberg Award, an award for the top publicity campaigns in 2006. I’m not in the industry, so it really doesn’t surprise me that I’ve not heard of the award before, but I’m glad that Jericho is garnering the attention. The guys at CBS have really outdone themselves with the publicity campaign, from the regular ads seen all around to the very strong web presence that you usually see done via fan sites, versus the network.

The PR mavens, who are repped through the Intl. Cinematographers Guild, also selected the finalists for the Maxwell Weinberg award for top TV campaign: “ER,” Warner Bros. Television and NBC; “Grey’s Anatomy,” ABC; “Jericho,” Paramount TV, CBS Television; “Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip,” Warner Bros., NBC; and “Ugly Betty,” ABC, Touchstone Television.

Since it’s a new show, I haven’t really been all that surprised not to see Jericho showing up on the “best of” lists that are always around at the end of the year, but seeing them getting the kudos that they deserve right from the beginning is a great thing. And, who knows, maybe this time next year we’ll be seeing the show pop up in most all of the lists, versus so few of the lists.

Read the whole article here.

Jericho, television, Publicity, CBS, television