Why Did Jericho Get Axed (Again)?
NOTE: The following is just an opinion piece from your friendly neighborhood blog writer. Take that as you will.
I’ve been trying to think of why it is that I seem to be the Kiss of Death to some TV shows (See: The 4400, Journeyman, Dresden Files, etc.). I’m sure that I’m not alone in this feeling, as I hear it quite often from friends and even strangers. While I can’t shake the feeling that I am this Harbinger of Doom to some series, I really think I can lay the second cancellation of Jericho mainly at CBS’s feet, not at mine. Ok, maybe not “mainly”, but there were some seemingly purposeful “mistakes” on CBS’s part that truly hurt the show.
Item 1 – Waiting until the Writer’s Strike was nearly over to actually show the 7 episode drama which had already been shot Pre-Writer’s Strike.
Ok, ok… we get it, CBS. You were just waiting for the “right moment”… but you know what, the right moment would have been to show it when people were truly in a fix to watch something on television, say, early December? You’ve got a ready-made audience that you could have tapped who were looking for Good Television around that time.
Item 2 – 10p.m. Tuesday Time Slot
10 p.m. on a Tuesday is usually a time reserved in my house of prepping for the next day, then going to sleep. Who’s bright and shiny idea was it to put it in a slot which most people only have the option of recording the show for playback later, completely missing their voice? This, beyond most everything else, showed me that CBS was pandering to the Nuts Campaign and just wanted us to go away quietly.
Item 3 – Spectacularly Bad Return Episode(s)
So this one isn’t actually CBS’s fault, but I have to include it in my list. As I’ve said before, the first two episodes stunk for me. That was not the show that I fell in love with last season, the show that I fought for, and felt elated when we actually won. Up until the third episode, I wondered who had gotten a hold of the Jericho name and put some random crap up on my television screen.
Those are my Top Three Reasons as to why Jericho got axed. I know that I have more, but after writing those out, I think I need a breather and some meditation to calm down.
Why do you think they cancelled it again? Am I completely off-base here, or do I have a point?
April 3rd, 2008 at 7:31 am
[…] a little piece o’ commentary from me about what I saw to cause the Death of Jericho, […]
April 3rd, 2008 at 10:41 am
Great post. I think it was canceled because the Nuts embarrassed Les Moonves and I think his ego decided right then that there would be a pacifier to give us 7 eps. Notice how CBS made a press release for this cancellation? I think they intended to snub us.
April 3rd, 2008 at 5:57 pm
CBS just didn’t promote it.
April 5th, 2008 at 9:26 pm
The fight to save Jericho is not over!
If you want more Jericho please write to: Ms. Nancy Tellem, President, CBS Paramount Network Television Entertainment Group, 4024 Radford Avenue, Studio City, CA 91604-2190.
Ask her to continue to produce Jericho and sell it to another network. These letters need to go out now, if we wish to save Jericho.
For more information go to: http://www.jericho-kansas.com/Community/SaveJerichoCampaign/tabid/195/Default.aspx
April 10th, 2008 at 11:31 pm
i totally agree they should have promoted it and aired it during the writers strike when NOTHING was on but re-runs and people could have gotten sucked into Jericho in the midsts of a television drought. and they needed the adverisini found out about this show from m sis’s boyfriend and i bought the season on DVD and loved it! See its the fans who promoted this and ever since the Nuts! fan freak-out the show has a buzz and people are just now in the hype look at seinfeld which only hit good ratings in its fourth season! and also Arrested Development which got cut short also for low ratings, Jericho and many other such shows are better than the almost disney humor shows we find on the recent prime time slots.
April 11th, 2008 at 2:08 pm
I was thinking about this just yesterday. I completely agree with Item One. One can only conclude that CBS was trying to kill it especially since so many people (myself included) actually suggested they rerun it during traditional downtimes, and I’m not so sure SciFi wasn’t nudging it into the coffin a bit since they didn’t replay it either until the new season started (it’s painful to even think of how it could have stomped the competition if it had been played during the writer’s strike…instead most of the people I know OD’d on Law&Order). I’m sure they listened to some extent since they did the really awful “catch up quick” show, but it was really just BS.
As for the last season, I can’t complain because I can imagine what it took to try and fit the writers’ vision that should have taken 2 or 3 seasons into one season with only 7 episodes. I still loved the story line even though it felt extremely rushed and I hated how many sub-plots just got tossed. I’m betting even they wish they could do it over. ::sigh:: What a wonderful world it would be if someone would let them. But the way they left it, I’d actually settle for a decent spinoff (since it’s unlikely they can keep the cast together and so many of them really MADE the characters their own).
April 16th, 2008 at 3:52 pm
I don’t agree that the first episodes had contributed to JERICHO’s second cancellation. In fact, I believe that the quality of those two episodes - whether you disliked it or I liked - had nothing to do with the second cancellation, whatsoever.
I think that CBS was determined to get rid of JERICHO permanently. Which is why it aired the show just as the writer’s strike was ending and scheduled it for Tuesday night, at 10PM. They were aware how popular the show was online and with iPods!. And instead of capitalizing on this by moving the show to a better time slot, they allowed it to slowly wither on Tuesday nights.
I cannot help but wonder what is it about JERICHO that disturbed the CBS executives so much.
April 20th, 2008 at 4:44 pm
CBS was going to cancell it no matter what. Otherwise it would’ve continued to run after it was brought back. No reason to re-cancel except they simply returned to their original plans.
I don’t think the Jericho substance disturbed anyone at CBS. I think it disturbed those who have a choke hold on the FCC
April 20th, 2008 at 4:46 pm
The first two episodes of season II are what got me hooked. So, I can’t say anything back about season II.