CBS seems awfully well-organized behind Jericho. The network gave a bag of peanuts and a specially made T-shirt to all the critics today, with a big peanut on it saying "We did it! We saved Jericho!"
Did the network actually have a lot to do with promoting the idea that zillions of fans got together to resurrect the show? Did the network "cancel" it on purpose, so as to generate widespread interest for a second season? And then did it overstate the interest as a publicity stunt, to try to get more viewers for a mid-season show that the network was already ready to run?
Skeet Ulrich (Jake), Lennie James (Hawkins), Ashley Scott (Emily) and executive producer Carol Barbee regaled us with their thoughts this morning.
Ashley: When you get canceled, you kind of think that that's it.
Skeet: Sounded pretty definitive to me.
The show will come back "lean and mean," said Barbee, with accelerated story lines centered on Jake and Hawkins striving "to save the world." Currently scheduled for winter, it could make it onto the schedule as early as October if a skedded CBS show gets a quick demise. Sprague Grayden's Heather Lisiniski will be back for a least a few eps. Even Gerald McRaney's Mayor Green, who died so melodramatically in the final episode last spring, could return, in flashbacks.
They're going into production Monday, and the whole seven episodes that have been ordered will be in the can by the end of September, and then everybody goes off to the winds again. Nobody knows exactly what will happen if the show proves to be a success, and CBS wants to order more episodes.
Lennie: "It's a conversation we need to have. We don't know."
My personal opinion: Despite all this buzz, real and imagined, the actual viewing audience will not grow significantly, and those seven will be Jericho's last.
James would beg to differ: "All that passion. It kind of reminded us of who we make it for, and what it’s all about. People are tuning in, and it is a moment in their week, and it really matters to them. Czechoslavakia, Denmark, New Zealand, Russia: The Jericho Rangers are worldwide."