Jericho was notoriously cancelled by CBS after its first season, but fans fought to bring it back for a brief second-year run. Could it still be revived one more time?
What Is It?
This series takes place in the town of Jericho, Kansas following a nuclear strike on the country. The people of the town are cut off from all contact with the outside world and must learn how to get by on their own. But questions start to arise and people start to turn against each other as the situation in this post-apocalypse setting gets more desperate.
Aired: CBS, 2006-08, 2 Seasons Totaling 29 Episodes
Starring: Skeet Ulrich, Lennie James, Ashley Scott, Kenneth Mitchell, Brad Beyer, Esai Morales
Created By: Stephen Chbosky, Josh Schaer, Jonathan E. Steinberg
Why Was It Cancelled?
Jericho followed the Lost wave of popularity to television, and even though it was a very different series from the ABC entry, it relied heavily on building up a mystery and not revealing too much during its early episodes. When it first premiered on CBS, it pulled decent ratings and appeared to be on track for a second-season renewal. But then it went on an extended hiatus which was certainly a major miscalculation by network execs. Viewers had likely already grown frustrated with the show by the time of its mid-season finale because it seemed to be stalling the story progression as it worked hard to obfuscate what was going on outside of the town of Jericho. Then the show disappeared for nearly three months.
When it did return, the ratings were still decent, but the numbers did take a notable drop from the first half of the season. Story-wise, Jericho finally started answering some questions and revealing more about what was going on in the outside world, but not enough people were tuning back in. CBS was also one of the most-watched broadcast networks at that time and had a tendency to cancel shows that weren’t meeting up to its high viewership standards. That network also had a notable aversion to sci fi and fantasy shows and was least likely among the Big Four broadcasters (which includes ABC, FOX, and NBC) to add them to the schedule. Skeet Ulrich later commented accurately that it was not a “CBS-type show”, i.e., it did not fit nicely within the Prime Time-friendly procedural or sitcom format. The network chose to cancel Jericho at season end, leaving it on a major cliffhanger.
How Did the Fans React?
While Jericho was not one of the most-watched shows on CBS, it had a dedicated and energized fanbase and they immediately stepped up with efforts to save the show. They started sending nuts to the network inspired by one of the final lines from the Season 1 finale (bolstering business for Nuts.com in the process). Network execs resisted demands to bring the show back at first, but the response by fans was so overwhelming that they ultimately conceded to a seven-episode second season.
Sadly, the network did little to support the show from that point on, even though it was one of the only scripted programs it had available for the second half of the 2007-08 season which was heavily impacted by the writers’ strike. It aired on Tuesdays in the 10 PM EST hour and received very little in the way of promotion while also having a poor lead-in from the reality series Big Brother which attracted a very different type of audience. The ratings dropped notably from the first season and the show was unceremoniously cancelled a second time by year end. Fans tried again to save it, but the network could not be swayed to greenlight a third season.
Can It Be Revived One More Time?
The show did get a brief revival in comic book form with several members of the writing team involved, and it picked up right where the Season 2 finale left off. The comics delivered a six-issue third-season run followed by a five-issue fourth-season run, but sadly that ended on a cliffhanger and never continued into a fifth season.
Several years later, when Netflix made its first forays into scripted programming, there was an attempt to revive the show at that venue. According to an interview that Skeet Ulrich gave to the AV Club, they were very close to moving forward with a third season with most of the original cast involved, but CBS decided not to sell the property. Ulrich commented that “the deal wouldn’t work for them”.
But a revival of the series is still possible. Ulrich’s one condition for returning to the Netflix show was that it would “time-jump five years, and the world has devolved way lower than we could ever have imagined”. Extend that now to perhaps a ten-year time jump, and the continuation is still feasible. Add to that the fact that Ulrich’s commitment to Riverdale is coming to an end with that show wrapping up, and Lennie James should be free now that Fear the Walking Dead is ending. So both the lead actors could very well be available.
I would have suggested that fans lobby Paramount+ to move forward with the revival because that could be a good subscription boost for the streamer. But that service appears to be struggling after cancelling several shows including Star Trek: Prodigy (more on that at this link), so it may not be interested in jumping onboard a Jericho revival at this time. But Paramount may have a renewed interest in selling the property to help with its financial struggles, and things worked out pretty well for Netflix after it saved NBC’s Manifest. Fans could certainly target that streamer as well as Amazon and Hulu. The show brings name recognition and does not require the mega-budget the streamers have spent on shows like The Sandman, The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, and The Handmaid’s Tale, so it could be an affordable addition.
The clock is ticking on this, though, and fans will need to get something in the works soon. It has been fifteen years since Jericho last aired a new episode, and the window for a revival with the original actors is certainly closing. But this one still has a dedicated fanbase, and perhaps they can stage one more attempt to save the show and give it the closure it deserves.
Where Can You Watch It?
Both seasons are available for viewing on the Paramount+ streaming service. It has also been released on DVD, though not on Blu-ray yet, and it is available to purchase VOD from sellers like Amazon.com and Apple. The comics were collected into trade paperbacks, though they have since gone out of print. You can buy them from third-party sellers at places like Amazon.com and eBay.
Did you watch Jericho and would you support fan efforts to save the show?
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