While I didn’t agree with CBS’s initial plan to kill Jericho, one of the few new shows I enjoyed, I’m glad the nuts had their say:
The network apparently has been impressed by the display of viewer passion, which included the delivery of 50,000 pounds of peanuts to its New York offices. In the season finale, a character replies “Nuts!” to a demand that the beleaguered town of Jericho surrender.
“You got our attention; your emails and collective voice have been heard,” [CBS Entertainment President Nina] Tassler wrote, and seven episodes have been ordered for midseason 2007-08. “In success, there is the potential for more. But, for there to be more Jericho, we will need more viewers.
In originally declining the renew Jericho, dwindling viewership was to blame. However, those numbers don’t exist in a vacuum: CBS put Jericho on a several month hiatus over the winter months and lost a good deal of momentum, they competed directly with American Idol during the spring, and in general television viewing is down. Probably making it premature to kill a good property that could have legs.
I give credit to the Internet community of fanatics who helped CBS rethink their decision. And I give credit to CBS for keeping an open mind, ordering additional episodes, and rerunning the series this summer to attract new viewers. Now about Smith…