More on Jericho

According to this article Jericho's continued presence on our TVs next year depends on people watching it. Live. No recording. No DVR. No download, regardless of whether it's legal, or if you pay good money to download.

"Nina Tassler, the president of CBS Entertainment, told the New York Times that if fans want the show to live, they need to watch the broadcast because that's how the money gets made. Stressing that live viewing is 'of primary importance,' Tassler said that 'We want them to watch on Wednesday at 8 o'clock... and we need them to recruit new viewers who are going to watch the broadcast.'"

My opinion? This is unbelievably short-sighted on the part of the network. According to next week's TV Guide, "Jericho was the second most popular CBS program on iTunes and online after CSI, and got an 8 percent ratings boost from people who recorded it." Basically, CBS is saying that viewers need to watch the show the way they want the viewers to watch it, or the ratings don't count.

The landscape is changing, folks. The networks need to change with it. Stamping their feet indignantly and demanding that everyone watch shows live instead of recording them is just not a viable business model. The Neilsen ratings have been obsolete for quite some time now, but the networks still cling to them. Networks and advertisers need to work out new ways to capture the viewers' attention. What CBS is saying in regards to Jericho is not it. Kudos to them for the renewal, which may have been prompted by download numbers, but opposite of kudos (whatever that is) to them for insisting on live viewage instead of trying to get a little creative.

Jericho Picked Up

Looks official! Jericho will return mid-season with 7 new episodes, and there'll be online content until the new episodes begin. If the ratings are good with the new episodes, there'll be more.

Here's the link, at the Jericho wiki.

Jericho Rumors

This isn't exactly News news yet, but SyFy Portal and TV Squad have both reported that TV Guide's Mike Ausiello has reported (yes, I'm like fourth-hand at this point, but that's okay) that CBS is in talks to produce another eight episodes of Jericho, possibly to air mid-season next year. This would be nice--it'd at least give them a chance to wrap up the story, or possibly to bring in some good ratings to give us more shows. Hey, a girl can hope.

Good News and Bad News

This week, the networks are having their upfronts, where the schedules for next season are announced. Some good news on the NBC front--Journeyman and The Bionic Woman have been picked up. I'm not particularly excited about either of these, but it's a major network putting out genre TV, so I'm in favor. Plus Bionic Woman has Battlestar Galactica producers in its favor, and I was totally addicted to it as a kid. And Journeyman has Kevin McKidd (Rome) who's totally hot, so I'll check that out. I doubt they'll let him be Scottish, though. I wish they would, because I loves me a Scottish accent.

At Fox, Sarah Connor Chronicles has apparently also been picked up for next season. And although NBC and the CW haven't made any official announcements yet, it appears that Supernatural will be picked up for a third season (yay!), but that Jericho has been canceled (boo).

Jericho—Why We Fight

Okay, first off, I'm really confused already from the episode title because I keep expecting to see a submarine and David Boreanaz in a mock turtleneck. But I digress.

We open at a wedding, six years ago. It's Eric and April's wedding. Then we segue, abruptly and sneakily, to present day Jericho, where things are getting tenser. Jake is scruffy. Yes, scruffiness is always a plot point. They're planning how to stand up against New Bern, who's begun seizing farms. New Bern has a lot of people and a lot of trucks lined up to move in. Dude, Jericho is so screwed.

The story continues to cut between the wedding, six years ago, and the present. Jake and Eric, estranged at the wedding, work smoothly together, with obvious respect for each other, in the present. Heather's fate is revealed--she's found unconscious in a car wreck by a military contingent in Nebraska. Hawkins endangers himself by using his satellite feed to track New Bern's troops movements. Initially able to hold off New Bern's attack with a single mortar and the tank, Jericho faces greater odds in the next wave. Johnston falls in battle, leaving his sons to lead the town.

In the meantime, Heather, trying to help Jericho, calls in assistance from her rescuers in Camp Liberty, Nebraska, who are taking orders from the new Federal government in Cheyenne, Wyoming. But the help she secures proves to be the former head of Homeland Security, who's gunning for Hawkins.

With Jake and Eric left in charge, Mayor Gray shuffled back to town for his own protection, and help arriving from quarters who do not have Jericho's best interests at heart, the season ends on a cliffhanger.

Dammit. They'd better hope they get a renewal now.

Jericho on iTunes:

Jericho—Coalition of the Willing

While I do enjoy this show, it frustrates me, too. More on that later...

Jake, Eric, Hawkins and Heather return to Jericho with news of what happened in New Bern. At the same time, a mysterious figure approaches the borders of Jericho. He's come from New Bern with a message from Constantino. You know, if some mysterious guy wandered in and didn't say anything (and what was up with that? Could they not pay him to say, "Hi, I'm from New Bern, here's a radio?"), under the circumstances I'd probably shoot him, or at least incapacitate him. I thought that radio was going to blow up and take half the cast with it. Anyway, Constantino wants Jericho to surrender to New Bern.

As usual, Gray and Johnston have a difference of opinion about how this should be handled. The deadline is allowed to run down, and New Bern starts dropping mortars on Jericho. Gail is injured in the first blast. New Bern gives them a new deadline to hand over the 7 farms they want, and says they'll continue to shell Jericho until the town gives in. Stanley and some others go out to find the source of the mortars. Another altercation ensues regarding how to handle the reconnaissance. Gray orders them to take out the men guarding the mortars, against Johnston's recommendations. Stanley's end of the radio connection goes quiet just in time for a commercial break.

After the break, Stanley returns, the only survivor of the reconnaissance expedition. The timeframe here isn't clear, nor is it clear how Stanley could get back when nobody else did. But it of course shows us once again that Gray is the less competent of the two mayors. You know, just in case we forgot.

Jake and Emily go out on horseback to follow up on the unsuccessful reconnaissance. Eric catches up with them--there's a truck on the way to Jericho from New Bern. The boys catch up with the truck--yes, they're still on horseback--while Hawkins takes potshots at it. A motorcycle gang shows up, then a guy in a car. It's Emily's dad, whom we haven't seen for quite some time, this time coming to the rescue. Or maybe not, because he's not pleased with the way Jericho treated him earlier in the season. He does want Emily to go with him, though. She refuses, then bargains with him to get him to help them.

Hawkins takes his family into his super secret basement room. He and Darcy reconcile and smooch in the safe room while the kids are in the less safe room. This bugged me. A lot. They should have had their chat in the less safe room and left the kids in the safe room under the circumstances.

Dale offers to defend a local's farm in return for the farm itself. He recruits an army of refugees to help him out. If they successfully defend the farm, it'll belong to all of them, giving them a permanent stake in Jericho. Johnston approaches them, asking them to help defend the entire town. Dale bargains for more territory in Jericho, but Johnston walks off before that little conversation is finished. Apparently assuming, as usual, that everyone will eventually agree with him.

Jake and Emily return with their newly recruited army of miscreants. At the same time, Gray has arranged to turn over the farms New Bern demanded. Eric confronts Gray. Weapons are drawn on both sides, resulting in a standoff. Gray seems to be having a bit of a breakdown. Eric convinces him to negotiate to buy some time for Johnston and the others.

Johnston arrives in the commandeered truck, Jake and Hawkins and the others in the back of it. It's a Trojan Truck. The New Bern guy driving blows the deal for Johnston, who was stupidly looking out the window instead of keeping an eye on him. A big gun battle ensues, with Jonas' men coming in to mow down everybody in charge of the mortars. Jonas cold-bloodedly kills the wounded driver. And then changes the deal he made with Emily, basically taking all the guns and supplies and leaving the Jericho men with nothing. Well, except for Hawkins' giganamous gun stash. Did we know about this, or is this a big deux ex machina (gun)? Also, what happened to the tank they commandeered a couple of weeks ago? Seems like it'd be useful. Maybe it'll save the day next week?

Back at Jericho, Constantino comes back on the radio. All deals are off, and New Bern is on the way. There's a-goin' to be a war. Just in time for the season finale! Gray asks Johnston for help. They shake hands on that deal. Johnston gathers the town and gives a stirring, heroic speech. Jake and Hawkins pass out the guns.

While the tension and the overall sense of paranoia are escalating, so are the plot holes. Most of this episode hung together fairly well in spite of them, but the time lapse during the commercial break after Stanley's moment of Dramatic Radio Silence really didn't work for me. And I know the thing about Darcy and Hawkins and the kids is probably a personal pet peeve, but it really made me want to hit them with a stick.

Anyway, the season finale promises to be explosive (literally...), and so far it looks like there's a renewal in the offing--all good things.


Foo Fighters--Times Like These

Jericho—One if By Land

Gray's attempts to protect the salt mine go sour when shots are fired, injuring several of the New Bern men and killing at least one. Gail and the others work to save whoever they can, while Johnston heads to New Bern with Dawson to fetch his sons.

Hawkins meets up with Ted at his hunting cabin. They form a plan to rescue Jake and Eric. If those boys don't get rescued at some point, it won't be from lack of trying.

Eric's in bad shape, emotionally. Jake is reunited with non-Marine Maggie in the prison. Eric's also in bad shape physically, largely because the New Bern folks keep torturing him for detailed information about Jericho's defenses. Maggie teams up with Hawkins and Ted after leading the cops to their hideout. Hawkins steals mortars from the factory while Maggie runs interference. And Hawkins blows the crap out of the factory.

Gray shows a vague trace of common sense by saying the New Bern wounded should be treated rather than imprisoned or punished. Johnston has a head-to-head confrontation with Constantino, who has a very different view of what's happened between Jericho and New Bern since the bombs went off. Constantino refuses to allow Johnston to see his boys.

Guns blazing, Hawkins moves in to rescue the Green brothers as they're being transferred to another location. He's shot, as is Maggie. But they all make it out of town. After the truck runs out of gas, they head for Jericho on foot. Maggie's in bad shape, and Hawkins doesn't think she'll make it.

Back in Jericho, Emily encourages Gail to be easier on Mary, who's brewing some effective antiseptic at her bar, while Dale and Skylar deal with fallout from their deal regarding the salt mine.

I think I've said before that I much prefer the more adventure-y episodes of this show to the more soap-opera-ey episodes, so I'm glad they've gone in the post-apocalyptic adventure direction for the last arc. It's still a little frustrating to have people talk about how "bad" it is in New Bern and elsewhere, without any really concrete examples. Actually, I have mixed feelings there, because really concrete examples would probably be too much. I do think they might be erring slightly on the side of caution, though.

Jericho on iTunes:

Jericho—Casus Belli

This week, things begin to heat up between New Burn and Jericho, leading into the final arc of the season. After tonight, only three episodes left!

A group of trucks returns from New Bern with the windmills, a few months earlier than the original agreement. Eric, however, is not with them. Jake confronts Russell about his brother's whereabouts. Russell says Jake should be worried, though he told Mary Eric stayed behind because he was still upset about April's death. Jake heads out to New Bern, recruiting Hawkins to go with him. Hawkins is reluctant to go, but of course finally agrees. Who can resist Jake's big brown eyes?

At New Bern, Mayor Constantino says his town was hit hard by Ravenwood, and many of the people blame Jericho. He was worried about the safety of the men from Jericho and sent them home. He takes Jake and Hawkins to the factory and tells them Eric and Heather both went home to Jericho after the others left.

But Ted slips Jake a note with the address to his trailer. Perkins is staking out Ted's trailer. Jake and Hawkins drag Perkins into the trailer and set about finding out the truth. Heather and Eric are both missing. Perkins is less than forthcoming, so Hawkins fixes to torture him. Hawkins is damn scary with the knifes and pointy things. Finally, Perkins says Eric and Heather sabotaged the factory, then ran away.

At the factory, Jake and Hawkins find a full inventory of Jericho's supplies on a chalkboard, as well as a detailed map of the town with different areas assigned to different people from New Bern. Turns out the folks of New Bern are making munitions in their factory, preparing for war. That's not very friendly. Jake tries to stop them and is apprehended by Constantino. He's taken to the jail. Surprise, surprise, there's his brother, also imprisoned, and a bit the worse for wear. Also really shaggy. He hasn't shaved in a long, long time. Sadly, Eric tells Jake that Heather is dead.

With Jake and Eric in custody, Constantino riles up the people of New Bern, telling them Jericho has no intention of living up to their side of the bargain regarding the windmills, and that Jericho wants to see New Bern destroyed. The Green brothers are dragged out in front of the crowd and accused of being sent to wreak havoc on New Bern.

Subplottyville:
Mayor Gray has a confrontation with Skylar over the salt, which she claims is 51% hers, but Gray won't acknowledge her claim as legitimate. Russell stops by to talk to them about helping them distribute the salt, but he wants half Skylar's share of the mine, which Mayor Gray insists isn't rightfully hers in the first place. In return, Russell will distribute and sell and also deal with Gray. Skylar files papers to declare her parents dead so she can claim the mine, but Gray refuses to acknowledge them.

Mary stops by the Greens' to give them the news about Eric's non-return. Johnston goes to help Mary with her still and they do some bonding. Gail doesn't seem too happy about this. She and Johnston have a bit of a tiff.

Stanley returns home to Mimi and Bonnie. Stanley's not happy about Bonnie's boyfriend staying in the house. Mimi tells him they should let it be, or risk running Bonnie out of the house and somewhere not safe. After some resistance from Stanley, Bonnie and Stanley finally bond a bit and settle their differences.

Sam is drawing scary, violent pictures. Jimmy brings this to Darcy's attention, thinking Sam might be dealing with some kind of trauma. Hm. Maybe this has something to do with his being held at gunpoint in his own house?

The windmills are put to work, and electricity is restored to Jericho. Russell talks to Gray about the salt. He's made a deal with Skylar in spite of Gray's opposition to her original plans. Russell tries to explain to Gray the situation with New Bern, in vague terms (that is, he doesn't come out and say, everybody at New Bern wants to kill everybody in Jericho to death), but Gray buckles down and sends men to guard the mine. That's not going to end well.

The conflict between Jericho and New Bern promises to bring the first season to a tumultuous close. While I enjoy this show for the most part, I still find myself a bit frustrated by the tendency to rely too often on stereotype, both in plot and characterizations. This week I liked the bits with the Greens--Johnston's acceptance of Mary in this situation plays a bit against his character, but makes sense. I also liked Stanley's final decision to accept Sean--again not entirely expected of him but it makes sense under the circumstances. Mayor Gray, on the other hand, is getting a bit tiresome. With all that salt around, can't he afford to buy a clue?

Jericho on iTunes:

News

Some news this morning.

Rumor has it Jericho has been picked up for a second season. Please note--rumor. SyFy Portal is reporting this here, again with disclaimers that CBS has still not made an official announcement.

A similar rumor is floating around that Supernatural has earned a season three. While this would not surprise me, and the Magic 8 Ball says, "All signs point to yes," it's still unofficial.

If you'd like to make your voice heard regarding renewal of your favorite shows, drop by USA Today and participate in their SOS survey. It's much more comprehensive than other similar efforts being presented on the net, and also gives voters a chance to talk about why they've voted for their favorite shows, and a chance to be interviewed in a follow-up.

In other news, the new episode of Bones that was supposed to air this Wednesday has been pulled from the schedule because of the horrible shootings yesterday at Virginia Tech. The storyline involved a murder on a college campus, so it was probably the right thing to do. No word yet on when the episode will re-air.

Jericho—A.K.A

On this week's episode, we finally get some answers about what caused the nuclear holocaust. Big answers. This is a good thing, I think, because the mystery of where the bombs came from hasn't really driven the plots. The show's more focused on how the people are dealing with their current situation--how they got there has become almost incidental. So doling out answers doesn't derail anything, and it makes for a satisfying episode.

After his clue-in on Hawkins' FBI ID from last week's episode, Jimmy voices his suspicions to Jake. They break into Hawkins' house. Hawkins has a whole drawer full of IDs. Okay, that looks a little suspicious, gotta admit. Hawkins returns, and Jake holds him at gunpoint through the first commercial break, during which time Hawkins apparently holds really still.

Jake demands information, and he gets it. Hawkins and Sarah were CIA, assigned to deep undercover assignments to track black market nuclear warheads that were stolen and converted into small, high yield devices and then given to anarchists, domestic militia, etc., by an unidentified leader who's acting as a single source point for these disparate cells. This leads to a lot of subterfuge--the FBI busting the CIA, the CIA turning in the FBI... It all gets very messy, with Hawkins finally having to kill the undercover FBI agent in his cell to keep from blowing his own cover. In the end, though, the plan failed, and someone tipped off the terrorists. Hawkins was sent out with orders to detonate the bomb from his cell. He tried to warn everyone, but it was too late. After relating this story, he shows Jake the bomb buried in his basement. It was intended for Columbus, OH. Jake backs up Hawkins' FBI story with Jimmy, thus cementing an uneasy truce between them. In the end, Hawkins finally makes some connections and works out who the coordinator of the terrorist cells was--it was his boss, the head of Homeland Security. I made this connection when I saw the cane in the flashback sections--what took Hawkins so long? I guess he's under a lot of stress, so maybe we should cut him some slack.

In Subplot land, Emily sets up a school. Unfortunately, learning US history takes a back seat to growing beets in the bathtub. Only Allison stays, saying she doesn't think she should be hanging around at home, certain her mom doesn't want her around. But Darcy comes to meet Allison at school and there is hugging.

Mimi discusses issues with the chickens. She's working up to killing one of them for dinner, with no success. Bonnie's boyfriend spends the night. Mimi, trying to mother Bonnie in Stanley's absence, bans the boyfriend from the house. Yeah, that always goes well. She finally manages to kill the chicken and have a heart-to-heart with Bonnie. There would be hugging except Mimi is covered in chicken blood. Eww.

Elsewhere, Gail and Johnston deal with their grief in their own ways.

Jericho on iTunes:

Jericho—One Man's Terrorist

Still facing the problem of short rations, Mayor Gray decides to banish the refugees to a nearby FEMA camp. A riot ensues. The refugees barricade themselves inside the church. Sheriff Bill and the mayor decide to use tear gas, against the protests of Johnston and the reverend. The tear gas causes the refugees stampeded out of the church, trampling one of their own in the process. A confrontation between Roger and Gray leads to Roger's accidentally shooting Gray. Desperate, Roger uses Gray's life as a bargaining chip. In the end, Gail intercedes with a last-minute compromise involving the entire town, but Roger's actions have doomed him to banishment.

Dale and Skylar continue to steal his promised share of the crops from the farmers who have refused to hand it over. The farmers aren't happy about it, and show up in town to reclaim their gas. Dale, however, has enlisted some new employees from among the refugees.

Hawkins continues to communicate with Sarah's contact via her communications device. He sets up a meeting and uses his sneaky-tude to bug the truck that meets him. He goes back and uses his sneaky-tude to see Alison. Back at home, he's collecting all his information on a corkboard, trying to put together the pieces to find out who Sarah was affiliated with. Through the computer, he hooks into a satellite feed to spy on them, then accesses another satellite to spy on his family. Which was much more touching than creepy.

With the refugee situation settled, the town listens to news on the radio in the bar. Jimmy grows a brain cell when he hears about the terrorists using fake FBI badges, and appears to make the connection to Hawkins.

The ending to this ep seemed a bit too easy to me. Regardless of Gail's compromise, there's still not enough food in Jericho to feed everybody, so I doubt that issue will go away any time soon. Her response was poignant, though, especially when she decided to donate April's things to the refugees. I expected everything to blow up at the end, though, with Bill taking the shot at Roger when Roger let Jake go, but he didn't.

Dale's crusade to keep the store running is heroic and understandable, but I can't help thinking it'll get him killed just like Gracie. And I think Hawkins is about to get busted.

Jericho on iTunes:


Gary Jules with Michael Andrews--Mad World. This is apparently a cover of a song originally by Tears for Fears. Unless somebody else did it before they did...

Jericho—Winter's End

Hawkins tries to clean up the mess left from killing Sarah, both literally and figuratively. Although he may never sort things out with Darcy now. My suspicion was confirmed that Allison did, indeed, kill Sarah. Yes, I know the camera shot was blatantly obvious, but I rewound a couple of times and never actually heard a gunshot. It was like Allison pointed the gun but didn't pull the trigger. So I was confused about that. I'm easily confused when things aren't, you know, blatantly obvious to the most casual observer. Anyway, Sheriff Jimmy gets all nosy about what's going on. I'd really like to see Sheriff Jimmy bumble about, then all of a sudden call Hawkins on something major. The bumbling sheriff thing is kind of tiresome and it'd be fun if they'd turn it right on its head.

April collapses at work and goes into premature labor. She's suffering from placenta previa, and both she and the baby will die without surgery. Tenchy is fetched, but he's still all ptsd and boozy and refuses to operate because he's tired of people dying when he tries to help them. Finally they convince him to try, but things are bad with April and he walks out in the middle of the surgery. Jake talks him back into the OR, where they have limited supplies, crappy tools, and are operating under lantern light. Jake's acknowledgement that Tenchy probably can't save April seems to give Tenchy an entirely different outlook on the situation--as if he just needed somebody to admit that he's only human, he can't work miracles, and that death under these horrific circumstances isn't his fault. And April does die, sadly, and so does her unborn baby. This sequence walked that line where it seemed to want to dive into unbearably melodramatic waters, but somehow it never quite did. While it would be unrealistic for mom and baby to have survived this ordeal, I expected one of them to make it out alive. In fact, I was expecting April to survive, leading to another painfully torturous subplot with her and Eric getting back together because he realized how much he loved her when she was on her deathbed. But they've eliminated that as a possibility. There'll probably be a painfully torturous subplot with Eric and Mary, but killing April and the baby seemed like a brave move on the part of the writers to me.

The windmill arrives from Newburn. Mayor Gray finds himself in a bad position when he asks what it would take to have more built, and the Newburn folks demand 500 (later 700) pounds of salt and ten percent of the spring harvest. Jericho needs the food, but they also need power. In the end, a deal is struck, but it involves ten men from Jericho, including Eric and Stanley, heading off to Newburn. I wonder if the show will follow their parallel story in future episodes. If so, maybe we'll find out what's up with Heather. Jake is concerned about her, to the point of leveling threats. So am I. Well, except for the leveling threats part. This is obviously setting us up for some more Tension with the Outside World, which makes sense. Jericho can't remain a haven forever.


Tonight's Music:

David Gray--Hold on to Nothing (played during the operating room scene)



Coldplay--Til Kingdom Come (played at the end)


(Music info thanks to the CBS Jericho forums cause Google refused to google.)

Jericho at iTunes:

Jericho—Semper Fidelis

Aired Wednesday, 3-14

Food is running dangerously short in Jericho. As the mayor decides to take a last in/first out approach, a tank arrives, rolling down main street, complete with marines who say they're here to help. The marines say that the bombs were dropped by North Korea and Iran, which the US subsequently nuked, and that a reconstruction effort is underway. But pieces don't add up, and Jake and Johnston get suspicious of the marines' motives. The marines prove to be just another group of refugees, keeping themselves alive by conning the towns they pass through to hand over supplies and fuel.

Hawkins and Sarah prepare to leave, but Hawkins finds Sarah's communications device with her instructions to use his family against him. She holds his family hostage to acquire the package. A confrontation ensues. Sarah is killed, and Darcy leaves with the children. Hawkins makes contact with Sarah's contact, pretending to be her.

We have a bit more information about the world outside Jericho--maybe. The "marines" stated that the information they gave about the bombings was possibly partially true--some they heard, some they made up. So the North Korea/Iran scenario may or may not be accurate. Apparently Jericho is far better off than most of the surrounding towns. The catchphrase: "You don't know how bad it is out there." Presumably it's as bad as Black Jack, and probably worse. And one has to wonder what will happen to Roger and the other refugees, given the new mayor's attitude toward them.

Featured Music:
Echoes and Falls--Señor Happy



This episode at iTunes:

Jericho—Heart of Winter

The residents of Jericho continue to struggle with the demands of winter, with depleting supplies and increasing cold. While Hawkins and Sarah prepare to meet up with a colleague, Jake, Stanley and Mimi go on a hunting trip. They run across signs of a vast migration of people heading south to escape the bitter temperatures. Things outside Jericho are looking pretty grim, especially after the hunting team is attacked by a group of strangers and Stanley and Jake are badly injured. Hawkins and Sarah find their colleague, who just contacted them the day before, two days dead. Apparently this covert government operation--or whatever it proves to be--has been infiltrated. They work to recover what information they can from the computers at the checkpoint and discover their team is being methodically eliminated. Worse, Hawkins and Sarah appear to be next in line--except it appears Sarah is playing for the wrong team.

In the meantime, Emily and Roger continue to re-bond as they tend to the refugees.

I thought this was one of the better episodes of this show. It had a little bit of everything--apocalyptic grimness, danger, dead people, intrigue, near-death confessions, and not a lot of domestic melodrama and not a lot of Eric--both pluses in my book. Maybe that's mean, but Eric's storyline tends to annoy me. Oh, and Jake was all vulnerable and weepy, which is hot. So far I'm interested in the direction Hawkins' story is going, although I hope they answer a few more questions soon, as I'm a bit confused as to whether he's a good guy or a bad guy. I know I'm probably supposed to be confused about that, but I'd like some clarification soon, please. And I liked Sarah's little twist at the very end.

Next week Bones returns, so I'll be returning to my regular Bones reviews, with comments on Jericho as time allows.

Jericho at iTunes:

Jericho—Black Jack

The town is running out of gas for the generator, and people are freezing to death as winter sets in. The town decides to look toward using existing windmills in the town. Hawkins and his old girlfriend/cohort in nuclear crime are reunited. She's quite the badass. Roger suggests they go to a trading post he saw in his wanderings to trade for parts for the windmills. Jake is volunteered to make the trip.

Hawkins is torn between two lovers--Sarah and Darcy. Jake is torn between two lovers--Emily and Heather. Emily is torn between two lovers--Jake and Roger. Eric is still in the dog house because he picked one of his two lovers--but he didn't pick the one he was married to. Johnstone (no longer mayor) is completely whipped by his lover, so he's happy. Bad, bad people are guarding the trading post, and Jake has to overcome adversities to save the town. Dale is having trouble running the general store because the people of the town aren't living up to the bargains they've made with him. In short, all is business as usual in Jericho, as the writers seesaw between post-apocalyptic disaster story and prime time soap opera.

All this probably makes it sound like I don't like the show. I do, mostly because the post apocalyptic disaster part tempers the prime time soap opera part enough to hold my interest. And this week we got a bit more of that, with the glimpse into the outpost at Black Jack, where people have taken a slightly different approach to law and order than the folks of Jericho. A few more hints are dropped about where the bombs came from as Jake and co. find news of the outside world. The government has been fragmented, and small pockets of civilization (or despotism) seem to be alternating with areas of anarchy as people try to come to terms with their new situation.

Overall, I found this episode much more satisfying than last week's, I think because it hadn't promised big revelations that it didn't deliver. Although the Hawkins section in particular of last week's episode made more sense given how tonight played out--maybe there's a similar payoff for Jake's story from last week in the near future.

Jericho at iTunes:

Jericho—The Day Before

Since Bones isn't on tonight, due to the omnipresence of the annoying juggernaut of American Idol, I decided to drop by CBS to catch Jericho.

For Jericho's return from hiatus, we go back to thirty-six hours before the nuclear blasts. While the backstory provided tonight was interesting, I found it a bit disappointing. I'd hoped we'd find out a bit more about Jake and Hawkins' pasts, given the comments made in the press about this episode. Basically, they didn't tell us much we didn't already know.

As promised, the major storylines had to do with Jake and Hawkins. Jake has a connection with Ravenwood, the mercenary group that gave him trouble a few episodes back when he was trying to scare up medicine for his father. We knew this, though, or strongly suspected it, from his reaction to Ravenwood's appearance in that episode. Hawkins had a connection with whoever placed the bombs--in fact he was supposed to place one himself, but didn't, instead going AWOL to kidnap his wife (ex-wife?) and kids and drag them to Jericho. This wasn't a huge surprise, either. I think it was fairly obvious he was part of some widespread government conspiracy, altough not so obvious that he was actually involved in the bombings.

Other brief glimpses include April going to get the divorce papers, and Mimi's arrival in town. Emily and Roger are shown squabbling because Roger wants to leave Jericho for a big job offer, while Emily does not. This was covered a few episodes ago in Emily's flashbacks, so again, nothing new here.

After the glimpse at thirty-six hours before, the show jumps forward to where we left off, eight weeks after the bombs. Roger's return along with other refugees from the plane crash puts a damper on the growing sparks between Jake and Emily. Roger is obviously suffering from PTSD. Hawkins is trying to deal with the threat from his top secret organization, but it seems to have arrived in the person of his old girlfriend/cohort in crime, whom we met in the backstory section. Now that was a bit of a surprise.

Jericho on iTunes

For those who are interested in getting caught up with Jericho, the show is now available on iTunes. In addition, the recap episode that aired last Wednesday is now on iTunes as a free download.

All extant episode are also still available at CBS.com, as well as the recap episode, but if you've had trouble with their player or just prefer downloading to streaming like I do, iTunes is a good option.

Jericho Season One:

Jericho

I hadn't gotten a chance to see any of this show, in spite of being intrigued by the premise, so during the hiatus I headed on over to cbs.com to watch the episodes I've missed. I'm glad I did.

Jericho starts off with a bang--literally--when a nuclear bomb goes off in the middle of the US--probably Denver. The explosion is witnessed by the residents of Jericho, Kansas, who then have to deal with the aftermath of what proves to be a nationwide attack that has leveled several cities and rendered US civilization as we know it a thing of the past.

Just before the explosion, Jake Green (Skeet Ulrich--Into the West) returns to his home town of Jericho after a long absence. Nobody knows where he's been, and he's not too anxious to talk about it. He's reunited with his parents (Gerald McRaney, the town mayor, and Pamela Reed), his brother Eric (Kenneth Mitchell) and old girlfriend Emily (Ashley Scott--Dark Angel, Birds of Prey), none of whom seem all that happy to see him (with the possible exception of Mom).

The first few episodes, dealing primarily with the aftermath of the bombings, were the most interesting to me, although also the most disturbing and the most likely to inspire nasty apocalyptic dreams (although that could have been the hot buttered rum). In later episodes, the show seems to be devolving into a soap opera, though the specter of the nuclear bombs and the decline of civilization does rear its ugly head from time to time. The cast of characters is a mix of tepid and genuinely interesting. Jake is that blend of good guy and badass that I usually enjoy far too much for my own good, while his father is a bit too convinced of his complete rightness to hold my attention. (Plus there was that whole flu thing...) Hawkins (Lennie James --Snatch), the mysterious "Is He Good or Is He Bad" guy, who may or may not be FBI, started out bland filler but gradually has become intriguing. (Also--why is there only ONE black family in this town? I know it's Kansas, but please...) And I really like Stanley (Brad Beyer) and his deaf sister Bonnie (Shoshannah Stern--Weeds), and the somewhat stereotypical but fairly entertaining relationship between him and Mimi (Alicia Coppola, no relation to The Coppolas ), the IRS agent.

I think the biggest flaw of Jericho is probably also the thing that makes it tolerable to watch. Based on what I've read on the subject, the aftermath of this kind of attack would be far worse than what's depicted here. I could see HBO or Showtime doing a much more realistic treatment of a nuclear apocalypse, but I think such realism would be so grim as to be unwatchable. Even Jericho, with its watered down, prettified version, seems to carry the underlying message that, when chips are down and we all need each other, people will still pretty much act like assholes. So the showrunners have undercut the widespread effects of things like nuclear fallout and radiation poisoning, put in elements of typical serial dramas, and have ended up with a show with fairly wide appeal. On the other hand, they've made it look like a substantial part of the nation could survive multiple nuclear attacks, which seems unlikely to me.

Overall, Jericho is an entertaining show, if not one that will capture my all-abiding love. And it'll have to go to the DVR for timeshifting, since it's on opposite Bones, and even Skeet Ulrich's good guy/badass cannot outrank David Boreanaz's exceedingly wide shoulders.

Bad TV Writing

Ironically enough, this example is again from Jericho, which I just used a few days ago as an example of good TV writing.

In the first half of the season, there's a multi-episode arc involving Mayor Johnston Green (Gerald McRaney—Simon & Simon, Deadwood). He's very sick--all indications are that he has the flu. His daughter-in-law April (Darby Stanchfield), a nurse, proceeds to pump him full of antibiotics.

Okay. First of all, the flu is viral. It doesn't respond to antibiotics. If you go to the doctor with the flu and ask for antibiotics, they tend to get annoyed. Antivirals, yes. Antibiotics, no. Secondly, the town's short on meds because of the whole nuclear holocaust thing, so there's a concern they're going to run out. Well, you'd have a better chance of not running out if you don't give all the antibiotics to folks with the flu.

So the mayor's flu progresses. Nobody suggests any other possibilities for what's wrong with him other than the flu. They also don't go to any particular effort to isolate him from the others, even though the flu's contagious and can be deadly. In the conditions depicted in the show—dwindling resources, little or no medical help—overlooking something as potentially devastating as a flu outbreak seems, well, really lame. Besides, haven't any of them read The Stand?

Then we get to the kicker. The mayor gets even sicker. Apparently, in spite of scads of antibiotics, the infection has just been too much for his system to handle, and he's gone septic. So what do they do? They risk a dangerous trip to a neighboring town to get Cipro, the power medicine that's going to cure him. Which is...even more antibiotics.

So I did some googling. Sepsis can be caused by a bacterial infection, so it fits if the mayor's affliction was, indeed, bacterial. But if it's bacterial, it's not the flu. And it's probably still contagious, so the question of whether he should have been isolated is still a valid one.

This is the kind of thing that makes me bang my head into things when I'm watching a show. It seems like a little research could have gone a long way in this particular series of episodes. Or maybe I'm just too damn picky... Thoughts?

Good TV Writing

In my other life--or one of my other lives--I think I have four or five now--I write fiction and screenplays. So part of the purpose of this blog is to give me a reason to watch scads of TV and then write about it and hopefully learn by osmosis and discussion the hows and whys of good TV writing.

So I'm going to mention something I saw last night while catching up with Jericho. At the end of episode two, "Fallout," Hawkins is shown acquiring a piece of information via radio about the extent of the nuclear holocaust that has befallen the US. We don't know exactly what he's found out. But at the very end, Hawkins is shown in his house/fallout shelter in front of a large map of the US. He pulls out a red pin from a drawer and sticks it in Denver. Okay, we knew about Denver. Then he pulls out a pin and sticks it in Atlanta. We knew about Atlanta, too. Then...

A pin goes into Chicago. Then Philadelphia. Then a pin hovers over LA before moving down to stick into San Diego. Then the camera focuses solely on the drawer as Hawkins pulls out pin after pin...after pin...after pin...

That struck me as a really nice piece of writing. Some information given, some withheld--and in an arrestingly visual way that made us happy to go along with the reveal and the take away. And that's going into the mental file on Good TV Writing.

By the way, I'm watching this show via the full episode streaming video offered at CBS's Innertube. So far I'm pretty happy with the interface.

More on Jericho later.