Last season I refused to ...
Question: Last season I refused to watch
Jericho because I knew (I seem to have a sixth sense about these things) that it would get canceled. The critics seemed to walk away from
Jericho as well, so I felt vindicated by that choice. Then cancellation came, and I breathed a sigh of relief: Another heartbreak averted. The "save the show" campaign was no surprise to me. "Those poor fans," I thought, "networks only care about ratings." And then it happened: CBS brought
Jericho back. How had these fans done something that I had hoped for so many times before? I started reading the message boards and I listened to the online talk show. If these people could love a show this much, there had to be something to it. So I started watching the reruns. Well, I can see why the pilot was dissed by a lot of the critics. There were some serious holes in the concept, and I wasn't sure what I thought about the characters. But toward the end of the season,
Jericho had grown into a well-executed, character-driven, action-oriented show. Now here's the important part: Many of the fans (myself included) don't watch anything else on CBS, or on network TV for that matter. The first time they've ever gone on a message board or a chat room was for this show. I'd love to see the demographics, because it seems to be pulling in a very educated, conservative, patriotic group. It's also representing a group in a positive way that is rarely seen on network TV, what Hollywood would probably call "heartland conservatives." They vote in local and national elections, they own at least one gun, they've attended a NASCAR race, they've actually gone hunting. These people are my relatives, my friends and my coworkers. It's been very obvious to me over the years that most television writers are not a part of this group. So now CBS has some extremely devoted, new viewers. I hope this could get translated into an advertising pitch for a show. It should certainly appear attractive to many of the conservative candidates who will be advertising for the 2008 elections. I'll be watching the show closely to see how CBS handles this new audience. The fact that all of the eye network's new shows appear pretty weak doesn't hurt, either. It should be a very interesting ride for CBS.
Answer: I would like to think the demographics for
Jericho go beyond political considerations — that people have simply rallied around a show that intrigued, excited and at times moved them, although it's true that its setting shines light on a part of the U.S. you rarely see on TV, except maybe in Westerns. So perhaps it did strike a special chord in what some pundits call the "NASCAR nation." But I'm not convinced this is an entirely new audience for CBS, which has long been seen as the most mainstream of major networks, with its many crime-drama procedurals as well as
The Unit and the military-themed
JAG spin-off
NCIS. Whatever the fate of
Jericho, I would hate to think that it could succeed by simply pandering to a single political group, or that CBS would be punished by some if it eventually drops
Jericho because the publicity over its resurrection didn't result in a significant-enough ratings spike.
