PBMom's Blog

PRLog (Press Release) – May 29, 2008 – Since CBS canceled Jericho for a second time on March 21, the nutty fans have not taken the news lying down. Refusing to accept the abbreviated second season as the end, fans have launched a new campaign to persuade CBS Paramount to find Jericho a new home.

The argument is that the over six million fans of Jericho would be a welcome ratings boost on networks such as SciFi, USA, TNT. Hallmark and the CW. In April, The New York Times reported that Comcast is exploring a potential partnership with CBS Paramount in a deal similar to the NBC / Direct TV pact that saved Friday Night Lights.

To encourage CBS Paramount and potential new networks, the fans have ramped up efforts including:

-Jericho fans spent $7,500 for a giant billboard on Ventura Blvd. in the heart of Studio City, CA. The billboard sporting a giant For Sale sign is aimed at other networks located directly in the area, urging them to contact CBS Paramount about purchasing Jericho. Ironically it is a CBS billboard the Rangers leased. Much of the money for this billboard was funded by auctioning off Jericho items on eBay that the members of the Jericho Cast so graciously autographed for the occasion. The remaining money was made through donations by Jericho fans both in the US and internationally.

-Full page ads in Variety 4/25/08 and The Hollywood Reporter 4/28/08. Funds were raised in the amount of $11,180 by fan contributions and through cast-autographed memorabilia on Ebay.

-A massive letter writing campaign to CBS Paramount and possible Jericho buyers.

-Nuts to Nielsen. Fans are raising awareness of the flaws in the Nielsen rating system by sending peanuts directly to Nielsen. To date over 1,000 pounds of Nuts were sent to Nielsen Headquarters in protest. The fact that 99.999% of TV viewers are not counted in 2008 is an outrage. This is a Nuts to Nielsen campaign to protest this antiquated rating system. Over 700 pounds of Nuts were delivered to Variety magazine to coincide with Variety and Hollywood Reporter Jericho ads. Two weeks ago another 800 Pounds of nuts were sent to the Nielsen facility in Oldsmar, Florida to protest Nielsen’s poor treatment of American workers there. Currently Jericho fans are purchasing nuts at Nutsite.com for another friendly Nutty Shelling of the LA Times to highlight and bring publicity to “NTN” and the For Sale Jericho Billboard.

-Fan purchased DVDs of Jericho’s Season 2 for military personnel stationed in Afghanistan and Iraq.  See http://www.jerichorangers4ourtroops.com/

- Jericho Fans are attempting to fund a Save Jericho commercial to be aired on Cable for the greater Los Angeles market on Times Warner.

After receiving more than 40,000 pounds of peanuts, CBS announced it would bring Jericho back last June. Since the show’s resurrection, Jericho has become a reference point in media discussions of the accuracy of Nielsen ratings and fan-driven efforts to save shows.

Further information is also available at the Jericho forum at www.cbs.com or at www.jericho4sale.com.

This was the press release that was issued to all media relating to the show that fans won't let die:  Jericho.  I happened upon the show myself for Season 2 and was IMMEDIATELY hooked.  I couldn't believe I had missed this gem of a show.  I had to then stay up late at night for several days to catch up on the 22 episodes of season 1 and decided, heck, I want to own the DVD, so got that as a gift to myself. 

We are all complaining about the horrible reality TV shows out there; this is a thought provoking, quality show that shows the best and the worst of what humankind can be after a devastating nuclear attack in multiple cities.  It has the feel of 24 without the Jack Bauer "NOOOOO" scream.  Robert Hawkins and Jake Green are the new Jack Bauers who will stop at nothing to complete their mission.  This show had years of stories still to tell.  We hope that it will have it for years, if not as a regular series, maybe a few straight-to-DVD movies like the way the Stargate SG-1 franchise has gone after being on the air for 10 years there.  I thought the show was also cool because it had a young girl who was deaf and used sign language to communicate, but also read lips and spoke a bit and there is an episode where she truly shines (I won't ruin that for you). 

CBS said the show didn't get viewers, but CBS was only counting Nielsen boxes.  I don't have one, do you?  What gives the right of people whom we don't know decide what networks believe the public wants to see.  They disregarded the number of people going to their website and downloading the free episodes that are still there if you are interested in seeing what all this nuttiness is about.  Season 2 is also there.  They disregarded people who were TiVO/DVR'ing.  CBS decided to announce that season 3 would not exist for the show on Good Friday.  It was already a sad day; it didn't need to be made any more sad than it was. 

So my questions to my dear bloggers are:

1)  Have you watched Jericho or will this blog peak your curiosity to check out an episode on CBS.com since it is free and find out what the fuss about it is?  Good time to do that now to keep those numbers on their website. 

2)  What do you think of the Nielsen box people deciding the fate of the shows you find have value that perhaps they don't and they are the ones the networks seem to listen to. 

3)  Have you ever been passionate about a cancelled show to the point where you wrote a letter to the networks about keeping it on and how successful was that?