« May, 2007

Jericho: Storytelling in a time of Fear-Mongering

July 09, 2007

I was pretty sure I wasn't ever going to watch the final 15 episodes of "Jericho," but that's the thing about a summer cold -- it's a great time to catch up on the television stored in my DVR. I work for an organization called "Brilliant But Cancelled" -- so my DVR is full of things like this. I'm a huge fan of the grassroots effort that convinced CBS to bring this show back for another try. It makes me feel like all the crazy petitions I sign are not in vain.

But watching them all in a row like this, makes me wonder -- why "Jericho?" Why not "The Class" or "Studio 60?" And I think it comes down to the peanuts. But we'll get to the peanuts.

"Jericho" has a lot to recommend it, don't get me wrong. These are moments that are rare to TV these days -- moments of real pathos. "Jericho" moves along the same vein as "Battlestar Galactica" -- this is a show that asks about reality in a post-apocalypse setting. The residents of Jericho, Kansas are, for the most part, a calm, collected, and surprisingly clean bunch. And though nuclear winter has set in upon them, they remain hopeful and optimistic, while continuing to trade with the hustlers and black-market crime lords that have inevitably cropped up.

READ MORE > >