One of the many 24-style series of the 2006-2007 season, wherein crucial plot points were revealed with exasperating coyness on a weekly serialized basis, and in which every single solitary character seemed to have something to hide, Jericho TV Show made its CBS debut with one of the most startling openers in TV history. As prodigal son Jake Green (Skeet Ulrich) returned to his hometown of Jericho, KS, after an unexplained five-year absence, he spotted what seemed to be a nuclear mushroom cloud blooming on the horizon, hundreds and hundreds of miles away.

At first glance, it looked as though the super-powers were at war, but it would later be revealed that the attack was the work of terrorists — though how many terrorists, no one knew. Whatever the case, Jericho was completely cut off from the rest of the world, and no one had any idea what fate held in store for them: another bomb, perhaps; or starvation; or slow death from radiation? Jake’s father Johnston Green (Gerald McRaney), the mayor of Jericho, valiantly tried to keep the community together and to avert wholesale panic, endeavoring to maintain radio contact with the rest of the country and the world, and organizing searching parties to glean new information about the apparent nuclear holocaust. Meanwhile, Jake was uncomfortably reunited with two former lovers: Emily Sullivan (Ashley Scott), now engaged to another man, and local schoolteacher Heather Lisinski (Sprague Grayden). Weaving in and out of the story was a newcomer to Jericho, the enigmatic Mr. Hawkins (Lennie James), who claimed to be a cop from St. Louis, and who somewhat suspiciously was a veritable fountain of information about nuclear fallout and post-apocalyptic survival techniques. Jericho began weaving its multitude of tangled plot webs on September 20, 2006.

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Taking a cue from rival net NBC, CBS may be seeking a cost-sharing partnership to save a fan fave.

Apocalyptic drama Jericho may once again be resurrected, this time by means of a possible deal between CBS and cable provider Comcast. The deal may be structured similarly to one between NBC and DirectTV, which gave the sat TV provider first run rights to Friday Night Lights in exchange for splitting the show’s production costs with NBC.

A steady decline in ratings notwithstanding, Jericho has a dedicated following. Fans of the show have once already pulled Jericho back from the brink. CBS, it seems, may once again be ready to favor the faithful who just won’t let Jericho go gently into that good night. If this show manages to crawl out of the crypt for a second time, I may actually have to watch.

It’s been two months since CBS nuked its “Jericho” drama, for the second time. But that’s not stopping its small, persistent fan base from spending lots of time on “Save Jericho” blogs and message boards, and from dashing off letters to anyone they think might listen.

Also: Pestering people who have nothing to do with the show at all. A group calling itself “Jericho Rangers” has produced a TV ad imploring the show’s fans to help it save the show, though it’s not clear how they’re meant to do that. But the group did spend $6,314.88 airing the spot 200 times on Time Warner Cable (TWC) systems in LA.

There aren’t enough fans to sustain the show on broadcast TV, and all but the craziest fans understand this. Their slightly more realistic hope: That CBS will engineer a deal to bring it back in some other lower-cost form, on cable. Or maybe even online. NBC forged a deal with DirecTV to keep “Friday Night Lights” on the air. Why couldn’t CBS ink a deal with, say, the Sci Fi Channel?

Well, we suppose it could, and that might make sense if CBS owned a bunch of cable channels with relatively narrow audience bases. But it doesn’t: It’s a broadcast network, with an emphasis on broad.

So while the network won’t come out and say it, we’re not holding much hope for Jericho, and we advise its fans to invest their energy in a new show. Or maybe read a book. And if they want to, they can take solace in knowing that they’re not alone: CBS has also cancelled Moonlight, another show with lots of online fans but thin ratings. But we haven’t seen any ads from that show’s fans.

Never let it be said that fans of the twice-canceled show Jericho give up easy. Our friends over at TV by the Numbers pointed us to a renewed effort by fans to save the show. This time, they’re taking their message straight to TV.

Quick refresher: Jericho was a prime-time show on CBS about a small town in the wake of a nuclear strike against the U.S.. The show was canceled, fans went ballistic, CBS brought it back, ratings didn’t improve, and it was canceled again.

Filled with a never-say-die attitude, the fans decided to kick things up a notch. They created SaveJerichoAgain.com, raised more than $6,000 from donors around the world, created an ad, and bought commercial time on local cable in Los Angeles. Starting on Monday, the spot will run more than 200 times over the following 10 days.

Far from the glitz of Hollywood out in Dayton, Ohio, Jason Moore (aka “RubberPoultry”) made the new commercial. I talked to him about the show and his involvement to save it. “I’m not a boycotter; I never got involved in trying to save anything before,” said Moore. “But there’s something about this show that captured the imagination of the people.”

Moore said that the creators of the show have been very supportive. In fact, one of the recurring actors on Jericho did the voiceover for the commercial.

While one has to applaud the efforts of this rag-tag crew, the odds of their beloved show being resurrected are pretty slim. CBS already feels burned from the first time it listened to the online fans, and the Internet protests to save Moonlight, another show on the network, failed earlier this year.

Show’s faithful put up billboard in Los Angeles asking for someone, anyone, to pick up the canceled drama.If people fought for causes the way Jericho fans have fought for their favorite show, there would be world peace, no climate crisis, and smiles on the faces of children everywhere.Well, that may be a stretch, but those who love Jericho are a devout bunch. They organized the feel-good story of 2007, plotting a save-the-show campaign that actually worked. Upon truckload after truckload of nuts delivered to CBS, the network lifted its cancellation order and brought the show back for a seven-episode second season.

Unfortunately, viewers still didn’t tune in the way CBS hoped, and the show was once again put to rest.

But a little thing like that isn’t going to keep Jericho fans down. They still believe there is plenty more Jericho left to be shown, even if it isn’t on CBS. So what have they done now?

They’ve rented a billboard in Los Angeles.

The giant sign is located on Ventura Boulevard near Vineland and is in the form of a faux-real-estate sign basically stating that Jericho is for sale. It promises 6 million fans and lists the phone number of Jericho’s production house, CBS Paramount, and a Web site for more information.

The sign was funded by donations from fans and went up earlier this week. It’s expected to remain up for a month. And the kicker? CBS owns the billboard.

But Jericho fans aren’t stopping there. They’re taking the campaign to the next level and are attempting to buy television ads promoting their cause. The idea is to get ads up on Time-Warner Cable in Los Angeles in hopes that they’ll catch a producer’s eye who will then revive the show.

Interesting idea, but it’s going to cost them. According to one of the organizers, the cost to get ads on the cable service is $6,500. But as of a few days ago, the fans were already more than halfway there.

What does everyone think? Inspiring story or time to let go?

source: tv.com