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But one casualty of the prime-time ratings rat race is a show that some fans think is being unceremoniously dumped. “Jericho,” the CBS (CBS) nuclear apocalypse-themed show that debuted to strong ratings last fall but slipped in the Nielsen standings as the season wore on, will not be returning to CBS this fall. I mentioned that CBS was canceling “Jericho” in a blog post last week about CBS’ upfront presentation to advertisers and it appears that this post was picked up by a “Jericho” fan site or two over the weekend. I came into the office today to find about a dozen e-mails from readers imploring me to help save “Jericho” and more than 130 viewer posts to the Media Biz blog about the show. You can read some of my readers’ pleas to CBS here and here. Now I’m sure that there are people who are disappointed about the quick demise of “Studio 60″ on GE’s (GE) NBC or the fact that News Corp.’s (NWS) Fox dropped “Drive” after only three episodes. Heck, there are probably even people upset at Walt Disney (DIS)-owned ABC for finally pulling the plug on the Jim Belushi sitcom, “According to Jim.” But trust me. No fans are more passionate than the “Jericho” devotees. In addition to e-mailing me and posting responses to the Media Biz blog, several fans threatened to boycott CBS and, in the strangest twist of all, there is even a campaign to save the show by having fans send nuts to the network’s executive vice president of programming. Apparently, the nuts are meant to be a symbol of how crazy CBS is for cancelling the show and is also a reference to a line uttered by one of the show’s main characters in the show’s final episode. This campaign brings to mind another wacky attempt to keep a cult hit on the air. Last year, fans of “Veronica Mars” hired a plane to fly over the headquarters of the CW network, which was created in 2006 from the merger of CBS’s UPN and Time Warner’s (TWX) WB, with a banner that read “Renew Veronica Mars!” Time Warner also owns CNNMoney.com. The plane tactic may have worked for “Veronica Mars” last year but it did not save the show from the chopping block this season. And unfortunately for “Jericho” fans, it does not look like an online campaign is going to save the show this year.
Nina Tassler, the president of CBS Entertainment, posted the following message on a “Jericho” message board at CBS.com last Friday. To the fans of Jericho: We have read your emails over the past few days and have been touched by the depth and passion in which you have expressed your disappointment. Please know that canceling a television series is very difficult decision. Hundreds of people at the Network, the production company and the incredibly-talented creative team worked very hard to build and serve the community for this show — both on-air and online. It is a show we loved too. Thank you for supporting Jericho with such passion. We truly appreciate the commitment you made to the series and we are humbled by your disappointment. In the coming weeks, we hope develop a way to provide closure to the compelling drama that was the the Jericho story. Sincerely, Nina Tassler, President of CBS Entertainment CBS spokesman Chris Ender confirmed that the message board post was legit. And he added that, so far, nobody at the network’s Los Angeles offices had received any packages of nuts in the mail. However, they may have just not arrived yet. Shortly after this blog item posted, several readers alerted me to online retailer NutsOnline, which is pooling orders to send large shimpents to CBS executives. (One more update. Late Monday afternoon, Ender e-mailed me back to say that when he was walking through the reception area of CBS’ L.A. offices, he noticed that three bags of peanuts had, in fact, arrived.) A spokeswoman for CBS in New York also said that no nuts have been sent to the company’s headquarters yet but that the company has been inundated with many angry e-mails from loyal viewers in the past week. Still, “Jericho” is not the first show that will be pulled despite a strong core following and it won’t be the last. I’m still ticked off at Fox for dumping “Arrested Development.” But the cold calculus of ratings is what networks live and die by these days, and not angry e-mails, phone calls and bags of nuts from viewers. And “Jericho,” according to the latest figures from Nielsen Media Research, averaged only about 9.5 million viewers a week. Ratings were much stronger at first but fell throughout the season. CBS didn’t help matters by putting the show on a long break between November and February. A similar tactic certainly hurt ratings for ABC’s “Lost” this season. So “Jericho” finished the season tied with Fox’s “Bones,” a show that is returning this fall which aired in the time slot as “Jericho” as the 56th most-watched show in prime-time. But here’s the kicker. “Jericho” did not do as well as “Bones” with younger viewers, the 18-to-49-year-old demographic that networks cater to in order to please advertisers. According to Nielsen, “Jericho” ranked 81st with this age group. To be sure, “Bones” wasn’t much better, coming in 61st. But it did rank higher with younger viewers. So the only hope for “Jericho” fans is if CBS does actually start to get tons of peanuts from 18-to-49-year-olds in the next few weeks. Then maybe the network will have some incentive to get Planters or Emerald Nuts to sponsor a second season of the show. (FYI, the peanuts photo comes courtesy of Flickr.) Posted by Paul R. La Monica 4:34 pm 34 Comments
 | Add a comment One week of good ratings can never make up for a legacy of poor programming. The show is not for us real Americans. ‘Jericho’ is for socially-challenged people who want to gain X-Men-like mutant powers to control the world. Us real Americans watch shows like ‘Dancing With The Stars’ and ‘American Idol’ because looking good, having attitude, and performing for the masses is more important than geeky sci-fi shows. Stop wasting peanuts and fall in line with the rest of us. Your pitiful little show is banished into the nether-regoins of television obscurity. Posted By Yadgyu, Harkeyville, TX : May 25, 2007 6:11 pm
For the first week of May, Jericho had more viewers than the following shows… Family Guy All these shows renewed, Jericho cancelled. Posted By Mark, Westerose Alberta, Canada : May 25, 2007 4:59 am
What some people fail to realize when making negative comments about the actions of Jericho fans to save their favorite show is that this is a much laarge issue and fight. What is on television effects everyone even those who don’t watch television. Posted By Mark, Westerose Alberta, Canada : May 25, 2007 4:04 am
“We shall go on to the end, we shall fight in France, we shall fight on the seas and oceans, we shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air, we shall defend our Island, whatever the cost may be, we shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we will never surrender” Posted By EJ, McAllen, Tx : May 24, 2007 1:31 am
You guys are too emotionally invested in television. No wonder Americans are considered lazy, shallow, self-involved, and incapable of having a view of the real world. It doesn’t matter if you like the show or not. It’s gone. It will not come back. Move on with your lives. It is only television! Posted By Yadgyu, Harkeyville, TX : May 23, 2007 4:48 pm
We have VIDEO EVIDENCE that huge amounts of nuts have been delivered to the CBS’ New York headquarters. TWO TONNES alone today. Here is the video of yestersay’s shipment of over a tonne: CBS, DON’T TRY TO REFUTE THE TRUTH, WHEN WE HAVE VIDEO EVIDENCE! CBS are frightened, and do not want the true scale of this to get out! Well, world, here it is! Posted By Jim Lee, Coventry, UK : May 23, 2007 12:51 pm
People wake up. Jericho was a show in its own right that could have possibly been a reality show. With what is happening these days in the world who’s to say that it could never happen. I personally loved the show because it made you ask questions on what would you do if this was to happen! It answered questions on what you may have to encounter to survive. CBS made a huge mistake in putting the show on a mid-season break then bringing it back against American Idol. Of course the ratings would fall. What in the world were they thinking. CBS bring the show back, just don’t do something so dumb as before and you will see the ratings will be there like they were in the very beginning. Posted By Rose, Allen Park, MI : May 23, 2007 10:13 am
I’m a Jericho fan who is 47, employed in high tech, and a science fiction lover. I work a lot of hours so I record Jericho on my DVR so I can watch it when I get home. The Nielsens have been around since the 50’s. Back then, the people who owned televisions were likely to make more money than average and have more education than average. The audience was much smaller, as a percentage of the population, and therefore, much less diverse in its tastes. Skip forward 50 years and you have a different audience that consumes television shows in many more ways. People watch on their computers, DVRs, iPods, or even wait until the end of the season and order the entire season from Netflix. In addition to this, the audience is much more diverse than ever before. All incomes and education levels are represented. The American population holds more Asian and African immigrants than ever before. American consumers are much more global in their thinking, have access to more information, and have a much wider array of interests than they used to. Are the Nielsens taking all these changes into consideration when they rate programs? I hate, with a passion, all reality television shows. But if you look in the top 20 rated shows, most of them are reality shows. I am one of those people who does not fit into the category of liking what “everyone” likes. I’m not the only one either. In the past week, as I’ve read the many posts on boards from Jericho fans, the one thing that has struck me is that there are a lot of people who are sick of networks not providing enough diversity in its programming. The logical thing for the Nielsen Institute to do would be to create a tiered system, so that people who do not watch the shows that are in the top 10 list would be on a second tier. On the second tier, there would be a new list of top 10 favorite shows. Otherwise, television will continue to lose people who are tired of seeing networks try to regurgitate yet another version of American Idol every fall. Posted By Diane, Kenmore, WA : May 22, 2007 10:37 pm
http://www.nutsonline.com/gifts/jericho.html Only a few bags hmm? Today over 1500 lbs of nuts arrived at the Cbs offices in New York (click above link, has tracking numbers from ups, videos, pictures, etc.) thanks to the donations of hundreds of Jericho fans. And thats only the beginning, tomorrow over 4000 pounds (2 tons!!!!) of nuts are going to arrive. I have a feeling CBS employees are about to become spoiled with nuts Posted By Richard Avendano, Saint Paul Minnesota : May 22, 2007 9:35 pm
I am definately in the 18 - 49 year old demographics BUT I live in Canada so I do not count I guess to CBS. I have watched this show from Day One and after every episode, I get closer and closer to the characters and their story. For one, this is a new show so the writers have to develope the characters, their storyline and the entire storyline of the show. This takes time and I have never been bored by any of their episodes. It was a mistake on CBS to have Jericho in a split-season… of course viewership would decline when a show is competing against American Idol. I guess CBS is really run by a bunch of monkeys if they didn’t realize that. Also why not give Jericho another chance… exchanging the timeslot and day for another so it ISN’T up against American Idol. I suggest having Jericho on Monday nights AFTER Heroes so at the 10 spot!!! There really isn’t anything great on Monday nights besides Heroes so if CBS or any other network puts Jericho on at 10pm on Monday, it really wouldn’t be competing against anything and it would help with the really bad Monday night lineup. The only problem that COULD occur is Monday Night Football, which is really big in the USA or Dancing with the Stars, but honestly I would watch Jericho over DWTS!!! Posted By Ashley Richards, Toronto, ON, Canada : May 22, 2007 7:56 pm
NUTS to CBS. We love Jericho and we want it back. It think the whole Nielsen’s rating thing should be revisited. I am in the target demographics - I am not alone. We want our show back. Posted By Rachel B., Montreal, Canada : May 22, 2007 7:26 pm
Also doing what I can to support the decision for CBS to either air a complete second season or for another network to pick it up. I’m sure the second option would prove, down the road, to be CBS’s loss! BTW- RE: a previous comment. I don’t understand reasoning behind the comment: “I really liked Jericho until they decided to make the nuclear bombs the work of domestic terrorists. To suggest that they’d nuke dozens of major cities in their own country is goofy and nothing more than political correctness run amok.” Sadly, I don’t see that scenario as all that strange given the times we live in. Posted By Lisa Gormont, Clearfield, Pa : May 22, 2007 7:04 pm
3 bags of peanuts, huh? Today, almost 3/4 of a tone of nuts hit their NY office, with one and a half more tones paid for and awaiting shipment. Posted By Damian Stumpf, Milpitas, CA : May 22, 2007 1:47 pm
Who will watch the next serial drama that comes along? I mean, you get into the story, then the network drops it and there is no conclusion. Won’t be watching CBS anymore, that’s for sure. If Jericho somehow gets picked up by another network (I doubt it), I will follow it, along with many others. 9.5 million viewers would make many networks happy. Posted By Alan Downie, Jackson, Wy : May 22, 2007 12:18 pm
All right!!! Now there will be more room for mindless drivel like Dancing With the Stars, and American Idol, oooh, and Survivor! Just sign me “Ready to be Bored in the Fall.” Posted By Doug, Denver, CO : May 22, 2007 12:07 am
CBS has done an astounding job here. There is no need to keep a show on that is low in ratings. If the show were truly as good as people say, it would still be on the air. Popular shows, like American Idol, do not offer lame excuses. They keep viewers interested because these shows are truly interesting and fun to watch. Being a ‘cult favorite’ is a pretty generic and poor reason to keep a poorly-watched show on air. These networks spend huge dollars on creating and maintaining these shows. If the show is not being watched by the masses, it is not generating enough funds to keep itself on the air. Television is about money first, entertainment second. The shows that make the most money are the best shows for viewers to watch. The losers that do not generate revenue need to go to the scrapyard. Case closed. Posted By Yadgyu, Harkeyville, TX : May 22, 2007 12:00 am
I really liked Jericho until they decided to make the nuclear bombs the work of domestic terrorists. To suggest that they’d nuke dozens of major cities in their own country is goofy and nothing more than political correctness run amok. From a purely pragmatic standpoint, that also eliminated a lot of the tension because there was (at least in my mind) always the possibility that the country would attacked by conventional forces from the country or countries that nuked the cities and that the citizens of Jericho might have to deal with that in some way. Posted By Bert, Dallas, Texas : May 21, 2007 11:09 pm
Jericho and Heroes are about the only two shows I was watching. Grew bored with Battlestar Galactica… too much drama not enough sci-fi. It’s a shame Jericho won’t go on… although I imagine that one would eventually run out of story lines for a show like this. Posted By Patrick, Cincinnati,OH : May 21, 2007 9:36 pm
I have a young family, so all the shows we watch are generally recorded on the HD DVR to view either later that night or later in the week. Plus, we’re in Canada. Of course the irony of this comment is that because we DVR the shows, we never watch the ads. Posted By Chris Pugh, Oakville, ON : May 21, 2007 9:29 pm
My wife and I are both in the 18-49 demographic and we watched every episode of Jericho. The problem is that the networks are competing with themselves to find the lowest common denominator and “smart” shows need not apply. Whether it’s the 1,467.48th season of Survivor or Howie Mandel cheerleading some idiot into losing thousands of dollars already guarenteed, networks want the stupid to tune in and watch because they outnumber the inteligent. Either that or they play it safe. How many CSIs and Law & Orders are out there? How many reality shows are on TV that really showcase the same types of people; white trash and other assorted idiots? Why not call it Survivor: Jericho and have an exile island where each week a lame character gets voted into a radioactive zone? Somewhere, an idiot at CBS is saying, “Wow, that’s actually a good idea!” If CBS was SO concerned about targeting our demographic, what in the heck are they doing dusting off Andy Rooney every week to close 60 Minutes? I bet sooner rather than later they’ll replace Ancient Andy with a 3 minute clip of another CSI show. They could call it: CSI: Attention Deficit Disorder. Posted By Brad, Hanover Park IL : May 21, 2007 8:51 pm
I’m glad they are killing the program. It could have been an interesting show, but it took so long for the plot lines to develop, I stopped watching after a couple of weeks. Posted By Brian, Temecula, CA : May 21, 2007 8:40 pm
I wonder if it would be possible for another network to pick Jericho up?? I bet they would find Jericho would be a secret hit, if they would give it a little more time. I know it was a hit online b/c I would always check the blog and read the comments and wonder what was going to happen next, just like everyone else. Posted By Barb M./ Indiana : May 21, 2007 8:36 pm
Apparently, the nuts are meant to be a symbol of how crazy CBS is for cancelling the show and is also a reference to a line uttered by one of the show’s main characters in the show’s final episode. Not Not that the CBS executives aren’t crazy. And its weird how a few people have delivery receipts that show that nuts have arrived at the CBS offices. Could CBS be lying? Third post in this thread: Posted By Gary, Darlington PA : May 21, 2007 7:52 pm
Nina Tassler is “humbled by our commitment.” I doubt it. When the networks decide to release a show that has a continuing storyline, then they have a commitment to their fans to complete that story. Most shows develop and conclude the story each week. Shows such as Lost, Heroes, and Jericho are different. Fans eagerly await the next piece of the puzzle, and eventually there will be an ending. That’s the premise of Lost, and I’m assuming it would be for other shows that are similar. If the network isn’t committed to telling the whole story, then they shouldn’t even introduce the show. It’s not fair to us, the fans. It’s very clear that CBS doesn’t care, though. It’s all about the Nielsens. I agree with some of the other comments - the ratings don’t show the whole picture. I also agree with D. Mulder about the older generation. The Baby Boomers have the bucks, and there are a lot of us. Advertisers should not ignore us. Posted By Nancy Kellams, Austin TX : May 21, 2007 6:06 pm
I wouldn’t disregard older viewers just yet, if I were CBS. Older viewers are generally better organized to fight executives than 18 years old. Older viewers are also wealthier and can spend much more money on peanuts. Posted By D. Mulder, New York, NY : May 21, 2007 5:26 pm
Paul, First, thank you for talking about the Jericho campaign. Second, one of the main problems many of us have is that CBS is trying to promote an interactive online experience. Well, the problem with this lies in the fact that Nielson ratings do not capture online and DVR viewership. Considering many of the 18-49-year-old market is very Internet savvy, I think this is the type of show that would draw a larger pool of non-traditional viewers that are missed in the Nielson data. Posted By David L. - St. Louis, MO : May 21, 2007 5:22 pm
Networks may live and die by the Nielsen ratings, but that only shows how far OUT OF TOUCH they are with the reality of television viewers. They aren’t doing themselves or their advertisers any favors by clinging to that antiquated method of measuring viewers. With Jericho, so many of the viewers were: a) online (not counted) It’s time for the networks to get with the program. It’s 2007! They need to stop living in 1970. Posted By Jon, St. Louis, : May 21, 2007 5:21 pm
Thanks for covering this story. Jericho was a compeling drama, CBS just didn’t give it a chance! The Mid-season hiatus and quiet return was the problem. Plus: Many 18-49 year-olds now use a DVR or watch the episodes online - something the ratings do not reflect! Posted By Dave, Dover NH : May 21, 2007 5:02 pm
Thank you for bringing some attention to this matter, we appreciate your support. While Jericho was, at times, flawed, it was still an entirely unique television show with a devoted following. I’m hoping CBS decides it made a mistake and brings it back for another season. Posted By Eric, Manhattan, KS : May 21, 2007 5:01 pm
Hi Paul, Thanks for reporting on the scene with the Save Jericho campaign. I think one of the reasons that it was dropped was due to a miscalculation of how many viewers watched Jericho. I have never seen a Jericho episode on tv, I only watch on-line. There is a huge on-line community that watches Jericho that way and we were not included in the tv ratings used to decide the fate of Jericho. Plus Jericho has a large world-wide fan base and none of those people were added into the ratings. THAT’s the problem. The ratings numbers are wrong. It’s an out-dated system that needs to be corrected in this new world of on-line viewers. Posted By Donna, San Jose CA : May 21, 2007 4:57 pm
Paul….thank you for your piece about one of my family’s favorite shows. You will see more about the nuts campaign here: http://www.nutsonline.com/gifts/jericho.html There is also a campaign to place an ad in Variety that’s gaining steam as well: http://www.film.ca/jericho.htm Thank you again, Posted By Anonymous : May 21, 2007 4:52 pm
Through nutonline.com Jericho fans have sent Posted By David Rhue, Wichita, Ks : May 21, 2007 4:51 pm
This is the only show we watched on CBS. We waited for every new show. Now we won’t need to waste our time even turning the TV to CBS. Any time the networks have a show that has a good story line they drop it with the story up in the air, I could name several others they have done this to. If this is the way they treat their viewers I will just stay on the cable channels and not even get interested in one of their shows. Posted By Tim Schofield, Saugus, Calif. : May 21, 2007 4:48 pm
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HA! They say the demographics are 18-49, but just look at the drivel they are presenting. It is geared to the younger side of that age range, more like 18-28! Thay are making a big mistake, It is us older people who have the money to spend on advertisers products. We are sick of “popular Television! I swear, I’m about ready to slit my wrists if i see another ad for American idol, or any of these myriad of “reality” shows. WHOSE reality? No one I know. Jericho made you think, and it was good TV to boot. And not just for the more mature among us, my 7 year old never missed an episode. Maybe it is gone forever. But nothing has ever been accomplished by not trying. So, CBS…NUTS! to you!