RIP- Jericho

Last night a show that came in with a literal bang went out with a whimper. After basically a season and a half of episodes, Jericho was cancelled…again, and it should be. Please save us another Nuts campaign Jericho fans and face the fact that this show squandered a great concept and premise. The idea of a small town facing the after effects of a devastating nuclear attack on US soil was intriguing to many geeks like myself. The first couple of eps certainly built on these ideas but quickly the show devolved into a family friendly soap opera. When the first season ended I was pretty indifferent to the show’s fate. The characters had some promise and the overarching idea of the show was still good but I truly had no vested interest in seeing if the hardened IRS agent and the small farmer ever lived happily ever after. Season 2’s abbreviated 7 eps were due to loyal fans urging CBS to give the show another chance by inundating execs with nuts. I was pleased to see fans get their voice heard but at the time I was more irate that people were wasting money on nuts when Mars bars could have been sent to the CW to save Ronnie and company.

Anyway thanks to the strike Jericho had a great opportunity to prove that the show was deserving of saving to a large audience. When the first ep of season two premiered I’ve got to admit I was once again intrigued but by the time the deaf kid got her brains blown out I was bored beyond tears and there in lies another problem. No show in recent memory has managed to make governmental conspiracies and harsh violence as forgettable as Jericho. This was a show that destroyed half the US, featured many grizzly deaths, had a conspiracy were the government blamed terrorist attacks on other nations and featured a liar and a cheat as President. I’d expect these to resonate a little more in pop culture and certainly to viewers of the show but truth is it all came off as secondary to the relationship drama. The creator has vowed to continue on the tale in some other medium like comics and while the show once again brought up some interesting ideas in its final ep (the Second US Civil War) I for one don’t plan on getting burned again.