How Will Jericho Do Tonight?

March 11th, 2008 by Robert Seidman  Email This

I predict Jericho will do about as well as it did last week (a 3.8/6 HH Rating/Share and 5.67 million viewers) all the talk about how election coverage screwed up the Nielsen results notwithstanding. All the talk about how invalid Nielsen measurement is too. All measurement systems are flawed, but we do not live in a world where it’s NOT badly flawed for House, Lost and HBO’s The Wire, but is badly flawed for Jericho. If you want to live in that world and it makes you feel better, that’s fine. But, that’s as fictional as your favorite show.

It took me less than a month to watch the first three seasons of Lost. It probably took me less than 3 weeks to watch the first three seasons of House. I made it through four seasons of The Wire in less than a month. If it makes you feel any better, probably 10x as many people watch  Jericho than The Wire, though if they stuck it on CBS at Tuesday’s at 10pm, I’m not so sure The Wire wouldn’t pull similar numbers to Jericho. I started watching Jericho Season One well over a month ago. I haven’t made it through yet.

Like most people, I watch television to be entertained. Jericho is a good fit for me theoretically. Apocalypse? Surviving the end of the world? That has “I LOVE IT” written all over it. Only I don’t love it. I like the basic story just fine. I think mostly the acting ranges from good to very good, too. What sucks for me is some of the storyline and the pacing.

Based on viewership and a very loyal following of fans, I think the show could do fine on a non-major broadcast network (that pretty much leaves CW on broadcast and SciFi, USA, and a host of other options on cable). But I’m not sure if it continues after this year because it seems to me like there is only so much room with the story arc to keep it interesting. That’s the only reason I can come up for the show being so miserably paced. They could’ve made a really good two hour movie out of the premise, or perhaps even a 10 hour miniseries. I’m not sure it’s cut out for episodic television without being as plodding as it is.

I don’t want to hear about how I’m a lover of reality shows. I’m not. In fact, there’s nothing on my DVR that’s unscripted that isn’t broadcast by ESPN. So spare me the “You love crap like American Idol” harassment. I don’t watch American Idol. I admit I did recently add Extreme Makeover: Home Edition just because I wanted to see what it is because it pulled in more viewers than Oprah’s Big Give. I’d have bet money on Oprah, and as with most of my wagering, I would’ve lost the bet.

Everything else I watch outside of sports is scripted drama. I personally enjoy Supernatural much more than Jericho. I thought the story arc involving Sam & Dean’s dad that played out over the first two seasons was extremely good. I still enjoyed season three, but the current story arc isn’t as interesting as the previous one, but I think the writers did a fair job of Season 3 anyway (I reserve the right to change my mind when new episodes begin airing!).

I grant that it could just be me. It seems like most episodic television winds up having parts I don’t love. That’s true for me with LOST, extremely true for me with Heroes, and true for me with one of my all-time favorites, 24. Any part of 24 that dwells on Jack’s daughter, Kim? Eh. Just not important to me. I understand why they do it and at least in season 2 (I think) there was some humor in it when she wound up at some crazy guy’s house in the woods and it was none other than Kevin Dillon (Johnny Drama on Entourage - and yes, I LOVE Entourage!), but those story lines don’t interest me. But it’s one small thing that I can ignore.

It’s not as easy to ignore with Jericho. At least if I’m not drinking when I watch it. There are way too many storylines in Jericho that don’t interest me so far. Dale’s rise to becoming a murderous gangster? Yawn. Anything to do with Eric and his sordid love life? Yawn.

Amazingly I actually do very much enjoy the interplay between Stanley (Brady Beyer) and Mimi (Alicia Coppola) and I give some love to Stanley’s little sister Bonnie (Shoshannah Stern) because I enjoyed Showtime’s Weeds where Ms. Stern spent a season.

And while Ashley Scott is quite lovely, the Emily character itself has been a real snooze (at least through the first 18 episodes). If I was writing the show I’d have focused more on the Jake Green (Skeet Ulrich) and Robert Hawkins (Lennie James) characters. Both are interesting and to the degree that their characters have been explored through the first 75% of Season One, it’s been interesting.

I suspect for the loyal following the reason that they love the show is the same reason I don’t: a very large ensemble cast, with a sprawling storyline that must focus a little on each of them. If the writers/producers can find the energy to do it off a broadcast network, I’d definitely recommend they do it. But CBS will almost certainly cancel this show from its primetime schedule, and there’s nothing that can stop that because the ratings are not going to increase by 3 million people. You don’t find three million new viewers who’ll jump in during the middle.

Online streaming won’t stop that. Neither will iTunes and most certainly neither will the DVR viewing (1.5 million DVR viewers for the premiere, about 1.25 million for the episode that aired the week after).

Please note that if you’re a huge fan of Jericho - I’m sorry. I’d much rather agree with you that it’s the best thing since high-speed Internet access, but I don’t. I’m not alone in that either. Still, for the sake of the show’s fans I do hope the show winds up living on somewhere - but CBS? I don’t think so.

If it turns out 10 million (or you know what, even 9 million) watch I’ll put my tail between my legs. 10.2 million people watched a rerun of CSI: Miami last night and it pulled a 2.7 in the 18-49 demo. If it beats that performance? I swear on my mother’s grave, I’ll eat nothing but nuts for a whole year. Probably not a hardship I LOVE sunflower kernels. I am a big fan of cashews and peanuts too. And don’t even get me started on pistachios, because once I start, I can’t stop.

I predict I’ll be able to eat an egg sandwich tomorrow with impunity.