First, to Showtime president of entertainment Bob Greenblatt. I know you’re real excited about that spin-off of THE L-WORD that may or may not get the go-ahead (the pilot is only now being edited). But agreeing with reporters that it sounds like “a female OZ” why not give credit where credit is due and admit that it sounds like a PRISONER CELL BLOCK H ripoff… er, homage.

iFMAGAZINE.COM is reporting that former JERICHO executive producer Jon Turteltaub is developing a big-screen flick around the twice-failed series. I don’t want to call the man delusional, but he thinks if reruns of the series on the CW are “like this remarkable success”, it might get another shot at life on a network. And did we mention he’s developing a feature film? Dude, give it up.

New York’s Daily News says that by adding judge Kara Dioguardia, AMERICAN IDOL has “finally found its mean girl.” Yeah, cause that’s what the show needed. To be meaner.

PRISON BREAK’s executive producer told Entertainment Weekly that they were ending the show because nobody wanted it to “become a parody of itself.” Um, too late.

Word has it Michael Cera is holding up the ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT movie. Seriously? I see a fatal corn-baller accident in George Michael’s future.

To the folks at ABC who filled last night’s LOST-fest with such “fascinating” tidbits as “This is Claire.” or my personal favorite, which told us who the Oceanic Six were… as they were on screen, as if we weren’t smart enough to put the pieces together… there’s mentoring and then there’s treating us like short-bus riders.

In the least shocking news ever, CBS president Nina Tassler told reporters this week that SWINGTOWN is, in the words of those famous munchkins, really, most sincerely dead. “The show was well executed, it was well received, the performances were great, the writing was great,” she said to the gathered journalists as reported by Entertainment Weekly’s Michael Ausiello. And given all those facts, gee, we can see why they cancelled the show. Nina, next time people take shots at your network for airing 15 procedurals, know that this is why. Oh, and know that when we say “people” we mean us, your friends at thetvaddict.com.

While this news was undoubtedly not the Easter surprise JERICHO fans were hoping for, this TV Addict has to give CBS some credit for doing what very few networks bother to do. Not only did they listen to their fans, they put their money where their mouth is and gave fans a second season of JERICHO, ensuring a proper ending for the show. Tuesday’s finale should tie things up nicely and that’s more than can be said for a lot of brilliant but cancelled shows.

Tune in tonight to JERICHO’s second season premiere on CBS. It’s easy to understand, it’s a fun watch, and even if you’ve never seen the show, there’s plenty of exposition that will get you caught up in no time.

I will be the first person to admit (and I’ve done this on many occasions) that I didn’t watch JERICHO when it premiered last year. In fact, I only really started watching it as a New Year’s Resolution for the theTVaddict.com. But something happened in my marathon viewing of the show – I got hooked on these people and their town. It went from being a show about what happens when a bomb lands right near our town and Jake is our hero and golden boy, to being a show about how can Jericho survive, how can the people in the town make a better life, a new life, a different life for themselves?

I love the relationship between Stanley and Mimi. I love the ill-advised relationship that Bonnie has started with Sean. I don’t love the relationship between Jake and Emily because I don’t love Emily, but that’s just nit-picky on my part. I love the fact that Heather is still alive and kicking, and that Robert Hawkins is still possibly the coolest guy in the world. Also, Esai Morales is on the job now, and I just love him! Yes, I’ll miss Gerald McRaney, but the show will go on, and for that I’m super pumped.

Now is the time for all of us JERICHO fans to band together and make sure this show stays on the air. CBS was kind enough to give us a shortened seven episode season. So let’s make the most of it.

Don’t forget to tune in, have friends tune in, catch it on CBS Innertube, etc. It’s our chance to show CBS that it wasn’t a fluke and that the ridiculous amount of nuts sent to them wasn’t a sign of the end of JERICHO, rather the beginning.

The TV Zone is reporting that JERICHO is getting ready to hold a fan convention in Oakley Kansas on September 14-16. First an OFFICE convention in Stanford, now a JERICHO convention in Oakley Kansas. Great, two cities I couldn’t find without the help of Google Maps. Forget Oakley and Sanford, call me when LOST has a convention in Hawaii. There’s a convention I’d sell my TiVo to attend.

According to the Hollywood Reporter, CBS has signed a deal to make an American version of the BBC hit THE WORST WEEK OF MY LIFE. Or as Lindsay Lohan calls it, last week.

Yet being the ‘glass-half-empty’ type of TV Addict, we can’t help but wonder how many of the viewers that tuned in Friday night were new to the show? While it’s great that JERICHO has a core audience of fiercely loyal fans, the key to the show’s long term success (ie. seeing a full second season) is attracting a much larger audience. Was ‘Nuts for JERICHO’ a flash-in-the-pan movement or did television viewers really sit back and wonder, “Hmmm, I probably should give this show a second look.”

If you were new to the world of JERICHO, post away in the comments below and let us know what you thought. Missed the premiere? It’s not too late! You can download the series premiere of JERICHO for free on iTunes by clicking here.

JERICHO Fans, it’s official… Congratulations. We at theTVaddict.com are most definitely impressed. More importantly, your dedication to JERICHO has landed you a new fan in the media. As of this moment (8:15PM on Wednesday June 6), this TV Addict promises to catch up and finish the entire first season of JERICHO prior to the second season premiere. Any show that can generate this must passion is no doubt worth a second look in our books.

In case you missed it, below is the official renewal notice from CBS president Nina Tassler.

Wow!

Over the past few weeks you have put forth an impressive and probably unprecedented display of passion in support of a prime time television series. You got our attention; your emails and collective voice have been heard.

As a result, CBS has ordered seven episodes of “Jericho” for mid-season next year. In success, there is the potential for more. But, for there to be more “Jericho,” we will need more viewers.

A loyal and passionate community has clearly formed around the show. But that community needs to grow. It needs to grow on the CBS Television Network, as well as on the many digital platforms where we make the show available.

We will count on you to rally around the show, to recruit new viewers with the same grass-roots energy, intensity and volume you have displayed in recent weeks.

At this time, I cannot tell you the specific date or time period that “Jericho” will return to our schedule. However, in the interim, we are working on several initiatives to help introduce the show to new audiences. This includes re-broadcasting “Jericho” on CBS this summer, streaming episodes and clips from these episodes across the CBS Audience Network (online), releasing the first season DVD on September 25 and continuing the story of Jericho in the digital world until the new episodes return. We will let you know specifics when we have them so you can pass them on.

On behalf of everyone at CBS, thank you for expressing your support of “Jericho” in such an extraordinary manner. Your protest was creative, sustained and very thoughtful and respectful in tone. You made a difference.

Sincerely,

Nina Tassler

President, CBS Entertainment

P.S. Please stop sending us nuts

If this rumour turns out to be true, this TV Addict applauds the dedicated fans of JERICHO who have managed to do what so many fandoms have failed to do — resurrect their cancelled show (see: EVERWOOD, VERONICA MARS and ANGEL to name a few.) Hopefully when the time comes to fight the next big cancellation battle, JERICHO fans will share the secret to their success. Or at the very least, the incriminating photos I can only assume they have of CBS president Nina Tassler.

Who knew JERICHO had so many dedicated and vocal fans? In the few days since CBS announced their new fall schedule (which didn’t include JERICHO), we at theTVaddict.com have been inundated with emails about the series abrupt cancellation. Turns out we’re not the only ones.

In an usual move, CBS entertainment president Nina Tassler took the opportunity to speak to fans directly on the official CBS JERICHO Message Board:

We have read your emails over the past few days and have been touched by the depth and passion with which you have expressed your disappointment. Please know that canceling a television series is a 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 to develop a way to provide closure to the compelling drama that was the Jericho story.

Sincerely,
Nina Tassler, President of CBS Entertainment

Having fallen victim to the network axe more times than we care to remember (EVERWOOD, FIREFLY, ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT to name a few), we at theTVaddict.com appreciate a great fan campaign. So in an effort to do our part, we thought we’d take this opportunity to link to a few sites where you can help out the cause.

Jericho Lives
Save Jericho Now on MySpace
Save Jericho Petition

And remember, while JERICHO may not have been YOUR favourite show. This could happen to you! So take a moment to send an email, write a letter and help stop yet another quality television show from being replaced by reality TV.

Remember my New Year’s Resolution to get caught up on Jericho before the winter premiere?

Thanks to the awesome people at CBS, I’ve gone one step further. Not only did I watch the first 11 hours saved on my TiVo. I had the pleasure of watching Wednesday’s winter premiere and it’s official – I’m addicted to Jericho!!

For those of you who were in my boat, having missed the whole fall season (but you haven’t yet caught up), I wanted to get you all ready for Wednesday’s big premiere.

With that, here’s a little “Who’s who?” of the people that make Jericho what it is (I put together a little chart with who is connected to whom, and how; do yourself a favor and click here to print it out!)

When we first entered the town of Jericho, Jake Green (Skeet Ulrich…swoon) had been away from home for five years. No one knows where he’s been. He won’t tell anyone what he’s been doing. He’s been out of touch with friends, with family, etc. He returns to town on the day of the explosion to pick up his inheritance.

Jake is a member of one of the town’s most respected families. His dad is the now former Mayor Johnston Green. Johnston has suffered a debilitating flu, and sepsis, only to recover in time to be defeated in Jericho’s late election to the nefarious Gray Anderson (more on him later). Jake’s mom Gail Green is a beacon of strength to her family and the whole town. She offers support to everyone, and there’s no one who doesn’t want her as their mother!

The other son, Eric Green, is dad’s Deputy Mayor. He strives to be the perfect son. Outwardly, he is (though I think that Gail and Johnston, deep down, believe Jake is a son worthy of more pride). Jake’s return has both pulled the brothers closer together, but has in ways pitted them against each other. By Episode 11, Eric has become estranged from his pregnant wife, Dr. April Green, and is currently cohabitating with his mistress girlfriend Mary Bailey (owner of Bailey’s bar, where people hang out to relieve some stress). Because of the affair that Eric had, Gail is not to happy with her once-favorite son.

With Jake back in town 2 months, he’s already juggling two women – ex-love Emily Sullivan and new friend (Emily’s best friend and would-be-maid-of-honor) Heather Lisinski. He is, as if the world ending wasn’t enough, torn between two lovely ladies.

Jake and Heather met on the day of the attack when he found her missing school bus and helped her and her students get safely back to Jericho. She’s outspoken, not afraid to say what she thinks. When Jake and Eric took off for other parts of Kansas to find medication for Johnston, Heather surprised Jake with a farewell-come-back kiss. Their relationship was up in the air when the Fall Season ended.

Emily and Jake have a long history, having dated in middle and high school. Now, Emily is engaged to Roger Hammond. Thought dead when his plane from Chicago disappeared during the blasts, he resurfaced, scruffy and having walked for days, mere seconds before Jake and Emily’s lips got reunited at Bailey’s.

She has been estranged from her own father Jonah Prowse, an estrangement that stems from the death of her little brother Chris (in which both her dad and Jake had a hand). By episode 11, Jonah had wreaked havoc on the town, stolen food, horses, and a generator, pissed his commune off enough to have them frame him for murder and been run out of Jericho “for good” (Jonah’s number two man, Mitchell Cafferty was the actual murderer, killing shop owner Gracie Leigh over a broken trade deal).

Gracie Leigh was the owner of the local grocery store in town. She looked after Dale Turner when we found out that his mom had perished in a similar blast in Atlanta. Dale inherited the store when Gracie was murdered. In retribution for the death of Gracie, Dale stabbed Mitchell.

Dale is harboring a crush on Skylar Stevens who, with typical-snobby-bitch best friend Lisa Whalley, treated him like crap. The day of the fallout, they (Skylar and Dale) bonded over their new status as orphans. By episode 11, she has alienated her friends, Lisa and Sean Henthorn in order to let Dale into her home, and, as cheesy as it sounds, her heart. Sean was last seen getting into the truck of Bonnie Richmond for, what one assumes, is a little after hours nookie!

Bonnie Richmond is the deaf sister of Stanley Richmond. Together, they run the Richmond farm. They owe the IRS over $180,000 in back taxes. Mimi Clark was in town on the day of the blast (from Washington, D.C.) to collect. After not having somewhere to stay, and being taken in by the Richmond family, Mimi and Stanley have started to fall for each other. Stanley affectionately refers to them as St-imi (the tabloid name for the Stanley/Mimi coupling). They are actually my new favorite couple on the show. I think they’re charming.

Stanley and Jake have been training batches of people in town to be on the lookout for any after-bomb fighting / looting / issues that Jericho might face. As well as the fighters they’ve been training, Jericho has something of a police force, with Deputy Bill (a staunch Gray Anderson supporter) and Deputy Jimmy (a staunch Mayor Green supporter) at the forefront. Gray, the newly elected mayor, was one of the people who ventured out of town to see what was happening in other areas of Kansas. We haven’t learned very much, other than the fact that Gray saw stuff no one should ever have to see, but I’m sure we’ll learn more as we go.

New to town, and acting as a deputy, the enigmatic Robert Hawkins arrived with a tin canister in a giant white moving truck. He claimed to have been a cop in St. Louis before moving to Jericho. Along with him for the move (and his insane ability to get a laptop signal when the town is completely shut down) are his children Samuel Hawkins and Allison Hawkins. Robert’s formerly estranged wife Darcy Hawkins is there too, extremely suspicious of Robert’s every move.

A few other names worth remembering –

Kendry Duwhalia is a doctor that Jake and Eric encountered on their trip to a neighboring town Rogue River. He came back to Jericho with them (and with Levaquin in tow) to cure Johnston while he lay dying of sepsis. He’s stuck around, and most recently was seen helping Jonah when he was suffering from a gash on his arm after his confrontation with Mitchell.

The only enemies we’ve really seen (besides whoever is dropping the bombs) is the rogue “military” faction Ravenwood, mercenaries who are pillaging towns across the US. I’m absolutely positive we’ll see lots more about them in the coming months.

So now that you know everything you need to know about the people of Jericho – here are a few reasons you should watch the Winter Premiere on Wednesday at 8.

1. I know what Jake’s been up to, at least in the week leading up to the crime. While I can’t really say what he’s been doing the entire 5 years he was away, we get an idea why he needed that inheritance money so badly!

2. Robert Hawkins and his “why on earth does he know everything and how did he end up in Jericho” story gets better and better each minute he’s on screen. We learn that he had a little bit of a girlfriend back in D.C. before moving to Jericho, and it’s absolutely worth it to get caught up in his story of “the 36 hours before the blast”. Plus, I know what’s in that canister in the truck, and it just makes me insane!

3. Everyone loves a good love quadrangle. With Roger back and Heather in the picture, Emily and Jake have some decisions to make!

4. If the storyline isn’t pulling you in (it should be, because it really is intriguing….what would you do if your world was coming to an end?), let Major Dad (Gerald McRaney, playing Johnston Green), Kelly from Coach (Clare Cramer, playing Mary Bailey), and Arnold Schwarzenegger’s partner in Kindergarten Cop (Pamela Reed, playing Gail Green) pull you in. You cannot go wrong with a veritable who’s who of early 90s entertainment!!

5. They’re actually answering some of the questions that they’ve raised. We learn a bit about Jake’s past, we learn some more about Robert’s past. We see how St-imi began; we learn a lot more than it seems we’ve learned in 2.5 years of Lost.

6. It is REALLY good. It kept me entertained, wanting more. Now that I’ve gotten caught up, I cannot wait until next week’s brand new episode!

7. If you didn’t think that last week’s “episode” was informational enough, tune into this week’s premiere, because it definitely explains what’s happening to the town.

Do yourself a favor – catch up on old episodes of Jericho on iTunes and on CBS.com. You will not regret it, I promise!! As always, find me at mytakeontv@thetvaddict.com!
Let me know what you think when you start getting all caught up!

The things we here at thetvaddict.com won’t do for you people! As an experiment, we had an intrepid correspondent sit through the “special episode” of JERICHO which aired this past Wednesday in an attempt to see if someone who had never seen the show before could, in fact, pick up enough information on the post-nuclear drama to jump into the action when new episodes return this week.

In the past, we’d seen similar glorified clipfests slapped together by the makers of LOST and DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES, each ostensibly designed to help newbies jump into the continuing storylines (although, in reality, we suspect they’re produced as a ploy to slap the words “new episode!” into advertisements and have yet another extra for the inevitable DVD). But having already been fans (or at least, in this period of disenchantment with LOST, viewers) of the shows, it made sense that these “catch-up” entries would prove simple and accessible.

That was not, however, the case with JERICHO. Having never seen the series before, one of our correspondents cued up the special episode, “Return To Jericho” in the hopes of seeing what the excitement was about. Instead, they came away feeling more confused than ever after a disjointed hour in which they were bombarded with a plethora of characters whose connections were difficult to comprehend and storylines which jumped from point to point in a completely disjointed manner.

“They showed people heading off to try and find information from neighboring towns, but didn’t tell me what they found,” reported our virgin viewer. “They showed me a plane in the middle of the road and from the music, I could tell it was a big deal. But I don’t know why. That happened a lot. There were scenes which felt as if they must be huge in the development of the plot, but it was impossible to figure out how, or what the fallout from the plot point might be. Overall, the special felt as if it was edited to remind fans of what had happened before the show went on hiatus as opposed to giving a potential new viewer a window into the show’s world.”

Oddly, the special was narrated by a character who had, for the purpose of the special, somehow become omniscient, reporting on events he could have no idea had happened. (When LOST has done similar specials, they’ve relied on a disembodied narrator, while DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES, conveniently enough, has an all-seeing character in the late Mary Alice Young.)

So would our befuddled correspondent tune in again? “What I saw was intriguing,” they admitted. “But it left me feeling as if there were just too many things I didn’t understand. It seemed like it would be incredibly hard to just sort of start watching.” So while CBS’ experiment wasn’t successful in luring a new viewer, that doesn’t mean there isn’t good news on the horizon. As our confused correspondent reported, “I’ll definitely buy the DVD when it comes out. With any luck, I can be caught up before the second season begins.” Assuming, of course, there is a second season.

Miss the JERICHO recap? You can download it for free on iTunes by clicking here.