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.
Totally agree about the pacing of Jericho. It’s why I don’t watch. Take the promotional image of the series? – The one that’s actually in the right sidebar – it looks very intriguing. Put out a movie with that same premise, it’d be a hit. But I’ve tried getting into it multiple times and the town drama just had me looking for another channel.
That said, even 24, as much as I love it, was starting to grate on me last season. The Kim plotlines were always ridiculous, but luckily after the whole “Kim runs from a cougar” debacle I think they wised up pretty quick. What’s taking that show down now is they’re getting too far outside the draw of the show’s pacing, and getting mired in way too fantastical a universe and top eschelon politics and drama.
Give me back the earlier seasons where Jack was just going non-stop, with a much grittier, mysterious feel to it. I don’t need to see Martha going nuts and stabbing her husband, everyone going around LA to find cannisters for half a day, or the whole guidance chip fiasco from last season.
I will, however, give them kudos for actually giving Jack’s cellphone a piece of the terrorist body count. You have to know Verizon was loving it.
Totally agree about the pacing of Jericho. It's why I don't watch. Take the promotional image of the series? – The one that's actually in the right sidebar – it looks very intriguing. Put out a movie with that same premise, it'd be a hit. But I've tried getting into it multiple times and the town drama just had me looking for another channel.
That said, even 24, as much as I love it, was starting to grate on me last season. The Kim plotlines were always ridiculous, but luckily after the whole “Kim runs from a cougar” debacle I think they wised up pretty quick. What's taking that show down now is they're getting too far outside the draw of the show's pacing, and getting mired in way too fantastical a universe and top eschelon politics and drama.
Give me back the earlier seasons where Jack was just going non-stop, with a much grittier, mysterious feel to it. I don't need to see Martha going nuts and stabbing her husband, everyone going around LA to find cannisters for half a day, or the whole guidance chip fiasco from last season.
I will, however, give them kudos for actually giving Jack's cellphone a piece of the terrorist body count. You have to know Verizon was loving it.
Believe it or not, I agree with you that pacing during most of the first season of Jericho was lackluster. But then around episode 17 or 18 it got a lot better, and has continually gotten better throughout Season 2. I think most Jericho fans agree that the show was not gangbusters out of the gate. Everything you complain about from Dale’s rise as the town shopkeeper to Eric’s love triangle has been scrapped in Season 2, except the Mimi-Stanley story that you actually liked. So finish watching season one, then watch season two. You aren’t going to hold a lot of credibility with Jericho fans by criticizing a show you have not fully watched.
About Nielsen I will say this: I think your arguments about Nielsen, DVR, etc., although that’s mostly because I am not educated enough about Nielsen to see any other arguments. I also don’t know anything about who becomes a Nielsen family. I don’t know any.
Believe it or not, I agree with you that pacing during most of the first season of Jericho was lackluster. But then around episode 17 or 18 it got a lot better, and has continually gotten better throughout Season 2. I think most Jericho fans agree that the show was not gangbusters out of the gate. Everything you complain about from Dale's rise as the town shopkeeper to Eric's love triangle has been scrapped in Season 2, except the Mimi-Stanley story that you actually liked. So finish watching season one, then watch season two. You aren't going to hold a lot of credibility with Jericho fans by criticizing a show you have not fully watched.
About Nielsen I will say this: I think your arguments about Nielsen, DVR, etc., although that's mostly because I am not educated enough about Nielsen to see any other arguments. I also don't know anything about who becomes a Nielsen family. I don't know any.
Wow, i get that you don’t like the show, But wow, talk about a bitter write-up… Man, i think someone forgot to take their prozac today!
Wow, i get that you don't like the show, But wow, talk about a bitter write-up… Man, i think someone forgot to take their prozac today!
IN addendum, you are missing the point, people are not saying the Neilsons are biased against Jericho, what is being said, is that more people are watching Jericho via non-traditional means than are watching other shows. And before you get all high and Neilson on me about how Neilsons are what power the revenue from Ad Dollars, we know this, we are just pointing out that more people watch the show than are being counted.
IN addendum, you are missing the point, people are not saying the Neilsons are biased against Jericho, what is being said, is that more people are watching Jericho via non-traditional means than are watching other shows. And before you get all high and Neilson on me about how Neilsons are what power the revenue from Ad Dollars, we know this, we are just pointing out that more people watch the show than are being counted.
Matthew,I don’t love the show. I explained why. It wasn’t bitter. I wished the show was better, but per Mike B’s recommendation above I am plodding on.
ALL shows have more people watching than are being counted by Nielsen. But, it’s all relative. More people are watching Lost via the Internet than Jericho. More people are watching Lost on their TVs too, and more people are watching Lost on their DVRs. More people are downloading Lost from iTunes..
Matthew,I don't love the show. I explained why. It wasn't bitter. I wished the show was better, but per Mike B's recommendation above I am plodding on.
ALL shows have more people watching than are being counted by Nielsen. But, it's all relative. More people are watching Lost via the Internet than Jericho. More people are watching Lost on their TVs too, and more people are watching Lost on their DVRs. More people are downloading Lost from iTunes..
I don’t believe you do like this show since every week you go out of your way to trash it. I think this is my last time reading your post. I hope if Jericho does make it another season you will have the “stuff” to admit you were wrong but I doubt you will.
I don't believe you do like this show since every week you go out of your way to trash it. I think this is my last time reading your post. I hope if Jericho does make it another season you will have the “stuff” to admit you were wrong but I doubt you will.
by the way, Nielsen is an antiquated system and should be abolished, it has done nothing but kill decent shows and save trash.
by the way, Nielsen is an antiquated system and should be abolished, it has done nothing but kill decent shows and save trash.
Kennith: Huh?
every week — including THIS post I write it makes sense on another network other than CBS and that I hope for the fans sake there is a 3rd season on another network.
If it comes back for a 3rd season on another network I will not have the stuff to admit I was wrong since…I won’t be. If it comes back for a 3rd season on CBS, you will see pieces like “CBS agrees with Jericho fans — cites 10 MILLION viewers who DONT watch the show via traditional television as reason for pickup.”
If THAT happens? Oh yeah, I’ll admit I was wrong, every day, all season long. Count on it.
Kennith: Huh?
every week — including THIS post I write it makes sense on another network other than CBS and that I hope for the fans sake there is a 3rd season on another network.
If it comes back for a 3rd season on another network I will not have the stuff to admit I was wrong since…I won't be. If it comes back for a 3rd season on CBS, you will see pieces like “CBS agrees with Jericho fans — cites 10 MILLION viewers who DONT watch the show via traditional television as reason for pickup.”
If THAT happens? Oh yeah, I'll admit I was wrong, every day, all season long. Count on it.
P.S. Kennith: I am a free market capitalist. If you have a problem with Nielsen, take it up with CBS because CBS from what I gather pays Nielsen more money than any other client. Posting “Nielsen is antiquated” comments on the Internet won’t do any good. The television companies and advertisers need to be up in arms about it. They (the networks and the advertisers) do want some changes to the system, but “up in arms” they are not.
P.S. Kennith: I am a free market capitalist. If you have a problem with Nielsen, take it up with CBS because CBS from what I gather pays Nielsen more money than any other client. Posting “Nielsen is antiquated” comments on the Internet won't do any good. The television companies and advertisers need to be up in arms about it. They (the networks and the advertisers) do want some changes to the system, but “up in arms” they are not.
This doesn’t seem like all that bad a review, if anything what he said was true. I absolutely LOVE Jericho, but the crazy love triangle and the Frodoish character of Dale and the whiny Heather doing absolutely nothing was starting to kill the show. So what do they do? Mid season 1, they start axing people left and right (I won’t spoil who!) and the pace really picks up. The first 5 episodes of season 2 honestly rival the first episodes of season 4 for Lost this year in my opinion. The writers know they only have a few shows left and thus have ramped up the pace ten fold. Keep watching, you’ll enjoy it!
This doesn't seem like all that bad a review, if anything what he said was true. I absolutely LOVE Jericho, but the crazy love triangle and the Frodoish character of Dale and the whiny Heather doing absolutely nothing was starting to kill the show. So what do they do? Mid season 1, they start axing people left and right (I won't spoil who!) and the pace really picks up. The first 5 episodes of season 2 honestly rival the first episodes of season 4 for Lost this year in my opinion. The writers know they only have a few shows left and thus have ramped up the pace ten fold. Keep watching, you'll enjoy it!