A blog about television by TIME’s TV critic James Poniewozik.

Jericho Update: Jericho Gets Jerichoed with a Jericho by the Jericho. Jericho!

Excuse the hed, but we're all about search-engine optimization here, and apparently mentioning "Jericho" is all you have to do to get a rush of traffic to a TV blog.

The news: The LA Times gets confirmation of the Jericho-resurrection talks from the producer.

The bad news: The deal would be for only eight episodes at midseason.

The good news: the episodes would not be the definite end of the series, but would allow the option of the show continuing--if it does well enough.

At risk of enraging the Jerichites, this sounds fair to me. It's not what Lost is getting, but neither are the ratings or revenues. The show would at least have a chance to prove itself, and the fans, the chance to prove that the show can be worth CBS' investment. To which end, you might want to rush out and buy the Jericho first-season DVD when it becomes available. That may be even more persuasive than a box of peanuts.

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  • 1

    James, this is unrelated, but any chance of giving some quickie reviews of the upcoming new HBO shows?

    * Season 2 of Big Love
    * John From Cinncinatti
    * Flight of the Conchrods

    Are these worth watching?

  • 2

    * I've watched only one of the 5 episodes of Big Love I was sent so far, but in my wild ambitious dreams I hope to make it a regular or semiregular summer feature, a la Sopranos Watch.

    * John -- don't want to scoop myself on my upcoming print review here, but watch this space.

    * Conchords. Yes, worth watching. Though I don't know how much I'll expand on the review I blogged a few weeks ago.

  • 3

    Love your title & article! Waiting on CBS to say they've been Jerichoed. The fight continues.

  • 4

    We are not angry at the 8 episode idea. We feel it is a good compromise and will do whatever it takes to get CBS to pick up 22 episodes

  • 5

    Nice hed. Jump right on that bandwagon! We'll even give you a hand up! :0)

    The fans have taken this show from dead to nearly reanimated. And they will show up with their friends and neighbors in tow for the new season, making the renewal decision a painless on for Nina Tassler and friends.

  • 6

    Bwahaha! I love your title. Actually, we think that's fair, too. A fair shake was all we were ever asking of CBS. We just hope that we get the same show back, which was prematurely canceled in the first place. If we do, I don't think there's any stopping Jericho. Jericho maintained #2 placement for its timeslot in the ratings, which we contend are inaccurate in this New Media environment, despite a lack of promotion coming back from an extended hiatus.

    It was pitted against American Idol, a ratings hog that is also seeing lower ratings. It's no secret that ratings are down across the board. Why everyone is ignoring this, is a real puzzler to me. It seems a bit like Old Media burying their heads in the sand and hoping the problem will go away. New Media is here. now. It's not something off in the distant future to be planned for someday.

  • 7

    Great job, Jericho folks - way to organize an effective fan campaign!!!

    Now get on board the bandwagon and help us save Veronica Mars by June 15th. There are massive online petition and a Mars Bar deluge planned for the CW folks. SAVE VERONICA MARS.

  • 8

    @Jen: Mars Bars contain nuts (albeit almonds). If only you and the Jericho fans could have pooled your resources.

  • 9

    @Jen, I signed a petition as a gesture of solidarity with Veronica Mars fans. I think if we don't do something to make our voices heard, primetime television will be nothing but a plethora of cheap reality shows. Once in a while a reality show can be fun, kind of a guilty pleasure, but that's not what we want clogging prime time schedules. We want quality shows, written by talented writers, and brought to life by actors who have spent years learning and perfecting their craft.

  • 10

    We are not angry about the 8 episodes of JERICHO.
    LOVED your heading BTW. I am sure that the 8 episodes will continue into a 3rd season etc.
    It's not a done deal yet so everyone is still at their battle stations.
    I don't think Mars bars would be a good idea. Chocolate melts! And you want your idea to be original. GOOD LUCK to you all!
    Thanks for writing this article even if it was to get traffic. :)

    "Make a stand here." Johnston Green RIP

  • 12

    We are thrilled beyong belife and now that we can and will make sure its more than 8!
    Everyone loves Jericho, and its a show totally worth saving!

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