I ended last summer with high hopes for Jericho. A TV series about a nuclear apocalypse? No way! It seemed too good to be true… and as the season progressed, it apparently was, as we were treated to a town of people who seemed to be in denial, spending their time drinking and eating their way through the apocalypse as if nothing had happened.

The show took a break through December and January, and when it returned it had lost quite a few viewers. To be fair, Jericho isn’t the only show with this problem. Many serialized shows, including Lost and Battlestar Galactica, have suffered similar problems. Out of sight, out of mind. And once you lose viewers, it’s hard to get them back.

Thankfully, Jericho improved with time. Yeah, the music was still out of place and kinda crappy - like a Toto soundtrack to a film version of the classic SF novel “Dune” - and it was as much soap opera as SF. But it seemed to be becoming more realistic, as well, and grim. One of the major characters died, the town was living without power, dealing more with the neighboring towns and generally having a rough time making it through the winter.

(more…)

There’s no official word yet, but the rumor is that CBS is going to renew “Jericho” for another year of post-nuclear-annihilation angst. Perhaps next year the residents of Jericho will have to deal with nuclear mutants? That would be worth watching!

(more…)

SciFi Wire has another update on Jericho…this time an interview with Lennie James, who plays the enigmatic “Hawkins” on Jericho, the father of the token black family in town. Unsurprisingly, he says that some of Hawkins’ mysterious background will be revealed soon. The more interesting (and kind of cool) thing that he talks about is that he refused to be told anything about Hawkins’ background himself for the first five episodes, until he finally relented.

I’ll relent. I don’t think Jericho is particularly good… in fact, it is sometimes cringe-worthy… and yet I keep watching it and talking about it, not just because it’s apocalyptic. So I will make an effort to rag on it less in the future (unless it deserves it even more than usual).

(more…)

It’s been a while since I’ve heard anything about Jericho. I wonder how its hiatus will affect its viewership.

(more…)

As I’ve been listening to Muse’s album “Black Holes and Revelations” recently, “The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists” really sounds like a track title from the album. Alas, it’s not… it’s the group of people who maintain the the Doomsday Clock, which today they moved forward by 2 minutes in recognition of the possibility of catastrophic, civilization-ending change stemming from human technology. The clock now stands at five minutes to midnight.

(more…)

“The Zero Club” is described as an award-winning musical comedy about nuclear holocaust. Playing on November 14th at the Regent Theater in Arlington, MA, it’s about “an ordinary girl” who infiltrates the Zero Club, a group of people who fight the fear of nuclear war with comedy.

(more…)

This is a good thing, not a bad thing. I think. CBS is going to take a break from Jericho on Wednesday November 29th, with a midseason “cliffhanger finale”, and come back in February for sweeps month and run the remaining episodes without reruns.

(more…)

I’ve been meaning to write more about Jericho, and now I have the impetus to do so: one of Jericho’s creators, Jon Turtelaub, says in a SCI FI Wire interview, that the goal of Jericho is to explore how different characters react in a crisis.

Jericho’s been doing pretty well. It’s gotten a full season pickup. CNN describes it as a breakout hit. I’m watching it every week, and yet I’m hesitant to say that I’m enjoying it.

(more…)

This flash animation will help put the End of the World in perspective: The End of the World

You might recall that the end of the world was due about a month ago.

You might also notice that I never spell “Yahweh” the same way twice. Maybe that’s good, as writing His name can be considered blasphemous (really, erasing His name… so you better not take this page down from your screen!).
(more…)