Jericho, the little post-apocalyptic drama that could, winds up tonight, at least in theory. CBS has cancelled it a second time and this time I think that no amount of peanuts will get a reprieve.

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…I don’t think that all the peanuts in the world will save you this time.

[note to folks who campaign to keep TV shows on the air: you have to actually watch them!]

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Jericho is back, with conflicting reports as to its health. On the bright side, Ain’t It Cool News reports that Jericho had a strong debut, easily improving on the ratings of ‘Cane’, which it is replacing. On the dark side, IO9 described Jericho’s ratings as average and not strong enough to get it a third season renewal. It seems a little early to tell; if the show is profitable and CBS doesn’t think they can do better with an unknown show, it could easily be renewed.

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Jericho, rescued from oblivion by a fan-driven campaign that shipped 40,445 pounds of peanuts to CBS in protest of the show’s cancellation, is finally returning to the air in less than a day to begin its abbreviated seven episode second season.

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Since the “nuts” campaign saved Jericho for at least seven more episodes, CBS has put mildly renewed effort into promoting it, including rerunning it skipping most of the slow first part of the season and making the pilot available for free at the iTunes Store.

CBS Entertainment’s president, Nina Tassler, has also admitted that the long winter hiatus for Jericho likely contributed to its decline. I still think that if the episodes preceding this break had been stronger, the break wouldn’t have hurt it as badly. Being scheduled against American Idol couldn’t have helped much, either. She remains clear that if fans want CBS to continue running the show that they need to bring in more viewers.

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Just a note that reruns of Jericho begin tonight, Friday July 6th on CBS. Tonight CBS airs the first episode of Jericho, followed next week by the recap episode that summarizes the boring first half of its season, followed wisely by the less boring second half of its first season. If you want CBS to run more Jericho after its seven-episode second season order, watching it (and buying it on DVD when it comes out will probably make more of an impression than continuing to send them nuts.

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Ain’t It Cool News has reported on an online effort by Jericho fans to persuade CBS not to cancel the show, including sending nuts to CBS (a reference to a story and a line of dialog in the final episode of the show). Apparently CBS has taken some notice and said “We’ll try to figure out a way to wrap it up” - which is not the same as saying “Gee, maybe you all will start watching it more so I guess we’ll bring it back”.

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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.

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

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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.

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