'Jericho': It's really over

CBS Entertainment President Nina Tassler announced today that "Jericho," the low-rated series that earned a second season through fan support, will conclude with its series finale on Tuesday.

"Without question, there are passionate viewers watching this program," Tassler said. "We simply wish there were more of them."

Two endings had been prepared for the end of the seven-episode season. Tuesday's finale aims to provide "closure" for fans, a source at the studio said.

The series attracted 7.2 million viewers when it returned Feb. 12, but the audience had dropped off to 5.8 million by last week.

-- Lynn Smith

Comments

[KIC]

And, dear Nina, I wish there was more intelligent original programming. Nothing left to watch for me there anymore besides news.

[suzyku]

CBS has gone steadily downhill. First they hire Katy Couric and drive the news to lower than 3rd. place and now they don't give Jericho a fair chance!

I hope that a cable station with more foresight will pick up Jericho, this season was great and we will miss it.

[boris geiss]

Jericho viewers had vision, it was CBS that had the programming vision blockage. Please, some cable channel, step up and drive Jericho to season 3.

[Rich]

CBS - shame on you! I do not watch any of the CSI franchise shows - if you have seen one, you have seen them all - Big Brother is an indicator of the kind of trash CBS is willing to put on the air - the AVERAGE amount of viewers CBS had last week was 8.1 million viewers. So how exactly does Jericho hurt CBS?

First, they take a great premise, then they cancel the show after only one year, just when viewers are getting the hang of what is going on in the show and starting to care about the characters. Then fans revolt with the "nuts" campaign, and CBS magnanimously grants SEVEN new episodes to see if it can get enough viewers. Seven episodes is one third the number of episodes that a successful show gets to tell it's story, and then they pull the plug, just when the story is getting interesting.

Most viewers of this show care about the characters, relate to the situation they are in (maybe we all will be in a similar fix soon), and the story is just moving in a new direction. The acting is good, the story is good, and it is one hour per week that I can relax and enjoy myself.

Shame on you, CBS! Crap like American Idol and Big Brother 9, and Dancing with the Stars, and the Celebrity Apprentice, get big ratings, so they stay on. God forbid M*A*S*H were to come on the scene now - it would be off the air after five episodes, if that long. Seinfeld had relatively poor ratings the first year - if it were today - the funniest show ever on TV would have never found a home (I realize these are not all CBS shows, but it is all about the bottom line for all the networks).

I hope the "networks" get ready for the inevitability of cable, On Demand, and the internet making them obsolete.

Sci Fi Channel - PLEASE pick this one up!

Shame on you CBS!

[Daniel]

Shame, only show on CBS that I watched. Its also too bad that they tried to cram everything into the second season that they could, and ruined the flow of the show instead of giving it a shot. Too bad Sci Fi or USA couldnt pick this one up somehow, it deserves a chance at a 5 season run.

D

[Victor]

Jericho, is one of the rare shows that left you wondering and waiting," what is going to happen next". when it first came out. it had fresh and new idea of a "what if". this is one show I will miss. I hope like J.A.G. another network picks it up.

[Jay]

Never really watched CBS shows 'til I saw re-runs of Jericho on SciFi. Now that I'm so engrosed with this series, CBS is giving it the axe. I'm never gonna watch CBS programs again, never really did, anyways. I'm sticking with the CW and NBC shows.

[Mitzi]

This is not over for the fans. We have launched a Don't Tread On Me campaign to get another venue for a quality season 3. Seems odd to me that online viewership doesn't carry any weight when it's making so much money in advertising dollars. The big networks might just go the way of the American steel industry for not recognizing a new form of competition.

[vhmntn]

Unfortunately Jericho suffered when CBS Did the "Lost" scenario. When it was on hiatus for 3 months, it lost what good ratings it had.
CBS mistakes are indicative of the higher and higher profit margin expected, from money driven stockholders. At least they brough it back when cancelled the 1st time. I just think with all the tech we have we at hand, we can't get a better watcher ratings system in place. I mean they have the know how. Geeeeez! Hope Sci fi will pick it up.

[Elian Gonzales]

Wait, wait a minute. If the numbers aren't there, then what's the problem? If the fans are so passionate and what not, why aren't they showing up to tune in? Too busy being disaffected on MySpace or Facebook? If you know the bottom line is money, then put *your* money where your mouth is and make it worth the ad rates to keep this show going.

[Claude Demers]

So this is it. One of the few shows worth watching on TV week after week. So we will have more "reality TV" so CBS can make a ton of money. You just lost me.

[Mojapan]

My wife and I watch Jericho online and via our TIVO. We are bummed out that they are canceling it once again. The last three episodes have been real good ones and Esai Morales amazing. I know that there are some middle managers there at CBS who are behind Jericho, but it comes down to the accountants and their projected numbers. I think that Jericho is challenging for them since they don't see the numbers in the normal sense. But if you do an audit, you'll find lots of multiple online and DVR viewing. As for SciFi, I'm all for it, but that's another can of worms entirely.

[GL]

What happened to CANE?