'Jericho': The return

It's hard out there for a CBS show that's not a crime drama, reality show or laugh-track comedy with stale sex jokes recycled out of NBC's lesser 1990s Thursday night efforts.

Last fall's creative and cinematic bank-robber serial "Smith" was DOA and gone after three episodes, while post-U.S.-nuclear-disaster drama "Jericho" started hot, faded fast and limped toward cancellation. But then something interesting happened. "Jericho" fans went nuts (literally sending 20 tons of nuts to CBS executives to save the show). And CBS, excited by the kind of buzz that usually eludes the network, did something rare and un-cancelled the series.

Now CBS is giving viewers a chance to catch up on what they might have missed — albeit in a very unsexy Friday night time slot.

'Jericho': A new beginning for would-be fans

Attention “Jericho” junkies: Those of you who almost made the CBS drama a hit in the fall -- only to vanish from your couches when the show returned from its three-month hiatus in February -- are getting a second chance.

Beginning July 6, CBS will re-broadcast part of the first season, which is centered around a small Kansas town recovering from a nearby nuclear explosion. The pilot episode will air on July 6 at 9 p.m. On July 13, CBS will air “Return to Jericho,” which re-capped the show’s first 11 episodes, at 8 p.m., followed by episode 12. The rest of the series will then air on Fridays at 9 p.m.

Last week, CBS ordered seven episodes of “Jericho” for mid-season after the show’s cancellation prompted an unprecedented protest from its fans, which executives have acknowledged caught them by surprise and impressed them.  “It was a campaign that couldn’t be ignored,” CBS Corp. Chief Executive Leslie Moonves said of the mobilization of “Jericho” fans, telling the Associated Press that it was also “astonishing and well-organized.”

--Maria Elena Fernandez

(Photo courtesy CBS)

'Jericho': Its renewal is official

The fictional town of “Jericho” survived a nearby nuclear blast, and now the CBS drama, canceled just last month, will live to see another day.

After much fanfare—intense viewer support that came in the form of letters, petitions and lots of nuts delivered to CBS headquarters, network executives have re-grouped and decided to give the Skeet Ulrich-led drama a second chance.

On Wednesday, CBS President of Entertainment Nina Tassler ordered seven episodes of the series to air sometime in mid-season, crediting the fervent cancellation protest as “creative, sustained and very thoughtful and respectful in tone.”

Resurrection: The fans save 'Jericho'

Sometimes going a little nutty is a good thing.

For weeks, "Jericho" junkies have been firing e-mails (effectively shutting down InBoxes at CBS and this newspaper), signing petitions and sending bags of nuts to CBS headquarters in protest.

The assault seems to have worked, "Jericho" creator and executive producer Carol Barbee said Tuesday. CBS executives are in discussions with the show's producers and actors to resuscitate the show  -- killed just last month -- for an eight-episode run in mid-season.

"The idea would not be to bring it for eight and out, but to bring it back for eight with the hope that it would keep going," Barbee said. "They're making deals with the actors and there's other logistical stuff to work out too. 'Swingtown' [a new drama] was supposed to take over the same stages so it's a lot about the logistics of how to work out a schedule that works for all of us."