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Battle Over: CBS gave 'Jericho' a fighting chance
Sad fact of life: If you watch enough TV, eventually a network is going to cancel one of your favorite shows prematurely, be it after five episodes or 50 episodes or 100 episodes. Any cancellation is premature, unless the only shows you've ever watched are Seinfeld, Friends, Law & Order and E.R.
This week's premature cancellation, obviously, is Jericho, which has been put out to pasture by CBS for the second time in less than a year. Because I think of cancellation as being a truncation of some sort, the conclusion without closure, I'm not sure that Jericho was even really cancelled. After Tuesday (March 25), CBS will have aired every episode of Jericho ordered by the network and the show's producers shot an ending that will provide resolution to the fans who resurrected it with letters, phone calls and, infamously (and reductively) nuts.
But for fans of cancelled shows, no network has ever done the right thing, no network has every given their shows the support they deserved. Reading reactions to the end of Jericho, it isn't surprising to see that show's fans falling into familiar patterns.
Fans of Arrested Development remain irate at FOX's treatment of the Emmy-winning comedy, a contention that baffles me. FOX gave three seasons to one of the lowest rated shows on television (or two-and-a-half, sort of). A best comedy series Emmy did absolutely nothing to improve the show's viewership and fans complain that FOX bounced Arrested Development around the schedule. Partly that's true, but more realistically, FOX was trying Arrested Development in a variety of its best time slots trying to make anything stick. The show aired after American Idol. It aired after The Simpsons. It aired any place FOX had a home for it, but it didn't make a difference. The audience that watched the show -- that includes me -- loved it to death, but the audience that didn't watch it had no interest in discovering it or sampling it. FOX gave Arrested Development enough episodes for three sets of DVDs. That's giving it a chance. Enjoy what you had, fans.
Fans of Veronica Mars remain irate at UPN and The CW's treatment of the adored teen private eye series, a contention that baffles me. Those two networks gave three seasons to one of the lowest rated dramas on television (or two-and-a-half, sort of). Critics never stopped raving about Veronica Mars and executives at both networks never stopped saying they worshipped the show, but that didn't cause the ratings to change one iota. Yes, both networks moved Veronica Mars around a bit on their schedules and often pulled the show for long periods. But both networks gave Veronica Mars the best lead-ins they had available, whether it was America's Next Top Model or Gilmore Girls. The audience that watched the show -- that includes me -- loved it to death, but the audience that didn't watch it had no interest in discovering it or sampling it. FOX gave Veronica Mars enough episodes for three sets of DVDs. That's giving it a chance. Enjoy what you had, fans.
That brings me back, of course, to Jericho.
CBS didn't give Jericho enough time for three sets of DVDs, but there will be one full season and one partial season when all is said and done. CBS didn't renew Jericho last season because, by the standards of the network's viewership, it didn't make the grade. It didn't come close to making the grade. But CBS brought Jericho back because the executives liked the statement it made. It said "We listen to the fans and we understand the changing face of the media landscape. We recognize that we have to do business a different way." They didn't need to, but they wanted to try something different.
The network brought the Jericho people to Television Critics Association press tour last year and we wrote reams of stories about it. They brought the Jericho people to ComicCon last summer and to WonderCon this spring and we wrote reams of stories about it. They promoted the heck out of the show, running a relentless series of advertising that any viewer of NFL games can attest to. Yes, that Tuesday night time slot is a death slot and it may not have been exactly the most flawless piece of scheduling, but CBS put Jericho where it had the space. It put it in a time slot where any level of success, however minimal, would have stood out, would have been cause for celebration. You think CBS, the most watched network on TV, likes having a dead spot on Tuesday night? Of course not. And here's one thing that fans of Veronica Mars and Arrested Development wish they could have said in the last years of their shows: Jericho aired every Tuesday night at 10. CBS said it was going to air a seven-episode season and that's what the network did. Part of that was that thanks to the strike, the network needed programming, but the reasons aren't necessary. For seven weeks, Jericho fans knew where to watch their show, but not enough people watched.
If the ratings that Jericho was getting last spring weren't enough to justify renewing it then, how to justify bringing it back after a spring where every single episode did worse than the worst episode last season. You shouldn't doubt that if Jericho had done last year's average rating on Tuesday night at 10 p.m. this year, renewal would have been a no-brainer. But it didn't.
And Jericho fans aren't blameless here. Remember back two or three weeks before the show premiered and the first three episodes -- the episode sent to critics -- were already on the Internet? You think that looked good to CBS? The network was looking for measurables and I'm doubting they scoured the BitTorrent sites with pleasure. And what about all of the empty seats at WonderCon last spring and ComicCon last summer?
But that doesn't matter. Jericho fans are in the anger stage of grieving, a stage that for many TV fans never passes into acceptance (though "bargaining" actually worked for the Jericho group last year). They're saying they're going to boycott CBS, that they're going to go back to sending nuts or letters or whatever worked last year. They say that if CBS had just given the show a chance, it would have found an audience.
Cite evidence, please. Ratings were low. They showed no signs of getting higher. None. Online downloads were solid, but as you may have heard during the writers strike, networks and studios are having a hard time monetizing that stuff.
You say that Jericho was the best show on TV? I disagree, but I'm glad you like it and darned if I didn't still watch every episode. You say that Jericho was refreshing and different? Absolutely. I can't argue with that. Even if the acting and dialogue were sometimes weak, Jericho was always a show with ideas, often original and provocative ones. Wanna know the sad thing? Jericho got more creative and more intelligent (albeit sometimes less exciting and less fun) as it progressed, but as those things improved the ratings declined almost proportionately.
Want somebody or something to blame, Jericho fans? Try Moonlight. The Friday night drama has consistently drooped in ratings between Ghost Whisperer and Numb3rs delivering an audience which, under normal circumstances -- this being the network that cancelled Close to Home, which would have been a hit anywhere else -- wouldn't be enough for renewal. But I have to believe that CBS is terrified by the dedication and level of obsession from the Moonlight fans. If the network's going to pick up one low-rated drama for next year, it'll be Moonlight, because CBS would rather weather another sea of goobers than deal with irate care packages full of blood.
Can I just say that I agree with y'all on one thing: The ratings system is a crock. If you want to make your fortune, develop a better way of measuring TV audience size than what Nielsen currently does. You couldn't do worse. But TV networks can only do business with what they have available, so your letters that start with "I watch Jericho religiously and so do my 100 best friends and none of us have Nielsen boxes" really won't have much of an impact. CBS tried to do business a different way this past year and you got seven new episodes out of it.
That's not bad.
Ask angry fans of Journeyman or Drive or Firefly if they would be satisfied with another seven episodes. Jericho fans probably shouldn't complain to Cane fans about CBS not giving them enough of a chance to find an audience. Airing in the Tuesday death slot, Cane averaged 8.9 million viewers this season, but nobody invited Cane to make new episodes after the strike ended. In that same time slot, Jericho averaged 6.8 million viewers.
My point isn't to malign the most passionate of Jericho fans or to rub salt in the wounds so soon after the last salt massage.
The point is just to say... Why the anger? Again! I understand sadness or frustration or a little bit of resignation. But why so mad? Two DVD sets with 29 episodes? That's not so bad. The Prisoner only aired 17 episodes. Fawlty Towers aired 12. My Freaks and Geeks DVD set has 18 episodes, one more than my Undeclared set.
Why should Tuesday night be about venting your spleen at CBS, at the tastes of American viewers at Nielsen?
Why not just say good-bye to Jake and Hawkins and the rest of the gang?
There'll be plenty of new shows to obsess over soon enough, at least until they're cancelled.
What do you think?
I think, in this age of entertainment being tailored to ever-more specific niche markets, maybe this particular group of fans is angry because the show had found its 6.8 million viewer niche and then it was unceremoniously taken away, then ceremoniously resurrected, then taken away, for good, again. Could it be the shows numbers would have been good enough to keep the show alive on SciFi channel, and then, like BSG, bringing in a wider audience via iTunes downloads? Sure, laud CBS, if you want, for "trying to do something different." Like you point out, though, it was more of a calculated superficial gesture ('Hey, but we tried!') than any real attempt at re-thinking strategies for tracking viewership -- the heart of the problem. What I think, though, is that the big networks are walking dinosaurs -- relics of an age of take-it-and-like-it-or-nothing
-at-all broadcast TV programming. The anger strikes me as of a piece with kids who don't understand their parents' generation's values. That is, it's more of a generational disconnect about media consumption, than anything else. At this point, the networks and the fans are talking to each other at cross -purposes, and "successful show" is understood according to vastly divergent definitions.
Has another channel thought about picking up Jericho? I have heard no rumblings, but NBC struck a deal to save FNL. And at a cable network, even 3 million viewers or so might be enough to keep it around.
And another thing about Veronica Mars was UPN nor CW ever advertised it. Sure, it had a good spot and critics liked it, but there was no advertising (at least that I ever saw).
Excellent job of stating the facts behind cancellations of well-loved shows. However, you left out the one that I feel the strongest about and that is Joan of Arcadia. Les Moonves had said that before he cancelled the show he'd try it in a different time slot to see if it made a difference in ratings (never happened). He even let the show's producers/writers believe it was going to be renewed for a third season - so much so that the very last episode had a major cliffhanger that we'll probably never get resolved. Those of us who campaigned to get Joan back would have been thrilled with 6 or 7 episodes to tie up the story line. Not going to happen. Barbara Hall (the show's creator)will probably never even get to write a book finishing out the story, because who knows if CBS will ever relinquish the rights to the story. But the network people messed with the storylines during the second season, then wondered why the fans stopped watching.
No, that isn't the only show I've gotten upset about having a too-early cancellation (you've mentioned some of my other favorites). There will always be shows that are well done and attract a very loyal audience, but if that audience is too small to satisfy the powers-that-be, then the show is doomed. In years past some shows were given a chance to find the audience (didn't Seinfeld initially get poor ratings?). Sadly, I think the days of a network being able to keep a show just because it is a good show are over with. We just have to make more of an effort to support the good shows that do get on the air.
Melody | Mar 24, 2008 10:57:23 PM | #You can not say CBS ever gave the return a chance. Bad lead in Big Brother. During the NUTS campaign fans posting told CBS that reality program was what they hated and then they use that as a lead in for the show, that is not excatly a help.
When they repbroadcasted it during the summer they stuck it on FRIDAY a night that by all measurement is the least watched next to saturday, that wasn't a big help either.
dwayne | Mar 25, 2008 4:00:15 AM | #CBS can spin it which ever way they want, the fact of the matter is the fans abandoned the show because the quality of the first half of season one constantly got worse with each episode. Aside from the episode where Bonnie died the last few episodes lacked the heart of what made the show so good. The network can say they tried to save the show but we all know their heart wasn't in it as it was stuck on Tuesdays without a good lead in. I would've preferred just having the first season and do without the crap they slapped onto our tv's to call a second season.
Chance | Mar 25, 2008 5:13:03 AM | #Personally,after being burned a number of times,I will no longer commit to any new serial dramas.My feeling is that the networks shouldn't have a continuous drama series where a single plotline lasts more than half or one full season.You can have character development continuation,but bring closure to a particular storyline.I don't watch 24,but it appears to be somewhat like that although I find the premise of all this happening in 24 hours totally ridiculous.However,look at cable shows like Dexter,The Wire or The Sopranos.If a network commits to at least one storyline and then decides it wants to cancel,then the viewers at least have closure.
Ray | Mar 25, 2008 5:57:08 AM | #I'm with Ray on ne thing... I'm to the point where it takes a great deal to get me to commit *any* time to a new show. Why should I? Only to have the story half told again? Only to get invested in the characters, then have it cancelled because these dinosaurs that run the networks don't know their butt holes from a hole in the ground and can't take their ostrich heads out of the sand long enough to devise a viable tracking system which reflects what people are actually watching, or have any clue about what viewer loyalty actually is.
Nope... they've got to *really* sell it to me for me to invest in it, because if I do so and they pull it, I've wasted my time. And if the show is successful, then I'll hear the buzz and wait for the DVDs to come out, and then *rent* them from Netflix, and have the added benefit of not having to wait to find out what happened between episodes. Let them "monitize" that.
CatDeville | Mar 25, 2008 6:15:24 AM | #For the most part, your article was good, Dan, but you started interjecting personal opinion into the artcle and lost objectivity. Bad move.
Tim | Mar 25, 2008 6:26:59 AM | #Wow not again, I feel like the guy I just read his comment, I don't think I am going to commit to any other program on CBS, because about the time you really get into it wham bam they are jerked up out from under you and are gone, I think it is a shame we have never missed a episode of any kind and was very upset when we found out it was cancelled, AGAIN there are so many other show that i don't see how in the world they even stay on for one or two, but let something like Jericho come along that people are crazy about and then you let it slide between your fingers, so please rethink your decision please, please, Jack and Judy
jackjudy1962@yahoo.com | Mar 25, 2008 6:44:51 AM | #At least we have Lost and Battlestar Galactica, the two best dramas on TV.
JT | Mar 25, 2008 6:48:36 AM | #6.8 million sounds like alot, but it really isn't. If you look at the 'key demographic 18-49' that the advertizers drool over, Jericho never hit a 2 share. Sure, on the CW or even SciFi network, these are great numbers, CBS is completely justified in looking elsewhere.
The execs were kind and gave the series a chance to resolve itself. Being a fan, (in that 18-49 demo) I'll be watching - after the fact TiVo and will mourn the many expected losses, but then I'll see what's on the next night. And the next....
The end
Brett | Mar 25, 2008 6:58:06 AM | #I like sci-fi/fantasy shows like Jericho and Journeyman.
However, I tape 99% of the shows I watch, and from the sound of it, taping the shows doesn't get counted in the ratings.
How many are like me in this?
Susan | Mar 25, 2008 7:09:17 AM | #I think this reporteer is right on so many levels. The ratings were horrible on our second season that we all worked so hard to get.
And it's because of people like me who taped it and watched it the next day. But staying up to 11 when you get up at 5am just is not an option.
I'm glad we got our additional eps cause I am a fan of so many mentioned above that did not.
I just wish the nets would catch up to the times and start counting viewership on the net and the next day and how that factors into profitability. That's what's important here - not the who or how it's being watched but how much they can get from advertisers. And right now they don't seem to have a formula to say that X amt of persons downloaded it so that translates to Y dollars we can charge for advertising. SIGH!
MJ | Mar 25, 2008 7:25:20 AM | #Susan- It only matters if you have a Nielsen box. I was a Neilsen family a while back (before the set-top boxes) and I filled out a journal of what we watched when. I imagine that if you are taping a show (and not using a DVR) there might be a journal that you can report that in. I'm not sure though.
Dan- Great article and I agree with everything you are saying. "Arrested Development" will always be my favorite and I think FOX did have advertising problems with the show and didn't know how to market it. Still though, we got 53 episodes.
"Jericho" on the other hand, had everything. Massive advertising, decent word-of-mouth from the NUTS campaign, outspoken fans, etc., etc. The viewers just weren't there. I am reminded of a quote from the show "American Dad" when all of the "Arrested Development" cancellation stuff was happening:
"It's like Steve is America, and you're 'Arrested Development.' It's not that you're bad. It's just that he's not interested in you."
I think America just wasn't that into "Jericho".
Blue Sean | Mar 25, 2008 7:39:24 AM | #MJ- Why should they count those who DVR/tape it the same as those who watch it live? Most DVR users fast-forward through the ads (hell, that's one of the major reasons I have a DVR). It can't be a 1-1 ratio because you aren't watching what is paying for the show. Even if you personally were, you have to admit that most aren't.
Daniel is right, the Nielsen formula just doesn't work anymore. There are a myriad of possibilities to replace this model but none of them are perfect (more ads, more product placement, lower budgets, etc., etc.).
Blue Sean | Mar 25, 2008 7:44:06 AM | #Enough with the superiority of (many) Arrested Development fans! To-wit:
"...but the audience that didn't watch it had no interest in discovering it or sampling it."
Guess what? I know several people, myself included, who discovered it, sampled it, then dumped it. During the height of the enternainment media's love affair with Arrested Development, I found myself sitting with friends on several occasions discussing what the fuss was all about. We'd all given it a try, and none of us were fans. We didn't hate it; there were just any number of things we'd rather do with our time (including watching other shows.)
Why do so many assume that those of us who didn't watch Arrested Development didn't try Arrested Development? Talk about arrogant.
"There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio."
Robin | Mar 25, 2008 8:55:20 AM | #CBS SUCKS AND I WILL NOT WATCH ANYTHING ON CBS AGAIN! THAT IS WHY THEY ARE IN LAST PLACE!
DEBBIE | Mar 25, 2008 9:10:27 AM | #I COMPLETELY disagree with your assessment of the fate of Veronica Mars. First of all, when they gave it the chance to do well, Veronica Mars DID do well. After they started placing it behind America's Next Top Model in its second season the ratings improved to nicer levels (as a matter of fact it reached a series HIGH). The problem started again when they started bouncing Veronica Mars all over the schedule for no apparent reason other than to see if it could hold an audience on those nights. So no, it's not that it was just still doing terribly because that is NOT true. The Gilmore Girls thing was a mistake as well, and if you watched Veronica Mars I shouldn't even have to tell you this...but they CHANGED what was so great about Veronica Mars in an attempt to get more girls to watch it after Gilmore Girls went off. The show was watered down and focused more on girlfriend/boyfriend relationships just to fit this little niche that the CW wanted it to. THIS ALIENATED THE REAL FANS!!! Lots of my friends who started watching 2nd season thanks to me, hated the new direction. The ones who had been with it through thick and thin, like myself, were utterly confused and hardpressed to defend the show. Other than say it's not the SHOW'S FAULT!
Sorry I just really get upset when people try to pretend like Veronica Mars never had a chance...because it doesn't deserve this kind of nonsense. I bet the CW wishes they still had it now...does anyone even watch Reaper?
Sam | Mar 25, 2008 9:26:40 AM | #The ratings system is a crock. If you want to make your fortune, develop a better way of measuring TV audience size than what Nielsen currently does
The ratings system is still there to make money. You develop a more accurate system is like trying to get a Republican to vote Democrat.
pakopako | Mar 25, 2008 9:39:59 AM | #Loved the show last year. But truthfully, these seven episodes weren't really that great. So I'm not really surprised. And trust me all you angry people, something else will come along that you'll love just as much.
Cathy | Mar 25, 2008 9:46:47 AM | #You think sticking it in the 9pm death slot is a "fighting" chance? CBS screwed themselves here...Jericho never recovered from the extended break it took after the first batch of episodes. Even LOST has trouble regaining their momentum after these extended time outs.
And it surely didn't help that the new eppys rushed through a season's worth of story to give us some kind of half-assed "conclusion".
But if forced to choose, I'd rather have HIMYM anyway.
Lynn | Mar 25, 2008 10:00:33 AM | #I agree, we really don't have much of a reason to complain about CBS. Believe me, I've been through a lot of show cancellations in my time. This one isn't the network's fault, or at least, it's less so than usual. I'm glad they brought it back, even only for seven episodes. They didn't have to do it, heaven knows they weren't going to make much money off of it if at all. I was more upset about "Drive" 's cancellation, just because I felt like they had something that could have done well if they had given it some time, even if the episodes weren't self-contained. When all is said and done, tonight at 11:00, we will get an ending, and that is all I could have hoped for out of a second season.
J.P. | Mar 25, 2008 10:35:11 AM | #We should lay the blame on all the networks because of their relaxed security. When episodes of a show appear weeks before it shows up on TV, who's to blame? So the fans download the episodes and watch them on their PC or burn to DVD and watch. They never show up in the ratings.
JT: Battlestar Galactica finishes after this season. They wanted to go out with a "bang". Meanwhile a series prequel [50 years prior] is in development.
Battle Over: CBS gave 'Jericho' a fighting chance
I dont think putting it in direct competition with American Idol giving it a chance. They killed it. Period.
J Leonard | Mar 25, 2008 11:43:21 AM | #I hate CBS;at least untill next football season,or,another show like The Unit or,Jericho comes along.
I will miss Hawkins though.
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