'Jericho': The Season Debut, From Soup to (Pea)nuts
So, "Jericho" Army, was it worth it? Was it worth the 10-month wait between seasons? Was it worth the massive grass-roots effort to bring the show back for a second, albeit short, seven-episode season? Was it worth sending all those peanuts to CBS?
Let's review.
Skeet Ulrich and Esai Morales in the season premiere of "Jericho." (Patrick Wymore - CBS Entertainment)
The Jericho-New Bern dispute goes down as the shortest Civil War in history, although we saw that coming from last year's season finale. A shot was barely fired before the shaky Cheyenne government blew the New Bern squad to bits. We did get one cool train-crashing-into-a-tank scene, though.
But for now, the dispute between the two towns is "officially over," says Gen. Beck, played by the very cool Esai Morales. But apparently that won't stop the occasional New Bern assassin from attempting to take down a Jericho-er.
Gotta love the scene early on in which Bill was munching on peanuts in the hospital -- a clever and classy salute to all those fans who sent the famed legume to CBS execs. (A brief history: CBS canceled the show in May after one season, incensing devotees and inciting a campaign in which fans sent bags of peanuts to CBS. Why peanuts? In last season's finale, Jake replies "Nuts!" to his New Bern enemy, just as Gen. Anthony McAuliffe did to the Nazis in World War II.)
"Jericho" has its soft side, of course, so it behooves us to check in on the town romances: Jake and Emily are officially together again as witnessed by their smoochie-smooch on the surprisingly clean streets of Jericho. (Sure was a quick clean-up after the mortar attacks just a month earlier).
That cutie-pie Heather is back and hopefully over her crush on Jake. But can she be trusted? Did any of her time hanging out with the folks in New Bern rub off on her?
The dysfunctional Mimi and Stanley show continues unabated. A recap: Mimi asks Stanley to marry her. Stanley stutters. Mimi cries. Stanley stammers. They hug. Later, Stanley signs papers with that scary quasi-governmental agency to get the farm out of debt. Mimi implies that Stanley's a stupid farmboy who shouldn't have signed the contract. Stanley gets mad. Stanley and Mimi get engaged. (By the way, where's the deaf sister?) I kid Stanley and Mimi but I love 'em because they are the only things that pass for comic relief on the show.
Back to the serious stuff -- mainly Hawkins. He reunites with one of his fellow agents who also tried to infiltrate the September bombings. That dude appears to be on his side, but that could all go south in an instant. The bad guys are looking for Dead Sarah but, really, how long before they recognize Hawkins? (Not long, I suspect.)
It ends with Gen. Beck informing Jake, the new sheriff in town, that the new president (the one from Cheyenne, not Columbus) is coming to town. Should be an interesting visit.
This week's quiz: Rank the premiere on a scale of 0 to 4 peanuts.
--- JOHN MAYNARD
John Maynard
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February 13, 2008; 9:10 AM ET
Jericho
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Posted by: cbm | February 13, 2008 11:15 AM
You are correct, cbm. Thanks for noting. What did you think of the show?
Posted by: John Maynard | February 13, 2008 11:52 AM
The show is missing something. It does not feel like it picked up from where it left off. Jericho is too clean too modern as if nothing happened.
It feels like the story line has changed as if there are new writers and that it will be going in a new direction.
Where is the bald guy? All of the kids were missing and the deaf sister did not make an appearence. What happened to the renegade citizens that helped out Jake in the War against New Burn? I guess we will have to continue watching to get the answers. I assume some of the characters will not be returning.
Posted by: Avid Fan | February 13, 2008 12:03 PM
I missed the first 10 minutes of the show, but I'm interested in seeing how the country is split up now with the governments in Cheyenne and Columbus. Plus it looks like Texas is a wild card in the whole reconstruction thing. Other then that, good episode. My favorite part was learning more about Hawkins.
Posted by: Easy-E | February 13, 2008 12:11 PM
I thought the return was great - bear in mind they are trying to cram an entire second season into 7 episodes and not leave the fans hanging as they did at the end of Season 1 - that is going to have a significant impact on the show's pace and the number of characters we see per episode (could we have caught up with everyone last night with everything else going to advance the plot? - I was surprised but pleased to see Heather's return!).
The real point is that this is a completely different kind of show from the reality TV crap, the doctor show, the cop show, etc. The premise is SO different, and can really hook you (all of last season's shows are still available online at the CBS Jericho site). I hope the ratings are good enough for a third, full season...
Oh, and BTW, Jenning & Rall is not "quasi-governmental" - Just Another (scary) Government Contractor.
A Freindly Neighborhood Jericho Ranger
Posted by: JMG | February 13, 2008 12:15 PM
To use your scale, a solid 3.5 peanuts out of 4 (or 7 out of 8, since peanuts usually come 2 to a pod, but enough of that analogy...).
Yeah, I was wondering where the deaf sis was, too. And, while I get that Jake is all pee and vinegar, I thought his need to kill Lassie (see, Psych) was a bit over the top. If he really was looking for both revenge and resolution, the better route would have been to agree to Maj. Esai's amnesty proposal with one exception -- punishment for the New Bern leader. And not necessarily swinging from a yard-arm, but at least imprisonment and removal from power. I'm pretty sure that would have been more palatable to the provisional military governor.
And, why are the New Berners still trying to kill Jerichites? The only reason they were trying to invade J. was for the food, it wasn't like there was some kind of ancient Slavic animosity and hatred between the two towns. How does assassinating (what a fun word to type!) any of the fine folks of Jericho further the New Bern cause? Sorry, but I'm smelling crappy plot advancement device.
Posted by: WoW | February 13, 2008 12:33 PM
Right...so they killed off Major Dad, who was by far the best character, only because the show was going to end and they thought it would be poignant, which it was. Then they decide to bring it back without its biggest asset. It'll take a bit of effort for this one to bring me back to watching it faithfully.
As it was, the initial episode wasn't so great IMHO. Rob & Big (MTV's ode to a skater and his body guard with too much money, too much time and too little ambition on their hands) won out during the 2nd half of the show. So YOU tell ME what I thought of Jericho's return!
To Rob & Big's credit, they do know how to entertain in a "this show is so stupid it's funny and there's nothing else on anyway" kind of way.
Posted by: J | February 13, 2008 1:38 PM
I'll concur w/the 3.5 rating previously only because so much was skipped, intentionally due to the shortened season CBS is allowing, that I do feel a bit cheated. Scene 1 is full-blown war & after a quick cut for commercials, the war is over & Heather is munching a hamburger; it was a bit jarring.
All in all, though, kudos to everyone @ CBS for both bringing the show back as well as the cast & crew for the work that went into last night's episode & the other 6 still to come!
Posted by: txrus | February 13, 2008 2:05 PM
Well, we were overseas when Season 1 came out. So we watched it enjoyably on the DvD. We thought it was awesome and anxiously waited. What a disappointment with the alot. As others have said, why the continued battle when the Army is there. I still can't tell if Jake is a good actor or someone is splicing his scenes. Oh, he needs to dump the blonde. "She's no good, she's no good". She is trouble. lol. We agree too, where is the deaf girl? And PahLease reduce the repeated commercials! It ruins the show! I think we watched them turn an hour show into like 10 minutes. The rest of the time was covering commercials; which most are repeats! And when did Hawkin's wife grow some down below? lol.
Posted by: Ed & Dixie | February 13, 2008 2:52 PM
Just as an FYI--all of the episodes were filmed prior to CBS deciding to cancel, so they DID NOT kill off Gerald McRaney's character because they thought it would be a poignant ending. But I guess I shouldn't expect much from someone who would actually choose to watch Rob and Big under any circumstance. Here's a hint J--turn off the TV and read a book.
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Minor point, Esai Morales character was a Major, not a General. There is quite a bit of a difference. :)