Jericho ‘mayor’ addresses fans, more campaigns underway

Posted by fanshawe

March 23, 2008

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Michael Gaston, who plays mayor Gray Anderson on the CBS series Jericho, posted on the CBS’ official board yesterday, following the confirmation that the show would not see another season on CBS.

He thanked the fans for their ongoing support, saying:

”It has a been a very painful week for us as we all got the same word you all got regarding the show’s cancellation.

While getting dumped by the same girl a second time may not be as shocking as the first go round, it’s often even more painful; if just for the fact that you let yourself hope, in vain, that it would be different this time. But it is the second burn, so as the saying goes, shame on me.”

As the other saying goes, hope is always the last to die. The hope for another season of Jericho lies in the possibility that it gets picked up by a cable network and CBS is reportedly taking some steps in that direction.

While this may mean some production cuts for the show, the positive hype on the web and the waves of media coverage the cancellation news has received tend to result in significantly better DVD sales, so hopefully this is not the last we hear about the saga of Jericho and its devoted fans.

As I stated in the previous article on Jericho getting cancelled, the most interesting issue raised by the cancellation of one of the most popular shows in online media is both the importance (or lack thereof if you ask some of the execs) of online viewers and the pace at which television networks are acknowledging and adapting to the increasingly global nature of the audiences and the new media.

Even though Jericho is among the most downloaded shows on iTunes, AOL and in other places, these numbers only partly reflect the real ones. This means - and not just in the case of this particular show - that fans who download episodes via unofficial sources would be well advised to consider tuning in on official channels as well. If for no other reason, then to test the theory that online numbers don’t count in the greater scheme of things and to give the doubting networks a more accurate perspective on things.

There is an interesting article on the issue titled Internet Fandom: Still Not Ready for Primetime to check out at ReadWriteWeb.com. One of the comments on the article was voted the comment of the day and it bears repeating:

“To separate the content as TV - versus Internet-video is just an old habit from a business that haven’t been fast enough to embrace new technology. It’s like saying that the text in a newspaper is more worth than the same text on the newspaper website. Internet fandom is primetime (or at least it should be).”

The immediate opportunity to make yourself count as a viewer is to watch the upcoming Jericho season two finale, Patriots and Tyrants (which airs on CBS on March 25) either on CBS or on the network’s official site for the series, where you can also catch the previous episodes, cast commentary, interviews and other behind-the-scenes goodies.

Also, the Chicago Tribune Red Eye has a new petition to save the show, which will be forwarded to CBS. If you would like to leave a comment, go here.

There is a new petition out there, asking CBS executives to do what they can to find Jericho a new home on another network. Click here to sign it.

Finally, if you are wondering what the Jericho fans are up to, there will be no peanuts sent this time around for one thing. There are, however, several campaigns in the works and if you would like to learn more, the JerichoNet2.com forums are the place to visit.

In the end, what else is there to say but express hope that the next round of news about Jericho is more positive for everyone involved.