Scott McPherson's Web Presence

Someone at CBS gets it when it comes to the New Media.  And that may well save my current favorite show from cancellation again.

As you know, the groundbreaking series Jericho was raised from the dead by an Internet campaign that culminated in the president of CBS Entertainment being buried alive under some 40,000 pounds of nuts.  She dug herself out and renewed the series for a seven-episode run that has been airing since February.  But she warned the loyal viewers of the show:  Bring me more viewers or else the show gets it again.

Well, the ratings have been good, but not what they were when the show got bounced last May.  The fault for that entirely rests with CBS, which engaged in the same insane scheduling that has hurt other shows such as Lost and Heroes.  The idea of ordering a limited run of episodes, then deciding whether or not to finish a season, is what seriously wounded Jericho.  When you break fan continuity on a show with as many subplots as Jericho had, you run a terrible risk.

Jericho also had the problem of running against the Fox Network's lead-out bookend of American Idol, and that did not help the show in its final weeks last season -- even though it routinely beat that Fox show!

But I digress.  The vice-president of CBS Interactive, Patrick Keane, has stumbled onto something exciting.  Keane and CBS just announced that when you add online viewings of Jericho episodes to the Nielsen totals, the ratings for Jericho improve by almost a full point.  That would, if my memory serves me correctly, have the show winning its time slot almost every week since the show reappeared seven weeks ago.  Here's the story, from  www.mediabuyerplanner.com:

Jericho Gains a Point When Online Views Added

A veep at CBS Interactive wants big video content producers to come up with combined ratings that include both online and offline viewings.  Patrick Keane, vice president and chief marketing officer for CBS Interactive, said the aggregate ratings would provide media buyers with a simple and detailed cross-platform look at the numbers.

Keane cited the fan-resuscitated show Jericho, which he said increased by nearly a full ratings point when online video is figured in. Jericho is an especially appropriate example because the extra ratings point could keep it from getting cancelled once again. Keane also pointed out that the Grammys, a show with a ratings dip 15 percent this year, would also benefit by having the number of video streams figured in.

Keane said CBS Interactive closely tracks the correlation between when shows air and subsequent online behavior spikes. He produced a chart, according to MediaPost, that showed how predictably online usage increases after certain kinds of programming airs. Keane also pointed out that online activity doesn’t cannibalize the broadcast audience, indicating that advertisers need not pull from one category to add to the other.

http://www.mediabuyerplanner.com/2008/03/19/jericho-gains-a-point-when-online-views-added/

Jericho has dealt with a terrorist attack on 23 American cities, and we now know the attacks were pinned on North Korea and Iran, two nations that in Jericho's universe now glow in the dark in retaliation.  Only these nations were not the cause; they were victims, as were the hapless residents of those 23 cities.  The nuclear acts were domestic in origin and aimed at toppling a government that one instigator thought to be too corrupt to continue. 

The producers and writers of Jericho were given a very difficult task:  Wrap up a story arc in seven episodes that easily could have taken another seven to complete.  As a result, the episodes have moved forward at breakneck speed, leaving viewers barely enough time to catch a breath.  Amazingly, story continuity has not been lost, even with the need for speed. 

For example, the Hudson River Virus -- a story subplot that was originally conceived for multiple episodes -- had to be resolved in one episode.  That virus jumped the "Blue Line" at the Mississippi River and headed due west, killing hundreds in a Missouri town until the Army relented and sent vaccine there. In the meantime, Jericho was denied vaccine, and had to buy an entire vaccine shipment on the black market and then steal it back from a contractor to the new government in Cheyenne who seized it from the town.  The entire town of roughly 2,300 was vaccinated in a midnight operation that lasted one night.  The contractor, a mysterious, shadowy NGO called Jennings and Rall, with obvious winks at real-life giants Haliburton and Bechtel, plays the role of villain throughout the entire second season.  

The season finale (that is how CBS is referring to it, not the Series Finale) takes place this Tuesday at 10PM Eastern time.  My advice is to get online and watch as many episodes of Jericho as it takes to get all caught up.  Then tune in next Tuesday and let's see if we can save a show a second time.  There's one loose nuke left, and we have to see if Texas sides with the Allied States of America, or the old republic east of the Mississippi.