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Television Media Sci-Fi

"Jericho" Fans Send Over Nine Tons of Nuts to CBS 408

Posted by Zonk from the koo-koo-for-cocoa-puffs dept.
nuts-to-CBS writes "After presenting 'Jericho' fans with a cliffhanging season finale, CBS promptly cancelled the program. The shocked fans quickly banded together, many using CBS' own public "Jericho" discussion forum, and began brainstorming on ways to convince the network to bring back the show for a second season. A plot point in the final episode of "Jericho" involving the expletive "Nuts!" (in reference to an historic conversation between generals) was turned into a campaign to send large quantities of nuts to CBS' NY, LA, and affiliate offices. Fans have sent a total of $26,000 for a pooled campaign hosted at Nuts Online to ship over 19,000 pounds of peanuts to CBS. Other efforts acquired over $9,000 to publish full page advertisements in Variety (National Edition) and The Hollywood Reporter for Tuesday, May 29th. This is expected to become the largest ever fan campaign to bring a television show back from cancellation." There's more about the massive fan rollout below.
CBS created rich, interactive content online to accompany their show "Jericho," in order to extend its fan base to the Internet-savvy, TiVo-owning generations. Despite suffering through the all-too-familiar mid-season hiatus employed by many shows, the "Jericho" fan base remained strong throughout the break, partially due to the episodes being posted both for free on the CBS site as well as for purchase on iTunes. "Jericho" returned from the hiatus in the same timeslot occupied by "American Idol." CBS — which apparently still determines programming primarily on Nielsen ratings — decided to drop the show, regardless of the ever-growing and loyal fan base. Nuts Online includes live blogging from Jeffrey Braverman, the company's 26-year old CEO. Jeffrey's company has been shipping up to 5,000 pounds of peanuts a day to the CBS New York headquarters, and has been using their site to describe his experience along the way. Three other fan sites are documenting the progress: CBS Jericho Message Board, Jericho Lives, and Jericho Rally Point. Fans of Roswell were successful in bringing back their favorite program by sending mass quantities of tiny bottles of Tabasco sauce."
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"Jericho" Fans Send Over Nine Tons of Nuts to CBS More

"Jericho" Fans Send Over Nine Tons of Nuts to CBS

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  • Jericho *was* Nuts (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward on Saturday May 26, 2007 @12:30AM (#19280309)
    First off, I'm sure that the people at CBS are enjoying the free lifetime supply of tasty peanuts. Hopefully they'll send back a thank-you card. Maybe one of those new Star Wars Hallmark cards. (After all, it's the least they can do.)

    That being said, Jericho went off the air because the show took a wrong turn at Albuquerque. When it first started, the premise was intriguing. A post-holocaust world from the perspective of those who have no idea what could possibly be going on. It makes for a great setup. The first few episodes were even fairly good, with the early problems from the detonation wreaking all kinds of havoc. After that? Things went downhill.

    Pretty soon the show was focusing more on love triangles than it was on the fact that everyone was just trying to survive. Emergencies were regularly forced into the story rather than the characters having to deal with realistic difficulties. There was so much that they could be exploring, yet the show was being "the O.C. after the bomb". (Or whatever the latest "pop" show is for stupid teenagers. Anyone remember that scene from Stargate-SG1 "200"? Yeah, that.)

    As interesting as it had been, I just lost interest in the show. Checking my iTunes library, it looks like I stopped at "The Day Before". 13 episodes watched, and I just couldn't stand it anymore. So is it really any surprise that Jericho got cancelled?

    I realize that many fans are begging for a conclusion to the cliffhanger, but that will pass with time. Remember the show Sliders? Remember how it died in the 5th season with both the main characters wiped out, Wade killed off in a twisted experiment, the reason for sliding gone, and a hokey story about a mad scientist stuck its the place? The show lost its purpose, yet the producers ended the season with a massive cliffhanger in hopes that fan outcry would bring the show back. And after watching the final episode, you do get a feeling of, "You can't leave it there!"

    But in hindsight, it's best that it stayed off the air. There was about a zero point zero zero chance that the O'Connell brothers were going to return to the show, and the writing had been of poor quality anyway. If the show had returned, we would have gotten another season of the show's slow and agonizing death. Why? It was best that it was put out of its misery.

    (Of course, the show "jumped the shark" in the third season with the loss of John Rhys-Davies, but at least the "finding Earth" and "looking for Ma and Pa" subplot was interesting.)

    So I'm sorry to say this, but let it die. It was a nice try, but hopefully a better show will take its place.

    • Re:Jericho *was* Nuts (Score:5, Insightful)

      by NMerriam ( 15122 ) <NMerriam@artboy.org> on Saturday May 26, 2007 @12:52AM (#19280457) Homepage
      I agree -- it was an intruiging premise that kept me watching for about 9 episodes, when it became clear they were basically a LOST-style show that was never going to bother answeing anything and just keep adding more and more complicated conspiracies and romances and subplots rather than focus on the thing that actually, you know, INTRUIGED us about the story in the first place.

      I did watch the finale just to see what if anything had been resolved, and have to admit I was somewhat interested in what would happen, since it was actually about the freaking story the whole show was supposed to be about. But no, they decided to leave viewers with a completely unsatisfying show by wasting episode after episode on farmer love triangles while civil war, military coups, and nuclear terrorism in the continental United States were apparently too boring to be dealt with until well after many people had given up on the issues ever being talked about again.

      You know the old joke about IBM marketing would sell sushi by calling it "cold, raw dead fish". CBS apparently hired IBM marketing to write this show because they started with an inherently story-filled premise and managed to fill hour after hour with dull flashbacks on generic midwestern family crap that could have been lifted from episodes of Seventh Heaven.

      • Re: (Score:3, Funny)

        by NMerriam ( 15122 )
        Aargh, the more I sit and think the more annoyed I get all over again.

        I just can't imagine sitting around a table in the writer's room and listening to somebody say "Okay, we've blown up all the major cities in the USA, the country is in Civil War, looting and riots are rampant, normal citizens are totally isolated, thrown back into the 19th century ways of living overnight -- but what people want to know is, will Jake hook up with the blonde or the brunette? And what impact would post-apocalyptic panic hav

        • Re: (Score:3, Informative)

          by PopeRatzo ( 965947 ) *

          And what impact would post-apocalyptic panic have on rural thanksgiving celebrations?

          Actually, that doesn't sound too bad, but the "Blown-the-hell-up-90210" part sounds painful.

          When I saw the stories about this show before it came out, I had no doubt that network television would make a hash of it. I've developed a new procedure for any network-or-cable television shows:

          I don't watch them. THEN, if I start hearing buzz about them being amazing, I'll go back and download the first few episodes via Bittorre


      • I was going to reply to the story with a comment much like yours, but you've captured it so very nicely that I'll only add that I agree.

        My wife and I have watched every episode, but every episode we say "this is going to be the last one". And then they pull just enough out to keep us mildly interested for just one more show. There wasn't anything else on on Wednesdays, anyways. We were actually both relieved by the cancelation.

        This is a really really bad show, with an interesting premise that the writers

        • Fuck Jericho (Score:4, Insightful)

          by AdmiralWeirdbeard ( 832807 ) on Saturday May 26, 2007 @05:01AM (#19281465)
          I'll go one step further and say what needs to be said here.

          Fuck Jericho.

          Interesting premise?
          yes

          Interesting execution?
          Not from the first fucking episode.

          Friends of mine were obsessed with Jericho, but jesus, Jericho's writers couldnt write drama for shit.
          Not even deaf meghan could save it for me, and she's fucking awesome.

          'OMG, the world is coming to an end! but wait, you know what's even more interesting? bland interpersonal drama and bullshit quasi-moralistic plotlines and the melodramitcist of all melodramatic skeet ulrich performances!'

          Dont care... dont care... *DONT* *CARE*

          Fuck Jericho. With so much *decent* television on, its no wonder that CBS decided to pull a fox and replace a lackluster, if rabidly followed and obsessed over by its 3 fans, serial drama with a REALITY SHOW ABOUT CHILDREN BEING LEFT TO RUN A TOWN BY THEMSELVES. Yes, Jericho got replaced with Lord of The Flies 2: Electric Booglaloo: Lord of The Flies Reality TV.

          Yes, this is flamebait.
          Yes, I'm an asshole.
          But,
          No, I'm not wrong.
          Fuck Jericho.

          Shomer-FUCKING-shabbas!

    • Re:Jericho *was* Nuts (Score:5, Funny)

      by Green Monkey ( 152750 ) on Saturday May 26, 2007 @12:58AM (#19280501)
      yet the show was being "the O.C. after the bomb".

      Don't call it that.
    • You stopped watching at "The Day Before", meaning you skipped the entire second half of the season, which was 10 times better than the first half.
      • (I accidentally hit Submit before I finished)
        The second half of the season didn't deal much with love triangles, rather it focused on the Hawkins character, who was much more interesting than the Jake character.

        • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

          by NMerriam ( 15122 )

          The second half of the season didn't deal much with love triangles, rather it focused on the Hawkins character, who was much more interesting than the Jake character.

          See, I had the exact opposite reaction -- I thought the Hawkins character really made the show so silly and artificial that it distracted the writers from the core concept. It's like they had the show ready to go and then they said "But we need a mysterious cryptic character like Locke from LOST!"

          Hawkins seemed to function as a Deus Ex Machin

          • Re: (Score:3, Informative)

            by Andy Dodd ( 701 )
            Except that in the second half of the season, the truth about Hawkins began coming out and he was no longer a cryptic "Locke" by any means, including WHY the hell he's in Jericho.

    • Re: (Score:2, Interesting)

      by Car54 ( 1107553 )
      I have followed many TV shows over the years....some of the Sci-Fi shows I participated somewhat in their coming back....but without a doubt my fervor and dedication to this show is beyond anything I consider rational. I have sent 3 sets of nuts to CBS. I have called at least 20 times, written 6 letters and postcards, joined about 6 forums, blogs, news sites specifically to stand up for this show returning. Those such as the Anonymous Coward who posted this comment is not a dedicated fan, and that's fine
    • Oh, and I mean the ones by CBS because a guy in the mail room is allergic to peanuts and the packages weren't clearly marked. That first one is legit.
      The second one will be from twelve of the the mail clerk's friends who will claim mental anguish over the loss of companionship of their co-worker, then the vet bills for one of the the suing-co-worker's twin siamese cats who are out of sorts from the stress of the lawsuit... lathter rinse, repeat...

      Hey, if Josh Hancock's dad can sue the driver of the disabl

  • What a waste of food. (Score:4, Insightful)

    by dsanfte ( 443781 ) on Saturday May 26, 2007 @12:30AM (#19280315) Journal
    Seriously.

  • Hyperbole Ho! (Score:5, Interesting)

    by richdun ( 672214 ) on Saturday May 26, 2007 @12:37AM (#19280349)

    This is expected to become the largest ever fan campaign to bring a television show back from cancellation.

    Stop me when I've mentioned a fan campaign you've actually heard of. Like the campaign to get the third season of the original Star Trek. Or the one that got a Space Shuttle renamed. Or all those DVDs that got Family Guy back in regular episodes and Futurama in direct-to-DVD movies. Or the ridiculous amount of money Save Enterprise raised that threatened to make the fifth season purely on fan money (which, of course, led to all the controversy, but eh).

    TV shows get cancelled. Millions are outraged. Then millions forget until Fox screws up the next show.

    Wait, CBS you say? Weird. The token /. response doesn't work here. I think teh slash-verse is going to assplode!

    • Re:Hyperbole Ho! (Score:4, Insightful)

      by STrinity ( 723872 ) on Saturday May 26, 2007 @07:32AM (#19282029) Homepage
      Just look at what happens to shows that have been "saved" -- the third season of Star Trek contains all the worst episodes, including Spock's Brain and The Children Shall Lead. Battlestar Galactica came back as Galactica 1980, which even the most hardcore fans like to pretend didn't exist. Buffy made the jump to UPN after the WB axed it, and the result was an absolute train-wreck. And the new Family Guy episodes are painfully unfunny.

      Let it go.

  • It's a TV Show (Score:2, Insightful)

    by techsoldaten ( 309296 )
    It's a TV show. Get over it. They cancelled Firefly, now Jericho is gone. As an alternative, these people should consider:

    1) Going to the gym
    2) Taking a loved one out to dinner
    3) Taking up art
    4) Relaxing with friends over the internet
    5) Fixing some of those pesky things around the house
    6) Getting a dog for companionship instead of a television
    7) Volunteering for experiments on drugs to treat obsessive compulsive disorder
    8) Going for a walk in the woods and experiencing nature
    9) Getting a tan

    There are so man

    • Re:It's a TV Show (Score:4, Insightful)

      by idonthack ( 883680 ) on Saturday May 26, 2007 @12:49AM (#19280435)
      10. Fix the government
      11. Various charity organizations
      12. Protest something that matters

      and of course

      13. Profit

      • Re:It's a TV Show (Score:5, Funny)

        by the_unknown_soldier ( 675161 ) on Saturday May 26, 2007 @02:59AM (#19281083)
        Do you really want these people trying to fix government?

        • Re: (Score:2, Funny)

          by GNious ( 953874 )
          Current US Government under 9 tonnes of peanuts? .... Not A Bad Idea methinks

          /Nc

        • Re:It's a TV Show (Score:4, Insightful)

          by TheRaven64 ( 641858 ) on Saturday May 26, 2007 @05:39AM (#19281603) Journal
          Hmm, you've given me an idea. Every time a politician does something that irritates you, post them a peanut. At the end of their term, they are put into a trebuchet, with the peanuts as the counterweight. Any that survive are permitted to stand for re-election. Any that don't are no longer part of the problem.

          • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

            by GTMoogle ( 968547 )
            That's a surprisingly creative solution. The problem being, of course, that all the politicians will send each other tons of peanuts, and all knowing their impending doom, will unanimously change the law to avoid it.

        • Re:It's a TV Show (Score:4, Insightful)

          by dbIII ( 701233 ) on Saturday May 26, 2007 @08:00AM (#19282159)

          Do you really want these people trying to fix government?

          No - I think vetinarians should do it so it would be less cruel - although some skilled farm workers with those special pliers or rubber rings would be just as good.

      • Re:It's a TV Show (Score:5, Interesting)

        by Hawksdomain ( 1107595 ) on Saturday May 26, 2007 @06:29AM (#19281803)
        Get a grip people, we all have lives outside of this TV show. This is so much more than just about a show. I'm terribly sorry that you did not stick around to see how the show progressed. Yes, Hawkins girlfriend was a very stupid plot, but thankfully she is now dead.

        A great majority of the contributors to this campaign are business owners/executives. We are mostly comprised of very intelligent people, such as yourselves, which was why I was originally thrilled to learn we had made our mark here.... until I started reading all of this bashing.

        Our movement is to speak out against 'the man' for all of this ridiculous programming. Most especially - REALITY TV. How lame can it get? Jericho is being replaced by a show about 40 CHILDREN, UNSUPERVISED, in New Mexico rebuilding a ghost town. My first thought is that these parents should be shot for allowing their children to take part in such a stupid idea. Jericho was only one of two shows that I watched on network TV. Yes, the other is Lost, come on, did you catch that season finale this week??

        The next 'serialized' show that CBS will be bringing out mid season is called 'Swingtown'. Not swingsets or swingshifts, mind you, but a show about swingers in the 1970s. OK, the 1970s was known as the sexual revolution but I have a lot of arguments about this craziness. First, the demographics CBS is trying to reach by canceling Jericho - most weren't even born in the '70s yet! I was born in the early 70s and there is no way I could've been involved in any type of sexual revolution at the time! Who cares what a bunch of disco loving freaks were doing? Second, and even more importantly.... What about the FAMILIES who were watching Jericho. Do you really think that parents are going to want to sit there with their children to watch such an inappropriate show? My gawd! I'm in my mid 30s and wouldn't want to watch such a show with my parents!!

        Quality TV is dead. Jericho was original, had a good plot and action. Was not sexually explicit, no excessive language, and aside from the obvious, did not have any graphic violence. It was a wonderful family show. These TV execs have got to get a freaking clue. That is what this movement is about.

        Yes, I love this show. It was awesome. I could care less about who Jake ends up with... blonde or brunette... And, I am a woman. I want to know who wins the war. I want to know how the town will survive the next year - six months - whatever. I want to know WHO exactly dropped the bomb. I want to know if Jericho and others will be able to defeat this new government with the messed up flag and the man who seems to be the one behind the dropping of the bomb. I want to know who is on the train. I want to know how Hawkins is going to deal with them in a tank with no ammo. Put the blonde and brunette together, that will grab most of you driveling men. Just send Jake back out there to fight and save his town!

        This is why we are sending nuts to CBS. And, as was pointed out above, the nuts are going to various charities. To the troops overseas, to the Bronx Zoo, to the homeless shelters. This has been at the request of the fans sending the nuts, as well as the company that is backing the campaign so fervently, www.nutsonline.com

        OK, my last point, I promise. Recently we saw the end ratings for the season of the network shows. I don't recall the link, but it was on the Hollywood Reporter website. CBS renewed the stupid sitcom 'How I Met Your Mother' and it performed MUCH WORSE than Jericho. Don't tell me that this is business. This is plain-ass stupid!

        Now if a simple girl from Kansas can fight for America's values and try to squash this nightmare of American Idol, why can't you?

        • Re:It's a TV Show (Score:4, Insightful)

          by mark_0945 ( 1107615 ) on Saturday May 26, 2007 @07:09AM (#19281947)
          This fight to Save Jericho is about larger issues. Too long Nielsen's flawed ratings system has controlled what is aired in North America and it's about time this ends. Jericho is quality television....... you can say what you will about television but it effects everyone's life in North America even if they don't watch it. As for that American Idol crap it's not only effecting television negatively it's also effecting music negatively.... Yeah fighting to save Jericho has bigger impact than just getting the show back on the air.

          • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

            by prelelat ( 201821 )
            I hate reality tv more than most people. I never watched survivor I never got into american idol or any other crappy show like that. I could never figure out why when you wanted to relax you would want to watch a show where normal people were freaking out. I would prefer to watch mcgiver do something totaly crazy with a paper clip.

            But I got to thinking a month or two back about American Idol in particular and how it was crappy. Then it came to me, I don't think its that bad of a concept. How is it worse
        • OK, the 1970s was known as the sexual revolution but I have a lot of arguments about this craziness. First, the demographics CBS is trying to reach by canceling Jericho - most weren't even born in the '70s yet! I was born in the early 70s and there is no way I could've been involved in any type of sexual revolution at the time!

          Um... you could be a product of it

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by catbutt ( 469582 )
      I don't care about the show (never actually seen it), but I have respect for consumers of anything that gather together and take action when a corporation screws them. Ending a season on a cliffhanger and not then cancelling is, in my opinion, a breach of trust...people invested time in the show under the assumption that they would not be left hanging. And so what that "it's only a TV show". I'm sure there are plenty of things that you care about that other people would find trivial. (getting a tan? gee

      • Re:It's a TV Show (Score:5, Insightful)

        by badasscat ( 563442 ) <basscadet75NO@SPAMyahoo.com> on Saturday May 26, 2007 @01:37AM (#19280745)
        (getting a tan? gee, that's not superficial or anything....)

        The difference is it doesn't cost $19,000 or $26,000 or whatever to get a tan... and if it does, whoever spends that much deserves all the ridicule they get. You could feed a family of four on that much money for a year - and we have no shortage of needy people in this country.

        I'm not the kind of guy that goes around pointing out how all these vanity things we do are bad because that money could be better used elsewhere. Hey, if it makes you feel good, then whatever. But still, there's got to be a limit... a point where you say, "you know, this is kind of a ridiculous; there are more important things to worry about." It's not as if these people are getting anything tangible for their investment. They're sending a corporation a bunch of nuts. At least if you spent $26,000 on a tan, you'd still end up with a tan to show for it. These people may as well have just taken all that money and flushed it down the toilet. And that makes the whole thing kind of offensive.

        I'll bet they're all really proud of themselves too.

        • Re:It's a TV Show (Score:5, Insightful)

          by hachete ( 473378 ) on Saturday May 26, 2007 @03:43AM (#19281209) Homepage Journal
          Also, whilst tanning, read a fucking book.
        • I can see where you're coming from, but please remember that these guys are spending like $2 EACH, not the many Ks you quote. So, you should compare their actions to something else that costs a negligible amount of money. Like, eating those nuts rather than shipping them somewhere else :D

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by bug1 ( 96678 )
          It's not as if these people are getting anything tangible for their investment

          You seem to be totally missing the point,

          If fans wanted to get something tangible for their money they would send the nuts to themselves.

          They are sending the nuts to CBS to make a point, CBS have said they intend to donate the nuts to some charity.

          The donations are not being wasted, if all the money spend on publicity was recycled to charities such as is happening with Jericho nuts then the world would be a better place.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by 1u3hr ( 530656 )
      0) Read a book. If you want good SF, you could just start with the Hugo Award [worldcon.org] winners. At your local bookshop or library. But that will make you dissatisfied with what is presented as SF on network TV....

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by 1u3hr ( 530656 )
        PS. The Hugos (above) are awarded by a vote of fans. The Nebulas [dpsinfo.com] are awarded by writers, they often go to more "literary" works.
        • And if you want a really good book, try some of the ones that have won both [wikipedia.org]. I've read most of the ones from before 1990 on recommendations from friends, and they're all superb. I'm currently enjoying Startide Rising, and slightly irritated that I only just found the Uplift saga.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by bug1 ( 96678 )
      10. Ignoring people like yourself who waste their life telling people to live like them.

    • Re: (Score:2, Insightful)

      by sherylb33 ( 1107607 )
      I think that maybe you missed the point on this. We are parents of five children ages 10 to 17. We monitor very closely what is viewed on the TV in our home. Jericho is the only prime time program that we have watched this year. As a mother, I was impressed that the writers were able to write story lines that appealed to every member of our family and I was even more impressed with the fact that they were able to write Jericho without putting in language and content that would have made me cringe and turn o

    • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

      by vorpal22 ( 114901 )
      The viewers made an investment of their time and effort (i.e. arranging their schedule to watch their show). While the networks are under no obligation to do so, if they feel compelled to cancel a show, it would be respectful to their viewers to produce one more episode to wrap things up as best as possible and bring completion to the series as opposed to leaving it hanging and unresolved.

    • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

      by Guppy06 ( 410832 )
      "As an alternative, these people should consider"

      Why are you wasting your time posting on here instead of doing any of the things you have listed, hypocrite?

  • Congrats to the NutsOnline guy (Score:3, Interesting)

    by TodMinuit ( 1026042 ) <todminuit@NOSPam.gmail.com> on Saturday May 26, 2007 @12:40AM (#19280365)
    He found a way to make a buck out of a canceled show. My hats off to him.

  • This got by the editors? (Score:5, Informative)

    by MonGuSE ( 798397 ) on Saturday May 26, 2007 @12:40AM (#19280371)
    I'm sorry but the campaign to save the StarTrek Enterprise series for a 5th year was far larger. This quick search garnered a BBC News story showing over 3million US raised and if my memory serves correctly the fans were close to 20 million before being told that there was no way ?paramount? would run another series without an industry backer. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/4312767.s tm [bbc.co.uk]

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by glwtta ( 532858 )
      I'm sorry but the campaign to save the StarTrek Enterprise series for a 5th year was far larger.

      Yeah, I feel sorry about that too.

  • Man that's a shock (Score:4, Funny)

    by edwardpickman ( 965122 ) on Saturday May 26, 2007 @12:41AM (#19280379)
    Jericho had fans?

  • Fortunately... (Score:5, Funny)

    by __aaclcg7560 ( 824291 ) on Saturday May 26, 2007 @12:47AM (#19280421)
    ...it was "Nuts!" and not "Crap!"

  • Witness the fall of the Republic (Score:2, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward
    Wow. Thousands of Americans are dying in a foreign war that by all accounts we are not doing well in, and the opposition party is much less concerned with fixing the problem than making political hay. Our health care system is a shambles. A major American city is also still in shambles more than a year after an enormous natural disaster.

    After all that, what makes Americans stand up and say "I'm mad as hell and I'm not going to take it anymore!" but a canceled television show.

    My fellow citizens, and all you

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by bmac83 ( 869058 )
      I thought this article on World War II [llgc.org.uk] was interesting.

      To repeat one passage: "Nuisances such as blackouts and the rationing of food and clothes were trivial in comparison to the loss of life. Therefore, it was essential to think positively and to make the most of any diversions available to help them forget about the war, even if only for a short while."

      I think everyone needs an outlet. You or I might think it's kind of pointless, but perhaps it brightens someone's day to be simply part of something goof

    • Re:Witness the fall of the Republic (Score:5, Insightful)

      by Jah-Wren Ryel ( 80510 ) on Saturday May 26, 2007 @01:33AM (#19280723)

      After all that, what makes Americans stand up and say "I'm mad as hell and I'm not going to take it anymore!" but a canceled television show.
      Perhaps it is because 'the people' feel like they have more chance of changing the cancellation of a TV show than they do have of changing the course of direction that their government takes.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by DrEasy ( 559739 )
      The Society of the Spectacle [bopsecrets.org] indeed...
    • Dare I say it: $26k is peanuts compared to the money necessary to solve those problems.

      That said, I hope the nuts end up in food banks around NYC. But really, $26k would barely scratch the surface in solving Iraq, the health care system, or Katrina cleanup. Please...

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by dbIII ( 701233 )
      Republic? Isn't it a hereditry monarchy with the monarch beyond the condtitution or something now instead of a constitutional Republic? Throwing tea in the water won't help with this George III, but at least term limits stop him from being a permanant King.

  • What about farscape? (Score:4, Informative)

    by Da w00t ( 1789 ) on Saturday May 26, 2007 @12:55AM (#19280483) Homepage
    "This is expected to become the largest ever fan campaign to bring a television show back from cancellation."

    I've never seen Jericho, and I bet the series is great, (I just watch very little TV nowadays) but

    This makes me wonder how this will compare to the "save farscape" media frenzy that lots and lots of 'scapers took action to get Sci-Fi's rectal-cranial inversion syndrome diagnosed, and cured. It was on CNN Headline News [imdb.com] for chrissakes!

    All in all, I'll probally check out Jericho now. Good luck to all the Jericho fans, I hope you get your show back.

    • Re: (Score:2, Troll)

      by olman ( 127310 )

      I've never seen Jericho, and I bet the series is great, (I just watch very little TV nowadays) but

      It isn't. Or was not.

  • bah (Score:5, Insightful)

    by INeededALogin ( 771371 ) on Saturday May 26, 2007 @12:55AM (#19280485) Journal
    Talk to me in 3.5 years and lets see if Jericho is still in the top 100 of amazon sales [amazon.com].
    • Yep, right behind Jesse Stone: Death in Paradise [imdb.com], a made for TV movie starring Tom Selleck.

  • Let it rest in peace (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Lurker2288 ( 995635 ) on Saturday May 26, 2007 @12:58AM (#19280507)
    I enjoyed the show, but I feel okay that it ended where it did. The so-called cliffhanger pretty well summed up the whole spirit of the show: stuff's really messed up, some people will descend into savagery, but others will hang together and try to keep things soldiering on. Sure, if they did decide to bring it back, we might learn how that final battle would have ended, but where to from there? Better to end on something of a high point* than to fizzle through a second, lackluster season.

    *I say something of a high point because upon reviewing, it's clear how much better the early episodes were compared to the later ones. The more we learned about the bombs and the plot behind them, the less interesting the whole story became.

  • The 3 paths to cancelation (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Nymz ( 905908 ) on Saturday May 26, 2007 @01:09AM (#19280563) Journal
    Watered-down - If a show is good, and gets good ratings, TPTB will require more seasons to be produced, than can be reasonably sustained at the same quality of the current story arc.

    Word-of-Mouth - If a show is good, but gets so-so ratings in the begining, TPTB will cancel it before word of mouth can have an effect.

    Sabotage - If any show is sabotaged by TPTB then there is no saving it. Examples are playing episodes out or order, or postponing the 2-hour premiere that introduces all the characters, to air as the season finale.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by NMerriam ( 15122 )
      That's part of why I love the BBC lately -- they're not afraid to just have a show and say "it will end on this date" right at the beginning. I wouldn't have watched Life on Mars if it had been an American show, because I would have assumed it would just get more convoluted and never really go anywhere. But the creators said "we're doing this for two seasons, and at the end of the last episode, you'll know what happened".

      It was a great show, highly entertaining, well-written, and best of all still leaves ro

  • The big insult... (Score:5, Funny)

    by TobyRush ( 957946 ) on Saturday May 26, 2007 @01:12AM (#19280575) Homepage
    ...isn't that CBS cancelled the show, but that it's being axed to make room for New Insipid Reality Show #462 [wikipedia.org] and "Ooh! Pirates!" [cbs.com]

    The "Tiffany Network," eh?

    • Wow. I can't imagine 2 stupider shows. My faith in the human race is significantly diminished by having read that.

  • Funny enough submission (Score:4, Funny)

    by Z00L00K ( 682162 ) on Saturday May 26, 2007 @01:18AM (#19280621) Homepage Journal
    I haven't sen the show, but this was a good laugh... What arw you going to do with all those peanuts? Throw a humungous party? Just get a Beer sponsor and throw a party!

    On the other hand - one series that I'm missing is Max Headroom [maxheadroom.com], it's dark, it's about a near future and it's all about money, media companies, viewer figures and shady affairs. (Sounds familiar?)

    It may be time to pick up the show again - the old episodes are a little outdated; no internet, no flat-screen TV:s etc.

    But on the other hand RIAA and MPAA may not want to see this...

  • The "Nuts" reference - Battle of the Bulge (Score:3, Informative)

    by Etherwalk ( 681268 ) on Saturday May 26, 2007 @01:38AM (#19280751)
    Brigadier General Anthony McAuliffe was the acting commander of the 101st Airborne Division in the Battle of Bastongne [wikipedia.org] during the Battle of the Bulge [wikipedia.org]. The 101st was surrounded, outnumbered, and unable to get resupply by air. When Axis forces demanded their surrender, McAuliffe's one-word response was "Nuts."

    Obviously, after sixty years, this necessarily led to trying to save a canceled show with peanuts.

  • You Fools! (Score:5, Funny)

    by SQL Error ( 16383 ) on Saturday May 26, 2007 @02:45AM (#19281033)
    Peanuts are legumes!

    The TV industry will never take us seriously now. :(
  • Some people say we're vapid. (:

    Good old American values!
  • Does anyone have any idea what would happen if Soviet Russia were to cancel a television show?
  • Wouldn't it be better for all the people that watched the show, if they're truely that upset, to just not watch that network anymore? I would think losing number of the people that watch your network because the show they liked was no longer being played would make more of an impact than sending some nuts to the corporate office.
  • Totally not meant to troll (own opinion); I still do wonder myself why it is more possible for people to protest for television shows and not against their current way of their government deals with them. Is television so much important next to privacy and environment?

    Such actions against the government would for sure wake up -some- sleeping animals and would for sure also attract the attention of a lot more people because of the media. I call such action "thrown away" only to get back a television show whi
    • It's not that a TV show is more important in the grand scheme of things, but as a prefered form of entertainment which has a weekly impact on these people it really does affect them more.

      Trying to put it in perspective:

      1. If statistics are correct, most of the people who watch that show haven't flown on a commercial airline in the last year. Almost 1% of their waking time every week is spent watching the show. The show has higher priority simply because of the promenent spot it occupies in their life. If th
  • Kung pow> Thats a lot of nuts! http://kungpownuts.ytmnd.com/ [ytmnd.com]

  • Hate Jericho fans? Why? (Score:3, Insightful)

    by roundrockhorn ( 1107611 ) on Saturday May 26, 2007 @07:23AM (#19282001)
    To all the haters, we get your point. I would remind each of you however that many years ago a letter writing campaign saved a show called Star Trek and got it two more seasons. Back then, that was unheard of but today campaigns of this nature (Save Jericho) and size are also unheard of. I'd like to remind the posters here that were it not for shows like Star Trek, a lot of our technological comforts might not exist today. Star Trek caused people to think about the technology involved and inspired generations of fans to create, explore and experiment with new technologies.

    In a very loose comparison, Jericho has also caused many people to stop and think. In a world that is often times uncertain, Jericho took us away from our usual worries and got us to examine ourselves a little more closely.

    In a world gone completely mad, the residents of Jericho struggled to keep their humanity about them. What would any of us do in the same situation? The show challenged us to think about just such a possibility. I grew up in the Cold War era and I remember a movie called The Day After. Back then, we had to think about a full out Nuclear War. Today we have to think about dirty bombs. Not much difference is there?

    So, while you may hate the fans of this show for trying to save it, remember that a movement like this can show what's best about humanity because we have pulled together people from all over the free world and united them in one common voice. We've done it faster than anyone ever has and in larger numbers as well. CBS wanted to reach the 18-49 market and with new delivery methods like the Internet. They did reach us, but failed to recognize it and canceled our show. Now, we will fight to get it back and no ammount of criticism will impede us from finishing what we started. Keep hating our movement if you must, but we'll keep on truckin'.

    20,000lbs of nuts, an ad in Variety and The Hollywood Insider, articles in the NYT, ABCnews.com, E!, syfiportal and countless local media outlets have been the first wave of our voices being heard. We know that they are being heard b/c the cBS execs have failed to strike the sets and have stopped returning the rented props for the show. Thanks to slashdot for helping us get the word out.

    If you are interested in seeing what the show is about go to cbs.com\jericho and watch the episodes. If you lost interest in the middle of the season, go watch the second helf...it was really good. The love triangle is just a natural part of humantiy in a situation like that and was a part of the show...like it or not. It is resolved, and they move on in the second part of the season.

    Save Jericho
    NUTS to cBS
    Thanks to nutsonline.com
    jerichorallypoint.com
    Shaun O'Mac and his radio show
    and countless others who are working tirelessly to coordinate our campaign.

    Joint the fight...it's not too late.

    • Re: (Score:2, Interesting)

      by Rachelb61 ( 1107627 )
      I agree with you. Jericho was one of the only shows on tv I could actually watch with my family. I am sick of reality shows and the mindless fluff the networks want me to watch. Finally, we had an action-packed, thought-provoking drama. I loved the show, love the characters and feel that we are being cheated by this cancellation. The network put it on the airs, got me interested and watching then they pull the plug. The show did better in the ratings than many others that actually were renewed for ano

  • Weeds (Score:3, Funny)

    by silentbob_midway ( 1107647 ) on Saturday May 26, 2007 @08:46AM (#19282377)
    Remember the cliffhanger from the season 2 finale of Weeds? Maybe Showtime will cancel Weeds to see what the fans will send in....

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