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January 15, 2008 9:07

Jericho May Possibly Be Good Now

Posted by James Poniewozik | Comments (6) | Permalink | Trackbacks (0) | Email This

Last year, I wrote a blog post confessing my faithfulness to the show Jericho, despite the fact that I could not say the show was, in any critically defensible sense of the word, good. Well, I've just watched three of the six episodes CBS sent me (out of seven total) for season 2, and it looks like things have changed.

Jericho is in danger of becoming an actual good show.

I don't want to overstate things. And as with my early reports/gloating on seeing early episodes of The Wire, I want to be careful not to spoil anything for anyone. What I can say is, we learn a lot more, and quickly, about the outside world--what America has become after the massive nuclear attack that started the show, who's running the show now, and where things are shaping up to go. More important--and this may just be a function of having to cram season 2 into 7 episodes--the series has dialed back on the soap-opera elements, which were always unconvincing and jarring in the middle of a show about the reconstruction of life after a nuclear holocaust. This new, leaner Jericho is much more plot-focused--which is good because character was never the show's strength--and where season 1 often felt padded, a lot happens, and fast.

Jericho is not on the road to Lost-like greatness; the characters are too thin and the writing is too bad in it, and Skeet Ulrich remains a gaping, angry hole in the center as Jake. But compared with the last season of Heroes--which has similar character-and-writing problems--it's much more entertaining and cohesive. For whatever reason, it's pared away many of its weaker elements and focused on the stronger ones (namely, an engrossing action story about what happens to America after you blow it up). I don't know if this season will answer all our questions, but at least I'm less confused about why I like the show.

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Reader Comments (6)

Chaddogg:

@James - so, Fox, NBC, Warner Brothers, and CBS all cancelled some writers' contracts, I hear, putting in danger NEXT season as well. Any thoughts/comments/news on this front?

And can I point out the FASCINATING holdout from the above? ABC/Disney? You know - the arguable LEADER in scripted programming, who just HAPPENS to have Lost starting at the end of the month? Could this be the long hoped-for (at least by me) studio that breaks away from the AMPTP? I mean, they also do have a large contingent of the so-called show-runners (writers who produce), such as Shonda Rhimes, Marc Cherry, Lindelhof/Cuse, etc...could Disney/ABC settle and break the wall of producer solidarity?

Posted by Chaddogg | January 15, 2008 10:14 AM

Keith:

I always wanted to like Jericho. Maybe now I can.

Posted by Keith | January 15, 2008 10:17 AM

Chaddogg:

@James - nevermind...ABC apparently did the same on Friday.

I seriously hate this strike. And from a business perspective, I can't understand an individual studio NOT wanting to break from the pack and negotiate on its own, PARTICULARLY if they don't have a strong reality line-up (ummmm, ABC anyone?)

Posted by Chaddogg | January 15, 2008 10:28 AM

James Poniewozik:

@chaddogg: The last thing I want to do is defend the AMPTP in the whole strike business, but don't think that the contracts the studioss force majeured (i.e., severed because of contractual provisions for extreme circumstances like a strike) will affect next year's development any more than the strike already has. By and large these apppear to be deals with producers, writers and stars who did not have active projects under way or in development. In other words, deals that the studios don't think they would ultimately have gotten shows out of.

The strike may affect next season, but not so much for this reason.

Posted by James Poniewozik | January 15, 2008 10:51 AM

shara says:

I felt similarly about Jericho - I seriously enjoyed it while being frustrated with the sappyness and long "meaningful" (i.e. blank) stares, as well as some atrocious dialogue. But I usually love anything with an apocalyptic bent, and I love ongoing mysteries, and the dialogue wasn't all bad. My favorite scene was near the end, when Dad said something to the effect of: "I get it, son. The man's got a satellite, doesn't want anybody to know. . . I'm about to go to war with New Bern, Kansas, home of the nearest Costco. This day's already about as weird as I can handle."

Looking back over the first season, Jericho was, at times, silly and improbable. Other times, it was crazy tense and exciting. But it really did make me think about how I, my family, and my community might react to a devastating crisis, and it usually did set a tone and atmosphere that felt real - people struggling for a semblance of normalcy and stability in the midst of a terrible crisis. It also showed the desperate interplay between hope and fear that could drive an endangered group of people toward either peaceful cooperation or savage competition for resources.

So now it's even better, you say? I can't wait!

Posted by shara says | January 15, 2008 10:53 AM

Liberty:

Glad to read that you enjoyed the new Jericho episodes. I and many others are impatiently awaiting the return of one of the most compelling series of all times.

I cannot agree with your assessment that characters were Jericho's writers weak spot, IMHO the characters were what kept me coming back week after week. I wanted to know what happened to them!!!

However, I will admit that the writers ramped up the second half of the season with much more action (the last two episodes were honestly some of the most intense and thought provoking television I have ever witnessed) but I honestly missed learning more about the community and how they were surviving without "the rest of the world".

JERICHO returns February 12th on CBS!!!!

Posted by Liberty | January 16, 2008 5:09 PM

About Tuned In

James Poniewozik writes TIME magazine's Tuned In column, about pop culture and society. Tuned In, the blog version, is about the stuff we used to call "TV," whether it's in your living room, on your computer or--once the networks figure out the technology and line up the advertisers--in your dreams themselves.