As the first season of "Jericho" hits DVD all is known right now is that there will be seven more episodes as nearly 20 tons of nuts were sent to CBS headquarters (watch the show to understand why) in part of an online campaign to bring the show back to the small screen. For now the fans have won out, but as in everything business related CBS is launching the DVD with a slogan saying, "Save Jericho a second time." Basically they are saying, "Buy the DVD and maybe you will get more than seven."
The big question here is whether or not the show is worth the fuss, and while I don't think it is the most spectacular thing ever (which is sort of what I expected considering the public outcry) it is pretty damn good. Starring Skeet Ulrich and Ashley Scott the show takes place in the small Kansas town of Jericho amidst the aftermath of a massive mushroom cloud appearing on the horizon, presumably from Denver. Nuclear warfare is the rumor and the town begins to prepare for the worst. The idea is fantastic and certain mysteries inside of the show are well developed and never held on for too long.
Several seasoned actors, mixed with newcomers, the cast is well balanced and made up of very capable individuals, a hard thing to do considering the massive size of this ensemble. It may be hard to believe, but this show takes advantage of pretty much all of its players and one of the reasons for its teeter into extinction has got to be based on the fact that even extras seem to have speaking roles in the town of Jericho, not to mention they had to build an entire town on the backlot.
The first season is made up of 22 episodes and has a finale that really leaves the audience hanging, probably not the best idea for a show you plan on cancelling. Five of the 22 episodes come with commentary ranging from producer Jon Turteltaub to stars Skeet Ulrich and Lennie James. The sixth disc comes with two special features including a look at the building of the "Jericho" set and a second feature taking a "What If?" look at the "Jericho" scenario and what may happen if such a thing were to occur. Honestly, that is the madness of this show. As safe as we may feel in the United States, if something like this happened it would throw things for quite the loop.
Finally, there are a large amount of deleted scenes, all of which are held to their specific episodes and come with optional commentary by show producers Dan Shotz and Karim Zreik.
Considering the show is on the brink of extinction I can only see die hard fans or those with disposable income shelling out for this DVD since you never know if the entire series is going to be summed up. As much as that sucks it is simply a reality. It is unfortunate that shows like this must give way to crap reality television all based on production costs and return on investment, perhaps we have "Real World" and "Survivor" to blame for that.
I think show star Ashley Scott said it best when she commented on the show's cancellation to Entertainment Weekly saying, "It infuriates me. It is not fair to people who watched because we didn’t wrap it up because we thought we were coming back. Now viewers will never get a chance to know the whole story of the bombs and what happened or what is going to happen to these townspeople. It is just rude and I think people are going to stop watching shows like that because they keep getting shafted by these serials that they get into, then they get canceled and they never get any closure."
I am not sure if people are going to start watching shows like this, but the amount of trust they have with shows that begin with mysterious plot lines is sure to begin lacking, something I am sure J.J. Abrams and the "Lost" boys certainly don't want to hear. If you want to help an above average show continue its broadcast stint then certainly pick up this first season. If you prefer to wait and see what happens after the first seven greenlit episodes of season two then I just might consider you a smart consumer.