Redstick SF

Skeet Ulrich, fighting the man and his oppression ala Tommie Smith.

When I was in high school I played tennis for the school’s team. It’s a testament to how bad that team must have been. I was pretty awful. I’m even worse now.

This was totally me back in the days of my youthful indiscretions, aka tennis.

This one week we traveled south to Griffin, Ga and played, what was, at the time, one of the best teams in the state. We had no shot whatsoever. Coach, however, cheated and shifted the roster around so that our #1 in reality, would be listed as our #2 and thus, would play their #2. Of course, this meant that someone at the bottom of the roster had to play their best player.

That was me. For about an hour I got my ass kicked all around that court. The other team’s parents were shouting encouragement to me it was so bad. I’ve convinced myself that that guy must have gone on to play in college. It helps me sleep at night. Funny thing was that we still lost the thing. Usually, when you cheat, you should come closer to winning.

Watching Jericho go up against American Idol Wednesday night reminded me of that bewildering ass beating I took that day in Griffin, GA. Conventional wisdom would suggest that this show won’t make it out of its first season. However, a closer look reveals something much more dynamic going on over at CBS.

The relationship between American Idol and CBS’s Jericho is not unlike the lopsided battle between this five-year-old boy and a thermo-nuclear device.

After ordering a full season in October, CBS announced one month later it would split the season (in the same way ABC reordered LOST). That would put its new episodes a few weeks after Amer Idol’s season premiere. Essentially, it looks like CBS placed Jericho right in the path of the Idol big rig. (For some reason that image of the kid getting hit in Pet Sematary comes to mind)

Others have remarked at the scheduling effect American Idol has had on other networks. In short, they are all scrambling to own Monday or Thursday nights. So, if you’re CBS, that’s when you’re going to place a CSI or a CSI: Miami. Take a look at how well that has worked out for them in the 50 yr old and older demo (they have 6 out of the top 10 shows in that demographic, including the top three).

So, let’s take it for granted that CBS is trying to win those non-Idol nights and, then, their sacrificial lamb, Jericho, finishes 2nd in the 8pm hour against Idol while still dropping 23% below their season average in the 18-49 demographic (according to an astute poster on the Jericho boards, they actually pulled in around 8.69 million viewers totally).

Simply put, Jericho’s ratings may be irrelevant. CBS may be sandbagging Wednesday night. The fact that the show, on average, has performed decently, is a bonus.

What this all means is that the fans are going to get a full season of Jericho. And if that’s the case, who’s to say that CBS won’t renew the show for a Janurary 2008 start (like Battlestar) for the same reasons.