Enough Already. Blame Jericho’s Failure on CBS.
It’s week two of Jericho’s return. The latest episode, “Condor,” explores the evils of the new Wyoming government, now called the “Allied States of America,” in more detail. Again viewers were treated to the questionable priorities of the new government who, in a diabolical move that will surely rock this fragile nation to the core, published and distributed revised school history textbooks, A New America, featuring chapter titles such as:
1. How Weak Policies Led to the Demise of the United States
2. The Lack of Action Against the Soviet Union
3. Nixon: Misunderstood Champion of Democracy?
4. Civil Rights: We Gave it a Shot, Right?
Okay, so I made up two of those. But which two…
I’m just saying that maybe, in the radiation-filled wasteland/aftermath of a terrorist attack that destroys some 26 cities, writing a new textbook wouldn’t have been my top priority. Treating people for radiation poisoning so their skin won’t peel off like a fruit roll-up? That’s more like it.
Unfortunately, this surprisingly compelling episode garnered only a 3.9 rating/7 share in Neilsen’s Fast National ratings (essentially an exercise in statistical sampling by pulling numbers from the top markets, including both live viewing and same-day DVR playback). It comes out to around 5.9 million viewers.
For those of you who typically don’t deal with such things, this is how bad it was:
1. Jericho finished last in its time slot.
2. Meaning that it finished BEHIND reruns of Boston Legal and Law & Order: SVU.
Of course, to fall behind an episode of Law & Order isn’t that surprising considering that each episode is exactly like each other. A point that the boys over at Robot Chicken make clear in their chicken-themed send-up.
That being said it’s pretty damned bad.
What’s telling, though, is how bad CBS is getting clobbered in the previous time slot.
Big Brother 34: “The Struggle for Relevancy” took a drubbing (5.4 million viewers) at the hands of Fox’s American Idol (15.7/25…about 29 million viewers).
I know what you’re thinking: “5.4 million people watch CBS? I had no idea there were that many senior citizens in the US.”
I know what you’re thinking. “Who knew Big Brother was still a show?”
Sometimes people get really hung up on tv ratings. I’m not one of those people. But I think that, here, they tell an interesting story about what’s happening to Jericho on Tuesday night.
1. Jericho isn’t getting any help from their primetime lead-in. They might as well air a good lecture on landscape architecture (which, to tell the truth, sounds a hell of a lot more interesting than Big Brother).
2. Last week’s ratings mean that a sizeable portion of viewers sought out Jericho. They turned to CBS after watching Idol (or some other program) or flat-out turned on their tvs to see this show. Think about that for a second. This show comes on at 10pm. When a hell of a lot of people go to bed. The network’s audience actually GREW after the primetime slot.
Simply put, Jericho’s woes aren’t the result of any of the things that normally doom tv shows (poor writing, a shitty concept, etc) nor are they the result of some betrayal at the hands of the devoted viewers who, last season, notoriously petitioned the network to bring the show back.
Nope, pin the responsibility for Jericho’s failure on CBS’s boneheaded scheduling and marketing. Putting this show right after a show that’s been dead for 5 years was a brilliant move if you’re trying to open up some space for yet another CSI. Otherwise, it’s a drain.
Secondly, where’s the marketing for this show? I caught half a bumper during Sunday’s golf tournament. GOLF. You know, that thing that plays on tv when gramps takes his afternoon nap.
Golf, when Ambien isn’t enough...
Look, I’m as thankful as anyone that CBS gave this show another chance. But what I don’t get is why they’re only giving it half of one.
If last season’s “Save Jericho” campaign taught them anything it was that this show has an audience, a damned vocal and clever one at that. Connecting to that audience is CBS’s job. In other words, each Tuesday night all of those hardcore Jericho fans are tuning in (to the tune of about 5 million). CBS needs to grow that audience. Too bad they’re not doing it.
Good insight into the ratings problems. I’ve put a summary and link into our Jerihco news archive.
Gwen
Jericho-Kansas.com
Actually I think the textbook was a clue, they didn’t print it after the bombs, but before (likely in Vietnam (Grisham reference)), its just another part of that whole plan.
I think CBS brought back the show to appease the fans, but really didn’t want to, this kind of scheduling allows them to kill it because no one’s watching it, which is an old trick, NBC loves doing that.
Thank you so much–I feel like I’ve been beating my head against the wall!
CBS cost this show it’s building momentum during the first season with the idiotic decision to put it on a 3-month hiatus. After the surprising cancellation, we worked like hell to bring it back, and Nina Tassler (in her regal superiority) challenged it was up to the fans to guarantee “Jericho’s” success.
Where were the articles on the basis of our fight–THAT NIELSEN RATINGS ARE ANTIQUATED? I saw no full-page ads to promote it’s return, no cast on Oprah–why didn’t CBS push attention to the background story? That NOW we watch TV in a variety of ways, at our convenience. Address that, build on that. Look at the amount of attention we made on the internet for “Jericho”. Yet I can show you a dozen people who had no idea the show was coming back. Now we’re going to witness the premature end of a show that could have gone on for years with it’s interesting premise.
I’ve never cared so much about seeing a show survive. I will NEVER again invest my time in a new show until it’s been around for 3 seasons. I’d rather buy the DVD’s and know I’ll see resolution and a great story than have a network kill a show before it’s time.
Very well said! Thank you for this. While I actually am one of the morons who watch Big Brother, it seems as though the marketing geniuses at CBS could have figured out a way to reach the Jericho fan base and build upon it. It’s a mystery to me.
You rock! I have so much more to say but in comparison to your eloquently worded blog on the inadequacies of CBS, I’d come off sounding like an idiot. So………you rock!
Why isn’t Jericho paired with Dexter instead of Big Brother?
Not only does Dexter have a larger audience, but I imagine there is far, far more crossover between fans of Dexter and Jericho than fans of BB and Jericho.
But are the ratings REAL? Theat is the question to me.
CBS asked me to get them new viewers. I got them new viewers. CBS asked for said new viewers to watch live. They watch live. So what is the problem? Not one single new viewer that I recruited has that special little box, so they were not counted. So in CBS’s eyes, I did the same as NOTHING.
Great article and wonderful insight. I don’t have one of those treasured nielsen boxes, so I feel like I don’t count. I too have recruited new viewers, and faithfully watch Jericho. I have to agree that CBS has let the “rangers” down once again. The networks have got to get a new rating system, and get rid of the outdated one they use now. Wake up TV executives
I’ve already sent a message to CBS “thanking” them for screwing up JERICHO.
I do not agree that CBS did things all wrong. Jericho is just not a hit, live with it. Not everyone likes this style of a show. And the second season is a bit dumbed down in terms of money (they use cheaper cameras, the visual quality is not the same as last year), but ultimately, the story just doesn’t work.
In a nutshell: CBS had done everything wrong in regards to Jericho. The long hiatus, preempting for football, not advertising, you name it. They need to give this show a fighting chance which they’ve never done.
The ratings never really recovered after the winter hiatus. “Vox Populi” was the highest rated episode ever, nearly 11 million viewers, and then the show went away for 3 months. So did the audience. But even the lowest rated episodes of last spring were higher than the Season 2 eps. Enjoy the swan song.
Look, Jericho is getting poor ratings because it’s an extremely mediocre show that couldn’t even hold its fanbase from last season. It deserves to be cancelled because it’s stinky programming that shouldn’t have come back in the first place.
I hear that they will be cancelling Jericho after this season. I really hope that will not be the case. I love Jericho. It’s different then most of the shows out there. I truley believe CBS needs to give then another year to bounce back. They need to advertise more and stop intrupting the schelduled programs so new viewers can find it. Come on fans start watching. I want to find out what happens next. I really think Bonnie’s death scene was one of the most. And I am sure more awesome scenes are to come.
For what it’s worth: if there was some old guy in the background signalling to CBS with a finger across his throat that he wanted the show gone, and if he was a big sponsor who took issue with some of the content, I guess it would go. But I’m only a civilian, so what do I know. There are too many good shows that get cancelled, and some which are good but go downhill (in my opinion Numb3rs has completely lost the Caltech flavor and gone for the action stuff at the expense of what, I don’t know, nostalgia for quirky academe, the ivory tower which is being quickly crushed all by itself in the real world). Jericho is that special place too, like “Cal-Sci”, that place where people care about each other and depend on each other in unique circumstances. Gee, the real Caltech sort of made Jericho possible if you think of it!
Maybe all shows eventually succumb to the forces of entropy, from without (bad program times, a writers’ strike) or from within (writing which loses its freshness, goes for the inevitable car chases and gun battles and explosions).
But the real shame with Jericho was that it had some ambition, that it wove a fascinating lot of characters together, and that they deserved to live long enough to have a lot of resolution to the horrors they had suffered, if not to actually rebuild a new nation. But they had so many dragons still to battle. Leaving them out there on the prairie is like leaving Ulysses somewhere short of Ithaca.