"Jericho" Fans Send Over Nine Tons of Nuts to CBS 408
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."
Hyperbole Ho! (Score:5, Interesting)
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!
Congrats to the NutsOnline guy (Score:3, Interesting)
The 3 paths to cancelation (Score:5, Interesting)
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:Jericho *was* Nuts (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:It's a TV Show (Score:5, Interesting)
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:Hate Jericho fans? Why? (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:would poor people in Darfur eat peanuts? (Score:1, Interesting)
They could have stated it:
So instead of getting mad at the Bush administration for an unpopular war, they send nuts to a TV show.
Instead of getting mad at meat companies for (insert whatever) they send nuts for a TV show.
Instead of getting mad at companies and governments about global warming, they send nuts o a TV show.
It's called perspective. It WAS a TV show, and not really a good one at that.
Of course if it was done for Firefly.....
Re:It's a TV Show (Score:3, Interesting)
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 than having a Britney Spears? I started to compare the two, instead of having someone who can't hold a note sing pop music you now have a nation wide contest to see who can and make them into a pop star. Now I'm not a pop music fan, it's not my thing. But I would much rather have someone whos gone through a national talent search singing then some girl with big boobs whos gone through 100 hours of mixing at a studio to sound good.
So while I do agree that its shitty television, I would not say its hurting the music industry as much as mixing a crappy singer to sound good. Also you at least get to vote to say this person sucks. Some of them do have talent they just don't sing like AC/DC.
Re:It's a TV Show (Score:3, Interesting)
At a higher level, protesting the actions of a television network is really bothersome when compared to the actions of Americans in regards to actual real world events. When the government suspended habeus corpus for people accused of terrorism, where were the nuts? Who was sending stuff like this to Congress to tell them we did not appreciate what they were doing? When the DMCA passed, who was sending nuts to their politicians?
It's just surprising to see what is essentially online politicial activism directed towards a piece of entertainment. Bless you for standing up for something you believe in, now let's go get mobilized to get our boys home from Iraq, the price of gasoline down, living wages for all Americans, universal health care or whatever it is you care about besides TV.
M
each to their own (Score:2, Interesting)
In many of these series the stories weakened and they eventually disappeared, but for the most part I faithfully watched them and held out hope they would improve. Ironically StarGate SG1 was one of those shows I hated during the first, fifth and ninth seasons, but eventually I found the story improved making the wait worth while. You mention Sliders, I can't stand it, any season, but my daughter likes it. I hated Enterprise when it started, and my daughter loved it; by the end of the forth season when it was cancelled I was a regular and she was on itunes.
My wife thinks both my daughter and I are crazy. She like American Idol, and Dancing with the Stars, but hates so you think you can dance. I only watch these shows with her when forced to do so. Ironically none of us have ever felt a need to publically criticize the other's taste in entertainment. For a fact we help each other see our favorite shows.
So it was with Jericho, my daughter and I have both taken an interest in the show. The characters presented are like my neighbors. Yes my neighbors can be boring, but surprising when place in difficult situations. People tend to look for emotional support during crisis times, love triangles are not unreasonable even if you do not like them. Having characters that are "normal" is so far from the daily TV that has presented to us over the last 30 years, it is not surprising many individuals lost interest. It is hard to compare the Jericho characters to the likes of those portrayed on WKRP, Cheers, Friends, Seinfeld, or the drama of the Survivor Outhouse series, CSI everywhere, and Law and Order.
I like shows that when I am done viewing them, my imagination is stimulated. Usually I prefer shows not too close to reality. It was a surprise to me when Jericho hit my list of shows to watch. The events Jericho portrays could happen and that disturbs me. Jericho's portrayal of the bombings is no more unreasonable than the Lone Gunmen's portrayal of a plane flying into the world trade center months before it actually happened. Good people in the story die, some individuals abuse power, and it is up to the average person to set things right again. This sound like life to me. For some viewers this story line was boring, the actors sucked, the writing was weak, or it was too disturbing, but for 8 million viewers it is the right story to watch.
Because of the conflict of scheduling at CBS and my personal activities I was unable to watch Jericho when it was aired, so my daughter recorded it. Before Jericho was cancelled, several of my friends said they stopped watching it because they wanted to see and record American Idol more. They asked to borrow my recordings so they could catch up. I say this does not sound like a show that lost huge support, but one that died because it was not strong enough to gain support when pitted against one of the strongest shows on TV. This schedule was really unfair to the writers actors and viewers of the show. The time slot along with the season splitting doomed the show and those of us who viewed Jericho know this and that is why CBS is in our bad books.
You might be right, and a second season may perform worse than the first, but without the chance to prove itself we will never know. This is a dra
Re:It's a TV Show (Score:1, Interesting)
Tanning increases your risk of skin cancer, but it may be a good idea anyway. I'll let an expert speak:
"Dr. Michael Holick, a professor of medicine, physiology and biophysics at Boston University School of Medicine, believes shunning sunlight is a fool's bargain: Although shade and sunscreen protect against common skin cancers, avoiding sun may increase the risk of much more serious diseases -- including cancers of the breast, colon and prostate -- by cutting off a natural way to make vitamin D. An SPF 8 sunscreen will reduce absorption of ultraviolet B rays by about 95%, and vitamin D production will drop by the same amount, he says."
- LA Times Article [switchtob.com]
(The fact that the article in question was reposted on a PR company's website suggests it the tanning industry paid for the PR. That doesn't make the science any less real, though.)
Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going for a run. Outside. In the sunlight, oh no!
This is sad (Score:1, Interesting)