Jericho, CBS Television, Season One, 2006-07

I recall when I was younger that we used to have civil defense drills in school to prepare us for a nuclear attack by the Russians. When the siren went off, we would head on over to the cinderblock walls, and kneel down bracing for the potential attack that never came thankfully. It also occurred to us that living in a suburb of New York City, that while we might not be killed in the initial blast, clearly the winds would blow the fallout onto Long Island, and pretty much we would all probably die of radiation poisoning anyway over the next week. I had images of us huddling into the town hall radiation shelter eating stale crackers and drinking brackish water. I also realized that society as we know it would become nonexistent with a state of anarchy ensuing quite quickly among the few long term survivors.

Ah, the good old days! Now we realize that we’ll be dead from bird flu or anthrax long before the Russians send a missile our way. Be that as it may, CBS’ Jericho explores the “what if” scenario of a nuclear attack. The action takes place in a small Kansas town known as Jericho. It is clearly “Middle America” with small town living; the kind of place where you can sleep with the windows open, and most everyone knows everybody else. This small town tranquility gets shattered one day when America’s cities suffer the unthinkable: a nuclear holocaust.



Now, Jericho has been on since September, why am I bringing this up now? Well, I just started watching it. Through the online offerings of the network, I decided to start viewing it, and I’m already hooked. It reminds me of television’s Lost- a group of people struggling to survive under extremely difficult conditions, however, there is none of the mysterious wackiness that permeates the island that rarely gets explained, or the annoying back stories. No, Jericho is more of a “forward plot” type of experience so far, and at times it feels more like a movie or mini series than “just” a television show (Kind of like Surface from last season that got cancelled and left too many things hanging, but it was excellent up until that point).

Using the CBS Innertube video watching service I'm enjoying the ultimate time shifting experience. Forget VCR’s and DVD recorders- by viewing online, I can shift an entire season! I’ve really enjoyed the first two episodes, and for now, all of the episodes are online. If, like me, you’re looking for some new television amongst the frequent repeats of the last month, than head on over and check out Jericho. While I didn’t have time for it earlier in the season, I’m enjoying it now.

Grade: A-