CBS Cancels Jericho, Again

LOS ANGELES, March 24: CBS
will definitively drop Jericho,
a drama about the aftermath of a nuclear explosion, from its schedule, even
though its was briefly returned to the network after a first cancellation last
year.

After the first season was
cancelled, in an unprecedented show of support for a series, fans inundated CBS
offices with tens of thousands of pounds of peanuts—playing off a line of
dialogue in the finale—begging the network to continue the show.

Despite fans’ pleas to
keep the series going, the second season of Jericho garnered ratings that were even lower than the
first season, prompting CBS to now drop the series for good. The series did,
however, perform well online on CBS.com and in iTunes downloads.

“The March 25th episode of
Jericho will be the series
finale,” CBS said in a statement, reports The Hollywood Reporter. “Without question, there are passionate viewers
watching this program; we simply wish there were more. We thank an engaged and
spirited fan base for keeping the show alive this long, and an outstanding team
of producers, cast and crew that went through creative hoops to deliver a
compelling, high quality second season. We have no regrets bringing the show
back for a second try. We listened to our viewers, gave the series an
opportunity to grow, and the producers put a great story on the screen. We're
proud of everyone's efforts.”

For the second season,
producers shot two finales, one that leaves viewers in suspense for a possible
continuation, and a second, the one that CBS chose to air, that wraps up the
season's storyline, where the nuclear war survivors of a Kansas town struggled
under a violent occupation by a government contractor.

The ending does leave the
door open for a second life for Jericho on cable, but the series’ production budget is much higher than the
average cable drama.

—By Anna Carugati