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Friday, October 5, 2007

Jericho and Nutsonline: Replay


I have had multiple anonymous postings. I have re-set the comment feature for registered users and welcome those whose comments were not allowed through to repost them.




It was brought to my attention recently that there is incorrect information going around about how Nutsonline joined the Jericho campaign. So, I found this article (there are more like it) that says, "Jericho" fan Jeff Knoll helped coordinate with Braverman to get Nuts Online to serve as a distributor. Knoll was one of the originators of the campaign, and his biggest hope is that the network pays attention."



"Jeff Knoll, a fan in Oakville, Ontario, was thinking about shipping some nuts but was worried about them getting delayed in customs. That's when he stumbled across nutsonline.com.
He started talking to Jeffrey Braverman, whose family has run the nut distribution company now called nutsonline.com for three generations."


Just wanted to give credit where credit is due. Somebody might write a book.



I found this article to be quite interesting as I've heard so many people recently asking the same question. So, CBS, do you have the answer? Why haven't you done more to promote the DVD? We've given you plenty of free marketing yet you give us what? No promotion. Are you going to bother promoting when Jericho returns? You sure did a lousy job this summer with even letting people know when Jericho might be on. And, I thought CBS did care. Not anymore.

Did You Forget Jericho? - DVD News

"The first season of Jericho hit DVD this week but you’d never know it looking around. Considering all the fuss that surrounded the series a couple of months ago, I would have expected parades, national news coverage, and a hard press by CBS that included banner ads during all of their shows, every other commercial spot, and integration into their other programming (“Hey, I know we’re always sitting around a bar and chatting but did any of you get a chance to check out season one of Jericho? It’s Legendary!). Instead, word surrounding the release is as quiet as if it really was isolated from the rest of the world."



"When I read about Jericho getting canned like many people I just didn’t care. I’d never watched it, didn’t know anyone who watched, and honestly I stopped worrying about Skeet Ulrich’s career after Chill Factor figuring he had died of embarrassment….though somehow Cuba Gooding Jr survived long enough to make Daddy Day Camp god rest his soul. The show popped up on my radar back at Comic-Con where CBS brought the cast out to promote the shows return from the TV grave. For those in the dark again: The show was killed off after the seasons cliff hanger ending…fans were understandably pissed off having given up 964 minutes of their D&D time decided to send nuts to the offices of CBS in rebellion…the nuts being a reference to the last episode…that or they learned of Nina Tassler (The CBS Pres) severe allergic to peanuts…either way I’m assuming nobody sent macadamia nuts."


'Jericho' Poised For November Return?





37 comments:

Anonymous said...

Are you SURE that Shaun didn't mention it on his radio show first?
That's what I always have thought.

terocious said...

I had no Idea Nina Tassler has a severe nut allergy until I read this. That is a pretty big deal considering all the nuts that were addressed to her. Just goes to show you do not always get all of the information.

kestral said...

To Anonymous,

I believe Shaun's mention was of sending nuts to CBS. However, Jeff Knoll was the person who was in communication with Jeff Braverman at Nutsonline. So, Shaun mentioned sending nuts and Jeff Knoll worked with Nutsonline to make our bulk shipments a reality.
I personally feel that the mass shipments were a huge part of what made our campaign a success! It was something visual that allowed us to break into the mainstream news. Jeff Braverman went above and beyond the call of duty with his personal delivery of nuts to CBS, posting pictures, and his blog. Jeff Knoll, what a brilliant idea! My personal thanks to both Jeffs for their time and dedication.

maybei said...

My thoughts - it really doesn't matter who said it first or who set it up. Because if it had not been for all the fans, it would have never happened.

And it wasn't just the nuts that got the job done - it was all the cards, letters, emails, phone calls, etc.

It was a group effort - we ALL did this.

Sweet Tea said...

Maybei,
It's true we all did it but I don't appreciate one person rewriting history to make themselves look better. I'm not referring to you.

Sweet Tea said...

I just received a response to my email to Nutty Jeff Braverman. He says:
"Hey there Jane! Jeff Knoll was instrumental in getting me up to speed and
for me to bounce ideas off of. He was one of the first people I spoke to.
Shaun O'Mac reached out to me. There was also this persistent guy from the
mid-west (maybe his name was Kyle) that kept on calling and emailing trying
to do something discounted ahead of Jeff. There were a handful of others
who emailed me as well to try and do this in a bigger way. This all added
up for me and finally motivated me to dive in."
Looks like the persistent guy was actually first.

Anonymous said...

I agree with both Maybei and Jerichosaved. Nothing would have mattered had it not been for all of the fans efforts.

On the other hand for Shuan, who is considered a highly visible person in the campaign, to write on his Fan Central blog that he was the one who made the bulk shipments possible is rewriting history to his own benefit.

This is after all the same person who someone recently came on the board and stated he was working with Shaun to write a book about Shaun's life and the Jericho campaign. I suppose that book would read a lot better if Shaun is the one who did it all, the one who lead the movement whether the information is entirely true or not.

Sorry, I am just so tired of seeing people try to take credit for a movement that would not have been successful without everyone involved.

Anonymous said...

Thank you Jericho saved for clearing this up. I'm glad to see tht you follow through and check out the information you put in your blog.

It is too bad that Shaun didn't make the same effort before taking credit on his Fan Central blog.

But then, the presistant guy probably won't read as well in the book anout Shaun.

Sweet Tea said...

IF a book is written I hope it will mention every name or screen name of every Jericho fan who participated in Nuts. I also hope anyone who might plan to write a book will investigate every claim so they can weed out all the history rewrites.
Thanks.

Rich said...

"Somebody might write a book."

Jericho is a chapter in a book I am writing. And I have it my notes.

Jeff Knoll is the one who helped organize NutsOnLine, but that was shortly after Braverman noticed spike in orders. The Nuts Online site also credited a woman named Michelle from Pennsylvania. Other names mentioned here are new to me, but that's not important. :)

Most of this is sourceable on my blog. What is not sourceable I have in notes. Shaun was definitely one of the first on the "Nuts" idea, but you would have to check the archives to be certain ... it came out of show as a collective idea.

No one person is responsible for the nuts. As I was told many times by two people who did much of the early work ... it was the collective fans.

Sorry to say though, that it is only a big chapter so I will not be including every name. For that, I will need a second book to include all the people who were part of the more challenging campaign: marketing the show. :)

All my best,
Rich

Sweet Tea said...

Thanks for the information Rich. Looks like you may have to do a second book soon. It would be fascinating reading. It's a shame that Jeff Knoll worked so hard for Jericho only to be accused of taking all the credit yet the one who's actually taking credit for being the initiator isn't yet people defend him.

Anonymous said...

Hey, everyone ... Michael Hinman here from SyFy Portal.

I am not sure what the big fuss is over who started what and when. I covered this campaign from the very beginning, and had many of the initial interviews and statements about the campaign -- including the first interview with Jeffrey Braverman. So I was on top of this from the beginning, which has made some people incorrectly assume that I started the campaign, or came up with the nuts idea, or things like that (I didn't.)

I don't think it matters who started these things. I firmly believe that one of the earliest mentions of sending nuts came from Shaun O'Mac (I don't listen to his show, but that was what I heard consistently at the very beginning), but as far as I know, he was just the first PUBLIC statement of it. That doesn't mean he originated the idea.

I believe it was a collective effort, as sending things representing a show is not brand new. Anyone who wanted to save a show and looked at past fan campaigns would see that many of those campaigns took something that represented the show and sent them off. So while the idea of Nuts to CBS was ingenious, it doesn't take a genius to come up with the idea. :)

Shaun definitely needs to be credited for getting a big part of the ball rolling, and if someone is trying to revise that history, they would be incorrect.

I will have to go back and find my notes from the interview that I did with Jeff Braverman back when the campaign first started, but I can say that as far as I know, Jeff never mentioned to me that Shaun had contacted him for the nuts campaign (so there might be some different way of remembering this), and I did ask him how he got started in this. If I remember correctly (without referring back to my notes), they noticed a spike in sales going to specific addresses, and he sought people out to find out what was going on.

Hope that helps! :)

Anonymous said...

Michael Hinman again .. (sorry) ...

I got distracted and hit "publish" without realizing I didn't finish my thought, lol.

But I think that if ANYONE is to be credited, it's the fans. This was a collaborative effort, and one that EVERYONE deserves credit on.

I have been working on the preliminary idea of writing a book that somehow involves the Jericho campaign as well, but it would be a smaller part of an overall broad topic. I haven't even begin to shop it around yet or fully realize exactly what it would entail, but I have a pretty good general idea.

Of course, I have about as much time as a 30-second commercial on "Jericho," so I am not sure exactly when I would do it. But I'll certainly try. :)

Sweet Tea said...

Hi Michael,
Thanks for stopping by. Always appreciate it.
There's really not a fuss but information posted on Fan Central and elsewhere is incorrect in saying Shaun started the Nuts campaign. He may have been the first to mention Nuts but I rather doubt that as well.
It doesn't matter who GETS the credit;it matters that someone unfairly takes it.When Shaun states,"I am the one who started the NUTS to CBS for Jericho movement that saw CBS bring Jericho back from cancellation"..then that takes credit from everyone else who was involved.
We ALL did it.

Sweet Tea said...

Hey Michael,
That 30 secs. a day is a start. Right? Ha.
Thanks.

Unknown said...

From a post I made on RFJ:
"No one person deserves the credit for saving Jericho. People may want to re-write history, it's an easy thing to do. But those of us who were there, who can fully appreciate the magnificence of what we all did, know that this campaign was far beyond anything any one person could ever accomplish............

No one person deserves the credit for saving Jericho. People may want to re-write history, it's an easy thing to do. But those of us who were there, who can fully appreciate the magnificence of what we all did, know that this campaign was far beyond anything any one person could ever accomplish."

Rich said...

Hey Michael,

You only beat me with the first Braverman interview because you published at night and I published mine in the next morning. (Joke).

You notes match mine almost exactly. It was a collective fan effort that saved Jericho and Shaun was certainly part of that. And you're right ... there was no one person that started the campaign.

I'm glad you commented on this thread. And glad to see we match.

Best,
Rich

Anonymous said...

See, Rich? Post too slow and you lose, hahaha! =P Just kidding!

I think your interview was better, lol!

And I agree. I didn't mean to say that no one should be arguing about credit for the campaign ... if someone is taking credit, they shouldn't do that unless they actually DESERVE the credit. And to be honest, EVERYONE played a part in getting the campaign going.

Hell, even me. Despite not buying a nut or sending a single letter, I would hope that my Web site played a small part in helping Jericho come back. But it's a part among MANY people, ALL fans. :)

Nuts to you CBS! (And hey, thanks for bringing the show back!)

Anonymous said...

Oh crap ... and that post above should be signed "Michael Hinman" lol! =P

Sweet Tea said...

Michael,
You and Rich certainly did play a big part in Nuts. You made us think and work harder and you both inspired and motivated. You are both Rangers even if you ate nuts and didn't send any.

Thank you both.

maybei said...

And on a funny note - it was Jake who said the word - NUTS in relation to Jericho and fighting for what you believe in - so I declare Jake was the originator of the NUTS campaign.

Anonymous said...

I'm sorry, but who cares? So someone writes a book. The twenty people who buy it will get the wrong impression. Big deal.

Throughout history credit has been incorrectly given. Why fight it when we can just enjoy the fruits of everyone's labors.

An idea was born, people took off with it, Jericho was pulled from the ashes. Who saved Jericho? Nina Tassler did. She was the only one that was truly in a position to put it back on. Or maybe it was Al Gore for inventing the internet which allowed all the fans to communicate so efficiently. LOL!

The truth is that some people are just in more of a position to be heard - Shaun, Nutty Jeff, Butty Jeff - whatever. The word got out and an army of Rangers went to work.

Congratulations to all of you and thank you for bringing back my favorite show.

Sweet Tea said...

It's not about the credit. It's about the truth. What if history books or math books were written with no regard for the truth? Jericho fans deserve more than being denied the credit they all deserve by someone who wants only power and their name all over the internet. The lie being told far surpasses the idea of a book. The lie can be found in many internet articles.
I doubt a book by this person would sell 20 copies.

Hawksdomain said...

All Shaun said was that he sent an email. Jeff Braverman has supported this statement over and over. Jeff has even said in an email that it was Shaun's email that most significantly caught his eye.

WHY must certain people continue to defame a man who has been instrumental in this? Your 'vent' about someone previously ran that major player off. Looking to run off more?

I have read some very unbelievable things regarding Shaun. Unbelievable that anyone would say such things to another human being. As you are not making any move to edit your original post, I can only believe that you are one of those people who have said such things and I find that truly sad. I thought you were above things like this.

kystorms said...

i would like to know where on the fan central blog it said Shaun did anything with the nuts ?
And why keep this going, for crying out loud? Who ever writes the book, will have his or her own slant on it, period. My father writes books, I have written plenty of research...... the way we want our story is the slant we take.
Fact of the matter is Jeff Knoll is no more responsible for what happened than anyone else, the facts are, many emails and orders went to Jeff and his company asking for nuts to ship! From then on, it was a collective move by ALL OF US to do this.

Anonymous said...

Michael Hinman again ...

I don't think anyone here is defaming Shaun at all. I think everyone here acknowledges he played a large role. He just wasn't the godfather of it all. :)

I like Shaun. I've been on his show way back when he was doing just BSG when he had a handful of listeners, and he's a good guy. I don't think anyone here is looking for credit or anything like that. But at the same time, no one should stand by and take credit, if that is what is happening here.

I didn't read this Fan Central place. I don't even know what it is. I'm simply responding to what's here. :)

I am nothing more than a simple entertainment journalist trying to make my readers happy, and do something good for the world. :)

Sweet Tea said...

Thank you, Michael. You are correct. I stand by Nutty Jeff's, yours, and Rich's statements if anyone cares to read them.
You might also want to read this:
http://therealnewsjunkies.ning.com/profile/shaunomac

"Also I am the one who started the NUTS to CBS for Jericho movement that saw CBS bring Jericho back from cancellation..a social movement that moved fast to save a beloved city and showed that yes people can STILL make a difference.

Rich said...

Michael,

That was very funny. :)

To the rest of the conversation, I think often times people worry too much about who should get credit. As long as they are not trying to take it, then good for them.

More importantly, which is why I wrote what I did last weekend ... leadership is not an easy position. What frightens me sometimes is that when given this great responsibility some people forget this (which I left on RFJ message boards) ...

"A successful leader transcends their own personality in order to ensure that any following is aligned to the organizational goal and not them as individuals. That is why leaders continually challenge followers to reach for obtainable goals; so they too may grow as leaders."

And it is for that reason and that reason alone, all fans deserve equal credit. Leaders worry less about being recognized as leaders and more about the cause at hand. :)

In a different context, look at it this way ... the preacher and a window washer are equally responsible for the service you might attend.

Frankly, I cringe when people give me any credit. I merely wrote about what I observed. You all did the work (and my partner, who sent nuts before it was coordinated).

All my best,
Rich

Anonymous said...

The problem with blogs are 1. they can get edited by their owners 2. Any group can "out post" another just by spamming the comment section with their options, facts, or lies (number/length) of posts=squat) 3. Readers are often denied any metric to measure truth against.

I have been told some terrible things are being said TO Shaun right now that are, almost if not entirely, criminal. That is not the behavior of people who love truth, justice, or even basic civil order.

I suggest readers visit Fan Central themselves and read first hand what is said in entirety by the official site owners only, then conclude if the above post and comments are consistent or hearsay.

I further suggest reader looks back into the blog archives and finds the date of Shaun's first public suggestion to send nuts. Then conclude if he or she believes Shaun was influential in the nuts champaign. I believe he was significantly important in getting the message out to send nuts. I spent less than and hour and found obvious references 5/7/07. One would have to listen to May and April pod casts to determine when what was said.

http://blogtalkradio.com/SHAUNOMACRADIO/ blog/2007/05/page/4
http://blogtalkradio.com/SHAUNOMACRADIO/ blog/2007/05/page/3
http://blogtalkradio.com/SHAUNOMACRADIO/ blog/2007/05/page/2
http://blogtalkradio.com/SHAUNOMACRADIO/ blog/2007/05/page/1

A minor search showed me mention of Nuts campaign @ nutsonline starting May 23, 2007, individual orders stared to be tracked around 5/17/07. There may have been earlier orders. Check it out and then consider the above conversation.

Anonymous said...

I read the information at Fan Central and you might want to check with Jeff Braverman, because it was initially an email from Shaun O'Mac that caught the attention of Jeff Braverman. What I DID NOT read at Fan Central was a person taking credit, but rather a person commenting on his own effort towards the nuts campaign. Had he not said "We should all send nuts to CBS" (or something very similar before you tear my quote apart piece by piece), would it have ever occurred? Would anyone have carried the idea further? My answer to this is "Who Cares". We did it and that is all that matters, now let's get back to promoting a show that we all love!

The personal attacks are doing absolutely nothing to promote Jericho. I used to enjoy reading this blog, now I try to stay clear of it, due to the negative turn it has taken.

Sincerely,

A fan that wants to promote Jericho not "pick away" at the fan base.

PS I sent nuts to CBS based on Shaun's radio comments long before any bulk shipments were arranged. I know of many fans who did the same. Jeff B is absolutely awesome but like I read in his own words on the CBS boards, it was a group effort, period.

Sweet Tea said...

Shaun is in the hospital. You might want to call UMC in Las Vegas and confirm this?

Anonymous said...

I made that call. I was told that no one by that name is in the hospital or has been in their emergency room.

rubberpoultry said...

Wow... quite a discussion going on over here.

I hadn't been to the monster blog in a while, so it was good to stop by again. Jane has done so much good for the Jericho community with her blog entries. I'm hoping that her work will continue to unite us. I'm not sure if this one is intended to do that or not, but I know Jane has a good heart, and has been part of the solution for a long time.

Just a couple of reflections...

First, it doesn't matter who the originator of the Nuts campaign was. It took everyone to get CBS' attention. Shaun may have been the first person to mention the nuts on the air. Some might define that moment as the genesis of the campaign.

I'm a book author, and have to do interviews now and then. I did a phone interview today in fact. Sometimes there is a level of buzz that's present when you're being asked questions that has an effect on your answers. I've been misquoted, and my words have been twisted a time or two to sensationalize a story. I read the quote from the link you posted, and I wonder if that may have happened there.

And it's all how you define starting a campaign. Were the words enough to set it all in motion?

Next, I agree that many have been thrust into leadership roles without the training and experience required to maintain their "leadership" positions. I think we've done as much or more than our leaders to frame them as "leaders" as they have done themselves. Clearly we have elevated some above others. The higher we elevate our leaders, the further the fall is when they don't meet our expectations. We were so quick to praise a few visible leaders for their efforts, but unfortunately we've been almost as quick to tear them down.

I know many of the "players" in this drama pretty well. I have myself been called a leader. I can tell you that none of them, not-a-one of them has malicious intent. Things have been said that have been misconstrued from Shaun to Schumi, to Jeff Knoll and so on.

I think that we forget that these are real people sometimes. Not characters on a television show. I for one wish everyone would lay off all of them.

Lastly... the final comments made it seem as if the hospital visit was something to be suspicious of because confirmation could not be made.

My sister's husband is estranged from his family. His parents make a lot of trouble for them whenever they can, and when my sister was about to have my niece, they entered the hospital and asked that their name be kept off the books. It was by invitation only that they could be visited.

Given what been said on the boards, Shaun may have had good reason to ask to remain anonymous.

Unknown said...

I read the CBS board yesterday, and I read some things that highly upset me.

Which boards are you talking about, RP?

Finkle said...

The first person to ever mention "nutsonline.com" was Trish - the woman that runs the "save jericho now" myspace.

If you look back at the very first blog over there, it's dated May 17th and it clearly mentions nutsonline.com as the nut provider.

I asked her how she came to post that and she said she had gotten wind that other fans wanted to send nuts. There was no official provider at that point so she typed in "buy nuts online" in google and nutsonline was the first to come up so she blogged it and that was that.

She said she never contacted anyone at nutsonline before hand but did make contact with Jeff B. later on after things picked up.

I noticed this the other day when
I was re-reading the logs there after reading this post so I asked.

So there you go, mystery solved.

Skeeterbit said...

As usual I can't run with the big dogs, so I'm staying on the porch. However, I feel compelled to comment about the hospital situation since this is one thing I'm well educated on.

Anyone who's been to the doctor, hospital, dentist, pharmacy, etc., in the past few years has had to sign a HIPAA notice of privacy practices. It stands for Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act. It is a federal law that deals with PHI - Protected Health Information.

Hospitals are required to give patients the option of having information released. If the patient does not want info released, callers and visitors are simply told there is no one there by that name. Occasionally patients are admitted under an alias and info is not released unless the caller knows the password.

jericho2008 said...
This comment has been removed by the author.