Jericho: Election Preemptions

Elections are being held Tuesday 3/4 in Texas, Ohio, Rhode Island and Vermont.

Be sure to write CBS if you can't watch Tuesday and let them know Jericho was preempted.



Here is another good article about shows that are cancelled and the audience that is often unnoticed by Nielsen and the networks. Think Jericho.


"Have you ever wondered why some TV shows are canceled due to supposedly low ratings when it seems like they have a strong following? Sometimes there are obvious reasons - like when CBS scheduled Jericho up against Fox's American Idol, or Journeyman possibly being a victim of bad timing with the writers' strike and too many reality show hitting the networks.

Neilsen Ratings are the measurement of selected "families" who actually sit down to watch television programs, watch. This tells me that networks tend to rely on the black and white data, and not consider what the "unnoticed" audience watches. Neilsen families are the ones who make shows like 60 Minutes, Seinfeld, ER, Survivor, CSI & American Idol the top rated shows in their respective time slots. I'm no expert, but this sounds like the folks that enjoy these shows may not be sci fi fans. Sci fi is a smaller niche, but fans of sci fi shows tend to be extremely loyal and dedicated to a series.

Knowing a TV series' demographics has it's merit, but Nielsen's "sampling methods" have been (rightly) criticized since the selected families know who they are, defeating the premise of double blind testing. Neilsen ratings also refuse to count recorded programming for later viewing as part of its sampling methods. This used to apply to VCRs (remember those?) but now includes Digital Recording Devices like Tivo. This does make some sense, since we skip commercials watching recorded shows, but it could spur advertisers to think of more creative ways to put ads in front of viewers while the show is on."