"CBS primarily made four promises to Jericho fans when they reinstated the series in June", says Rich Becker of Copywrite Ink.
"• Re-broadcast “Jericho” on CBS, which they did with an odd order, until the series was pre-empted by football. • Stream online episodes and clips online, but without much marketing support for the varied platforms where you can find it. • Release the first season to DVD on Sept. 25, which was postponed and lacked any substantial marketing support. • Continue the story of Jericho in digital media, which they almost did but not in any real tangible sort of way."
In light of those facts what should we make of Jericho's season opener ratings?
"Maybe those ratings aren't all bad", says Rich Becker of Copywrite Ink. "They might even be good. Jericho outperformed all but one episode of "Cane," which was planned for this time slot this season for CBS. What does that mean? Jericho is the better bet for CBS and next week's episode is reported to be even better. That has to be the feeling at CBS as Dan Shotz and Karim Zreik, co-producers, took time out to mention CBS was happy with the numbers and committed. We shall see." ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Do you think CBS will be more lenient with Jericho this time around because Nielsen ratings remain flawed?
"I'm not so sure that CBS will be more lenient because of the flaws in the Nielsen system (I'm not so sure they, even now, consider them to be flawed), but I am pretty sure that CBS is going to give Jericho every chance before canceling it",says Amy Vernon of Remote Access. "Didn't they learn their lesson? But seriously, I read on someone's blog that this time slot is usually pretty bad for CBS, and Jericho's ratings in that slot were better than CBS has gotten there before; that will count for something.
And with the writer's strike, a lot fewer new shows are being added in the fall. So long as the ratings aren't bad, and the DVR+7 ratings jack up the ratings another couple million, I think there's still a decent shot at a season 3. However, I'm a rank amateur at all this, so what do I know?
Hope, as they say, springs eternal." +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Is it fair for CBS to consider only Nielsen numbers?
"No, it is not fair" says a media consultant who wishes to remain anonymous. "The Nielsen ratings system is so far outdated and, in my opinion, has never been an accurate way of counting viewership of any program. In this day of new forms of media and methods in which one can view programming, it is obsolete. Millions of viewers don't get counted. But if we are talking about simply watching our TVs when a new episode of a show airs, I for one have never liked the Nielsen system of having one family determine what several thousand other households are viewing. Unless I'm failing to understand how this can possibly work with any accuracy, it's just simply not an accurate way of counting viewers. It's an unfair system and while it's good they are now counting DVR recordings, it's not enough. I believe it would be in the networks best interest to look at other ways of determining if a show they've invested in as well as the fan base of those shows' viewership get counted properly and fairly before making the decision to pull the plug. The history making grass roots campaign done by the millions of Jericho fans should be a really big wake up call that times are and have changed and before we shoot ourselves in the foot, take a good hard look at what we need to do to create a new ratings system and apply it.
We should all have our own voice in rating a show as it airs like we do when we go to the polls to vote in elections. This is America where every individual choice should be counted." +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Let's remind CBS that we ALL want to be counted. They know we're here. Are you going to count all of us this time CBS?
Once I became interested in the campaign to save Journeyman I visited their forum . I watched the show a few times and really liked it. I have a special place in my heart for fans who love a show only to see it cancelled.
These Journeyman fans are doing now what we all once did for Jericho and they want to offer a few tips and reminders about what is important.
1. Fans can be involved, even if you have just a few minutes a week. It's wonderful if you can give more of your time but every little bit helps.
2. The campaign can always use more help/suggestions and you can post in those threads on the forum if you're interested.
3. The actions that have the biggest impact on the network are mailing in Rice-a-Roni, sending letters and emails to the network, contacting advertisers. The letters and emails can be brief. The more people who write, the more impact the campaign has.
4. Post campaign action events and talk up the show on networking sites (myspace, facebook, etc), entertainment sites, DVR sites, TV sites.Tell friends and family. Spread the word and encourage fans to participate.Fans can help keep other fans informed by posting on the forums too.
5. Don't give up, be persistent. Let the networks know we want quality shows to remain on the air. There's a lot more information on the forum and there's a newsletter that goes out to forum members.
Thanks to you, Jericho is back! What an amazing job you have done so far. Now it's time to take it to the next level and CBS wants to arm you for the battle.
Each week, we will send the Rangers (and only the Rangers) a link to an exclusive clip to the upcoming episode. Only Rangers and their friends and families will be able to watch it. Feel free to send this link to everyone on your e-mail list. You are their key to seeing an exclusive clip of the show long before it airs. Let's make this thing grow!
Now here's the capper... if we get 1,000,000 hits to this website, CBS will send you a link to get the secret, alternate ending to the series! No matter what ending airs, you will be able to see the other ending.
So go nuts, again. Support Jericho and get a part of the show no one will ever see.
Here is a link to an exclusive clip from next Tuesday's episode. This link is a password protected link just for you. Below is the link with logline and password info:
"The rating system has been a hotly debated topic by consumers since last May, when fans of the Jericho television show (which aired its first episode of the second season last night) criticized questioned its accuracy and dismissal of online DVR viewership, which some estimates put at 58 to 70 percent of all cable households. Eventually, Jericho voices were joined by the fans of virtually every cancelled show.
While Nielsen has made changes since last May, including some semblance of DVR counts and video-on-demand (VOD) analytics, it continues to draw fire from, well, everyone. Enough so that Nielsen apologized for the “systemic problems in the delivery of its national ratings data” since the beginning of the 2007-08 TV season. Enough so that CBS and TiVo have an arrangement. Enough so that everyone is looking for alternative metrics while reporters mention that the rating system is less than perfect."
"Although "Jericho" placed third in total viewers behind ABC's "Boston Legal" and NBC's slot leading "Law & Order: SVU" repeat, it nearly matched NBC for the lead in the 18-49 demo.
Now for some positive spin. The "Jericho" renewal campaign was driven by the show's loyal online fan base -- something uncommon for CBS. And whether the network liked it or not, the first several episodes of the new season have been available on the Web as unsanctioned downloads for weeks now. It's safe to say that "Jericho" fans are also savvy enough to know they can catch the show in a variety of other ways, including TiVo and CBS' own website.
The strike can also be viewed as a mixed blessing for "Jericho," providing what seemed like a clear path against heavyweight scripted competition, but significantly lowering CBS' season averages and giving the network a smaller audience to promote fresh episodes to. Even Sunday's Grammys were down considerably."
"When the walkout started, ABC was averaging 11.6 million weekly viewers, Nielsen Media Research stats show. By the time the pickets signs were put down, it was 2 million viewers lighter.
CBS likewise was a big loser, falling from 12.2 million viewers to 11.1 million."
Excellent post about the fans' involvement in Jericho.
Amy has a post with links to many great Jericho articles you might have missed.
Thanks to everyone who was involved in bringing Jericho back. It was a massive undertaking that would not have been possible without ALL of us.
"UPDATE: NAMES OF STARS AND PRODUCERS FROM CBS-TV’S JERICHO TO APPEAR AT LOS ANGELES COMIC BOOK AND SCIENCE FICTION CONVENTION ON SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 17,2008 ANNOUNCED
Appearing on the CBS-TV JERICHO panel at 2:00 P.M. will be stars ESAI MORALES (joining the series in season two as Major Beck), KENNETH MITCHELL (Eric Green), BRAD BEYER (Stanley Richmond), ALICIA COPPOLA (Mimi Clark), JONATHAN E. STEINBERG (Co-Creator of JERICHO), Executive Producer CAROL BARBEE, Co-Executive Producers KARIM ZREIK and DAN SHOTZ. At 1:00 P.M. there will be an advance screening of the next week’s episode of JERICHO."
Rich of Copywrite Ink asks the important questions in this post:
"There are only three full days left before many of the questions surrounding Jericho, the television series given a reprieve last year, begin to shift from speculations and to undeniable facts. Starting Feb. 12 and for the weeks that follow, CBS executives will be considering which of two second season episodes shot will air on week seven.
Will that episode wrap the fan-inspired story forever or usher in a complete unabridged third season?"
"TVbytheNumbers.com hopes to be your home for Nielsen ratings data for Jericho. Beginning with the season 2 premiere on 2/12/2008 we will begin reporting data. We’ll have the overnight numbers up on our site (data Gods willing) on 2/13/08, and the final weekly LIVE plus SAME DAY DVR usage numbers will go up the following Tuesday (in the case of the premiere, we will post the final weekly numbers on 2/19/2008). We will include HH rating and share info, total viewers as well as number of viewers by the 18-49, 18-34, and 25-54 age demographic.
Once the 2008 ratings arrive, we will also create a Jericho ratings widget (like the Moonlight widget here) that we will put in this post for you to grab and put on your own website."
"Once upon a time, a really great show named Jericho was canceled. The fans rallied and convinced CBS to give it a second chance; while they were waiting for the seven new episodes to be produced and then aired, the network decided to re-run several of the first-season episodes.
That begat the Great Jericho Blogging Experiment.
Jericho fans from across the nation recapped episodes for Remote Access each week. And one day, two women who were nuts for Jericho decided they’d try something a little different.
And, thus, Edna and Margie were born.
Of course, like all things in life, it was slightly more and slightly less complicated than all that.
So I asked, in honor of the impending Season 2, Beth and Jane to answer some questions about how the ladies came about."
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