Antiquated Nielsen

"Of course, earlier I touched on the dangers that television programs face in the relevance of the soon to be antiquated Nielsen system as more and more shows are DVR’d and downloaded from iTunes, as Jericho showed. After Jericho got trashed in the ratings for it’s beleaguered 2nd season, it was the most downloaded show on iTunes. The math (logic) just doesn’t add up, but the advertising dollars do, as far as network execs are concerned, and their fat paychecks are dependent on!

Despite the disparities that we, the viewers are suffering when quality content gets dumped, they say that studios are trying to get ahead of this technological deficit. (Great, then bring back Jericho and Journeyman!)

Despite putting shows online with limited advertising, the revenue from those efforts is only a small fraction of what they make. They say it’s due to the smaller internet audience, and that might be true."

Happy July 4th

Lotta Nuts

"The Hollywood Reporter received a whole lotta nuts on Monday.

About 1,050 pounds of nuts flooded the THR mailroom, causing rampant chaos -- if "rampant chaos" can be defined as annoyed mailroom employees having to maneuver around 42 boxes of shelled nuts.

"Jericho" fans famously bombarded CBS last year with about 50,000 pounds of nuts to help persuade the network to pick up the show for a second season. CBS executives -- displaying a mix of pride and annoyance -- donated the nuts to charitable causes.

THR, however, is not a fancy broadcast network with a private commissary and neighboring Grove, but an oft-frantic Mid-Wilshire newsroom. When you're on a daily deadline and have skipped lunch because Tim Russert died, you need a desk drawer stocked with protein. Deliveries of free snacks, in other words, tend to be attacked like a UNICEF airdrop. So one of the 25-pound boxes of nuts that was brought to the newsroom was well-received, and by Tuesday several other boxes had vanished from the mailroom."

City of Oldsmar: Nielsen

"Nielsen doesn't deserve support

Once again the City Council of Oldsmar has given in to big business rather than support its citizens who elected them.

Of course, the Chamber of Commerce/Horrors has entered the fray and you know who they would support. Sure wouldn't be labor. They're one of the reasons Florida has such a low wage structure in the first place.

Now as to Nielsen being the largest employer in the city, how can that be when they're firing their longtime employees? Having Tata Consultancy Services supply employees from India does not make Nielsen an employer, only a renter of bodies.

How can anyone in their right mind justify giving such backing to such a bad citizen as Nielsen?"

Blackjack Fairgrounds: Jericho Blog Carnival

The Monster is proud to present this carnival and many thanks go to Amy Vernon and Gwen for allowing it to continue. Thank you to all those who have participated. Let's go!



Phil from New Film Dimension gave permission to post about his blog entry:
Jericho: Still Strong and Supporting It.

This was a nice message of support and a wonderful collage of Jericho photographs.



The Jericho Online Crew gave permission to post about the Jericho Online game.
There is a description of the game on the home page. I played this game in the last round and it's a lot of fun. The next round starts on August 18th. The game staff are very responsive to questions and suggestions. Improvements to the game are made between the rounds. They recently added a forum, so you can talk to fellow players.



Wes at the Wycliffe Papers gave permission to post about his new story.
Wes e-mailed this about his story:
"Jericho -- The Third Event aims to provide, in narrative form, a pseudo-third season for the beloved television series. Characters from the first season will make surprise appearances, obscure and mysterious players from the second season will come into play, and new personae will also be thrown into the fray. The Third Event involves the course of the Second War Between the States, or The Second American Civil War, and consists of the military campaign between the ASA and the USA as well as political intrigue on the national and international level. The adventures involving characters from Jake Green to President Snowden and Valente to President Tomarchio promise to bring a justified extension to the story of Jericho."



Gwen is submitting these three links:
There have been two wonderful articles on Lennie James
Lennie James's Open Letter

Fallout: Damilola was just the beginning but I also stumbled upon this rare treat a video of Lennie James performing a speech by Brutus in Julus Caesar.



Gwen is submitting an article from Naples Daily News on American values in TV shows
AMERICAN VALUES.


Gwen is submitting an article from Helium
Jericho: Fiction or our possible future?


Jane and Beth of Margie and Edna's Basement present:
Exclusive: Jennie Sword Visits The Basement.



Amy of Remote Access submitted:
Jericho keeps making the news.


Terocious from Jericho Junction submits:
Jericho: Small Town on the Big Screen?

Debby submitted this entry from Jericho Junction:

The Great Jericho Rewatch

The next edition of Blackjack Fairgrounds will be published on July 30th, with a submission deadline of July 25th. Submissions can be e-mailed to blackjack@jerichojki.com

The Blackjack Fairgrounds thanks you for your patronage.

Nielsen Employees: Oldsmar

"Nielsen Media Research warned its Oldsmar employees Tuesday that more layoffs are coming as the company continues to shift technical work to contract companies abroad.

Through 2009, the TV ratings giant will shed 170 technical support and software jobs in Oldsmar, moving the work to TATA Consultancy Services, an Indian-owned global services company that has taken over local positions at Nielsen.

"What we're trying to do is enlarge our capacity and strengthen our cost effectiveness," said spokesman Gary Holmes.

The cuts come on the heels of Nielsen and the City of Oldsmar last week ending an economic development deal that gave Nielsen incentives for adding jobs in the region — a deal that helped secure Nielsen's operations in the area.

When that phase of job cuts is complete, the company's local employment will drop to 1,300, from about 1,500 this spring. There are about 235 contract employees on the site as well."

Jennie Sword In The Basement

The lovely and talented Jennie Sword visited Margie and Edna's Basement and a great time was had by all. It's not the usual kind of interview so please check it out.



"Marketers are already scrambling to figure out how best to adjust their 30-second TV spots for viewing via the web and on iPod screens. But as the nation prepares for the big shift from analog to digital TV on Feb. 17 next year, what could be a major conundrum has opened up for advertisers who love to make use of the wider high-definition screen.

While "standard definition" -- read "old-fashioned" -- TV sets have for decades featured a 4:3 screen-size proportion, high-definition sets and the programming created for them have a much more rectangular 16:9 scope. Thus, ads crafted for high-definition broadcasts that show up on standard-definition sets could have their right and left sides digitally sliced off."

Actors Strike

"Reuters reports as Hollywood recovers from a tumultuous writers walkout that ended in February, U.S. TV networks are bracing for a possible actors strike that could delay the upcoming fall TV season. Jitters over renewed labor unrest have mounted in recent days as contract talks between the Screen Actors Guild and the major film and TV studios have grown increasingly rancorous with little or no sign that a settlement is near.The three-year labor pact covering film and prime-time TV work for 120,000 SAG members is due to expire in two weeks. "

Look Out Nielsen

"The Microsoft-Google war has moved from the web to the TV. Microsoft today announced it will buy Navic Networks, an addressable advertising technology provider that enables marketers to dynamically target and measure audiences based on patented technology available in 35 million set-top boxes nationwide.

Scott Ferris, general manager of Microsoft's advertiser and publisher solutions group, told Ad Age the Waltham, Mass.-based Navic allows the company to "take advantage of new-media formats through interactive TV and the measurement of TV viewing for the purpose of having a more efficient marketplace for buyers and sellers." Neither company could disclose specific financial terms of the acquisition.

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer believes that all media will be digital within the next 10 years -- and that means TV content will be delivered over IP networks.

"Within 10 years, no consumption of anything we think of as media today -- print, TV -- will in fact be delivered over internet technology. It will all be digital," said Mr. Ballmer at the Association of National Advertisers' annual conference in October."

Nielsen: Reading Online

"Print is having some issues at the moment, which may be like saying New Orleans took on some water. Insults fly, playground-style, about how long one published entity or another will be alive. Microsoft's CEO says no ink-on-paper newspapers or magazines by 2018; someone else says there'll be no Microsoft by then either. Newsweek will be gone in five years, predicts a columnist willing to bet dinner on it; I prefer steak, the magazine's editor shoots back.

A study released last week by the Internet research firm Nielsen Online revealed a part of the problem: People in the computer age are probably reading more than they ever have, so it's difficult to convince them to do more of it. It's the same 24-hour day that's always existed, recalling Mark Twain's quote about the wisdom of investing in land because they're not making any more of it.

People on average spend two hours a day, or more in many cases, reading online at work or home, according to the latest Nielsen study involving about 30,000 users.

Little wonder that they have less inclination, or time, to read apart from that. If my job required me to go to the gym for two hours a day, I'd probably have less need, and even less desire, to go before or after work."

Blackjack Fairgrounds Blog Carnival Returns

"Blackjack Fairgrounds, the Jericho Blog Carnival started by Amy Vernon at Remote Access, is back open for business. Amy has agreed to let JKI take over the operation of Blackjack Fairgrounds.

For those of you who have not heard of a Blog Carnival, it is a collection of links about a particular subject. Blackjack Fairgrounds is looking for submissions that are of interest to Jericho fans. These submissions can be announcements, articles, blog entries, discussions, fan fiction, humor or anything else that might interest a Jericho fan. As long as you can provide a link you can submit it! The submission deadline is June 25th, and the current edition of Blackjack Fairgrounds will open on June 30th. Submissions can be made here or you can e-mail blackjack@jerichojki.com.

Blackjack Fairgrounds is also looking for hosts. If you want Blackjack Fairgrounds to come to your corner of the Jericho fandom, then offer to host one of the road show editions. Our host for the June road show edition is The Monster."

BSG and Jericho

"Welcome to the weekly So Say We All: The Battlestar Galactica Blog Carnival.

An excellent penultimate episode of the first half of the last season. Wow. That was a mouthful.

Yes, I am extremely sad to say, this Friday’s episode, Revelations, is the mid-season finale. No word yet on when the second half will be aired, but conventional wisdom has it at next spring. I might have an aneurysm before then."



"Series: Jericho: The Complete Second Season comes out on DVD next Tuesday, the show itself having survived numerous corporate assaults, a premature cancellation and then a second cancellation after CBS gave fans seven episodes to tie up most of the loose plot threads. I was a late bloomer to the series but having watched it last year in the form of the boxed set I reviewed (Jericho Season One), I found it much more appealing than the intermittent schedule it was placed on by the network. Before I go into detail about this upcoming set where the entire season was compressed into a mere seven episodes on two discs, here's a recap of my comments from before to set the stage for newcomers (because if you're a fan of the show, you'll already have several copies pre-ordered to send out to your closest friends)."

The Upfront Market

"When it comes to the $9 billion-plus upfront market, it's easy for marketers to get distracted by the horse race of TV networks trying to outdo each other in terms of price increases or volume. Do that this year, and you'll lose sight of the dangers that may lie ahead when it comes to getting your ads on TV.

"Lost in all the numbers, however, is a serious consideration of the ramifications advertisers are bound to face come fall. With more viewers getting entertainment and information from the web and other emerging venues, the networks' supply of ratings is dwindling -- and so is a marketer's ability to get ads on TV without advance planning.

"The question that really remains is: What will be left later on in scatter?" asked Gary Carr, senior VP-director of national broadcast at independent media buyer TargetCast TCM, referring to ad time that is purchased closer to a show's air date. "Are [the networks] going to higher sellout levels, and only a little bit will be left later on?"

Hallmark and CBS

"Jed Clampett of the Beverly Hillbillies could be a Hallmark ornament hanging on Christmas trees this year.

Hallmark will get access to CBS Consumer Products' entire television library thanks to a licensing deal that will be announced this week.

The new agreement not only opens the doors to more than 150 properties including Beverly Hills 90210, Happy Days and Rawhide for greeting cards, but also for party goods, collectibles and other gift categories.

The deal could be lucrative for venerable CBS as it will receive a portion of online sales and purchases in more than 43,000 retail outlets, including Hallmark Gold Crown stores.

"There is an emotional connection with these shows, and there's nothing more emotional than having your brand used as a social expression," said Liz Kalodner, evp/gm of CBS Consumer Products, New York.

CBS' TV icons have been grouped under an umbrella dubbed Television City. A Television City logo will be included on Hallmark products and in upcoming marketing outreaches.

Television City shows are in the process of being licensed for use in other categories and already have been tapped by University Games for board games and Steve & Barry's and NTD Apparel for T-shirts and other clothing.

CBS and Hallmark, meanwhile, are preparing anniversary promotions this year for The Twilight Zone (50th), Rawhide (50th), The Brady Bunch (40th) and Happy Days (35th)."

The Jericho Store

Have you been to the Jericho Store?

New E-Bay Jericho Items Auction

MaryP and AlasJericho are at it again. This time they are trying to raise a few bucks to create a press kit and a secure a substantial quantity of nuts to try and bring some attention to our fantastic billboard! More details on this initiative will be posted soon, but have a look at our e-Bay auctions and consider bidding early and often to help us raise the money for this phase of the Sell Jericho initiative!



Jericho Online: The Game

"You are the mayor of a town that survived the attacks. It's your job to keep your people safe. Provide them with all they need to survive but beware, there are other towns who survived, and some of those towns out there will do anything to get your supplies. Make sure you provide your people with their needs and build up defences so you can fight any other towns who wants to steal from you. Whatever you do, keep your town on the map."

Nielsen: Still Struggling

"NBC Universal and Nielsen have decided to collaborate on new sales measures using data from TV ratings, online video streaming and consumer activity based on specific industry categories. It's just the latest step by a TV network to cobble together information for advertisers that goes beyond the typical reach-and-frequency ratings that have been the benchmark of the business for decades.

"The pact comes as more advertisers are demanding measurements which take into account the new ways consumers are getting their entertainment and information. As more homes secure broadband connections, consumers' ability to watch TV programs and other forms of video entertainment online is increasing. So media outlets are looking for ways to measure viewing across different media venues, not just that taking place in front of the big screen in the living room. Marketers, meanwhile, are eager to discover just which ads lead consumers to purchase their products."

More Anger At Nielsen

"New York's television stations are mad as hell at Nielsen Media Research. And after years of complaints about the monopoly that provides ratings data, local TV executives say they aren't going to take it anymore.

Blaming a ratings slide on the company's measurement system, the stations have begun talking to potential competitors about services that could supplement or eventually replace Nielsen's local people meters, which made their controversial debut in 2004.

But now, stations say they have no choice but to find other measurement sources. They insist that the company simply doesn't sample enough homes to provide accurate ratings for a market as big as New York.

Nielsen's critics argue that in a multichannel universe, the people meters' sample panel of 800 households is insufficient to measure a marketplace of 7.4 million television households. Those figures add up to a ratio of one sample for every 9,000 households.

“The sample size for the local people meters is too small, and it is destroying the market,” gripes a station executive. “Everybody is looking at alternatives.”

All of the executives interviewed for this article spoke on the condition of anonymity because of agreements with Nielsen not to criticize it in the press."

Disconnecting Nielsen

"Today is the day. The nice folks from the Nielsen company are coming out to disconnect all their equipment. Now that our commitment is over I can tell you that we have been a Nielsen family for the last two years. This is the second time we have been a part of the Nielsen Ratings system and it’s kind of a hoot knowing that what you watch on tv influences the ratings at least somewhat. One of our technicians told us we represented 60,000 households. Wow, that’s alot of folks channel surfing.

"Even though we represented 60,000 households of viewers, Jericho was still canceled. Moonlight was still canceled. I’m not convinced my Nielsen vote helped at all there. But I watched faithfully and always made sure Devoted Spouse and I were both logged in on the remote."



"Nielsen, the fumbling audience measurement company notorious for snapping up the competition instead of building a better product for market, is doing the print industry a favor and promising not to get involved in measuring its audience. Even though its new “anywhere/anytime” initiative promised to be able to measure all media consumption, David Calhoun’s band of incompetents won’t be treading on FAS-FAX territory.

Not only that: Nielsen is looking to get out of print entirely."

Fans Say: Bring Back Bela

The Bela Talbot Movement

Please sign the petition to bring her back to Supernatural.

"he CW is a network that has some of the best television shows on today. One of their standout shows is Supernatural. Supernatural is about two brothers, Sam & Dean, who hunt demons, ghosts, vampires, etc.. Jared Padalecki and Jensen Ackles are of course the two main stars, but the show also has an awesome cast of recurring characters, some who have made a bigger impact then others. One of the characters that has made the most impact on the show is Bela Talbot (played by Lauren Cohan), who is a beautiful but menacing thief that always manages to screw over the two brothers for money or priceless artifacts. Just recently her character was killed off, but the show is called Supernatural so it is possible for her to be brought back. She needs to come back for another season because she has provided us with some of the most memorable moments on the show and she also has excellent on-screen chemistry with the boys (especially Jensen). The Bela Talbot Movement has begun. "BBB"

The Women of Supernatural- Part II

"Which is ironic because I ignored Supernatural for ages for the sole reason that I'd read discussions of its problematic treatment of women, framed to suggest a conscious backlash against BtVS (Now BtVS, at its most basic level, was of course about subverting the horror movie cliché of the blonde girl victim, and sure enough Supernatural - in its very first episode - has not one but two blonde women meeting horrible ends in order to further the plot and motivate our two (male) protagonists). And - given that - it's doubly ironic my fannishness has reached critical mass now, when SPN fandom is currently exploding over the subject of misogyny in the series."



What do other fans think? Here's a comment from Kricka:

"I have just recently read some stuff that blames Kripke and the fans of being misogynisitic, and I think that is bunk! There are women on the show that are weak, ones that are bad, and ones that are very capable. Just like in real life. I take offense in the notion that all women must be portrayed as strong, brilliant and feisty, and only that. Because as humans, we come in all forms.

"There happens to be a lot of demons in the show who are women, but I think that is just because the main characters are men, and it works storywise to have a beautiful, alluring woman to try and trap a man. There are female characters who regularly take charge, and don't let those boys push them around.

"I suppose my only complaint would be the plethora of blondes (really, there are a ton of them), and that Ellen's character was supposedly dumped because the actress was too old. She was awesome! It would be nice to have more older characters on TV in general, but this is a negative that happens in ALL television, not just Supernatural."



Finally, a comment from TRoss:

"At first glance it might seem easy to pigeon-hole the ladies of Supernatural as either damsels in distress (how many grateful kisses have been bestowed upon those boys?) or whorish demons (ever notice how many of the actual demons are women?). But the truth is, Supernatch has done a bang up job of representing both genders equally. As it stands, there have been about 20 malicious male beings, and approximately 20 phantom femme fatales (yeah, I actually counted). And when it comes to representing the fairer sex, the ratio of damsels in distress versus smart & sassy ladies is just as equally represented. For every preacher's daughter or helpless mom, we've also seen a feisty art dealer, or an even more feisty barmaid. Or a Bela and a Ruby.

"But the real problem lies not in how female characters are represented on the show, but rather, why they don't stick around. Even their mother finds little screen time on the show. Show creator Kripke often speaks about how attuned he is to the opinions of the fans, and takes a lot of pride in listening to them. While that's really flattering for fans, that's the WORST thing you could do for your story. Negative fan reactions are responsible for the departure of at least two of the show's few recurring female characters - Jo (Dean's feisty love interest), and now Bela. Kripke's getting paid to create the story, not the fans, and this is not American Idol - fan input is NOT required. It's Kripke's damn story, and if he thought Bela's storyline had promise, he should have had the balls to see it through. A very wise, and very successful writer-producer by the name of Joss Whedon (anyone ever hear of a small little show called "Buffy the Vampire Slayer"?) had this to say when it came to fan opinions: "Don't give people what they WANT, give them what they NEED."

"Bela may not have been well-liked to begin with (god knows I didn't like her), but turning fan opinion around through a great reveal would have been highly rewarding for the audience. A prime example - Sawyer on Lost. He started out at the bottom of the opinion polls, but after a well-crafted reveal, he's become one of the most popular and beloved characters on the show. I'm not saying Bela would have reached that stature, but she had promise - a lot of promise based on the short reveal we were given before she was given the ax - and the actress who played her, Lauren Cohan, her was phenomenal.

"And then there's Jo - what a wasted opportunity that was. From the beginning we've been led to believe what Dean's character wants most in life, and believes he can never have, is a family and someone to love. Well there was Jo - Dean's equal in both feistiness and heart. How rewarding would it have been for the audience to witness Dean find his way to happiness with someone who was his equal, and brought out the best in him? Now that would have been character representing the women positively on the show - something besides the damsel or the whore. And a great character to fill the female void on the show, as well as in the boys' lives.

"As for Ruby, she seems to be as equally hated by fans as Bela was, and therefore probably not long for this world. But come on, Supernatural fans, we need some other characters with which the boys can interact - someone their characters can grow from through their interaction - because really, how many times can they kill off Dean?"

Thank you LisiBee, Kricka, and TRoss for your thoughts and insights. How do you feel, readers?