A Monster Fan Interview: Lisibee

Please allow me to introduce you to my friend Lisibee, Beth, Edna. Now, Lisibee/Beth is a wonderful person who loves Jericho.

Margie: She also loves that Sprague and we all know Jake belongs with Emily.

Anyway, Beth is kind, generous, supportive, has a delightful sense of humor, and is half of Margie and Edna.

Margie: The worst half if you ask me.

As I was saying, Lisibee supports all Jericho projects, diggs like a pro, comments, and posts on the message boards. Please meet this passionate Jericho fan.




1. What do you like best about Jericho?

What I like best about Jericho has really evolved over time. Initially, what drew me to the show was the opportunity to watch Skeet Ulrich and Gerald McRaney. But as I continued to watch the show, my favorite thing about Jericho became what so many other people have said: this show draws you in and makes you think about what you would do should something this catastrophic happen in your town. How would you handle it? Would you be able to step up and do what was necessary in order to survive, or would you crumble in time of crisis? (We all hope that we can be stoic when we need to, but who really knows until we’re tested, like the characters on Jericho have been?)

After having watched the entire season multiple times, I’ve realized that my absolute favorite thing about Jericho is how each and every female character is portrayed as strong and capable. All of the women on the show, even the irritating ones, are “tough broads” in their own right. I love the writers, producers, and actresses for that.



2. Who is your favorite actor/actress and why?

Sprague Hayden--she does such a good job with Heather, portraying her as the serious, smart, and slightly neurotic girl-next-door. She’s so earnest in her portrayal, which I love. I cannot tell you how happy I was when we found out Heather was alive--I think my neighbors heard me yelling triumphantly, “I KNEW IT!!”

However, Bob Stephenson is a close second. What he manages to do with Jimmy’s role is nothing short of fantastic. Jimmy may seem sort of bumbling sometimes, but you know he’s just a nice guy who wants to keep his town safe. And maybe provide a little marriage/family counseling along the way.



3. Should people buy the DVD? Why or why not?

People should absolutely buy the DVD, if they can afford to. Not only would they have a copy of one of the best shows to come along in a long time, that they can watch over and over again, but they will also be contributing indirectly to keeping the show on the air longer than 7 episodes. CBS will be monitoring DVD sales, and they’ll be able to see that there’s enough demand for the show to make it fiscally feasible to continue production. Hey, it happened with other shows (i.e., Family Guy), why not Jericho?



4. What is your favorite thread on the RFJ board and why?

My favorite thread on RFJ…that’s a toughie. (If you’ve been paying attention at all during this interview, you’ll see that I am physically incapable of narrowing things down to just one choice.) Being a vidder myself, I’m partial to the “Fan Videos” threads. (I’m constantly amazed to see what people come up with, we have some very talented people in this fandom.) I also like the “Sent to Blackjack” threads, which are a fun way for people to interact who maybe hadn’t before. Really though, I love all of RFJ.


5. How can we attract new viewers to Jericho? To the message boards?

This is something I struggle with all the time. I think the best way to do it is talk about the show—to everyone you see. Talk it up to your friends, talk about it to strangers, find ways to bring it up in conversation without being obnoxious. Ask people if they’ve heard of the show—if they haven’t, direct them to jerichorises.com and tell them they can watch the show online. You never know if the person you’re talking to is part of a Nielsen family. Tell them about the message boards, where there are so many people discussing all aspects of the show. There is the main CBS board of course, but there are also various other boards (RFJ, Jericho Rally Point, Nuts For Jericho) if people don’t feel comfortable jumping right in to the big pond. However, the official CBS site should be every new fan’s first stop.

One of the things that I’ve also done to try and attract new viewers is to promote the show through the fan videos. I send around the YouTube “Promote Jericho” playlist that I put together to everyone I know; it’s in my email signature line, and I actively pimp the videos in as many places as I can. YouTube is such a popular video site, and the more visible and numerous the fan-made Jericho videos are, the more likely it is that non-viewers will watch them and become curious enough to watch the show.

YouTube Promote Jericho video playlist:

http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=3CFA3B2D80C2AAF4



6. Didn't you create Edna of the Margie/Edna duo?

Yes, I did, although she’d be nothing without Margie! Edna and Margie came about because you and I wanted a creative way to write the “Casus Belli” recap for Amy Vernon’s Guest Blogger Experiment over at the Remote Access TV blog. We realized after we were done with that recap that Edna and Margie had a whole lot more to say, and they both just took on a life of their own from there. Edna and Margie went on to recap “Why We Fight” for Remote Access, and they currently answer fan-submitted questions in a regular advice column.



7. What do you love about those two?

Well, they get away with saying pretty much whatever they want to, in grand eccentric old lady fashion. Although they are gruff and sometimes cutting with each other, they have a sisterly bond that is strong. They have their fingers on the pulse of the Jericho community, and they are privy to all sorts of information. But most of all, they are just so darn fun to write!


Any more comments?

I have had such fun being a Jericho fan these last four months. Prior to the show’s cancellation, I was the only person I knew who watched the show, so I enjoyed it in private. On the eve of the cancellation, I visited the various message boards for the first time, and learned what a large online fandom existed for the show. Then once the word came down from CBS that they weren’t bringing the show back, I joined in and voiced my outrage--primarily in the form of my “Dear CBS” YouTube video, which much to my surprise ended catching the eye of NY Times’ Virginia Heffernan, who used it in one of her “Screens” blogs. I realized at that point just how many unhappy Jericho fans were out there, and I tossed my hat into the ring with everyone else in the “Save Jericho” campaign. Nothing’s been the same since. People banded together in such a short time with a common goal, many of us going outside of our comfort zone to reach out to strangers to promote this fantastic show. I’ve learned a lot about myself over the past four months, and I’m never again going to fall into the trap of thinking that one voice doesn’t make a difference. Because you know what? It can and it did, and I’m so very proud of all of us.

Here’s to many more seasons of Jericho! Keep up the fight, Rangers!