CBS looks to resurrect 'Jericho'

Devoted fans rescue series with online revolt
By JOSEF ADALIAN
"Jericho" might not be nuked after all.

Hoping to take advantage of a devoted fan based -- and the new multiplatform era -- CBS is readying a plan to bring back the drama sometime next season. Net will likely order seven or eight episodes for broadcast.

Eye killed "Jericho" last month, leaving the show off its fall schedule and declaring it dead (Daily Variety, May 16). Normally, that would've been the end of things.

But fans of the show revolted, launching a massive online-based campaign to save the show. Their gimmick: Deluging the Eye's Gotham and L.A. HQ with bags of... nuts. Nearly 20 tons, at last count, according to a Web site tracking electronic orders for the nuts. Protesters even found the cell phone number of a CBS exec, flooding him with calls and forcing him to change his number.

Such protests are hardly unprecedented, going all the way back to the failed online-based campaign to save ABC's beloved "My So-Called Life."

But meat-and-potatoes CBS execs aren't used to such attention. Despite its status as TV's most-watched web, its sked isn't heavy with buzz-friendly skeins (reality staples such as "Survivor" and "Big Brother" notwithstanding).

CBS execs are no doubt hoping to take advantage of all the buzz surrounding the show's demise -- and likely revival -- to help further reshape the net's image away from the McGeezer web. Net's just greenlit several new fall shows with very un-CBS themes (vampires, musicals, etc.), and saving "Jericho" fits right into that media gameplan.

What's more, CBS no longer has to depend solely on primetime broadcast plays for its revenue. Between DVR playback ("Jericho" added nearly 10% more viewers when DVR figures were counted) and the now broadly accepted practice of streaming shows across the Net, CBS could try to make "Jericho" the poster child for a new business model.

Eye's new CBS Audience Network, for example, distributes full-length episodes (and clips) to partners across the Net, from AOL to Veoh. It's easy to see episodes of "Jericho" -- perhaps with bonus footage? -- serving as a key draw for CAN.

CBS wasn't talking Tuesday, but industry insiders said final details with cast could be worked out by Wednesday or Thursday. "Jericho" showrunner Carol Barbee, who's taken a similar role on the Eye's midseason "Swingtown," would likely work on both shows.

Barbee did not respond to an interview request, but told LATimes.com that a deal repped the dawning of a new paradigm for networks.

"I really think that what has been learned here is that networks are going to have to look at numbers and who is watching their show and who is downloading their show in a different way from here on out," Barbee said. "I think they have to understand that the Nielsens are not telling the story anymore and that the 18-49 demographic they're all so keen on is online and that's how increasingly they are getting their news and entertainment."

Memo to "Friday Night Lights" fans: Just in case, get ready to send some footballs to Ben Silverman.