Tuesday, March 25, 2008
Jericho Bombs Out...Again
Jericho was cancelled again this year. Last year it left with a startling cliffhanger and the fans rallied to save the show. CBS gave them a second season but then cancelled them again. The series finale airs tonight.
I'm glad they had a second season to tie up to main mystery of the show, who was responsible for the bombs. It turns out it was Halliburton. Well not really but the similarities between the fictional Jennings & Rall and Halliburtor are obvious. J&R became a big fixture this season in helping rebuild the western part of the country, reformed into the Allied States of America. They are embedded in the core of the bureaucracy and will end up owning almost everything. But it seems it was just one man in J & R who put this all together in order to eliminate J & R and what he saw as the corrupt government. We haven't seen this guy yet but we hear him on the phone. Tonight in the series finale, the mystery voice guy has stolen the last bomb and is planning on taking out Cheyenne, WY, the capitol of the ASA.
I heard they shot two different ending depending on whether or not they were renewed. Since they were cancelled we'll see that ending. There is no fan cry for renewal this time around.
Labels: Jericho
Wednesday, May 09, 2007
Jericho Finale
Tonight is the season finale of Jericho. The last two episodes have been very exciting concluding with the war between small town Jericho and slightly bigger neighboring small town New Bern. The season has been filled with several mysteries which have been satisfactorily resolved and some great stories. However it still remains the largest leap of suspension of disbelief of any show I'm currently watching.I can deal with the main premise: a group of terrorist set off twenty or so nukes in major US cities killing some 30 million people. That's a stretch but OK. However I have bigger problems dealing with these points. (1) There was a total breakdown of communication at the start of the season. Broadcasting centers are far more diversified than just the main urban areas. (2) The EMP which hit in episode 6 was far more devastating than the nukes. But what caused it? How far reaching was it? (3) Although the complete breakdown of the federal government makes for great storylines, I don't buy it. The military would not collapse without the Pentagon. And wasn't the Pentagon designed to mostly survive a nuke? (4) The countryside scenes are clearly rural Southern California, not Kansas. Of course it's cheaper to do this but I still get bothered by it. I grew up there so I know what it looks like. (5) The food shortages seem a little unlikely. Kansas produces significant amounts of food which it ships all over the globe. With nothing getting shipped out one would expect an abundance of food. As a fly-over state when I look down all I see are those irrigation circles. (6) An early season sub-plot was the missing planes that couldn't land at the nuked out cities so they landed on highways. I never bought this one. There are lots of small regional airports which wouldn't be ideal to land a 757, but much better than a two lane highway. (7) What happened to Canada and Mexico? Germany, Russia, and China have all sent aid but what of our neighbors. Trucking stuff in would seem cheaper than airdrops.
OK, so why do I still watch? The characters are good and the action of the war between the small towns is second only to the action sequences on 24. Great gunfights and explosions and stuff. Even though there's a lot of hurdles to believability, it's fun TV. I hope they get a second season.
Labels: Jericho
