Jericho has wrapped up filming of it's “experimental” seven-episode second season and depending on how this year's crop of fall debuting shows performs, the flailing series may either return as early as next month or as late as January next year.  If anyone of CBS' first year programs this year, namely, Cane, Moonlight, Kid Nation and Viva Laughlin get prematurely yanked off the air due to poor showing, an hour-long time slot could suddenly pave the way for an early Jericho return.

For Jericho executives, the time consideration is becoming an increasingly urgent concern, as Jericho needs as much momentum as it can muster going into its dry-run season.  The fate of the series rests heavily on viewer support, with CBS possibly quick on the draw to give the show ultimate finality should it fail to rack up sufficient numbers.

“There's definite concern [about viewer interest waning], which is why we hope to get on the air as soon as possible,” Carol Barbee, executive producer on Jericho, said Wednesday during the show's first season DVD release party held at Crimson nightclub in Hollywood.

As early as now, even with Jericho still waiting in the wings for its scheduled airdate, Barbee has already covered her bases with two possible endings for the series, in the event that CBS once again suddenly decides to cancel them like it did last season.

"The ending that we planned was always meant to be a payoff for the seven-episode arc," Barbee pointed out.  "It won't close off the whole story but it will show you where we would go in a third season.  [If the show isn't renewed,] it gives you a huge mythology so that you understand so much about what has happened.  We have a story broken so it tells a complete story.  By episode seven you are going to be very satisfied.  We packed an entire 22-episode season into seven shows, there's a lot of mythology answered.”


-Rosario Santiago, BuddyTV Staff Columnist
Source: TV Guide
(Image Courtesy of watchingjericho.com)