Jericho

Before Tuesday's "Jennings and Rall" episode of Jericho aired, executive producer Carol Barbee appeared at WonderCon in San Francisco to discuss the fate of the series.  She mentioned that the ratings for the third episode of the season would likely determine whether or not CBS chose to produce more episodes beyond the seven that were already completed.  If the ratings swung upward from the previous week, that could bode well, but if they faltered then CBS would most likely refuse to order more episodes.  Well, the ratings are in:  Jericho pulled in 6.9 million viewers on Tuesday night, which is a 7.7 percent increase over its audience from the previous week, and a 2.9 percent increase over the season 2 premiere.  What could this mean for the future of the series?

While visiting WonderCon on February 24, Barbee stated, "I think this next airing will probably tell the tale.  Our numbers have been OK, [but] not great.  Our [demographic] has been very good; they've been very happy with that.  But we'll see. ... If we trend up this week, I think we'll look pretty good.  If we don't trend up, or if we stay the same, I think we'll have to wait and see what they want to do with us.  I mean, they're going to air all seven; it's just a matter of how they feel about producing more."

The fact that Jericho had its highest ratings of the season certainly bodes well for the series, but it may be too little, too late.  CBS has recently given three new drama pilots the greenlight, meaning that they'll at least make it to the pilot stage if not further.  If CBS likes what they see in one of these pilots and believes that it could pull in major viewers, it's possible Jericho may be replaced.

Another thing to be considered is the fact that, though the show did experience a ratings increase, it was still the network's lowest rated show on Tuesday night.  It fell behind a rerun of NCIS and a new episode of Big Brother.

However, Jericho fans can take comfort in the fact that they won't have to wait long to discover the fate of the series.  CBS could announce a decision regarding Jericho as soon as early next week.


- Don Williams, BuddyTV Staff Columnist
Source: SyFy Portal
(Image courtesy of CBS)