'Jericho' S2: One war leads to another and fighting for truth, justice, and the American way

December 6, 3:59 AMTV on DVD ExaminerJohn Stahl

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'Jericho' cast members keep on truckin'

Before sharing my thoughts about the DVD set of the second season of "Jericho," I want to thank the rangers (a.k.a. freedom farmers) out there who took the time to write; your nice words do mean a great deal, and I appreciate you welcoming me into your community.

My first apology is that I have not had a chance to look at the material for which you provided a link. I plan to do so.I want you to know as well that I did send my very friendly contact at CBS the link to my entry on the first season of "Jericho" and called her attention to your comments. I also forwarded her your e-mails to tvdvdguy@gmail.com. I will do the same regarding this one.

I believe my contact when she said that she forwarded the link to CBS executives. A second season was nice, but one can almost say nuts to not offering more than seven episodes. As a side note, my contact mentioned as well that she worked on the show for a short time.

My second apology is for not knowing that the CW network has begun showing reruns of the show at 7:00 p.m. on Sunday nights; the funny thing is that I had removed "Jericho" from my Tivo wishlist a month ago and had also stopped checking the Tivo listings for it around that time. I had figured that it was not coming back. Thank you for not going all New Bern on my back forty for my not knowing about the show's return to the air.

I would like to comment as well that the fact that a large broadcast network has placed "Jericho" in primetime says something about the quality of the program and your campaign for a second season. I am purposefully avoiding providing many specifics regarding the episodes second season of "Jericho" that I watched on DVD the last couple of days; I do not want to deprive any "Jericho" virgins of the pleasure that I experienced seeing the season-long storyline unfold.

No, I did not feel compelled to smoke after watching the second season but did get up at 1:30 a.m. to get the thoughts that were keeping me awake into this entry. I also promise to call my fellow rangers in the morning.

I will say that I found the facts that the war that was waged in the first season lead to a second season war and that this war will lead to a third season war if the show returns very interesting; this happened regarding  many real-life conflicts.

Additionally, the one negative comment that my first entry prompted noted that I did not mention the sense of community that the show portrayed. I think that this was a stronger element in the second season than in the first.

The townspeople bonded during the first season by surviving a truly horrible ordeal and had done so by fighting together. However, there were also betrayals, broken contracts, and instances of neighbors holding each other at gun point.

The second season definitely united the townsfolks more by providing a clear enemy regrading how the power shifted in this season. Additionally, as my headline indicated, these characters fought for truth, justice, and the American way much harder than the other Kansas farmboy with whom they now share a network.

I do want to comment on what I consider to be a few flaws with the second season; I recognize that that the compressed production schedule and the need to tell 22 episodes worth of story in 7 episodes were factors.

I was disappointed that the story of the refugees was apparently ignored; surely, some folks who were away returned and wanted to reclaim their homes that refugees, who were contributing to the community, were occupying. I would have liked mention of this conflict.

Also, the fact that the second season seemed initially  to forget about teenage store owner and rebel with a cause (and claws) Dale was annoying. He did get some airtime midseason, but the writers seemed to leave him hanging.

On a different note, those of you who I e-mailed know that a mid-season twist really surprised and saddened me. One of the extra features stated that this was intentional and that the actor who it affected was o.k. with that. I found it interesting as well to learn that that actor's role was tailored to that person.

I would be very negligent as well if I did not mention that the DVD set of the second season included an alternate version of the season finale that offered a much different ending than the version that aired.

If the CW does give us a third season of "Jericho," I would love to see a cross-over of this show with the other one about the aforementioned Kansas farmboy. Jake Green and Clark Kent could make a formidable team against a Luther Corp./Jennings & Rall joint effort. Maybe Green could even become a honorary member of the Justice League like the "Superfriends" space monkey.

Additionally your response to my thoughts regarding the first season, exceptional extras in the second season portion of the complete DVD set of "Jericho" that discussed coming back for the second season and that provided the folks who campaigned for that season a very nice video thank you/love note that included nice comments from a CBS executive, and my own renewed interest in the show make me want to become a freedom farmer regarding a third season.

I am very aware that I am a z-level celebrity and cannot make this page all about "Jericho" but can mention the show regularly. I am also glad to speak with any higher-level media person who would like to hear my thoughts regarding it. I think further that the show itself and the fight to keep it going provide enough material for a seminar, if not an entire college course. I am glad to do what I can to support any such effort.

I apologize again for not being up on the state of the campaign for a third season, if only one that is direct-to-DVD, but have a suggestion regarding CBS or CW to make this happen. Nothing seems more American than apple pie, and cellophane-wrapped snack-size portions of this tasty treat are very easy and inexpensive to mail. Because of this, and because of the success of the nuts campaign, I think that sending network executives these desserts would show that that the support for this show is as strong as ever.

To be fair, I am happy to give my address to any network executive who wants to retaliate by sending me red tape that represents the difficulty of getting any show on the air. Alternatively, they can just send me money to represent the high cost of producing television programs. LOL

I want to mention too that I will watch the bonus disc in the complete series set and comment on it next week. I simply wanted to share my thoughts regarding the second season while they were much fresher in my mind than the apple pies that I hope will be winging their way through the mail next week.

Before signing off on this much too long entry and getting some sorely needed sleep, I would like to call the attention of you folks to a similar effort by fans of 'firefly' to bring that show back. They ran a great campaign that resulted in producing a great movie and that I hope results in more adventures involving Mal and his space pirates.

Please do attach your comments as additions to this entry or e-mail them to tvdvdguy@gmail.com. Also, please keep me informed regarding efforts for a third season.