(S01E01) I think I can say without much hesitation that CBS is going for the Lost crowd here. An ongoing mystery involving a nuclear (?) explosion that happens outside of a small town, cutting off all communication between the small town and the outside world. What happened? Was it an accident, another country attacking the country, aliens? Something else completely? But a show like Lost, one that grabs the imagination and fan fervor at an incredible level, is a rare thing. Can Jericho do it too?Skeet Ulrich plays Jake Green, who comes back to his hometown of Jericho, Kansas. He's a bit of a black sheep of his family and has had a falling out with his father (Gerald McRaney), the town's mayor. Plus he has business to conduct and old girlfriends to see and old friends to run into, but all of that is interrupted by the explosion. Not to mention a school bus that has crashed, carrying a teacher and her kids, one of whom needs emergency medical help that only Ulrich is around to perform.
What I like about this pilot is that it seems to be going for that small-town paranoia thing, the way that 50s sci-fi movies used to do and Rod Serling was so good at on The Twilight Zone. If it sticks with that, and we really don't know what the hell is going on for several episodes and the mystery and tension in the small town starts to get bigger and bigger, then that could be something interesting. At the same time, I don't think this show is going to get the same amount of time to build the mystery and give the reveals the way that Lost was, so hopefully there's going to be at least a little clarity in upcoming eps.
Ulrich is OK in the lead role I guess, but it's the supporting characters that are even more intriguing, including McRaney and Pamela Reed as his wife and Ulrich's mom. And the other Jericho townspeople we'll get to know: Ulrich's ex-girlfriend, the tough teen with the heart of gold whose parents might be dead from another blast in Atlanta, the storeowners, the deaf girl, the guys who carry guns and riot, and everyone else.
And what's with all these shows using pop songs as emotional short cuts and mood setters? Hey, nothing really against doing that, but in the first 6 minutes Jericho uses three different pop songs to grab the younger audience.
The last scene in the episode shows one of the characters driving near the outskirts of town and coming across a bunch of dead animals on the ground, as the camera pulls back. I think the show is going for some sort of dramatic "reveal" here, but it wasn't that dramatic, because I think viewers have already assumed that things like that have happened anyway. So the ending is sort of blah, but the premise is certainly intriguing.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
9-20-2006 @ 10:05PM
Jake said...
I thought it was a solid pilot. A lot of different storylines to follow:
Potential Love triangle between Skeet, ex-girlfriend, and new girl from the school bus
Green family dynamics
Mysterious Black Guy in town... is he a con?
Tough teen story line... been done before but could be good.
McRainy's mayor character struggling with his opponent for Alpha male (I hope this wasnt resolved at the end)
Then the obvious one: What was the extent of the fallout. Looks like it could be another good study of human nature, aka Lost.
Beauty of it is that it's on before Lost!
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9-20-2006 @ 9:49PM
David said...
a few comments - too sappy at the start, too cheesy at the end...the mayor's speech from the bus was very 'WOLVERINES!'...the token african american who knows too much for his own good...as for the reveal, pretty small scale for something so major
I'll give it another 2-3 weeks to see if it gets better, but I'm not optamistic - oh well
lastly - I just couldn't get past Ulrich's brother - Everytime he appeared on screen I thought I was looking at a bearded Eli Manning
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9-20-2006 @ 9:56PM
Clint said...
Yeah, the pop songs really bothered me. It just doesn't fit with "small-town" or "nuclear disaster".
It was an ok show, but not great. I'll give it a chance, but I'm already pretty invested in Lost, so I'm really not too interested getting into another complicated mystery series.
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9-20-2006 @ 10:34PM
hessian said...
It never ceases to amaze me how some folks just don't get it. Many of them run networks.
JERICHO is a LOST wannabe built by people who can't wrap their minds around the enormity of the project. They don't understand what they're trying to emulate and miss the target by a mile.
Simple things - the hero tells the kid to hold down the little girl by her shoulders, then the kid holds her down by her head? The sheriff can't tell the difference between a school bus and a prison bus? Please. Sloppy stuff like that will prevent JERICHO from ever approaching LOST's status, ratings and awards.
Congrats, CBS on rolling out another crappy show.
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9-20-2006 @ 10:41PM
Sue said...
HELP!!!Could someone tell me where Dale Turner's mother decided to Stay?
Thank You
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9-20-2006 @ 10:44PM
Sue said...
my e-mail address is vssmammasue50@aol.com for the answer to my question, Where did Dale Turner's mother decide to stay?
Sue
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9-20-2006 @ 11:05PM
KenMo said...
I like the overall premise of the show.
I love Lost and I'm willing to give this show some time to define things.
One negative that other comments have hinted at. It looks like they are trying to be all things to all people.
It's like a cross between Lost and Dawson's Creek. I hope they don't try to throw some Smallville in there (effects from the radiation). That would be too much for me.
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9-20-2006 @ 11:07PM
carol beatty said...
where did dale turner's mother stay
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9-20-2006 @ 11:30PM
erroneous_nick said...
I have to agree with your "Twilight Zone" comparison Bob. The whole small-town paranoia and nuclear disaster themes definitely harken back to the black & white days of the original TZ. Sure, it could've been better here and there, but overall I enjoyed the episode and my only real gripe is that every time I see Skeet I miss "Miracles".
I'll definitely tune in for several more episodes, assuming it doesn't get insta-canned like so many shows do.
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9-20-2006 @ 11:36PM
alice said...
The last scene has the girl driving out of town and stops and gets out of her car and see all the dead animals. There was a song playing in the background. Does anyone know who sings it and the name of it?
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9-20-2006 @ 11:37PM
Erica said...
I thought the premise and pilot were good, even though there were some cliches and it did seem like it was trying to be another "Lost".
I'll be tuning in to see more, but the lone African-American character does seem a little creepy/shady.
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9-21-2006 @ 12:04AM
Jim Doherty said...
Can any one answer where the heck his mother ends up?
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9-21-2006 @ 9:09AM
Val Cannon said...
Yes, at first "Jericho" appears to be like "Lost", but if you look closer you will find a strong political message. "Lost" is a bizzare fantasy world that is very much like a nightmare. I like the way that "Lost" has so many complex characters that we are always trying to understand. "Jericho" is just a bunch of Red State propaganda trying to scare the bejesus out of us. I really wanted to like this show and I don't. Was this show on FOX or CBS? I forget.
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9-21-2006 @ 12:06AM
Les F. said...
The song at the end was 'Run' by Snow Patrol.
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9-21-2006 @ 12:10AM
gunner said...
Near the end they had a commercial about other survivors and a website to go to for their stories or something. I cannot find anything online about that bit. Anyone have a lead on the site.
If they keep it from becomming to sappy it may have 2-3 seasons worth of stay. Also if they try to keep to many mystery threads going I would like it better. Lost is based on the unknown, and that's why I never watch it.
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9-25-2006 @ 6:39PM
Tim said...
Does anyone know the title of the opening scene when he's headed back to his home town
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9-21-2006 @ 12:10AM
gunner said...
Atlanta
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9-21-2006 @ 12:47AM
Danny Cohen said...
When did Locke become African American?
Why would CBS create a show that is supposed to interest viewers when the teaser was slow, there were too many commercial breaks, and an atomic explosion (one of the most fiercest and feared entities known to man) is no larger than a postage stamp?
They should have started with the first act, and not try to set up the family story lines in the teaser. Why would I care about a family right now? I am watching to see about an explosion. Nothing pulled me in, at all. Unlike Lost where the teaser is the aftermath of the crash on the beach, the mayhem, the action, setting up what to expect from the show : bloody limbs being pulled from under aircrafts and anybody can die action.... Jericho promised me family drama like any other CBS somberama.
The most interesting part was the kid (who looked a lot like Frankie Muniz, no?) and the tape he had; they barely grazed over that bit.
They took a somewhat interesting idea, and just sucked the excitement out of it. What was going to get someone interested was that if the main characters were interesting, but the promise of Prison Break + Love Traingle + Watered-Down Lost + Everwood just doesn't interest me.
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9-21-2006 @ 12:50AM
Danny Cohen said...
Also, the idea about "other survivors" from that other ad, just made me turn off my TV immediatly.... that was the whole idea, that we were in the town with these people, and we didn't know if there were other survivors, what the outside world was like!
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9-21-2006 @ 1:00AM
cat said...
I did enjoy the pilot, sure it had some sap, but I thought it did good at pinning the small town fears of being in the middle of such a situtation. I too had the twilight zone vibe. I'm intrigued enough to keep tuning in. I thought Gerald McRaney and Pamela Reed were rather good. Gerald has the attitude, I'll never think of him the same though after seeing him on Deadwood as Hearst. Oh what a bad man he was there!
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