MediaBuyerPlanner: Last summer, CBS Entertainment president Nina Tassler was asked by reporters, curious about the potential impact that cancellation of serial dramas would have on a network’s reputation, what would happen if its serialized drama Jericho didn’t work out and was cancelled before questions that were raised in the shows could be answered. At the time, Tassler slipped the question, saying that hopefully the show would succeed and the question would be moot.
Now, the network must face the question head-on, having announced that Jericho will not return in the fall. An online movement is afoot to bring back the show, with the network being bombarded with letters and emails, writes the Los Angeles Times. A website, JerichoLives.com, has an online petition with more than 60,000 signatures and Tassler has reportedly been “touched by the thoughtfulness of the response” and in a letter to fans said that she, too, loved the show.
She also said that, in the coming weeks, the network hopes “to develop a way to provide closure to the compelling drama that was the ‘Jericho’ story.”
It will be interesting to see how CBS answers questions raised in the Jericho story, and whether its response will be one that can be used by other networks when similar situations arise – assuming the serial drama format survives.
Related stories:
- CBS Introduces ‘Lord-of-the-Flies’-Type Reality Show
- ‘Jericho’ Season Finale a Bomb
- ‘Jericho’ Returns Opposite Almighty ‘Idol’
- ‘Ugly Betty,’ ‘Jericho,’ ‘Heroes’ Show Signs of Season Winners
- Fox Pres. Fields Questions on Serialization, Cancellation
