Jericho: An Illustration of our Deepest Fears

Jericho is the story about an American Nuclear Holocaust, told in an idyllic setting, leaves many questions unanswered at the end, much like Surface and Invasion did a few years ago.

(They too were conspiracy shows with season long arcs to maintain interest and slowly reveal the full conspiracy as well as its purpose. The mid-run format change of both Alias and Veronica Mars from season-arc to several mini-arcs throughout the season also demonstrates that we collectively are too impatient to apply to Jericho too watch a conspiracy unfold over that long a time period. This seemed to applies to Jericho as well.)

The Show
Jericho itself seems a relatively good representation of what could happen after a mulitple nuclear strike attack on the United States. Commications systems would break down due to the EMP pulses from the detonations, some towns and cities would remain relatively peaceful due to strong leadership, some would become dictatorial compounds, and the nation itself wold divide along regional lines as competing centers of power vied for supremacy. Learning why it happened would be of secondary importance for the first few months after the attack. The show implies that the man pulling the strings in Jericho, like the man pulling the strings in Traveler is deeply embedded in the Federal Government as, of course, an official at the Department of Homeland Security and is attempting to use the respective attacks to cause choas and fear out of which a New Order would arrive.

Thankfully the Jericho writing campaign resulted in seven more episodes being made for the fall. Hopefully the full conspiracy will be revealed in these episodes and we'll have an interesting resolution to the series.

The Cultural Implications of Its Cancellation
One of the questions regarding its cancellation is whether we collectively are we getting tired of season long story arcs that gradually unfold with a series of twists and turns? You could argue that the third season of Veronica Mars changed from the above mentioned format to one with several multiple-episode story arcs instead of just one. I do believe however, that Veronica Mars was one of the recent catalysts for the emergence of several season-long story arc programs such as Prison Break and Burn Notice.

My answer to the question posed above is no. The two shows mentioned above mentioned programs are the reason why. They are both well written and have compelling story lines within each episode along with an overarching goal towards which each episode moves the characters at a relatively fast clip.

Conspiracy TV - And how to bring it back

Ok, all three conspiracy-related related shows from the major networks have been cancelled. These were, in order of quality/preference: Surface, Invasion, and Threshold. (Hmm, I hadn't noted the single name theme). I believe that these were all engaging, entertaining shows that could have a life on cable. To that end, I believe we should start a campaign to have them bring one or all (or an amalgam of all three, which I'll go into below) to the SciFi Channel, which has a history of picking up SciFI shows like Stargate SG-1. You can reach the SciFi Channel at: feedback@scifi.com

Anyway, here is my thought on how to combine Surface, Invasion, and Threshold: You have Miles, Rich, the doctor and Nimrod (from Surface) survive the tidal wave and monster and then make their way back inland. They find more clues, and stumble upon Dave (from Invasion's blog). Thinking there may be some kind of connection between the orange glowing creatures and the creation of Nimrod's species. In the meantime, Dave stumbles across the doctor's viral video of Nim's fellow monsters and tries to seek out her, Miles and Rich.

At this point, you can a few episodes of Dave and the doctor playing complicated computer tag trying to figure out if the other is legitimate or dangerous. During this time, they would both be gathering clues (including some from the military and some from the X-Files-like conspirators in Invasion and Surface. At some point, it would be revealed that Nimrod's species was engineered to counter the threat of the orange water creatures, but have become overly aggressive.

Meanwhile, the Airforce in Southern Florida would initiate a program similar to that in Threshold with the idea of tracking down Zura as well as the other hybrid escapees. Additionally, you could throw in elements of The 4400 where some of the hybrids are beneficial, but still have to be tracked down, and quarantined.

Anyway, I think that would be a good show and that SciFi should pick up invasion and Surface to make it work. It could be called Surface Invasion to combine the two and make the point that both undewater creatures do make it on land.