And the Walls Came Down:
The CBS Jericho Surrender Timeline
By Pat McWilliams
General Anthony McAuliffe of the 101st Airborne Division, surrounded by German forces at Bastogne, receives a surrender demand. His response: “Nuts!”.
CBS drama series “Jericho”. Jake Green, son of the late Mayor Johnston Green, prepares to defend his small Kansas town from the larger and better equipped forces of neighboring New Bern. Sheriff Consantino of New Bern calls Green on the radio and offers to let the Jericho defenders leave in peace if they lay down their arms. Green, recalling his grandfather’s WWII stories, replies “Nuts”.
CBS announces that “Jericho” will not be in the fall line-up. To add insult to injury, the replacement is scheduled to be a reality show about a bunch of unsupervised 8 to 15 year-old kids running a ghost town in New Mexico. Jericho fans cry “Nuts”.
After crying “nuts”, outraged Jericho fans locate CBS HQ’s address in New York City. They start sending nuts. And more nuts. A company called “Nuts on Line” joins in the crusade. By June 5, the total of nuts sent to CBS in New York and Los Angeles reaches 50,000 pounds. Nuts are donated to zoos, food banks, homeless shelters, and US troops in Iraq and Afghanistan. Money is raised for relief efforts in real life Greensburg, Kansas, destroyed by a tornado the week “Jericho” was cancelled.
June 6, 2007
63rd anniversary of D-Day. CBS surrenders. Jericho is renewed for 7 more episodes as a mid-season replacement. CBS Director of Entertainment Nina Tassler thanks Jericho fans for their dedication, and pleads “No More Nuts!”
In less than a month, a spontaneously organized movement of dedicated, thoughtful, mostly polite people had persuaded a huge, faceless corporation to see the error of its ways and offer its customers what they wanted. In time the “Save Jericho” movement may be seen as a turning point in network/viewer relations. It is certainly a demonstration of the power of the Internet as a tool of communication, a way for like-minded individuals to find one another. Are we seeing a shift in the balance of power?
This remains to be seen…
Pat McWilliams is a Manion’s staff writer and describer. He is an advanced collector of, and authority on, firearms – specifically Iver Johnson revolvers and Saturday night specials – and vinyl records. He has appeared in numerous films: Recluse, Privacy Advocate, Paranoid, Conspiracy Buff, Moonchild, Bimbos in Time, and Bad Blood – just to name a few. In addition, McWilliams is an ordained minister of the Universal Life Church, has been seen on the Morton Downey Show, and was a write-in candidate for President of the United States of America in 2000 and 2008.