Jericho

[PWS]

Originally Posted by CEO

[[According to IMDB, she is only cast for two of the five episodes that have been made. ]]

At first, I thought she was going to be the love interest (buddy's sister all grown up, kiss kiss kiss), but now it is obvious that the school teacher with the broken leg is going to be the one. Obvious.

I guess we've seen the [[deaf girl's two episodes now. Has anyone heard whether it's been renewed beyond 5 episodes?]]
I thought the school teacher also, but now he's stuck in a basement with the blonde with whom he obviously has history, and I doubt her fiance is coming back. Altho we haven't seen Wichita on the list of bombed cities, and unless it has a military base like San Diego and Denver can't imagine why they'd waste a bomb on it. So unless he's caught in the radiation he might make it back someday.
Tech problem with last night... time seemed to be very elastic...less than 2 hours before the rain came, yet the hero spend time trying to fix the one shelter, then bused people to a mine, which I assume was not right outside town, then spent time supervising the laying of explosives, and then raced to a ranch that was clearly nearby...maybe he has some Smallville type superpowers.... It is Kansas after all!

[Google]

 

[Leftcoaster]

Originally Posted by Chorita KaBoom

While I thought the idea of a realistic portrayal of the ensuing drama that would occur in a small middle american town after a nuclear explosion would be interesting, I couldn't get over a couple of the glaring continuity/production/location errors that the producers made. I just couldn't suspend disbelief -

Due to the curvature of the earth, there is no possible way to see mountains, let alone a mushroom cloud over Denver (which is on the plains, not in the mountains).

Also they seem to think that western Kansas is scrub brush/desert, when it's rolling prairie and farmland. I can only guess that the location manager and producers have never actually been to Kansas.

Smallville does a much better job using Canada to represent KS.

I agree, they do a pretty good job on Smallville. I don't believe the scenery is intended to play a primary role on Jericho though, it looks like basic California turf to me, at least the farmhouse setting did.

While I accepted the visual of the blast as symbolic more than intending to portray an accurate depiction, I'm wondering about the impossibility of seeing it from as far away as Jericho is supposed to be. I follow the curvature of the earth that you point to, but have the thought that not all bombs are targetted for a ground burst. Several decades ago, there was a book entitled something like 'Civil War II', a not very good read about a race war. In the end, the newly designated president chose to end the fighting with a series of nuclear bursts high enough in the atmosphere to minimize damage while maximizing the visible awareness of the awesome power that was available to end the bloodshed if needed.

Denver proper doesn't strike me as much of a strategic target, in fact an enemy would be better served leaving population centers intact, but if they did target metropolitan areas as large as Denver, Atlanta, Chicago, Philadelphia and San Diego, a single bomb wouldn't be what would be utlilized, not if they intended to eliminate it altogether.

Originally Posted by Chickngirl

So, if the Morse code is to be believed:
Denver
San Diego
?Philadelphia
Chicago
Atlanta

then 3 more pins went in before fading away

I liked today's show except how readily our protagonist new how to rig dynamite to seal the mine shaft. The writers should have at least had one of the mine workers suggest that.

I personally believe he used many more pins than the eight that he was shown drawing out. I try to imagine some commonality between the cities named that draw them together as a selective choice of limited targets, and I can't. Most of those cities aren't miltary hubs, I can't imagine the value in taking them out except for the disruptiveness to the national fabric and the terror that would ensue.

It didn't strike me as unintentional that the protagonist knew how to rig explosives. He's just another character like Mr. Morse Code that has a few secrets he's keeping close to his vest.

For those yearning for darkness, the next couple of episodes ought to demonstate whether it'll appear. In a real world setting, I believe there'd be fisticuffs at the least over who gets into, and who appropriates the lions share of provisions in any shelter.

Bring in the most critical? I doubt it. Not if everyone around understands that is their best, if not only avenue toward a realistic shot at survival. The townfolk were too orderly for me, maybe its that Kansas thing, I dunno. One thing I'd have expected in a real world setting, and a missed storyline that would have been interesting to see exploited, is those that would have presumably assumed that their best bet was getting the heck outta Dodge headed thataway.

The bar scene looked like something I'd expect, at least the boozealiers deciding to meet their fate there. What did seem strange was the proprietor insanely deciding that she needed to hang around and die simply because it was her bar and they wouldn't leave. That and the kissy-kissy she and her boyfriend had after he ran the riff-raff out. Fallout clouds fast approaching, I wouldn't have my mind on sex.

[cal1981]

I watched part of the first show and the last 40 minutes of the second. The conclusion of the second show raised some very interesting and possibly controversial issues. The only certainty prior to that seemed to be that both Denver and Atlanta were hit by a nuclear device of some kind, size unknown. The morse code message in show 2 clearly listed many more cities that had been hit. Push pins were put in the first two cities and in San Diego, Philadelphia and Chicago. I counted at least 6 to 8 more pins as the show faded to black. Now those of us who grew up in the middle of the cold war would, in past times, only assume that the Soviets had launched a full scale nuclear attack on the US. Nowadays, that scenario seems pretty remote (unless some renagade Russian military group got its hands on the launch codes). So where does does leave us? Is it possible that the storyline is heading towards some kind of coordinated terrorist "suitcase" nuke attack across the country? It's hard to say but the writers don't have many options if they have to come up with an explanation (if the show lasts that long). The latter scenario, given the state if the world we live in and its vicious political climate could be very badly received. Interestingly, Sci-Fi Channel ran the classic "The Day After" last night, the first movie that tried to tackle the realities of life during and after a nuclear exchange with the Soviet Union. It was devastating when first run by ABC and even, after all these years, it still packs a wallop (watching the Minuteman missiles fly out of their silos is still a very sobering image).

[Chickngirl]

We can only assume that Atlanta was nuclear in nature. (After all, all we know is that Dale's mom said "What is that?" and we heard a noise). There needs to be a REALLY good explanantion if ot happens in all the other sities as well.

I'll definitely keep watching.

[homeontherange]

Originally Posted by PWS

I thought the school teacher also, but now he's stuck in a basement with the blonde with whom he obviously has history, and I doubt her fiance is coming back. Altho we haven't seen Wichita on the list of bombed cities, and unless it has a military base like San Diego and Denver can't imagine why they'd waste a bomb on it. So unless he's caught in the radiation he might make it back someday.

We have McConnell Air Force Base here at Wichita. I don't get the feeling that they think Wichita was bombed. Supposedly, Jericho is closer to Wichita than to Denver. They saw the blast at Denver but no one has mentioned seeing a blast at Wichita and wasn't the one girl going toward Wichita when everything happened?
I'm interested enough so far to keep watching to see where they're taking the story.

[cal1981]

We have McConnell Air Force Base here at Wichita. I don't get the feeling that they think Wichita was bombed. Supposedly, Jericho is closer to Wichita than to Denver. They saw the blast at Denver but no one has mentioned seeing a blast at Wichita and wasn't the one girl going toward Wichita when everything happened?

Until we see where the additonal pins are, we won't know. In The Day After, I believe that the Wichita area got hit with two nuclear bombs but since there were SAC B-52 bases and missile silos in that area (in the film and probably in real life), the area would have been a primary military target to try to cut off a first or second strike by the US. If Jericho takes place now, the military value of the area would be much less or perhaps none. NORAD is in Colorado but, again, until the show reveals more, we won't know whether the targets had any military significance.

[PWS]

Just bringing this up to the front page, as others think we don't have a line for it.
Saw a story in the paper today about the abundance of "serial" shows, the ones for which you have to watch every time or you get lost--speculating that only a few can survive as how many hours per week can the average viewer commit on a regular basis. Obviously this is one...hope it makes it.

[sweetjadesmommy]

Originally Posted by PWS

Just bringing this up to the front page, as others think we don't have a line for it.
Saw a story in the paper today about the abundance of "serial" shows, the ones for which you have to watch every time or you get lost--speculating that only a few can survive as how many hours per week can the average viewer commit on a regular basis. Obviously this is one...hope it makes it.

ME TOO! I was just telling my friend yest, that with Jericho and Lost, at least we'd have something to talk about on Thurs, now that BB is done, we are having to resort to local gossip

I am surprised that so many of you had neg. reactions, I absolutely am loving this show, even thought it scares the crap out of me at the same time. Can't wait to find out what 'skeet's character' was upto before returning home, and the conection with the Guy who said he was former St.Louis PD, I think he knew it was coming somehow, why else would he move his family to Kansas, and already had home with shelter in place.

As long as we don't have a LOST/Jericho conflict with the schedules, I think it will do well, at least I hope so.

Anyone know how it has done on the ratings???

[Chorita KaBoom]

I have to say that I found the second episode much better, they did a good job with the pacing to keep the sense of impending danger going (though to be honest, I watched this on On Demand which only had 3 very short commercials, so that may have helped keep it going as well).

I'm pretty sure that we were meant to believe that this was a terrorist action, what with all the newscasts clips that were shown in the first episode. Episode 2 ended with us getting just a glimpse of the scale of the attacks. Not knowing it all is part of what makes it interesting.

I'm not sure there's enough here to make a multi-season series, but I'd give it a watch for 13 episodes.

[CEO]

Originally Posted by sweetjadesmommy

Anyone know how it has done on the ratings???

People are watching it:

CBS cleaned up in Wednesday's prime time with a strong return by CSI: NY and Criminal Minds, as well as an encouraging start for the nuclear-war drama Jericho...

...Dancing with the Stars (15 million, 3.7/11) was the unquestionable winner at 8 p.m., though Jericho (11.7 million, 3.4/10) got off to a good start against both Dancing and NBC's two-hour premiere of The Biggest Loser (7.2 million, 3.1/9). Fox's Bones (7.5 million, 2.5/8) didn't do as well.

Beyond the strong number against Dancing, CBS executives had other things to cheer about with Jericho. The dark drama outpaced its cheerful counterparts--Still Standing and Yes, Dear--by 48 percent in adults 18-49 and 71 percent in viewership. It was the best performance in the time period for CBS since January 2004's 60 Minutes Wednesday.

http://www.tv.com/jericho/show/58068...dlines;title;0