We all have fond memories of the dynamic television program called Jericho a series that met its untimely end in 2008. The series follows the residents as they deal with day-to-day life and how they find themselves at the forefront of a menacing conspiracy. After an excellent first season, it was canceled by the production company, but thanks to a massive fan campaign, Jericho was brought back for a shortened second season. The series was then canceled for good after the second season concluded. Thankfully the story was wrapped up well enough that closure was felt – even though the ending was begging for more development into what could come next.
After its second was canceled, Jericho had many champions who fought for its return. In the past few years, Gwen, manager of the Save Jericho! campaign, has overseen the campaign’s 20k plus Facebook fan page and website, both of which are constantly updated. She also runs the Jericho fan table at various comic conventions and has even been able to secure celebrity appearances at the table from the show’s stars.
the show was brought back in graphic novel form for a third and fourth season (there are rumors of a fifth season graphic novel possibly coming out) thanks to the fans and the legions of new fans that came from the show’s release on DVD and Netflix the graphic novels were a massive success. Several years ago Netflix made a tentative offer to produce more seasons of Jericho on its streaming site. CBS was reluctant and did not take the offer much to the disappointment of fans and cast members (almost all of them loved the show and said they would come back)
The main question was why would CBS turn down a lucrative deal with Netflix? The possible answer came later in 2016 when CBS Corp CEO Leslie Moonves announced that the streaming service Paramount Plus would begin to produce original content. Moonves said that the long-range goal for Paramount Plus was to launch three to four original series a year, the first of these series to be a new Star Trek series.
Now it makes perfect sense that CBS would turn down a Netflix deal in order to craft a new birth of Jericho on its own streaming service. Paramount Plus as an original content creator is not a sure bet, and it is a big-money gamble for CBS. One of the ways they can minimize the risk is to create content that has a built-in fan base, Star Trek and Jericho both have millions of dedicated fans that are very loyal and working hard to bring the shows back for new seasons.
Jericho is a perfect fit for Paramount Plus for a few reasons so here are five reasons why Paramount Plus is the best place for Jericho to call home.
- A world without ratings
In the world of Streaming there are no ratings, studios don’t care how many people watch as long as those who do watch are happy with the content and thus keep paying for a subscription to Paramount Plus. On streaming services, the fans come first not the ratings.
- Freedom of story
TV shows that air on Network TV are burdened by boundaries on what they can show, how long they can run and how much they can cost. Jericho on Paramount Plus would be free to tell the story the writers want to tell, there would be no hamper on what they could do. There is also the possibility that new Jericho episodes could have a longer running time and thus be able to tell more story. Jericho could also explore a bit of the seedier and dark world of a nuclear apocalypse that network TV would not have allowed.
- Jericho would be free of scheduling conflicts
Many of the actors who starred in Jericho are very in demand and have many projects they are working on. While this would cause a problem for Jericho if it went back to network TV this would be no issue on Paramount Plus. The show would be filmed as one long movie, and the shooting schedule would work around the actor’s schedules. Jericho on Paramount Plus would be able to film a new season (or movie) and then take a break if needed of a year or two then film another season or movie.
- More funding
Streaming shows that are produced by Amazon or Netflix are known to have larger budgets than their network TV counterparts. For example the Netflix show Marco Polo was rumored to have a 90 million budget for the first season. Now while Jericho would not have as large of a budget or need one, Jericho would be allowed more money to tell the story the writers wish to tell. The burden of producing revenue is not shouldered by one show but is shared between shows on streaming services.
- Possibility of Spin-offs
With all of the benefits above, shows have greater freedom on streaming sites such as Paramount Plus. The studios like to keep fans happy and have been known to produce spin-offs of popular shows to fill the void while new seasons are being filmed. For example, while season two of Marco Polo was delayed, Netflix filmed and released a stand-alone prequel film based on one of the popular characters. Imagine what this would be like for Jericho, if the fans want it we could see movies and episodes based on fan-favorite charters in the Jericho universe. Maybe an episode or film on the rise of Thomas Valente, or on the early days of Robert Hawkins.
All in all, Paramount Plus is the best answer to Jericho returning for more content. It is a wide-open world for the show to play in and all access would allow Jericho to find new fans and grow its story in ways not previously possible. To join the fight to bring Jericho back check out the below links to become a Jericho Ranger!