DVD Review: 'Jericho, Season One'

Daniel Fienberg, Zap2it
Zap2It.com

October 2 2007

Back in May, "Jericho" ceased to be just another TV series with middling ratings and small-but-devoted fan base. Those ratings were what caused CBS to cancel "Jericho" after one season, but it was that small-but-devoted fan base (and 40,000 pounds of peanuts) that caused CBS to reconsider and bring "Jericho" back for a seven-episode midseason run.

The remarkable resurrection of "Jericho" is central to the press materials accompanying the drama's initial DVD release, but the audience response to package could play a role in the show's future. CBS' initial plans to expand the "Jericho" audience, a summer repeat cycle on Friday nights, drew less-than-anemic ratings, so the success of the DVD could have a pretty big impact on the network's confidence moving forward.

As I've written on a number of occasions, the quality of the first 22 episodes of "Jericho" was beyond erratic. The show began with an incredibly provocative premise: In the aftermath of a nuclear attack, the residents of a small Kansas town have to rebuilt their lives, facing an uncertain future. That uncertainty was perhaps reflected in the difficulties the writers had establishing a tone. Early episodes tried to balance a complicated "Lost"-style mythology (Who dropped the bombs? What's up with Lennie James' Hawkins? Where has Skeet Ulrich's Jake been?) with at least two soapy love triangles and myriad superfluous romantic entanglements.

After an extended winter hiatus, though, "Jericho" began to find its voice, as the resilient survivalists of Jericho were pitted against the residents of New Bern, a neighboring community that reacted very differently to the tragedy. That conflict helped crystallize the themes of "Jericho" as both a show and a fictional town. As many viewers who flocked to the show for Skeet Ulrich's good looks or Gerald McRaney's effortless authority were drawn to the very conservative message at the show's core. As awful as things get, "Jericho" argued, we can stay afloat if we remain true to American values, to family and community.

The show's tonal and structural uncertainty can be somewhat charted through the skads of deleted scenes scattered throughout the six-disc DVD package. The scenes, which aren't essential, but smooth out a number of character gaps, are all accompanied by commentary from producers Dan Shotz and Karim Zreik. There are full commentary tracks on five episodes, all from the season's first half oddly, all but one featuring showrunner Carol Barbee. Fans will definitely want to check out the tracks on "Red Flag" and "Vox Populi," which include thoughts from the always entertaining James, whose intriguing performance was always a reason to tune in, no matter how rocky other elements got.

Given the amount of media attention for the "Save Jericho" campaign, it might have behooved the DVD producers to dedicate some feature -- however hastily thrown together between the show's reprieve and its quick return to production -- to the "Jericho" rebirth, some nod to the uber-fans. Instead, the lone bonus featurettes are just better-than-average overviews.

The 24-minute "Building Jericho" making-of doc includes standard audition footage, a walk through the show's complex backlot and a look at the show's effects, particularly the pilot's mushroom cloud money shot. The show's producers speak confidently of how the first season finale leads into the second season, but it's unclear when the interviews were recorded.

The only other featurette is titled "What If?" and it features nine minutes of talking heads discussing the real potential for man-made and natural apocalyptic events and how well prepared (or unprepared) we actually are. It's interesting without going into much depth.