At a recent news conference “Jericho” executive producer Carol Barbee, said she was forced to try and squeeze the storyline that would normally take a full season into just seven episodes, and she is pleased with the overall outcome of the effort.
If the show, which fans successfully “encouraged” the CBS Network to bring back for an abbreviated Season Two had been fully renewed then we would have seen the show’s characters begin to branch out of the small Kanasa town and begin interactions with New York City, which was one of the few major big cities lucky enough to escape a terrorist nuclear attack; fans would have finally gotten to see the newly established United States government heads now located in Cheyenne, Wyoming and a few other undisclosed locations.
“The story we pitched to them for season two was going to take place in three different locations—Jericho, this new Cheyenne government, and coming from New York, which survived,” Barbee told journalists huddled around her at this year’s Television Critics Association press tour. “When we got the short order, we said, ‘OK. We’ll focus on Jericho.’ So we’re telling that story, and, yes, we’re still burning through more story than we would normally, because it would have been a 22-episode arc, and now it’s seven, but I think that’s going to be very satisfying to the fans, because it’s going to go like that.”
“What you see now in one episode, ideally, would have taken two or three to develop, and that’s just the nature of how we’re going to have to work for a little bit,” stated series headliner Skeet Ulrich, who plays Jake Green in the series. “So it’s going to be interesting. But the script still, in itself, stands on its own, and it’s really compelling. And as the arcs were laid out to me, the seventh will blow away the 22nd in terms of cliffhangers.”
Cliffhangers? Is Skeet hinting at a possible full return either on CBS, another network, or quite possibly some other venue such as DVD, film or the Internet? Earlier this month Barbee had suggested that she was so overjoyed at the fan response for its return after the show’s cancellation that she was ready and willing to farm the show out to someone other than CBS, and was also willing to look at options other than network television for getting the show back out there in front of the public.
[Pictured above are {from left to right} series regulars Skeet Ulrich, Lennie James and exec. prod. Carol Barbee]
As far as what will occur in these supposed final seven episodes Barbee was pretty clear on the direction the show will take in its truncated second season.
“We [left] them with the new government from Cheyenne, Wyo., coming in to stop the battle between New Bern and Jericho,” Barbee said. “And when we start season two, that Cheyenne government is here, and they’re helping us rebuild. There are revenge killings going on between Jericho and New Bern. There’s still problems there. They’re sort of like warring tribes a little bit, but there’s this occupying force that’s trying to bring stability to the area. And then that becomes the new [question]. Are these guys good or are these guys bad?”
“What does it feel like to be the people who are having to be held apart and be sort of occupied?” Barbee continued. “This is their government, it’s not this foreign occupation, but it’s somebody coming in and saying, ‘Hold on,’ and, ‘I’m going to tell you what to do for a little while until you can calm down and we can make this work.'”
“Jericho” returns to CBS in 2008 and for any fans of the show that may feel a little disheartened that it has plans for only seven new episodes next year, keep those chins up and pressure on. Barbee leaves you with these words of hope — “We are not closing this story out. We have a story to tell. It’s a really rich story, and we’ve got it mapped out for quite a while.” And, from the head of CBS entertainment, “We love the show creatively. We saw a level of audience involvement in the show. And we said, ‘maybe this show needs a second chance?'” — Nina Tassler, CBS Entertainment President.
