Jericho (2006–2008)

A small town in Kansas is literally left in the dark after seeing a mushroom cloud over near-by Denver, Colorado. The townspeople struggle to find answers about the blast and solutions on how to survive.

Creators:

Stephen Chbosky, Josh Schaer, Jonathan E. Steinberg

Stars:

Skeet Ulrich, Lennie James, Ashley Scott

Nominated for 1 Primetime Emmy. Another 5 nominations.

Cast

Series cast summary:
Skeet Ulrich	...	Jake Green (29 episodes, 2006-2008)
Lennie James	...	Robert Hawkins (29 episodes, 2006-2008)
Ashley Scott	...	Emily Sullivan (27 episodes, 2006-2008)
Kenneth Mitchell	...	Eric Green (26 episodes, 2006-2008)
April Parker-Jones	...	Darcy Hawkins (25 episodes, 2006-2008)
Brad Beyer	...	Stanley Richmond (24 episodes, 2006-2008)
Alicia Coppola	...	Mimi Clark (24 episodes, 2006-2008)
Pamela Reed	...	Gail Green (23 episodes, 2006-2008)
Bob Stephenson	...	Jimmy (23 episodes, 2006-2008)
Gerald McRaney	...	Johnston Green (22 episodes, 2006-2007)
Clare Carey	...	Mary Bailey (21 episodes, 2006-2008)
Richard Speight Jr.	...	Bill (20 episodes, 2006-2008)
Michael Gaston	...	Gray Anderson (19 episodes, 2006-2008)
Erik Knudsen	...	Dale Turner (17 episodes, 2006-2008)
Shoshannah Stern	...	Bonnie Richmond (17 episodes, 2006-2008)
Sprague Grayden	...	Heather Lisinski (17 episodes, 2006-2008)
Candace Bailey	...	Skylar Stevens (16 episodes, 2006-2008)
Darby Stanchfield	...	April Green (15 episodes, 2006-2007)
Sterling Ardrey	...	Samuel Hawkins (15 episodes, 2006-2008)
Jazz Raycole	...	Allison Hawkins (13 episodes, 2006-2008)

Storyline

When Jake Green returns to his Kansas small-town home Jericho, where his dad Johnston is mayor, everyone is preoccupied with petty private business and family matters, but that changes drastically after a completely unexpected explosion. It soon becomes clear there has been a nuclear attack, but neither by whom nor on which scale. Suddenly life in Jericho, and as the inhabitants gradually discover all over the disintegrating USA, becomes a more primordial struggle for survival, where unexperienced dangers, primitive as well as technological, have to be weighed against pressing primal needs, such as food, fuel and self-defense against plunderers, invaders and even each-other. Jake, whose private story like that of other main characters slowly becomes disclosed to us, proves extremely resourceful and a smart hero, while his father's mayoral authority and even that of the only available medical professionals is soon challenged and undermined, criminal potentials are tapped into by ...

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Plot Keywords:

small town | kansas | nuclear attack | ex boyfriend ex girlfriend relationship | nuclear explosion | 

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Taglines:

For the town of Jericho, the end of the world is just the beginning.

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Genres:

Action | Drama | Mystery | Sci-Fi

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Details

Official Sites:

CBS [us] Space [ca]

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Also Known As:

Džeriko

Filming Locations:

15001 Calvert Street, Van Nuys, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

CBS Paramount Network Television, Junction Entertainment

Technical Specs

Runtime:

45 min

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.78 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The web page which Hawkins accesses in episode 1.5 after the power is restored is the main page of MSN Turkey.

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Goofs

In the pilot, Jake Green drives through miles of what looks like prairie as he returns to Jericho. In fact, the terrain looks like California's Central Valley. Later in the series, much of the action set in the countryside was clearly not filmed in Kansas. It is the hilly scrubland of the montane chaparral around Los Angeles or points south, filmed during the summer.

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Crazy Credits

Each episode's title card is accompanied with audio containing only Morse code (dots and dashes, or short and long beeps) which, when translated, provides a short hint (around 3 words) about the episode to come.

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Connections

Referenced in Bucky Larson: Born to Be a Star (2011)

User Reviews

Small town, big bang.

It's a great series that deserved more of a fighting chance. It's easy to understand the many ardent fans of the show, but hard to understand Jericho's failure to attract more viewers than it did. The show is engaging, to the point of being dangerously addicting and whatever it lacks (see below), that's more than made up for by a consistently inventive story expansion. The show moves seamlessly from the original premise of 'USA - post nuke' into much unexpected territory. There's some filler episodes, but barely a bum one. What hampers the series is that odd but inevitable 'dated' feeling that almost all network dramas fail to shake, even the minute they arrive on our screens. Dramas like this just can't live up to the HBO/AMC cannon because of the demands on them to, eg: appeal to a large audience and produce 22-ish episodes per series - it can be simply backbreaking. One can't help but imagine how much better this show could have been with a studio like HBO behind it. It certainly deserves more care, with which it might have not been cancelled. Nevertheless, the fact one can imagine Jericho's greater potential is a credit to the strength of both the inventive writing, the smart political commentary and the many well-drawn characters which shine through occasional soft-focus, feel-good, pre-watershed moments of schmaltz and sentimentality. Those moments are thankfully few, but there's enough to make you wish there were less. The cast are all very capable, particularly Skeet Ulrich, Lennie James and Gerald McRaney who lend the show its gravitas. Bring it back! 4/5