I think this show has potential to tell some great human stories. What do they do when the provisions run out? How will they survive a nuclear winter? Will the people who dropped the bombs invade? Just the fear of invasion is good for several episodes. I only hope the show stays grounded in reality, meaning I don't want to see the town attacked by giant radioactive spiders. I look forward to the next episode because I never judge a show by its pilot.
The next episode was very well laid out. A storm is coming and with the rain comes radiation. The problem is how to shelter the town’s population when the town’s circa 1950s fallout shelters can only hold a few hundred people. We also learn Robert Hawkins has secretly received a Morse code message on the police radio and knows what other cities were bombed. My concerns are the show may be too slow paced for anyone under thirty years of age. I remember the Cold War. I wonder how those who have no recollection of a time when we feared someone was going to "push the button" and "drop the big one" will see the show.
To quote Jake, "I go away for five years and the town goes to hell."
Article comments
1 - Joan Hunt
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2 - Mary K. Williams
Tony -
Nice write up. Interesting - comparing the characters to the GI castaways.
Regarding the Cold War, true, the fact that some will not remember bomb shelters and those ever-present black and yellow signs all over the schools - those of younger generations will make a 9/11 connection.
The fear of the unknown, and the worry that life as we know it can change so quickly - still carries from previous generations to the present.
3 - Matt
It's interesting that, nowadays, when we have scenarios like this on TV, the whole town bands together. If someone like Rod Serling had this show in the Cold War, it would be all about fear and paranoia.
4 - C. I.
Tony, thanks for the spot-on review.
"Jericho" is the first show in many seasons that I am not time shifting, although I do record it. I make the time in my schedule to sit down and watch it live. I never do that, so that's saying something.
So far I have not been disappointed. The second episode was better than the first and apparently the ratings are decent.
Too slow-paced?! There were times where I thought my heart would stop. But then I'm not under thirty years old, and I wasn't weaned on an X-Box.
Your Gilligan character comparison is apt. And, yes, Sherwood Schwartz pitched the networks on a fourth reunion movie where the castaways hear a report on the radio and think they are the only survivors of a nuclear war, and everyone marries each other (except the Howells, who already have) and twenty years pass, and Gilligan's young son sets out on a raft to see if what they heard is true. No one bought the idea, but I would have liked to see it.
Best regards - and don't forget the duct tape!
5 - NateW505
I'm actually liking this show, enough where I put it on a repeating recording for every week, but for chirssakes, can we lose some of the music? Does there really need to be a sappy piano solo for everything, or fast paced music for everything? Sometimes, silence is golden. That being said, the plot line has great potential if the writers play it properly.