[Speed Gibson,
Friday October 27, 2006 at 1:44am]
Jericho
"Jericho" would appear to be CBS's answer to "Lost" on ABC. I've maybe seen 10 minutes of the latter. The concept doesn't appeal to me, something about pressing a button every 108 minutes on an uncharted island where some plane crash survivors now call home.
"Jericho" is more straight-forward, real enough to be somewhere between disconcerting and sobering. Jericho is a town of 5,000 people in western Kansas who see a mushroom cloud rise in the distance over Denver. Soon, they learn Atlanta was also hit. A secretive man gets further updates by Morse code, pushing pins in a map to indicate San Diego, Chicago, Philadelphia, Cincinnati, and other cities were attacked.
Electrical power, gasoline, and of course food are immediate issues. Their mid-western values are holding off the anarchy, but just barely. Last week they saw a couple of ICBM's arching up, a counter attack presumably. Another bomb comes in, an airburst whose EM pulse fries everything with a circuit board and knocks out the power.
It's well done. You haven't heard of anyone in the cast. There's no gratuitous sex scenes or skimpy outfits, a refreshing change from the likes of "Grey's Anatomy."
The writing is pretty good, too. Yes, they weave a bunch of sub-plots like Irwin Allen always did in his mega-disaster films. But they're subtle and woven nicely to where you really don't dwell on the war, the radiation, the next attack, what's left of America, and so on. That's just there to set the stage, to see some good people and a couple less so get along in the worst of times. I kind of feel like I'm there in Jericho myself.
In this era of heightened terrorism and nuclear proliferation, this show is a blunt reminder of how tenuous our life styles are. What's presented is not all that unthinkable, and more so if the far left Democrats have their way. To retreat to their comfort zone of courts, diplomacy, sanctions, open borders and the United Nations will certainly encourage those who would like to make "Jericho" a reality. Imagine the effect of just a single nuclear detonation in, say, New York City.
The main characters of "Jericho" are people you'd like to meet, except that we have met them all in course of our lives and travels. There really isn't any one character you would designate as the star of the show. They're a good cross-section of ages, and they're not portrayed as hicks, either.
I've had high hopes before, like for "Commander in Chief." The premise that put "Mac" in the White House was silly, the characters one-dimensional, and poorly cast. I was done with it when she started talking Spanish to a Latin American dictator. The producers seemed dumbfounded that they didn't have another "West Wing" on their hands.
It's only been five episodes so far, but this ranks second only to "Dancing with the Stars" in terms of "must see" TV this fall.
"Jericho" is more straight-forward, real enough to be somewhere between disconcerting and sobering. Jericho is a town of 5,000 people in western Kansas who see a mushroom cloud rise in the distance over Denver. Soon, they learn Atlanta was also hit. A secretive man gets further updates by Morse code, pushing pins in a map to indicate San Diego, Chicago, Philadelphia, Cincinnati, and other cities were attacked.
Electrical power, gasoline, and of course food are immediate issues. Their mid-western values are holding off the anarchy, but just barely. Last week they saw a couple of ICBM's arching up, a counter attack presumably. Another bomb comes in, an airburst whose EM pulse fries everything with a circuit board and knocks out the power.
It's well done. You haven't heard of anyone in the cast. There's no gratuitous sex scenes or skimpy outfits, a refreshing change from the likes of "Grey's Anatomy."
The writing is pretty good, too. Yes, they weave a bunch of sub-plots like Irwin Allen always did in his mega-disaster films. But they're subtle and woven nicely to where you really don't dwell on the war, the radiation, the next attack, what's left of America, and so on. That's just there to set the stage, to see some good people and a couple less so get along in the worst of times. I kind of feel like I'm there in Jericho myself.
In this era of heightened terrorism and nuclear proliferation, this show is a blunt reminder of how tenuous our life styles are. What's presented is not all that unthinkable, and more so if the far left Democrats have their way. To retreat to their comfort zone of courts, diplomacy, sanctions, open borders and the United Nations will certainly encourage those who would like to make "Jericho" a reality. Imagine the effect of just a single nuclear detonation in, say, New York City.
The main characters of "Jericho" are people you'd like to meet, except that we have met them all in course of our lives and travels. There really isn't any one character you would designate as the star of the show. They're a good cross-section of ages, and they're not portrayed as hicks, either.
I've had high hopes before, like for "Commander in Chief." The premise that put "Mac" in the White House was silly, the characters one-dimensional, and poorly cast. I was done with it when she started talking Spanish to a Latin American dictator. The producers seemed dumbfounded that they didn't have another "West Wing" on their hands.
It's only been five episodes so far, but this ranks second only to "Dancing with the Stars" in terms of "must see" TV this fall.