Tonight on CBS at 8pm is the premiere of the new series Jericho. The main character in this is called Jake and he returns home after a long absence to a small town in Kansas called Jericho. The reason he returns is to pick up some money his grandfather left for him; He visits his family including his dad who has control of the money, but him and his dad have a bad relationship so his dad says no to giving him the money. Jake leaves empty handed and heads out of town as a nuclear bomb goes off miles away in Denver. Another driver is watching the explosion too and ends up crashing head on to him. Jake is the only one to make it and walks with a bad leg back to town. On the way he rescues stranded kids in a school bus and drives it back to town. The town is cut off from the outside world and in the dark when the power goes out. People in town start to push and shove at a gas station and it nearly turns in to a riot until the school bus with kids arrive. Jakes dad who is also the mayor tells them about another explosion in Atlanta and gives an inpassioned speech and calms them down. Outside town a prison bus is found overturned and when the Sheriff checks it out you hear a gunshoot and then later you see the Sheriff shot on the ground. So now it seems with all the other problems there are dangerous prisoners on the lose too. In town there is also a ex St Louis cop that just arrived and there seems to be more to his background than just that. A blonde is driving out of town when she runs over loads of dead birds in the road which hints at radiation problems in future episodes. The review might sound like a movie of the week or miniseries because that is what the first episode seems like. The show is well acted and in fact I did enjoy it, but my problem with it is the end of the world as we know it theme is a little depressing. Its fine as I mentioned before for a miniseries or movie but will people tune in every week with the sad theme. The show I think owes a lot to ABC’s Lost but this time instead of being stranded on an island they are stranded on a virtual island cut off from everything else. The show could grow a following like Lost but I think it could have a tough time. The show maybe would have been a better fit on basic cable where with lots of showings it would have time to build an audience.
