Anthony C. LoBaido has a piece today at WorldNetDaily on one of my (few) favorite TV shows: Jericho.
For the remnant in "Jericho," it means embracing a sense of community as the great themes of life and history are brought back from theme parks to their rightful place in reality.
"Jericho" features a plot that goes something like this: Nuclear war/terrorism has destroyed a plethora of cities in the U.S. At least two missiles have been launched in retaliation. America has now been broken up into six countries with (count them) six different leaders. There's no Internet. No Paris Hilton. No professional wrestling. No NFL. No eBay. No more "Saturday Night Live." The Northeast of the U.S. has become its own country. Salt has become a priceless commodity. The kids aren't obese because there isn't much food to go around in the wintertime.
It might be said that watching "Jericho" can help us to prepare spiritually for what could actually befall our great nation. (Let's hope not.)
I don't agree with every one of LoBaido's statements about the show, but I'd say he's 90% or more on target.
I remember last summer, before the fall TV season began, as I watched reruns of CSI (I'm a former investigator/detective, so I'm hopelessly drawn in by forensic shows--even if reality does get suspended on a regular basis), I'd occasionally see cryptic commercials for a new show called "Jericho." The commercials didn't reveal a lot, just showed a boy watching a mushroom cloud rise in the distance. Since I grew up in the heated and waning days of the Cold War, I was intrigued and tuned in. I was hooked on the first episode.
The Jericho cast of characters are mysterious, interesting, and intertwined. It takes several episodes to figure out the main character "Jake," a family black sheep who makes a quick return home to Jericho and gets caught by the nuclear blasts on his way out of town. In the first moments of the first episode, as people ask him where he's been the past 5 years, he gives about 5 different answers to 5 different people.
Then there's Hawkins, the man mentioned in LoBaido's piece, who is my favorite character as well. A black man who's a little out of place in the very pale small town of Jericho, Kansas, he and his family say they've just arrived from St. Louis where he was a cop. But you can tell from some of the reactions of his family, and other things, that Hawkins is a man with a lot to hide. Yet from the first episode, as a stranger in town, he's saving the town's bacon time after time.
As questions grew during last season as to whether Hawkins was a good guy or a bad guy, I found myself desperately hoping there was an explanation for the seemingly damning things that were coming to light about him; his character was that likable. By the end of the season, you find that while he was at the center of the cause of the nuclear explosions across America, he is indeed a good guy. And from first episode to last, he's saving the town's bacon.
As LoBaido says, the show has it's PC elements, but there is a goodness and hopefulness in the characters of the show that you seldom see these days.
The second season won't begin until sometime between November-January (CBS isn't saying exactly when) because production is a little behind the curve. CBS actually announced they were going to cancel this outstanding show, but reversed that decision after fans sent 40,000 pounds of nuts to CBS (read LoBaido's piece to find out why).
And in case you're wondering, while there is a bit of a sci-fi element to Jericho, what with the nuclear war and all, it's not one of those cheesy sleazy post-apocalyptic pieces of trash you saw so much of in the 1980s and 1990s. The nuclear war is actually in the background, with good characters and good stories dominating the foreground.
You can go back and watch all of last season's episodes at CBS.com. You won't be disappointed.
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