Jericho – The First Season (DVD-Video)
Picture:
B- Sound: B- Extras: C+ Episodes: C+
Even
before its DVD release, fans of the CBS series Jericho were so unhappy that the
show was being axed that they mounted a campaign to save the show and it
worked. So instead of the new 6-DVD/22
episode series being a “complete series” set as it was actually originally
announced, it is simply Jericho – The
First Season. The story involves the
town of Jericho who suddenly is thrown into crisis when they see a nuclear bomb
go off and are cut off from the rest of the world with no idea on what is going
on.
But could
there be no nuclear disaster, but instead a test by certain powerful forces to
make this some bizarre, sick experiment?
The results are not unlike the half-hour classic original Rod Serling Twilight Zone episode The Monsters Are Due On Maple Street
where the electricity is being played with to manipulate the neighbors and
eventually those controlling the switch start turning on each other. Like that brilliant show (we will not give
away its great twist), the real point is an examination of human nature.
Besides
the horrid “reality TV” that pretends this and never works, Lost was already a hit doing this with
a well-written narrative, but the cast is good here (though Gerald McRaney
seems out of his element here, making the show seem awkward) and the writing is
better than expected. It may not be as
good as Numb3rs, but it is the best
show that CBS has come up with since that underrated hit. Skeet Ulrich leads the cast.
Extras
include deleted scenes, audio commentary tracks on five episodes and two
featurettes: What If? about the
nuclear arms race, how it happened and the disasters we have avoided so far
& Building Jericho about the
making of the series. Now that the show
has a second life, can it get better with a second chance? Fans and the rest of us will soon know.
- Nicholas Sheffo
