Star Wars to Jericho

For the past couple days I've been thinking of what to write about today being the 30th anniversary of the film "Star Wars" that isn't being written by someone else.

I could tell you about how I "ditched" school that Wednesday in 1977 to be at the first showing of the film (and the second and the third). I heard about it via the "new" magazine called Starlog which published some really great production designs from the film a few months before it opened.

I could tell you about the great cinema, the now destroyed Cine Capri, where we saw it on a huge screen (in what I understand was a 70mm print).

I could tell you about the wild crowd reaction when that first ship kept coming and coming and coming and the music grew louder and louder.

I could tell you about how that film changed me, making me love special effects (and cinema) even more than ever before. It was pretty heady stuff for a 17 year old.

But, no. Instead, I thought I would tell you about one of the offspring of "Star Wars" -- the really fantastic (despite what Matt says), short-lived television show "Jericho."

"Jericho" was science fiction that focused less on science and special effects than character drama (which I prefer). It told the tale of a small Kansas town that found itself isolated after a large percent of America was destroyed by nuclear bombs set off by many unknown people.

Of course, without the benefit of gory murder scenes, pat solutions to even the most complicated crime, or sexy doctors in emergency rooms, "Jericho" was doomed -- with an average audience of only seven million viewers who, apparently, don't count, as CBS canceled the show anyway. (The hit cable show "The Sopranos" has an average rating almost identical to "Jericho.")

This of course echoes the history of really superior television programs canceled due to low audience numbers (translated: because the show does not feature the lowest common denominator in its stories, to attract the largest number of viewers): There was the original "Star Trek," the really great sci-fi "Firefly," the fascinating "Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip," etc.

But, in the tradition of networks royally pissing off their viewers, "Jericho" fans have started a rather brilliant campaign to express their dissatisfaction: they are sending tons of peanuts to CBS.

Why peanuts? The answer is here.

You can also sign an online petition to save "Jericho" here.

May the nuts be with you.