DVD Box Set Review: The First Season of Jericho will Have You Hooked

September 30, 2007

I had heard the television commercials announcing Jericho, though I’d never paid that much attention to them. I have never been a huge television watcher on the CBS station. I have always been more loyal to ABC. My mom is an ABC Soap fanatic. We watch ABC News both locally and nationally, and when it came to television shows, it seemed more logical to watch ABC. I was more likely to catch a preview of an ABC show so I knew more about what was on television. I now realize the error of my ways and I owe it all to Jericho.

What would you do if many of the major cities in the United States were hit by nuclear bombs and your town descended into darkness as everyone lost power and communication with the outside world? That’s the premise of the hit television show, Jericho. Taking place in the fictional town of Jericho, Kansas, the citizens of this small town become aware of some major attack when they spot a mushroom cloud in the distance from what they believe is the city of Denver. They must first deal with fallout and then figure out how to survive with no ability to contact the outside world (by conventional means).

Problems the Jericho citizens face besides lack of power and telephone communication include the danger of running out of food, lack of necessary resources, depleting medical supplies, low amounts of gasoline, and fighting amongst the citizens as the “everyone for themselves” mentality attempts to take over. This town is only held together by the Green family, which is one of the main families of Jericho and has had a mayor in office for several years prior to the nuclear attack.

The Green family plays a central role in the plot of Jericho. The lead character is Jake Green (Skeet Ulrich). Jake has a shady past in the town of Jericho and is viewed as the perpetual bad boy. Having returned to Jericho on the day of the attack from his home in San Diego, Jake gets trapped in the small town he’s been desperately trying to escape for the past five years.

Jake is constantly at odds with his older brother, Eric (Kenneth Mitchell). Eric is viewed as the more responsible and respectable of the two brothers. He works with his father as the Deputy Mayor and seems devoted to his wife, April (Darby Stanchfield), but looks can be deceiving. Eric is having an affair with the town bar owner, Mary Bailey (Clare Carey), which has a significant effect on those who love him after the disaster occurs. Other members of the Green family include their mother Gail (Pamela Reed) and father, the mayor of Jericho, Johnston (Gerald McRaney).

A new member of Jericho, Robert Hawkins (Lennie James), with a mysterious past, seems to be incredibly knowledgeable about nuclear attacks and how to survive them. He claims to be a cop from St. Louis, but there seems to be more to his knowledge and what he knows about the nuclear attacks. He lives in town with his family (who seem as mysterious as him), wife Darcy (April D. Parker) and children Allison and Samuel. These aren’t the only members of the town. This ensemble cast has a lot of diversity to it.

There is the Washington D.C. IRS worker, Mimi (Alicia Coppola), who gets stuck in Jericho investigating a farm. The farm she is investigating belongs to one of Jake Green’s best friends, Stanley Richmond (Brad Beyer) who lives with his deaf, younger sister, Bonnie (Shoshannah Stern). Other younger members of the town include Dale (Erik Knudsen), whose mom is killed by a nuclear bomb in Atlanta, and is also considered a “loser” by the more popular kids, and Skylar (Candace Bailey), the rich and spoiled daughter of the partial owners of the Jericho Salt Mines. While her parents are gone in New York City (or who knows where) Dale helps her out and the unlikely pair form a friendship and more.

The teachers of the town both had or want a place in Jake’s life. There is pretty, blonde, Emily (Ashley Scott), who had her heart broken by Jake and is engaged to a man stuck in Topeka (so she thinks). There is also rough and ready, brunette Heather (Sprague Grayden) who is always ready to lend a hand where she can. As if the cast were not full enough, there is the dislikable political opponent of Johnston, who constantly questions his authority, Gray Anderson (Michael Gaston) and the slightly clueless but good hearted police officer, Jimmy (Bob Stephenson).

If you can keep up with the characters, and trust me, its easier then it sounds, then it won’t take long before you’re hooked. The DVD box set for the First Season of Jericho contains six discs. There are 22 episodes and bonus features. Fans love this show so much that when CBS announced they were cancelling it, angry fans sent millions of packets of “nuts” (in reference to one of the episodes in season one) to protest their decision. After receiving so many nuts, CBS has since allowed for seven more episodes, in a second season, to be aired some time in the upcoming months.

I am now a loyal Jericho fan and can’t wait for season two to start airing (which rumor has it could happen as early as mid-October). The writing for this show is superb. The acting is top notch. I find it hard to complain about anything other then the fact that the next episode cannot come fast enough! So, if you enjoy a great, dramatic television show I urge you to give Jericho a try. This DVD Box Set is worth it and will make an excellent edition to your DVD Box Set Collection. It will be available, October 2, 2007 (courtesy of Paramount) from both online and offline retailers.

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Technorati Tags: Jericho, CBS, Television Show, DVD Box Set, Review, Skeet Ulrich

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