Article by Jim Colucci.

Source: Watch! June 2008, The CBS Magazine.

May is the month to say goodbye . . . Parting can be such series sorrow.

Watch! takes a look at our favorite finales in CBS history, episodes providing the perfect signoffs for some beloved TV friends.

Jericho
Episode "Why We Fight,"
May 9, 2007

Big Finish: Talk about going out with a bang! For a while there, it looked like Jericho and its star Skeet Ulrich were going to have to leave us in suspence forever, thanks to an inadvertent series finale. The show's first season closed on May 9 with "Why We Fight," in which Ulrich's character, Jake, and his allies prepare for an impending battle against the sinister neighboring town of New Bern. A cloud of dust settles over the town as Jake gives the order to fire, and then . . . Well, it looked like we'd never know, because the show was canceled on May 16, when CBS presented a Skeet-free lineup. But, in a relative rarity for tlevision, the show's fans organized an offensive. Seizing on a line from the episode - in which Jake quotes his grandfather's story of American soldiers saying "Nuts!" to a Nazi-proffered surrender - they found a willing conconspirator (and a very smart marketer) in Web vendor nutsonline.com and began deluging CBS brass with peanuts and cashews. The result? The network responded, ordering seven episodes to constitute Jericho's second season. The date, for conspiracy theorists wanting to draw out this World War II connection, was June 6.

Final Word: Closure comes full circle, with fans now demanding at least a satisfying ending and ending up rewriting history. The lesson? If you want to get a network executive's attention, send food.