Sunday night is bad fit for ‘Jericho’

by John Stahl.

As is typical, my topic for this forum that Ratkeeper has provided so graciously developed from the “Jericho” thoughts that invade my head regularly. I am also following my pattern of a digression by thanking Ratkeeper for the great Ranger name Captain Video.

As Captain Video, I watch more than 40 hours of DVDs to provide material for my TV on DVD column, which can be found at http://www.examiner.com/x-1124-TV-on-DVD-Examiner, each week. (Yes, I am continuing my pattern of shameless self-promotion as well.) Consequently, I really try to watch TV for pure non-work-related enjoyment on Sunday nights. I usually watch most of the NBC Thursday night line-up and the few other current sitcoms that I enjoy that I have Tivoed. I also watch the Fox Sunday night lineup through a slight delay via Tivo.

This is relevant because it is the reason that I declined the very kind offer of Ratkeeper back in November to join the online discussion on Sunday nights. I have felt increasingly badly about this because my fellow rangers have been so good to me.

This got me thinking about the fact that I have enjoyed fun silly programs on Sunday nights almost for all of my life and that networks have traditionally scheduled these shows then to allow people to gear up mentally for the school week or work week ahead.

I find too that the 7:00 p.m. hour is particularly when these shows were on. My memories go back to “The Wide World of Disney” on NBC and to watching The Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew on ABC in the mid-1970s. I also recall “Voyagers” on NBC in that timeslot in the early 1980s. Yes, CBS has shown “60 Minutes” in that slot for decades, but other networks have given us the mental junk food that I and many others love so much.

All of this, and the slipping ratings, show that the CW has “Jericho” in the wrong timeslot. I love the show as much as the next ranger but think that it belongs at in a mid-week primetime slot. The unfortunate thing is that the disappointing ratings for the current timeslot hurt the effort for a third season or a feature film. 

I agree that ratings do not reflect viewership for all the reasons that “Jericho” forums have stated. For example, I considered watching “Jericho” online before getting the complete series on DVD and suspect that many other people watch it there. Does anyone have the statistics regarding this? [Editor: Redsox and team are tracking the You Tube views. The Jericho pilot is near 90,000.]

Further, I have virtually every channel that Comcast offers but have never received UHD. I think as well that it is part of the premium channels on the Verizon FIOS system.