Jericho (TV series)

Jericho is an American serial drama produced by CBS Paramount Network Television, with executive producers Jon Turteltaub, Stephen Chbosky and Carol Barbee. The show is broadcast in more than 30 countries.

The first season of the show premiered Wednesday, September 20, 2006, on CBS and went on hiatus after the episode of November 29, 2006. It returned February 21, 2007, after a special recapping the first 11 episodes on February 14, 2007, and concluded with a cliffhanger episode on May 9, 2007. Lackluster ratings prompted concern, as the show hit a ratings low in early April. The ratings were down 25% following the nearly three-month hiatus and subsequent return. During its first season, it ranked 48th, with an average of 9.5 million viewers in the United States. Other Wednesday night programs it competed with were Bones, Deal or No Deal and ABC's comedy block.

Though the producers seemed confident that the program would be picked up for a second season, the series was initially canceled by CBS in May 2007. However, after a grassroots campaign to revive the series, CBS officially announced on June 6, 2007 that it had purchased seven new episodes of Jericho for broadcast as a mid-season replacement.

This is the fourth time the network has resuscitated a canceled series due to viewer demand. Fans of Cagney and Lacey, Designing Women, and Touched by an Angel all were successful in convincing CBS to bring the shows back after their respective cancellations were announced.