Peanut Mountain: How the battle of "Jericho" was won

Plus — a spoiler exclusive to TV Barn (we think)!

CBS entertainment chief Nina Tassler (pictured) told TV critics here in L.A. that there was "no single reason" why she and her team finally decided to reverse themselves and bring back “Jericho” for a second, shortened season.

But certainly, the guy at the camera shop had something to do with it.

Tassler was at her neighborhood camera store (do they still have those?) and an employee was processing her order, looked at her credit card and said, “Jericho!” And then: “I sent you an email.”

Tassler said she was at the doctor's office when she received her next sign. She hadn't seen this doctor before, so when he came into the office to give the results of her checkup, his look made her nervous. “Oh, god, I think there's going to be bad news,” she recalled. “He pulls out a bag of peanuts.”

Great stories. Still, there have been many fan campaigns over the years, many of them every bit as intense as the campaign to save “Jericho,” and almost none of them succeeded. Furthermore, only 8 million Americans were watching "Jericho" at the end, a decline of more than one-third of the audience the show had in the fall. Why the change of mind?

Tassler explained to me afterward that by Memorial Day weekend, the fan response — much of it personal, passionate and polite — had crescendoed in her mailbox and, crucially, at the Jericho Web site at CBS.com. The campaign, an obvious result of what we now call “social networking,” triggered conversations between herself and other CBS executives about the role that a user community can have in the promotion of a TV show.

Later that week in Las Vegas, where the annual CBS affiliates meeting was being held, Tassler met with key  executives, including CBS research guru David Poltrack and the always-excited head of digital, Quincy Smith. The collective wisdom of the room was that something different was happening here; but more than that, the time in which it was happening was unlike any in television history. There were two new Nielsen numbers never before compiled — DVR usage and commercial viewing — and both would eventually show that "Jericho" was one of the network's most impressive performers. There was video streaming at Innertube on CBS.com, which admittedly was not huge, but "Jericho" was the second most-streamed CBS show on the site.

Above all, there was the sense that somehow this passion could be converted into higher total viewership for "Jericho," on TV and the Web. When I told Tassler and Chris Ender, the CBS Corp. senior VP for communications, about receiving a series of emails in recent days from "Jericho" fans asking for updates, and that none of them was a form letter but that each one followed a specific set of talking points and was friendly and polite, they both jumped in and said, "Yes!" They've gotten thousands of such letters in the weeks since the upfronts.

So the feeling was, it was worth an expenditure of $20 million to produce and promote a half-season of “Jericho” to see if it could benefit from social networking and the rapid deployment of new technologies (broadband use went up by 10 million homes and DVR penetration jumped from 18 percent to 20 percent — just in the last six months). For all that, Nina Tassler's letter to “Jericho” fans, posted to the show's bulletin board June 6, struck an old-fashioned chord. “A loyal and passionate community has clearly formed around the show,” wrote Tassler. “But that community needs to grow.”

***

Interestingly, the newest Nielsen metric played no part in the decision to renew “Jericho.” I am referring to the measurement of commercial viewing on a live-plus-3-day basis, a metric that CBS eggheads have decided should be called C3 (as opposed to my man C4 at WBAL radio). Simply put, C3 is the ratings for the ads only, not the show. And it's measured accurately because it uses DVRs, which record — with the user's permission, of course — exactly how long you see a commercial, whether you've fast forwarded over it, watched some of it, watched most of it, etc. By using C3, which advertisers and networks have agreed to do next season, there will be better accountability than ever that ads are, in fact, being watched.

The first comprehensive C3 ratings ever compiled by Nielsen were released two days before “Jericho” was renewed.  And whaddya know — “Jericho” had the highest overperformance of any CBS show in its C3 rating. That is to say, “Jericho’s” commercials scored a rating 1 percent higher than the overall program rating. (How exactly that happens — what, people tune out when the show comes back on?? — is a question we must save for another day.) It was the No. 9 show in terms of audience gains of all shows on TV. (“The Office,” which is also the most DVR'd show on television, topped the C3 rankings as well.)

I thought, there has to be a connection between “Jericho’s” hefty C3 and the decision to renew!  But turns out, there isn't.  Tassler was adamant on this point in and after the press conference. “I sat in the room, and we talked.  We did not discuss the commercial ratings at that particular moment as it pertained to 'Jericho.' It didn't come up.  I'm telling you the truth.”

***
 

And now, the moment you've been waiting for — a season two “Jericho” spoiler, straight from Tassler (including a detail not revealed in the press conference). I've set it in white type so you can't see it unless you highlight the space below this line:

In the first episode of "Jericho" next season, Mimi proposes to Stanley.

Comments

[Sonya]

Absolutely one of the best articles I have read regarding Jericho!!!! Thanks for writing it (and really getting it!) and thanks to Nina and CBS for listening.

[Roishana]

Wonderful article! Ive often wondered how CBS decided to renew Jericho, and I am glad that they are trying to take the opportunity to leverage social networking, and trying to look beyond traditional ratings. CBS still has a lot of work to do in this area, but unless you have content that your consumers want (in this instance "Jericho"), you cant experiment. Good luck to CBS, and thank you for bring back the only show I watch on TV.

[Tony Calguire]

Thank you, Aaron, for writing a nice, informative article about the status of Jericho. Over at TVWeek, James Hibberd is reporting that some of your fellow TV critics aren't as sympathetic to Jericho fans and their cause. “We need to give CBS hell for encouraging these people”, one of them arrogantly claims.

Thank you for doing your job, Aaron, even if it means inadvertently "encouraging these people".

[mpbnice]

Thanks so much for the great article and your response to my email. We maintained all along that Jericho wasn't counting even close to all those who watched. Nina Tassler really sounds like a nice lady.

Not going to read the spoiler!

[Sigmagoose]

Aaron, thank you for a wonderful story about Jericho. This article sheds light on what went on "behind the scenes" for the Save Jericho campaign. Looking for more articles about Jericho from you in the future.

[PhillyPhan]

Aaron, you weren't kidding when you said "extensive." You're my hero! And that trick with the spoiler - really fun!

Thanks so much for giving us the perspective we needed.

I look forward to tomorrow's report! Did I say, Thank you? Well, Thank you.

[GT]

Great article and very informative. Thank you for taking the extra time with Nina. g

[ahma]

What a great article, I've gotten more hard facts from it than any other on the internet. It is such great news that CBS will have a way to capture the commercial viewing on DVR's for those of us who are unable to watch live! I can't tell you how proud I am it came from my hometown newspaper. Thank you so much Aaron. Wow, what a spoiler, just one more reason I can't wait for the new season of Jericho.

[vICKI]

AWESOME

[swenciler]

Thanks for this great article. And thanks to CBS for bringing back Jericho. Now we need season 3 and beyond!!!!

[Debby Balcer]

Great article. It was refreshing to read. I thank you for asking all the questions I wanted answers to. Thank you also for putting the spoiler in a differnt font so only those who wanted to see it did. I have bookmarked your site becaues of the depth of this article. I want to see what you have to say about other shows.

[Jayhawkgirl]

Thanks for the great article on Jericho, and taking the time to write it. I know myself and my fellow die hard fans appreciate it very much.

[Cynthia]

FANTASTIC information and article! I loved Nina's stories and how the monster ---err fans --- affected her! Thanks for keeping us in the loop and we look forward to more news and more JERICHO!!!

[Jane]

Wonderful article. Thanks. Now if only CBS would count all DVR users and not just Nielsen ones. We have the viewers they want but they won't count them.

[Nancy]

Thank you for this very well-written article about my favorite show, JERICHO!
Now all we need are NIELSEN FAMILIES!
Have any ideas, anyone??

JERICHO ROCKS!!

WATCH IT. I PROMISE you won't be sorry.
Reruns on CBS now. Friday nights at 9 p.m. EST
NEW episodes to come.
You can also view ALL first season episodes on cbs.com.
Join us at the JERICHO message board on cbs.com!

"You never know when you might need a tank". Johnston Green (Gerald McRaney)

[Valerie]

Fantastic article. I may be calling the cable company about a dvr. I love the doctor story. It's very satisfying that the individual letters were a big consideration. People expressing their feelings in their own way can make a difference.

[delana201]

Fantastic article! Thanks for giving us the behind-the-scene story of how we saved Jericho.

[kestral]

Thank you for such a wonderful article. I enjoyed reading what Nina had to say. I'm glad that CBS listened to the viewers. The reruns on Friday nights at 9pm est have been great! I can't wait for season 2 to start! I'll keep fighting for season 3 as well!

Once again...Thank You.

[Yvonne]

Thanks so much for the wonderful article. The information you provided was very eye opening (in a positive light)! Also, thanks for the spoiler (I couldn't resist looking!)

[jjb_md]

Many thanks!

[gkkatz]

Thank you for the wonderful article. The information was very enlightening. Thanks again.

[Jodi]

Great article, and very informative. Thank you very much!
P.S. I loved the way you handled the spoiler. Thanks again.

[TWM]

Aaron, thanks for the article -- and thanks, because I think it was one of your articles a year ago that convinced me to watch Jericho.

If only there had been a similarly successful campaign for Veronica Mars...

TWM

[Aaron]

I'm sitting in the press conference right now with Carol Barbee, Skeet Lenny and Ashley, and Carol points out that only one other TV program has been brought back from cancellation this way.

Think of "Veronica" as having cheated death twice rather than dwelling on the fact that she didn't once.

[Roy]

"Simply put, C3 is the ratings for the ads only, not the show. And it's measured accurately because it uses DVRs, which record — with the user's permission, of course — exactly how long you see a commercial, whether you've fast forwarded over it, watched some of it, watched most of it, etc. By using C3, which advertisers and networks have agreed to do next season, there will be better accountability than ever that ads are, in fact, being watched."

The C3 Nielsen ratings do not tell us how long a viewer sees a commercial. Technically, they don't even truly measure commercial ratings. It's measures a programming minute that contains 1 or more seconds of commercial time. All commercial minutes are weighted and rolled into one number per program. Nielsen has no capability to measure exact commercials because the people meter doesnt scan the screen fast enough to do it.

TiVo, on the other hand, can measure exact viewing behavior on its boxes, BUT, it is limited to TiVo homes and is not projectable to the rest of the country or even generic DVR owners. Moreover it is set-top only data. It doesnt tell us WHO is doing the watching/fast forwarding. That is why it's not currency for the industry.

TiVo does not currently produce a C3 rating, although they presumably could, but again, it would only be set top, not persons data.

--roy