[IMG:L]The cast and creators of Jericho know a thing or two about disasters–both on and off screen. While the characters of the serialized drama faced the aftermath of nuclear attacks last season, the actors and producers faced cancellation.
Fans rallied to save the show and set out to prove that CBS bosses were “nuts” for pulling Jericho after just one season. With the help of nutsonline.com, viewers sent a wake up call to CBS Entertainment President Nina Tassler, Senior Executive VP for Programming Kelly Kahl in the form of 40,000 pounds of nuts and luckily they got the message loud and clear, renewing the show as a mid-season replacement.
Last week, the cast gathered at Hollywood hotspot Crimson to celebrate the release of Jericho Season 1 on DVD. Hollywood.com was there to find out their thoughts on the DVD, the fans and the upcoming season.
[IMG:R]On the Season 1 DVD release:
Bob Stephenson [Jimmy]: “I think it is absolutely perfect timing. They reran a lot of the episodes over the summer but I think this is a good way to sit down and watch them back to back, a couple at a time, back to back and then just really get a feel for everything that’s going on plus you get some of those extras you hear everybody talk about.”
Kenneth Mitchell [Eric Green]: “I’m on one of the [disc] covers of the DVD, so that is kind of exciting. That is a first time for me to have just me solo on the cover of the DVD so it is a proud moment. It kind of looks like a have this comb over, which I’m not entirely proud of, but the fact that I’m on there is great.”
Carol Barbee [Producer]: “It is huge that we have this DVD coming out now in between these two seasons because part of the problem or concerns with a serialized show is that if you don’t jump on the train in the beginning maybe you won’t jump on because you feel like you’ve been left behind. I jumped onto 24 the second season because I got the DVDs and suddenly I became this life long fan so I think this is huge and it will be great for us and hopefully we will be on soon so that we can capitalize on this.”
[IMG:L]On their fans rallying to save the show:
Skeet Ulrich [Jake Green]: “It was humbling. I don’t think any of us necessarily expected it or expected that it would work in the long run once we heard about it happening. You know it really puts a face on people who were just numbers to the network and to the advertisers and I think that is a great thing for people to stand up and say “We want this,” and for CBS to their credit, to actually listen and to rise up for them. I think ultimately all we can do is make the best show we can make and that’s the thanks we are trying to give them and I know we just finished Friday seven incredible episodes. So I think that’s our thank you, but it has been an incredible experience all around.”
Ashley Scott [Emily Sullivan]: “You know when we got canned, it was a horrid day…about a week in we started getting phone calls from people and started realizing that [the campaign] was starting to come about. People were responding to our shut down and they were calling CBS and I heard there were some big wigs over there who had to shut their phones off and change their emails…which was awesome. And then all the nuts, you go to nutsonline and they were literally like bringing them to CBS New York. It hasn’t happened since Cagney and Lacey in 1983!”
Jon Turteltaub [Producer]: “When we were canceled this uproar came from these people you suddenly realize these are hundreds of thousands of individuals who watch your show and they are experiencing and living and interacting with the work you are doing and you realize that you actually have a role in their lives and suddenly their action has a role in your life so you become obligated, you feel connected and you owe them not just a good show but you owe them the responsibility of making good on what they are asking for.”
Kenneth Mitchell [Eric Green]: “It meant everything to me. I was in China at the time when we found out we got canceled and also when we found out that we got picked up, I was over there shooting something else and I got this wonderful phone call from Skeet. It was late at night and he called me up because he just found out [the show was picked up] and he was so excited to tell everyone so he called me and then we did a conference call with Lennie James and we woke him up in London, England. So here I am in China, Skeet’s in L.A., Lennie James is in London and Alicia Coppola came on the phone and the four of us were just bouncing off the walls.”
Alicia Coppola [Mimi Clark]: “I am beyond grateful. They made television history by doing this, but they did something even more, they paid for my kid’s education. They gave me a job. They have affected my daughter because of what they did and I am eternally grateful. I think it is phenomenal.”
[IMG:R]On the new seven-episode season:
Kenneth Mitchell [Eric Green]: “It picks up right where we left off with the war and there is this really incredible energy that I thought was the cliffhanger of the season and I don’t think the fans will be disappointed. Certainly with my character it was a big deal with the death of his father and he is carrying that throughout season two so you will kind of see Eric thinking about avenging his father’s death so that’s an interesting layer to his character and certainly to the story. So it is something to kind of look forward to. It is really fun to play.”
Ashley Scott [Emily Sullivan]: “It was incredible. It was probably the best work experience I’ve ever had, this last seven [episodes] certainly because I think we worked out so many kinks in the first year and then we are able to work together as a team and with such passion. I want to rewind and start over, honestly I really do. There are all sorts of great things that Emily is doing. She becomes a little more kick ass and adjusts to her surroundings basically…she really starts to respond and to work for her town and save what she believes in.”
Brad Beyer [Stanley Richmond]: “It was great, just the fact that we all got to come back and do it again and it was such a pleasant surprise so we were all very grateful to be there…We have a great bunch of writers and they really took their time to establish my character. He was a guy who was never able to get out of Jericho and here a bomb goes off so now he’s never going to get to leave. He has a deaf sister, played by Shoshannah Stern who is amazing, it is about their relationship. It is about human relationships, which is great and I think Stanley and Bonnie and Alicia’s character really represent that part of the show the family and the relationships.”
[IMG:L]On how they would react in a crisis:
Sprague Grayden [Heather Lisinski]: “I’m definitely a survivor and I think that would definitely come out and I am a bit of a fixer so I think that would definitely come out of it as well. Living through 9/11 in New York those are a few things I’ve learned. I was a New Yorker. It was pretty interesting for me because I felt that one of the things I loved about the script of Jericho was I felt the pilot really reflected what we went through in 9/11 and I knew that one of our creators, Stephen Chbosky was from New York and that he was going to pull those experiences into it and I felt he really did in the first season and I am so very proud of that.”
Skeet Ulrich [Jake Green]: “I would be a father through and through. I think any parent has a plan in their mind of what they need to do depending on where their kids are and it is something that you unfortunately have to think about, out here more because of earthquakes more than anything, but God forbid something like that happens. I think I would certainly do everything I could to protect them and get them to safety.”
Ashley Scott [Emily Sullivan]: “I don’t think we would know that until it happened, truthfully. I think about that often. I think that you hug people that you love and you try to live and you try to rebuild and try not to harbor hatred and you try to just … you get your animal instincts on and move forward if you make it.”
