‘Jericho’: How 8 Million Peanuts Briefly Saved the Show

TV show fanatics can be aggressive if their favorite shows are given the boot. Lucifer, for example, got canceled twice and renewed after audiences bombarded the powers that be with petitions, forcing Netflix to bring back the beloved show for a concluding season.

'Jericho' cast members (L-R) Lennie James, Erik Knudsen, Sprague Grayden, Ashley Scott, and Skeet Ulrich — (L-R) Lennie James, Erik Knudsen, Sprague Grayden, Ashley Scott, and Skeet Ulrich | Cliff Lipson/CBS via Getty Images

Jericho might have had everything going against it, but it maintained a significant cult following. When the show went off the air the first time, fans wanted it back so bad that they sent 8 million peanuts to execs, briefly saving the show.

‘Jericho’ fans sent tons of peanuts to CBS after its cancellation

Jericho was a post-apocalyptic drama that ran for two seasons from 2006 to 2008. The show followed the residents of the fictional town of Jericho, Kansas, as they navigate life during a nuclear bomb attack by terrorists.

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The show quickly became a fan favorite and garnered impressive ratings, but its rise was cut short after network executives decided to cut TV seasons in half instead of running them from start to finish. Jericho was among the shows that suffered due to this scheduling snafu, as it went on hiatus after its 11th episode.

When the mid-season finale happened, Jericho had 10.25 million viewers, but when it returned in February 2007, the show had lost much of its momentum and almost 2 million viewers. The ratings kept declining, and the network decided to pull the plug, but fans weren’t having it.

The internet went ablaze with talk about how the network needed to bring back the beloved show. Fans organized grassroots efforts to get CBS to reconsider its decision, and some of the methods involved bombarding the offices with petitions and letters seeking its renewal.

According to ABC, a fundraising campaign was started, and the money raised was used to buy 40,000 pounds of peanuts, equivalent to 8 million peanuts, which were sent to CBS offices. The idea was in reference to an episode where Skeet Ulrich‘s character yells “nuts” in response to being asked to surrender.

The peanuts worked but not for long

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The 8 million peanuts were everything CBS needed to know that its audience was watching. The network reconsidered its decision to cancel Jericho, bringing the show back for a seven-episode season.

The network president at the time, Nina Tassler, said they brought back the series to offer closure to its fans. However, fans didn’t want closure but wanted the series to continue. Jericho‘s second and final season aired from February 12, 2008, to March 25, 2008.

The show’s second season had several odds against it. For instance, its first three episodes leaked online even before the season debuted. According to Looper, the episodes were burned off a screener copy that’s provided to critics, and fans pirated the episodes quickly and in large troves.

It also didn’t help that the Writers Guild of America went on strike right about the same time the show was renewed. Although the show had already gotten its script before the strike began, the showrunners couldn’t guarantee any follow-up material, so even if the show’s ratings had improved over time, the network’s hands were tied as they couldn’t order additional episodes. As for the peanuts, CBS donated them to City Harvest, a program that distributes excess food to the poor.

Critical reception to ‘Jericho’ wasn’t as good as the audiences’

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Jericho fans showed they were willing to go to war for their favorite post-apocalyptic drama and the nut fiasco proved as much. The audience ratings of the show are incredibly high, with 84% of Google users and 81% of Rotten Tomatoes‘ audience approving of the show.

However, the critic scores were not that high. Season 1 has a 48% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Season 2’s score is higher, at 60%, but the average score on the site is 54%.

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