Jericho: The Complete Series

Jericho: The Complete Series comes housed in a slipcase with the individual releases for the two seasons packed next to each other. There's nothing significant about this set other than the cardboard slip, which has that jaw-dropping image from the series finale as its cover, but it does have a bonus disc full of extra stuff that fans will want to see. We'll tackle that disc in turn, but first the individual season sets: Season 1: Inside the cardboard slipcase are three thin-pak cases that house two discs each. Covers for each disc range with the cast of the series, ranging from main to supporting; Jake's present in all of the covers, with Emily Sullivan (Ashley Scott) and Heather Lisinski (Sprauge Grayden) being on two of the three as well. Disc art features a character on each and menus for the show are motionless with only the morse code beeping over the main menu. The presentation of the show is remarkable. Great colors, grain where it's needed and a clear image throughout, the show looks great. The audio, a solid 5.1 mix that actually gets used, is also a nice addition. I'm glad to see that 5.1 seems to be the standard for these TV shows on DVD as it really adds to the viewing experience. There is a lot of needless bass in the show at times, with commercial breaks being sounded by a resounding reverb on more than one occasion. Still, I like bass--obviously, otherwise I wouldn't have bought a subwoofer about three times too big for my room. The back of the packaging states that some things may have been edited out from the original broadcast, but since I didn't watch the show as it aired originally, I don't know what was left out. Moving onto the special features we get a mixture of deleted scenes for twelve separate episodes. All of the deleted scenes come with commentary by producers Dan Shotz and Karim Zreik and there are some really nice things left on the cutting room floor. Mostly character elements, but they're worth watching, especially if you're a fan of the series. Next up are five commentaries on "Pilot: The First Seventeen Hours", "Fallout", "Rogue River", "Red Flag" and "Vox Populi." All of the commentaries are fun to listen to, with Skeet Ulrich and Lennie James being the biggest clowns on the tracks. Executive producers Jon Turtletaub and Carol Barbee keep the tracks on-topic with comments about the production of the specific episodes and other technical aspects. "Building Jericho" is your typical making-of featurette with interviews from cast and crew. We do get to see a lot of the set that we don't normally see, which is very cool--it takes some of "wow" factor out of the show when you realize it's all on a sound stage, but how they hide everything and still manage to make it look as great as it does is a true testament to the technical team working on the show. The actors chime in with their comments on the show and how much fun it is to work on it. There's back-patting all around and not a single mention of the show being cancelled at one point. Guess they're saving that for the second season DVD, complete with a full count of how many nuts were sent to CBS. The final extra is a "What If?" extra that is a "revealing look at how the nuclear arms race evolved since the end of World War II." This extra isn't really related to the show other than the nuclear aspect and it doesn't do much else than scare the bejesus out of the viewer. Nuclear war is always a scary prospect and this documentary doesn't do much to help ease the fear--in fact, it does the opposite. Overall the series has a solid representation on DVD. Fans will be able to watch their favorite episodes over and over while they wait for the second season to premiere (as of this writing it is still unscheduled) and it will hopefully bring in a few new fans (I already plan on lending out my copy to help rope in a few more viewers) so that the show can have a very successful return to air. Recommended. Season Two: Jericho's second season comes housed in a two-disc amaray DVD case without a slipcover or insert. Jake gets center stage on the cover as well as the DVD menus and disc descriptions are placed on the reverse of the DVD insert, behind the discs. The video and audio presentation is identical to what we got on the first season set: clean, clear and without flaw. The image is a tad soft, but I think that's just me being used to Blu-ray's and overly critical of DVD transfers now. The extras for this set start out on the first disc and don't stop until the second (not really saying much considering there's only two discs, but still). Each of the seven episodes feature commentary with Jonathan E. Steingberg and a mix of other crew and all but one episode ("Jennings & Rall") feature deleted scenes. The commentaries are all insightful and a treat to listen to considering the first season set, containing sixteen episodes, contained commentary on only five of the episodes, so it's quite the rare occurrence to have commentary on everyone of the episodes (unless you're The Simpsons). Fans of the show will want to check the commentaries out for nuggets of information that aren't available anywhere else...not to mention the general fun mood of the commentaries, which translate into an entertaining listen as well. There's also an alternate unaired ending cut of the finale that's included here as well that has a different commentary track starting at around the third act of the episode. Next are the deleted scenes for the episodes: "Reconstruction" (1:25), "Condor" (1:12), "Oversight" (0:57), "Termination for Cause" (1:02), "Sedition" (3:47), and "Patriots and Tyrants" (6:17). As you can see the scenes get lengthier as the episodes go about and each one of them has commentary to accompany it and discussion on why certain things were cut. Also included here is the "Alternate Ending for Series" (25:11), which also has commentary and is simply clipped from the alternate unaired ending version of "Patriots and Tyrants." Following that there is a pair of featurettes: "Rebuilding Jericho" (25:56) and "Nut Job" (9:46). "Rebuilding" talks about the return to the set and the changes that needed to be made to the show to meet its new shorter shoot schedule as well as smaller budget. "Nut Job", of course, revolves around the fan effort to deluge CBS with peanuts. I'm not sure what this show will go down in history more for: being a highly entertaining and original show or for the Nuts campaign. Either way these two extras reflect an incredible amount of love for the fans, as without them this second season set wouldn't even have happened. From the very first episode till the last it was on the edge of your seats action-drama series. This is a must have for action-drama lovers. 5 star all the way.

In the history of network television, there have been a short list shows that have gotten a reprieve from cancellation by a unified effort of the show's fans, Jericho was one of them. Jericho is a small, fictional Kansas town that finds itself isolated after the detonation of a number of atomic bombs across the country in major population centers by unknown perpetrators. The story the over the first season follows the town's struggles to survive without modern communications or infrastructure while more questions arise about who could have been behind the bombs and parts of the country find new leaders and governments. The very short second season shifts to uncovering the conspiracy surrounding the establishment of an alternate government styling itself as the Allied States of America that includes Jericho in its claimed territory. In addition to the stories of survival and conspiracy, there's some soap opera as characters mix and match while finding ways to keep the lights on and the food supplies coming. There's a type of plotline for everyone. There are also characters for everyone: the loyal son who cheats on his wife (Eric Green), the wayward son returning from parts unknown (Jake Green), the mysterious newcomer with a very big secret in his basement (Hawkins), the mayor who tries to hold the town together after the attacks (Johnston Green), the IRS auditor from the big city who ends up stuck in the rural town (Mimi), and the young farmer (Stanley) and his deaf sister (Bonnie) who both have enough backbone to stand up to all comers. The bonus features include a number of episode commentary tracks by producers and actors. These are worth the time if only to hear Lenny James's (who portrays Robert Hawkins) real accent. There are behind the scenes features about special effects and CGI used in the episodes and the construction of the town set along with deleted scenes and the alternative ending to the final episode of the short second season. The set includes a Bonus Disk that has a few short features about the campaign to reverse the cancellation decision for the show along with quick takes of "thank yous" from cast members for the reprieve. The Bonus Disk also includes the alternative final episode that would have been broadcast if the series had been continued. This disk was a disappointment since the alternative ending is already on another DVD as deleted scenes. The space would have been better used for more short features about the development of the series and technical details of its production. A major part of that effort including sending several tons of peanuts to the offices of CBS to convince them to reconsider their cancellation order. Why peanuts? Watch the episode DVDs and the Bonus DVD to find the answer. Highly recommended, especially for those who enjoy conspiracy stories.

I love this show. I've watched it several times. It's the first series I remember that questioned the use of contractor mercenaries to fight our wars and also questioned the use of torture. Lennie James and Skeet Ulrich are terrific in this show. James went on to The Walking Dead. If you’re looking for good stuff to watch consider miniseries like The Astronauts Wives Club (2015), Band of Brothers (2001), Frank Herbert’s Dune (2000), Frank Herbert’s Children of Dune (2003), Into the West (2005), Lonesome Dove (1989), Manhattan (2014-2015), Return to Lonesome Dove (1993), Pride and Prejudice (1995), Taken (2002), and The 10th Kingdom (2000), which are all terrific because they have clear beginnings that establish an objective, then strong middles and conclusive endings where the goal is achieved, like a good novel. Other shows I’ve really enjoyed include Battlestar Galactica (2004-2009), Breaking Bad (2008-2013), Cowboy Bebop (1998), Downton Abbey (2010-2015), Firefly (2002), Game of Thrones (2011-2019), Granite Flats (2013-2015), The IT Crowd (2006-2013), Jericho (2006-2008), Lost (2004-2010), Merlin (2008-2012), The Prisoner (1967-1968), Rome (2005-2007), Spartacus: Gods of the Arena (2011), Spartacus: Blood and Sand (2010), Stargate: SG-1 (1997-2007), Stargate: Atlantis (2004-2009), Star Trek (1966-1969) and Star Trek Voyager (1995-2001). I didn’t list any contemporary series I’m following that don’t have an end date yet, not conducive to binge watching from beginning to finish. If you like reading try some of my favorite fantasy and sci-fi authors: Richard Adams, Palo Bacigulupi, Suzanne Collins, Abe Evergreen, Diana Gabaldon, Hugh Howey, George Martin, Brandon Sanderson, John Scalzi, and Andy Weir.

もう見ることができないと思っていたＪＥＲＩＣＨＯを再び目の当たりにし、懐かしさで一日です。三人の活躍に胸躍らせたあの頃を思いだしました。

Dvds were brand new, complete set.

I love this show. I watched it when it was originally on, but forgot most of the details. It kept me on the edge of my seat and rooting for the people of Jericho the whole time. So sad that it was cancelled early. Also love Skeet Ulrich as Jake, great hero you don't expect.

An excellent series that CBS should have continued. A lot of twists and turns and sub -plots I hope some other network will pick this up and continue the show. For CBS to cancel this just when it was getting better with each episode was a great dis-service to fans.

The story line and characters are well done. Made the news when it ended as fans were upset and sent bags of nuts to the producers... you’ll have to watch the series to know why :)