STUDIO: Paramount
RELEASE DATE: June 17, 2008
STARRING: Skeet Ulrich, Lennie James, Kenneth Mitchell, Ashley Scott, Brad Beyer, April Parker-Jones, Alicia Coppola, Sprague Grayden, Esai Morales, and Michael Gaston
CREATED BY: Stephen Chbosky, Josh Schaer, and Jonathan E. Steinberg
FEATURES: Rebuilding Jericho
Nut Job
Deleted Scenes
Audio Commentaries
Patriots and Tyrants - Alternate Unaired Ending: Segment from Season Finale

Was it worth it? Was all the drama and nut mailing (go look it up if you don't know what I'm talking about) worth losing your favorite show only seven episodes later? The sad fact is that a loyal niche audience is not enough to keep a show afloat and the ratings for Jericho simply didn't warrant renewal. The adoration for this show among the hardcore devotees was remarkable. There were message boards, blogs, and fan sites for nearly every episode and it seemed like maybe, just maybe, the love from the few would translate to a hit for the many. But the noble effort just didn't pay off and CBS pulled the plug again after only seven episodes.

Would you want your favorite brilliant-but-canceled show back for just seven episodes? I say 'yes'. Sure, it's kind of a tease to cancel a beloved show for a second time, but I'd do nearly anything for seven more eps of Firefly or Arrested Development and it seemed to me that the love for Jericho was that strong. And, having watched the final run of Jericho, there was some material in here that easily equaled the first full-length season and some that bettered it. In other words, it's not like the show came back weak. If anything, I think the frustration at Jericho's cancellation stems from the sense that this was a series that was usually growing and building on what it did the week before. The actors were getting better. The world was getting more fully realized. And the action, particularly in season two, was getting more intense - the end of the fourth episode, "Oversight", was as startling and harrowing as anything I've seen this year and I can't remember the last time I wanted a TV bad guy so dead or saw one allowed to be that bad. In many ways, Jericho came back from death more confident than before, only to get killed a second time.

If you're completely unfamiliar, you can actually pick up the complete series of Jericho in one set. That's the way to go. Don't make the unbelievably stupid mistake of starting with season two. You will really have very little idea what's going on. The show is about the aftermath of a nuclear attack on the United States. The first season had its ups and downs, but when it was revived from cancellation, it was primarily an action series, about different factions, leaders, and even warring cities in a world with very little order. How can you be sure of the motives of even your neighbor when true leadership is almost non-existent? The first season was sometimes a little too enclosed, focusing on the development of society in an isolated community. The second season was about how that society then dealt with a world they couldn't trust. How do you get supplies in when you can't trust who's providing them? It's a very interesting idea for a show, but one that just didn't appeal to a wide-enough audience.

The loyal audience for Jericho are treated very well by Paramount Home Video, a studio that doesn't always deliver to hardcore fans but really did this time around. Every single one of the seven episodes from season two includes a commentary track by the show's creators and that's just the beginning. Deleted scenes, featurettes, and even an alternate ending to the series finale are all included on this two-disc set. Each episode features a crystal clear anamorphic widescreen transfer and an excellent 5.1 Dolby Digital Surround Sound track. Jericho may have been canceled for a second time, but its return allowed for one of the more impressive TV on DVD sets of the season. With that in mind, I'd have to say it was definitely worth it.