Sorry I’m a bit late, but the August edition of the Blackjack Fairgrounds Jericho blog carnival has posted.

The theme this month is “Happenins in the Jericho Fandom.”

So mosey on over and check it out.

And remember: No guns, thieves will be strung up, and be sure to leave before nightfall!

As I mentioned in this post, my NetFlix queue has been booked for foreseeable future with the first four seasons of “The Wire.” After years of being intimidated by the show’s complex plots and myriad characters, I finally latched onto it in its fifth and final season. Upon my introduction to David Simon and Ed Burns’ ubiquitous series about life in Baltimore from the streets to the schools, I was hooked in a major way. Now halfway through Season 2, I feel “The Wire” is right there with “Deadwood” in terms of the best TV drama I’ve ever seen.

I was already intrigued by that production tandem’s next H-B-Opus, the seven-part miniseries “Generation Kill,” which chronicles young Marines’ first 40 days of America’s invasion of Iraq in 2003. But it was downright serendipitous when I realized that James Ransone, the actor who played one of “The Wire’s” wildest Season 2 characters (Chester “Ziggy” Sobotka), would be one of the stars of “Generation Kill.”

Ransone’s re-emergence shouldn’t be too much of a surprise, considering how much HBO (rightfully) recycles its talented series cast members. Former “Deadwood” actors popped up frequently on “John from Cincinnati,” for example. Devout “Jericho” fans (AhemAmyVernonCough) might also recognize the scrappy actor, who played Daryl in the 2007 episode “A.K.A.” of the recently canceled CBS series.

In addition to Ransone, the “Generation Kill” ensemble cast includes Alexander Skarsgård (son of Stellan Skarsgård; not to be confused with “Jarhead” star Peter Sarsgaard), Lee Tergesen, Jon Huertas and Stark Sands.

After the break is a partial transcript of HBO’s “Generation Kill” synopsis. Read more of this entry »

Once again, Jericho fans are providing troops in Iraq and Afghanistan with some entertainment to help pass the days.

They raised $5,380 to send 219 Season 2 DVD sets to military personnel overseas. In addition, they include recorded messages by writers and producers of Jericho. A sampling:

Co-Executive Producer Dan Shotz: “Jericho, at its core, is a show about hope.  You guys define hope.  Thank you for all you do.”

Executive Producer Jon Turteltaub: “You’re an inspiration to all of us.

Once again, the fans prove that those involved in creating the show and their fanbase can work together as a a team.

The DVDs, just as they were with the lot from the first season, will be shipped straight to the front lines from the Staten Island Project Homefront, a nonprofit organization dedicated to supporting U.S. troops by providing them with leisure items including snacks, CDs, books and personal items.

Tidbits on the DVD collection this time around:

• 21 sets “came from a middle school classroom in Boca Raton, Fla., where teacher Susan Oyer challenged her students to help make a difference. Through money earned by doing chores and hunting for spare change on schoolroom floors, they raised nearly $450 for the cause.”

•  Jericho4Kids raised $267.

• “An auction of show memorabilia obtained and donated by Jericho on-set dresser Mike Loomer produced an additional $975 for the campaign.”

Here’s some other humanitarian efforts undertaken by the Jericho Rangers:

• A $20,667 donation in 2007, with the assistance of www.Nutsonline.com, to Greensburg, KS to aid in a massive rebuilding effort following a catastrophic F5 tornado;
• A charity auction at Jerichon, the annual convention hosted by www.guardiansofjericho.com that  produced nearly $4,000 for Greensburg and VFW efforts;
• Ongoing care package shipments of toiletries, games, books, DVDs, etc. to a designated military  contact and Jericho fan on behalf of other troops serving in Iraq;
• The current Spreading the Nutty Love campaign, in which nearly $1,080 worth of peanut butter  (378 jars) and other food essentials are being donated to the Kansas Food Bank (in a state especially hard-hit by tornadoes)

The DVDs for the Troops folks tell me that they’ve estimated at least $32,000 has been raised in the past year by Jericho Rangers for all the various philanthropic efforts, which include helping individual Jericho fans who had varying medical or financial troubles.

Wanna know more about the program? Check out www.jerichorangers4ourtroops.com.

Banner image courtesy of JR4OT. 

I’ll admit it. I’ve never seen an episode of “Lost.”

I know, people tell me it’s amazing. I’m also fiercely intimidated by joining a complicated show so late in its run, which is why it took me so long to give “Deadwood” a try—and wow, I’m glad I did. But I’m also unmotivated to catch up on a series with season after season on DVD, especially when that honor is currently bestowed on “The Wire.” I just finished the fourth episode of Season 2, when Freamon looks 10 years younger than he does in Season 5 and Daniels is slowly working his way up the po-lice ladder. And it’s fantastic, obviously.

But there’s no disputing the powerful, almost cult-like fan base of “Lost.” One friend of mine only watches one show with any regularity and it’s “Lost.” And even people who feel like the show has lost its footing still watch it every week, much like fans of “The Sopranos” would complain that it would never live up to the quality of its first two seasons, but watched all the way through to the end for fear they’d miss something groundbreaking. (Insert joke about that series finale here.)

For a cliffhanger show like “Lost,” the stakes for season finales are much higher than, say, “30 Rock” (which I love, by the way). So when crazy things happened and new twists were revealed—can you tell I didn’t see it?—a heckuva lot of you (31 percent of voters) seemed to like what happened and voted accordingly in the latest Remote Access poll, deeming it the best season finale among fall series we regularly cover on this blog.

Placing second with 26 percent of the vote was “Jericho,” which filmed two endings and wound up using the one that worked more as a series finale.

Placing third (too low!) with 8 percent of the vote was the finale of “The Office,” which was by far the best episode of Season 4 and featured a command performance by “Wire” veteran Amy Ryan, as evidenced by this classic one-minute snippet when she endears herself to Michael and millions of “Office” fans:

Tied for fourth were the finales for “Heroes” and “House,” with 6 percent of the vote. Find out the rest of the results—and our latest poll—after the break. Read more of this entry »

I’ve been so far behind in my Jericho blogging that it’s not even funny.

Fortunately, the Blackjack Fairgrounds blog carnival has been resurrected and is hosted by Jane at The Monster.

So I’ll skip the articles that are in the carnival and just share other things I’ve come upon:

• Lost the link for this, but the upcoming series Crash, on Starz (based on the movie of the same name) snagged two Jerichoians for its cast. Clare Carey (Mary Bailey) plays “Christine, a mother living in Brentwood and married to a successful real estate developer” and D.B. Sweeney (Goetz – boo!)  plays “Peter Emory, a real estate developer, husband to Christine and father to a teenage daughter.” If you know the article/post this came from, please let me know and I’ll hyperlink it.

• Also lost the exact link on this, but the SunHerald.com had an article about Scrabble celebrating its 60th anniversary with a big old celebrity charity game in which Skeet Ulrich was among those who advanced to the finals. See, he has brains in real life, too.

• Brad Beyer (Stanley Richmond) and Ashley Scott (Emily) are up for doing a Jericho feature movie if the opportunity were to arise and a third season were definitely out of the question.

Photo courtesy of CBS. 

I’ve never, ever seen a fanbase so hooked into the producers and actors and crew that put together a show.

Jericho truly is a special experience for the fans (myself included) and all those involved in producing the show.

Take the latest missive I received today from the Saving Jericho Again folks:

Jericho Executive Producers Jon Turteltaub (”National Treasure,” “National Treasure: Book of Secrets”) and Carol Barbee (CBS’ “Swingtown”) also have posted messages on www.savejerichoagain.com, applauding the TV ad as “brilliant” and “amazing.”

Both Turteltaub and Barbee also thanked Jericho fans for their continued support and passion, affirmed that meetings regarding Jericho’s future were ongoing, and asked fans to hang tight on the collective fight to resurrect the canceled show starring actor Skeet Ulrich.

First off, how awesome is that? These are people who know video production and they’re blown away by the TV ad (voiced by none other than hunky Stanley “Brad Beyer” Richmond himself and produced visually by the incredibly talented Rubber Poultry (known to his parents as Jason Moore).

The ad first aired June 10 and since then, the SJA folks inform me, the site has received more than “9,000 visits, with over 26,000 page views and 6,300 absolute unique visitors (visits from a single IP address) from 66 countries and territories and viewed in 44 different languages.”

Wow.

The ad on YouTube has had more than 13,000 views and folks have downloaded a hi-res version of the TV ad more than 300 times.

Plus, folks have downloaded “Save Jericho” postcards more than 1,250 times.

Says Rubber Poultry:

The response has been tremendous. I haven’t seen this kind of activity since the show was originally renewed. The cast, crew and producers are really excited, too. They’ve expressed their excitement both publically and privately about what fans are doing.

Wanna know more about anything to do with Saving Jericho, again? It’s not over until it’s over, and the exec prods say it ain’t over. So head over to Save Jericho Again to find out all you need to know.

After I ended the Blackjack Fairgrounds Jericho blog carnival, Gwen over at JKI (Jericho Kansas Inc.) offered to take over ownership and I gladly accepted. So the Fairgrounds have reopened for business!

Here’s the note from Gwen about the carnival:

For those of you who have not heard of a Blog Carnival, it is a collection of links about a particular subject.

Blackjack Fairgrounds is looking for submissions that are of interest to Jericho fans. These submissions can be announcements, articles, blog entries, discussions, fan fiction, humor or anything else that might interest a Jericho fan.

As long as you can provide a link you can submit it!

The submission deadline is June 25th, and the current edition of Blackjack Fairgrounds will open on June 30th.

Submissions can be made here or you can e-mail blackjack@jerichojki.com.

Blackjack Fairgrounds is also looking for hosts. If you want Blackjack Fairgrounds to come to your corner of the Jericho fandom, then offer to host one of the road show editions. Our host for the June road show edition is The Monster.

Thanks, Gwen. Remote Access will continue to be a FOBF (Friend of Blackjack Fairgrounds), and I’ll be posting each month to let you know that it’s posted.

Photo courtesy of CBS. 

Ads in Variety weren’t enough.

A big ol’ billboard in downtown Los Angeles? Just getting started.

Last night, the biggest fan effort ever in the history of television takes to the airwaves in an effort to save the post-apocalyptic drama Jericho. Again.

More than 200 commercials will air on cable in and around Hollywood, Beverly Hills and the South and East San Fernando Valley, narrated by Brad “Stanley Richmond” Beyer and designed by the extremely talented fan who goes by the handle Rubber Poultry.

From May 9 to June 1, fans from around the globe (besides all over the U.S., from Sweden, Croatia, Australia, Canada, France, Spain, Romania and the Netherlands) raised $6,314.88 to purchase airtime for the 30-second ad.

It’ll air on Sci Fi, Discovery and the History Channel, during primetime and on shows that include Ghost Hunters, Deadliest Catch, a special on Area 51 and a special on Greensborough, Kansas, a town devastated by tornadoes for which Jericho fans raised thousands of dollars to help residents recover.

It’s amazing how much this show’s fans have done to resurrect this show. Any network would do well to pick it up. For all the info and to check out the ad, which is great, check this site out.

Read more of this entry »

I am sorry to say that this edition will be the last of the Blackjack Fairgrounds Jericho Blog Carnival.

As most of you know, I’ve begged, pleaded and cajoled people every two weeks since the blog carnival was revived to send in entries. But each time, none gets sent in until the last minute and even then, there’s a mere handful. In this two-week period, exactly one entry was sent in.

I don’t blame anyone. Life’s busy. You have more important things to do with your time than remember a silly blog carnival. Heck, last time around, I didn’t have time to submit an entry! And the guest hosts — Anna, Margie & Edna and kricka — all did stellar jobs when their turn came. I even had two more guest hosts lined up.

But I fear that although the interest in reading a carnival is still there, the interest in keeping it going is not. If anyone disagrees and would like to take over ownership of the carnival, please e-mail me and I would be happy to transfer ownership of the carnival.

Anyway, there’s been no lack of articles out there about Jericho, so after the one entry for this week’s carnival, I’ll post quickie notes on all the things I’d been saving up in my drafts folder:

fanshawe shared Blood, peanuts and the future of television posted at cinemarealm.com. The article is a long, articulate look at how television needs to figure out how to adapt to the new viewing habits and Nielsen is a dinosaur that has little relevance.

And here’s the stuff I’ve stumbled across in the past couple weeks:

Read more of this entry »

I’ve been SO far behind in my blogging on Jericho that I’m dreadfully embarrassed. I don’t even have an entry in this week’s edition of the Blog Carnival, hosted wonderfully by Erika/kricka over at Short Story Life.

I’d been saving up so many links that I’ll give you a carnival-day bonus, a quick linkapalooza.
• Join in the Second Annual DVDs For The Troops Campaign. What’s that? Simple: help purchase Jericho Season 2 DVDs to send to the troops deployed in Iraq and Afghanistan. Last year’s campaign was such a success that Amazon.com is helping out with pooled donations. Click on the above link for all the details. In addition, Jericho4Kids is doing a raffle of cast autographs for those who donate.
• The efforts to find a new home for Jericho continue to get press. Besides the SciFi Channel and Comcast, which previously had been cited, the afore-linked-to article mentions the Hallmark Channel.
• OK, we knew this already, but Jericho was one of the top time-shifted programs on broadcast television in January, February, March and April. Not that that mattered to CBS.
• Nice post about the keep Jericho alive movements.
• Great video on YouTube.
• About the Nuts to Nielsen movement.
• The Jericho page on a South African network’s website.
• Where you can see Sprague, April and other Jericho actresses elsewhere on the dial.
• Students in Boca Raton learned about civics and economics using Jericho as a real-life case study.
• Variety gets shelled. The nuts are yummy, they say!
• CBS may have canceled Jericho, but the net couldn’t cancel Jerichon! (May 23, 24, 25, & 26 in Oakley, Kansas.)
• Another Nuts To Nielsen! article, from The Tampa Tribune. NorsU is interviewed.
• And another, Nielsen is based near Tampa. This one’s from the Tampa Bay Business Journal.
• Jericho4Kids interviews J.D. Streett from the Jericho special effects team.
• Dan Shotz and Jon Steinberg talk to IFMagazine.
• More on Nuts to Nielsen, from BuddyTV.
• And here’s one more.
• And a last one, from Forbes.com, not about nuts or Nielsens, but about News Corp.’s president, Peter Chernin, who wants to bring Hollywoood kicking and screaming into the Internet age.

Hosted this week by the lovely Erika/kricka on her blog, Short Story Life, the Blackjack Fairgrounds Jericho Blog Carnival continues to flourish.

Needless to say, we are quite excited by the prospect, as Erika is the funniest girl in the room and a fellow child of the ’80s.

But we still need your help.

We have several entries already, but let’s step it up a bit, give Erika some WORK to do.

Please submit entries by clicking here and feel free to ask me any questions if you have them (in the comments below or by e-mailing me).

You can submit a blog entry, an article on a website, a forum thread link. Generally, we request that you submit only your own work, but if you see an article that you think really belongs in the carnival, submit it and just make it clear in the submission that you’re not the author so credit can be properly given.

I’m also looking for future guest hosts. Gwen at Jericho-Kansas.com is our next hostess with the mostest, coming up May 29. I’m seeking hosts for June 12 and 26.

Photo courtesy of CBS. 

Thanks much to Anna at A Day in the Life for hosting this time ’round.

Kansas weather, computer glitches and then real life all conspired to get in the way of getting the carnival posted by Thursday, but we finally are here to present it to you. Lots of good stuff, thanks to all for submitting articles —  yours and others’.

I may be moving the carnival to a monthly basis, and need to sort some things out about it, so stay tuned… But submissions for future carnivals can be made by clicking here.

Thanks again, Anna!

Once again, Jericho fans pulled together and did the (nearly) impossible:

They raised the funds to put full-page ads in Variety (April 25)  and The Hollywood Reporter and have put Jericho up for sale, metaphorically speaking.

These Rangers just don’t give up, do they?

If you head on over to Jericho4Sale.com, you’ll find out all you need to know about the latest in the ongoing effort to ensure a third season for Jericho.

Film.ca helped spearhead this effort and has copies of the final ad artwork. Fans raised more than $11,000 for the advertisements, designed by DangRabbit.

Meanwhile, Slice of SciFi chose one sci-fi show from each of the “conventional” networks that aired in 2008 so far and is polling folks as to which is the best. Next week is the cable network poll.

The options are:
• Lost – ABC
• Jericho – CBS
• Supernatural – CW
• Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles – Fox
• Journeyman – NBC

Vote like it’s Chicago —  early and often!

Photo courtesy of CBS. 

Rock on, Radio Free Jericho.

Maybei/Vicki, fan extraordinaire, sent e-mails to Timothy Omundson —  yay! (Constantino —  boo, hiss!) —   and Lennie James (the ever-awesome Hawkins) to ask if they’d take questions from fans, and both said, basically, “Sure, why not?!”

Anyhow, if you want to submit your questions for Omundson, go here or e-mail her at Jerichomaybei@aol.com. She’ll then post the questions and answers.

If you want to submit your questinos for Lennie, go here or e-mail her at the address above.

The Hollywood Reporter has had sit-downs with network entertainment presidents this week, and I was able to glean a few interesting tidbits from them.

• The CW (Dawn Ostroff): Reaper and Aliens in America have not been canceled. They have not been picked up, either, but they haven’t been canceled. The network seeks to cater toward young women, so Gossip Girl and the new 90210 spinoff are perfect for that demographic. Seems as if the network’s willing to give shows a chance to catch on (of course, it’s easier to do that when you’re the bottom-ranked network —  nowhere to go but up).

• Fox (Kevin Reilly): Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles has already started staffing for a fall season. The network’s looking for the next That ’70s Show or Malcolm in the Middle to “bring young comedy loyalists back to the network.”

• CBS (Nina Tassler): Shark is still on the bubble. Cane is a longshot to return. Moonlight has a decent shot, as it wins its time period. The New Adventures of Old Christine and How I Met Your Mother aren’t a lock to return, but they’re looking good. Comedy is good. She mostly sidestepped any mention of Jericho.

Jericho’s oldest residents, Edna & Margie, so kindly agreed to host this week’s Blackjack Fairgrounds Jericho Blog Carnival, in their basement.

So please head on over there today to read what folks had to say about Jericho in the past couple of weeks and what Margie & Edna had to say about them.

Enjoy and the next carnival will be in two weeks (May 1) at A Day in the Life.

And thank you ever so much, ladies, for being such gracious hostesses!

A week and a half ago, Jenna Fischer, who plays Pam on “The Office,” and Brad Beyer, who plays Stanley on “Jericho,” were deadlocked among Remote Access readers who voted in a poll to determine the supporting actor “most crucial” to his/her show.

After a tie of 171 votes apiece, Fischer broke away from Beyer and claimed the honor. She finished with 222 votes; Beyer claimed 203. (Photo of Jenna Fischer courtesy of NBC/Universal.)

Like last week’s results, actors from their shows also filled the poll’s next two slots: Rainn Wilson (92 votes), Dwight on “The Office,” and reader-submitted Skeet Ulrich (73 votes), Jake on “Jericho.” (I’d still contend that Ulrich is a lead actor, but it’s an interesting poll trend regardless.)

Rounding out the top 10 were Michael Emerson as Ben on “Lost” (43 votes); Robert Sean Leonard as Wilson on “House, M.D.” (36 votes); Tricia Helfer as Number Six on “Battlestar Galactica” (32 votes); Summer Glau as Cameron on “Terminator: The Sarah Conor Chronicles” (25 votes); Masi Oka as Hiro on “Heroes” (18 votes); and Allison Mack as Chloe on “Smallville” (17 votes).

Our new poll, in the right margin of this page, is all about elbow grease: Who is the hardest-working TV personality? We’ve even given you a few suggestions to get you started.

From “Lost” to “Cloverfield,” it seems like JJ Abrams is everywhere these days. “Daily Show” alumnus Steve Carell rocks “The Office” and is an A- or B-list movie star at this point. “Saturday Night Live” alumna Tina Fey is the MVP writer/producer/star of “30 Rock” and also has movie cred with “Mean Girls” and “Baby Mama.” Ryan Seacrest hosts “American Idol,” the Emmys, “New Year’s Rockin’ Eve,” his own radio show, E! newscasts, “American Top 40″ and pretty much everything that needs an emcee. And Oprah Winfrey’s talk show continues to rule and her presence extends into prime time, politics and international charity work.

As we like to do here at Remote Access, we’re giving you the option to submit your own nominations as well. So feel free to do so. Remember: We’re looking for people who got their start and/or are best known for their contribution to television. Movie stars making a TV cameo now and then shouldn’t count. Vote, vote, vote!

Check out the rest of the results of the supporting actor poll after the break.

Read more of this entry »

I can’t say I was shocked that the consensus is to keep the Jericho blog carnival alive.

I can say I’m glad, though. And I appreciate all the folks who’ve volunteered to host the carnival int the coming weeks. I’m still finalizing the lineup for the next few carnivals, but the first one, of course, will be hosted by Margie & Edna, in their basement, next Thursday, April 17. The submission deadline will be 4 p.m. April 16.

Those of you who have volunteered who haven’t heard from me yet, do not fear, I’m just trying not to double-book anyone, so I’m going one at a time. I’m only on the second volunteer so far. All will get to host, and it’s much appreciated. I’ll be in touch to explain how it’ll work.

But the hard part comes next: Entries.

For those of you without blogs, we’re looking to you to help keep an eye out for good entries about Jericho. Urge those bloggers, posters, etc. to submit their entries, here. Entries don’t have to be completely about Jericho, but can also discuss the issue of television ratings, viewing habits and the like, so long as Jericho IS MENTIONED SOMEWHERE in the post.

If there’s an especially well-written or important post on any of the message boards (CBS boards, RFJ, Jeritopia, JerichoNet2, any others I’ve momentarily forgotten!), suggest that the poster submit that comment, even. If it’s on the Internet, it can be submitted. You just need a URL.

If you have any questions, send me an e-mail here or post a comment below.

Sometime last week when I wasn’t around, I got an e-mail from Blackjack Fairgrounds Jericho Blog Carnival stalwart Anna of A Day in the Life.

Even though Season 2 of Jericho is over, she asked, would the carnival continue?

Before that moment, to be honest, it hadn’t occurred to me to continue it. TV blog carnivals tend to post a few days after each new episode. During the off-season, the carnivals generally are on hiatus.

But I didn’t e-mail Anna back right away (well, four days later, when I finally got back to my e-mail), because I started thinking about it.

There’s a heckuva lot of Jericho news out there these days and a lot of interesting stuff being written.

So I’m game if you are.

Let me know in the comments under this post what you think. My main idea is that it would be every two weeks rather than every week.

But this is what I’ll need from you:

• Guest hosts. This basically entails being the host blog for the carnival each week. You have to read the submitted entries and post a sentence or two that sums them up. Check out Jane’s turn as guest host to get the idea. If you have a blog, livejournal or website of any kind, you can guest host. you’re interested, e-mail me.

• Entries! If you see an article that should be in the carnival, urge the writer to submit it. If you write an article about Jericho, submit it.