The Fall of Jericho

March 27, 2008

It's sort of fitting that after nine years of recapping for Television Without Pity, I fall in love with a show that breaks my sour recapper's heart.

I started off watching Jericho as pure amusement. The first season was a bit rough, but even through the more ridiculous bits, I found enough instances of Awesome that kept me coming back for more. (Also, it couldn't have been that bad since I just forked over $34.99 for the season one DVDs, right?)

Above: an awfully sweet graphic created by TWOP poster and Jericho watcher Kricka in the "My Motivation is This" Pixel Challenge thread. You know those cheesy-ass Franklin-Covey inspiration posters that feature, like, a sunset or a saturated close-up of a flower and say stuff like "Dream" and "Aspire"? Well, the thread at TWOP is all about aping those posters while mingling snark and television references. They're quite hysterical and brilliant.

Watching television as I do, for a job, I'm used to sitting through bad shows and just letting the crap sort of wash over me, leaving very little impression. My husband is far less patient, however, so when he actively started watching the show with me -- even before I took over recapping duties from Strega -- I knew there was something there. I couldn't put my finger on exactly what it was, so I just called Jericho my "Big Dumb Jock of a Show." It was sort of lunkheadish, but it was pretty and engaging and had the dual force of Skeet and Lenny James seriously rocking the awesome. It was enough to feed a crush.

About 2/3 of the way through the first season, I started to suspect that the show was getting smarter. The action was still as amazing as it ever had been, but the dumbness was abating. The jock was learning. By the time season two hit, the Awesome was firmly in place, and over seven episodes, my crush had turned into a full-blown obsession.

I've taken a fair bit of ribbing from fellow recappers about my steady love for this show, but I don't care. It was worth it.

As a final irony, when writers/executive producers of a show I recap finally write me with glowing praise, it would have to be a doomed show. Of course.

Hey there!

I'm one of the writers on Jericho. Just read your recap for "Condor" (written by myself and Steve Scaia) and wanted to say that you are so damned funny. I'm gonna remember this line forever, "Goetz may have shaved himself after his last tangle with Jake and the Black Man, but he's still evil. He's subverting the Evil Goatee paradigm." I laughed really hard at that. Also, your descending hierarchy of slyness, which was spot on. Actually, there are always a bunch of laugh out loud stuff in your recaps. Even when you're knocking the writing you're usually right. You're fair...and more importantly, funny. So thanks for giving me something to procrastinate with while I'm supposed to be writing.

Well done, madam.

Matt

And:

Hey there, Keckler/Stephanie...

I'm one of the writers of Jericho (or at least WAS, dammit!). Just wanted to e-mail you now that this crazy ride is over to say how huge a fan I was of your recaps. I think my writing partner Matt probably e-mailed you something similar, but we always loved the way you liked the things we worked the hardest on, and gave us the appropriate amount of shit when we didn't (or sometimes couldn't) do our job well enough. We always enjoyed how you enjoyed the show...if that makes any sense.

Thanks so much for your support...you're an awesome writer.

Humbly yours,

STEVE

PS - For the record, we tried to name the J & R girl "Trish Keckler" as an homage to *you.* ...But it didn't clear. That means there's actually someone in Kansas with that name. Go figure.

I'm thinking of having those letters framed and hung on every wall of my apartment. So, Carol Barbee, Chbosky, Schaer, Steinberg Federman, Scaia, Skeet, Lenny, and everyone else on the show: thanks for all the fun. Thanks for all the Awesome. (And damn you all for making me feel!)