by Pa Rock
TV Junkie
Jericho, a small town of a couple of thousand people in northwest Kansas, was under the political control of the Green family for most of the second half of the twentieth century. The original Mayor Green was an ex-Army Ranger who served in World War II. He was the leader of the town for a couple of decades after the war before being replaced by his son, Johnston Green, an ex-Army Ranger who served in the Vietnam War. Both Mayor Greens were hard-working public servants who were much loved by the members of their community.
Mayor Johnston Green, who served as the town's political leader for more than two decades, had two sons. The oldest, Eric, was a local law enforcement officer who was married to the doctor who ran the town's medical clinic. Jake, the younger and more problematic son, had been taught to fly by his maternal grandfather, a crop duster, and left town shortly after high school due to his association with some unsavory characters and a general rebellious streak that his parents could not subdue or abide. Jake was gone five years, and while no one back in Jericho had any idea where he was at or what he was up to, the boy became a man flying missions and performing dark ops for a civilian contractor in Iraq. Jake was a soldier of fortune.
Robert Hawkins was a mysterious stranger who showed up in Jericho with his family a couple of days before all of the trouble started. The Hawkins family moved into a house that he paid for with cash.
Jericho, of course, is a fictional town populated by fictional people, but communities just like it exist in abundance across America. Jericho, the town, is the place where many of us grew up and lived our lives. It is a bit Norman Rockwell, a tad Kodak, and part Mayberry with a just a hint of Peyton Place.
The series ran for two seasons from 2006 to 2008 with just twenty-nine episodes.
I was at home one Sunday afternoon in Phoenix back in 2009 when one of the local television stations began running reruns of the show. It was a slow afternoon, and I let myself get pulled into the program that I had stumbled upon just as it was beginning. I had no idea it was the first episode or that I would quickly get so hooked.
In that first episode Jake Green was getting his muscle car out of storage before roaring home to Jericho, his first visit back there since leaving town five years earlier. Once in town, and after Jake's mother has a good cry to celebrate his return, Jake hits his father up for the cash inheritance that his grandfather had left him. While the money is for Jake, the grandfather had left it under the control of Jake's father, and the mayor refuses to let his son have it. After a good dose of family conflict, Jake hops in his car and heads west, leaving his poor mother crying in the yard.
So far it was just an average television drama, and I was unimpressed. Then, as Jake was driving away, somewhere twenty miles or so west of town, he (and the viewers) suddenly see a mushroom cloud on the horizon. The sight is so unexpected and so unsettling that Jake drives his car directly into the path of an on-coming vehicle. He had just witnessed an nuclear explosion somewhere off in the direction of Denver.
As the show progresses, Norman Rockwell's America becomes overlaid with Red Dawn. Twenty-three American cities had been destroyed by nuclear explosions, and all sorts of survival strategies must be put into practical use. The citizens of Jericho deal with invasions of con-artists, private contractors stealing for their own survival, and an invasion by a neighboring community. They eventually come under the direct military control of a provisional government set up in Cheyenne, Wyoming. All the while newcomer Robert Hawkins is hiding a secret that could reshape the world order. Hawkins and Jake Green struggle to hold the community together and to resist the forces that would destroy their town.
Jericho is a story of grit and determination and survival. It is the wet dream stuff of fascist militias and the NRA, but it also has an appeal for the common folk who sometimes daydream about how they would react and cope if their world was suddenly turned completely inside out. It is fiction, but it strikes a chord as being something that could happen, especially in our present dark age.
Both the writing and acting on this show are first rate, so much so that the absurd notion of middle America functioning through the post-apocalyptic nightmare of a nuclear attack becomes all too believable. Jericho is an exceptionally gripping drama. It is currently streaming on Netflix.
Wolverines!
TV Junkie
Jericho, a small town of a couple of thousand people in northwest Kansas, was under the political control of the Green family for most of the second half of the twentieth century. The original Mayor Green was an ex-Army Ranger who served in World War II. He was the leader of the town for a couple of decades after the war before being replaced by his son, Johnston Green, an ex-Army Ranger who served in the Vietnam War. Both Mayor Greens were hard-working public servants who were much loved by the members of their community.
Mayor Johnston Green, who served as the town's political leader for more than two decades, had two sons. The oldest, Eric, was a local law enforcement officer who was married to the doctor who ran the town's medical clinic. Jake, the younger and more problematic son, had been taught to fly by his maternal grandfather, a crop duster, and left town shortly after high school due to his association with some unsavory characters and a general rebellious streak that his parents could not subdue or abide. Jake was gone five years, and while no one back in Jericho had any idea where he was at or what he was up to, the boy became a man flying missions and performing dark ops for a civilian contractor in Iraq. Jake was a soldier of fortune.
Robert Hawkins was a mysterious stranger who showed up in Jericho with his family a couple of days before all of the trouble started. The Hawkins family moved into a house that he paid for with cash.
Jericho, of course, is a fictional town populated by fictional people, but communities just like it exist in abundance across America. Jericho, the town, is the place where many of us grew up and lived our lives. It is a bit Norman Rockwell, a tad Kodak, and part Mayberry with a just a hint of Peyton Place.
The series ran for two seasons from 2006 to 2008 with just twenty-nine episodes.
I was at home one Sunday afternoon in Phoenix back in 2009 when one of the local television stations began running reruns of the show. It was a slow afternoon, and I let myself get pulled into the program that I had stumbled upon just as it was beginning. I had no idea it was the first episode or that I would quickly get so hooked.
In that first episode Jake Green was getting his muscle car out of storage before roaring home to Jericho, his first visit back there since leaving town five years earlier. Once in town, and after Jake's mother has a good cry to celebrate his return, Jake hits his father up for the cash inheritance that his grandfather had left him. While the money is for Jake, the grandfather had left it under the control of Jake's father, and the mayor refuses to let his son have it. After a good dose of family conflict, Jake hops in his car and heads west, leaving his poor mother crying in the yard.
So far it was just an average television drama, and I was unimpressed. Then, as Jake was driving away, somewhere twenty miles or so west of town, he (and the viewers) suddenly see a mushroom cloud on the horizon. The sight is so unexpected and so unsettling that Jake drives his car directly into the path of an on-coming vehicle. He had just witnessed an nuclear explosion somewhere off in the direction of Denver.
As the show progresses, Norman Rockwell's America becomes overlaid with Red Dawn. Twenty-three American cities had been destroyed by nuclear explosions, and all sorts of survival strategies must be put into practical use. The citizens of Jericho deal with invasions of con-artists, private contractors stealing for their own survival, and an invasion by a neighboring community. They eventually come under the direct military control of a provisional government set up in Cheyenne, Wyoming. All the while newcomer Robert Hawkins is hiding a secret that could reshape the world order. Hawkins and Jake Green struggle to hold the community together and to resist the forces that would destroy their town.
Jericho is a story of grit and determination and survival. It is the wet dream stuff of fascist militias and the NRA, but it also has an appeal for the common folk who sometimes daydream about how they would react and cope if their world was suddenly turned completely inside out. It is fiction, but it strikes a chord as being something that could happen, especially in our present dark age.
Both the writing and acting on this show are first rate, so much so that the absurd notion of middle America functioning through the post-apocalyptic nightmare of a nuclear attack becomes all too believable. Jericho is an exceptionally gripping drama. It is currently streaming on Netflix.
Wolverines!
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