The return of Jericho and the future of TV

Glad to hear that Jericho is coming back for a short mid-season run next year. Like Lost, which I gave up on at the beginning of its 3rd season, Jericho will probably work best as a limited series, but it still deserved more than one season. It had its share of lackluster episodes and plot lines, but I liked the characters and the set up and am glad that the May cliffhanger won't be its ending.

On the other hand, CBS is saying that show won't go any further than its coming seven episodes unless the Jericho fans who besieged the network for its return get more people to watch it. What CBS really means is that they want more people to watch it "live" in its network time slot, and I suspect that's not going to happen. About half the people I know who watch TV series on a regular basis do not watch them "live" when the network airs them. Some watch from network web sites, some watch shows they download from file-sharing sites, some wait for the DVDs; I, like many others, record the shows on my DVR to watch at my convenience. Networks don't like this because these viewers don't get counted by the ratings system, and worse, aren't usually exposed to the commercials which, of course, allow the shows to be free to us in the first place. I think TV is entering that same relationship with technology that has bedeviled the music industry recently--we consume music and TV shows, but we want to take full advantage of the freedom that technology has given us to control our consumption on our own terms. Past experience has shown that the networks will need to adapt, and the first thing that should change is measurement of TV show popularity.