Sunday, October 29, 2006

Jericho


Have I mentioned before my love of end of the world books? So it's no surprise that I've started watching Jericho. In a nutshell, Jericho is set a few years in the future. Jake (Skeet Ulrich) has returned to his small Kansas hometown of Jericho after a five year absence; he was only supposed to stay a couple of days, but on his way out of town their was a mushroom cloud in the distance.

Is it an accident? It appears that other US towns have also been hit (Atlanta, Chicago, San Diego). Terrorism? An attack? The folks in Jericho have no way of knowing; and they are struggling for answers, trying to figure out what to do next.

I love this stuff. Yep, I'm sure that people who know more about this stuff can tell me a thousand different details about what's scientifically wrong with the show. And there are a few other quibbles. But right now, I like the townsfolk trying to figure out answers, trying to hold off anarchy, wondering what to do next. In a crisis like this, at what point is money going to no longer matter? Can democracy continue? Is it OK to eat the corn that was caught out in radioactive rain? And who owns that corn, anyway? Sure, they have guns, but what about when the bullets run out?

I also like how this type of World Ending Disaster turns everything topsy turvy. Jake had been the world class screw up; but with the WED, he's become the golden boy. It's like he's the McGuyver of the Apocalypse; and all those talents that meant nothing in the Normal World mean everything now.

If you want to catch up on the action (and Skeet Ulrich, who is easy on the eyes), past episodes are available on the CBS website.

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

I love end of the world stuff, too, Liz. The Stand is one of my favorite books of all time, and I am compelled to watch the mini-series (which I have on VHS, with commercials) every couple of years. I love that the poor red-neck Stu becomes a major community leader. I guess I should be watching Jericho...

Liz B said...

Jake is sort of the Stu; and CBS has made it very easy to catch up on the episodes. Give it a shot!

I love the Stand; hm, I wonder if I can carve out some reading time from the Cybils to reread it? And yes, the miniseries did a good job with it.

RM1(SS) (ret) said...

Have you tried S M Stirling's DtF trilogy (Dies the Fire, The Protector's War, A Meeting at Corvallis) yet? Electricity, steam power, gunpowder, compressed-air systems - all suddenly stop working, and civilisation starts falling apart.

http://theoldcoot.blogspot.com/2006/09/s-m-stirling-strikes-again.html for the review I wrote last month when the third book was published.

Nancy said...

I love The Stand too. Both the book and the miniseries.

It is time to read it again, I've been telling myself that for months now.

Nancy said...

Oh and Jen, it's worth the investment for the DVD (commercial-less) update to The Stand.

Anonymous said...

Being a big Stephen King fan, The stand is one of my all time favorite.. Have you ever read Lucifer's Hammer Liz? A pretty good end of the world book via comet!

Anonymous said...

I'll have to check out Jericho, and the DVD of the Stand mini-series. I've had in mind to read the Dies the Fire series sometime, too. Thanks for the feedback everyone. It's nice to know I'm not alone in my weird post-apocalypse interest. I even liked the movie "The Day After Tomorrow."

Liz B said...

I love Deep Impact. Cry every time at the end.

While I'm too young to have been advise to duck under my desk in case of nuclear attack, I do remember watching movies like Testament and being worried about attack.

The perfect illustration of the type of family I come from; my mother reassured me we had nothing to worry about. Why, I asked. Well, she answered, we live close enough to NYC and military bases that we'd be dead in the first strike without ever knowing what had happened.

Anonymous said...

Hi Liz,

I meant to tell you that I went back and watched the first episode of Jericho on CBS (thanks for the tip!) and I'm not completely hooked. I can't believe that I didn't start watching when it first started. But I'm glad that your post inspired me to check it out. Thanks!