Jericho 11/01 ***SPOILERS***

[Raj]

I must admit that the spoiler at the beginning of the show was pretty cool.

The morse code message at the beginning said:

Pray for NYC

[boywaja]

I must admit that the spoiler at the beginning of the show was pretty cool.

The morse code message at the beginning said:

Pray for NYC

thanks RAJ, I was wondering what that was.


the girl Heather looked familiar. She was on John Doe. Hadn't noticed that before.

[dswallow]

Finally we start learning more... NY caught 3 guys and a 20-kiloton bomb that was in a steel drum. So it wasn't a launch from some other country, apparently.

Now NYC may have made it, but that populous a city with almost no agriculture in the immediate area... that place will get ugly very quickly.

[scottykempf]

Mmmkay, so Survivalist leader dude just happens to be Emily's dad? Yeahhhhhhh right.

IRS Lady, get over it. You can stop being so anal about people being overdue on their taxes for right now. Did we mention that half the country was nuked, including DC? The high ranking politicians MAY have gotten out, but the IRS sure didn't. I'd say that you are out of a job. Not like we need the IRS after something this huge, anyway.

Note to Dale's friend: Why the heck do you NEED soda? Water is way better in a survival situation, especially if you have to trade your cherished music box to get it.

I noticed two interesting effects in this episode:

1.) Powers Out But Everyone Just So Happens To Look All Nice And Clean And Clothes Look Freshly Washed Effect.

2). Every Room That People Are Standing In Just So Happens To Have Direct Sunlight Streaming Through The Windows Effect

[Raj]

thanks RAJ, I was wondering what that was.


the girl Heather looked familiar. She was on John Doe. Hadn't noticed that before.


Last week the message was different.

It said:

the emp hits

I'm guessing it's going to be different each week...

[jsmeeker]

I wasn't so thrilled with this episode. Lots of focus on Jake and people from his past. I stopped caring about his past a while ago. Hawkins became my new guy that ii wanted to know about. This week, they start to play up Jakes past again and there was virtually no Hawkins. (although we did get confirmation about what a lot of suspected about the family situation)

Interesting about them catching guys with a bomb. how big is 20-Kiloton? With lots of cities getting nuked, I thought it would be a missle attack from a country with missle. I mean, how else can you pull that off? A bunch of terrorists getting all those bombs then driving them to all those cities seems far fetched (yeah yeah.. It's TV. I know. Don't pick too many nits. )

[Raj]

Yeah it was disappointing.

I was hoping they'd tell more about how NYC survived, and a bit more about the outside world.

[dswallow]

They've got some cars operating, and they're getting a still going. Both those, as I recall, were things people nitpicked about the lack of them previously that are now shown.

[phluffhead]

What's interesting is that they said they caught the guys in NYC with a bomb in a steel drum. Wasn't it a steel drum that Hawkins went and got in the rain and sealed away in his basement? Then it was mentioned that Lawerence was hit, could it be that we have only seen the first wave of attacks on the big cities and then the smaller cities that survived the initial attack will be taken out by Hawkins and his "people"

[drew2k]

Mmmkay, so Survivalist leader dude just happens to be Emily's dad? Yeahhhhhhh right.Yup, and somehow Jake and his relationship with Dad caused "Chris" to be killed ... but who's Chris? I'm guessing he was Emily's brother, and his death is what made Emily break up with Jake.

IRS Lady, get over it. You can stop being so anal about people being overdue on their taxes for right now. Umm, she did get over it. After the first bombs went off and she started to realize she was stuck in Jericho, she was a fish out of water and had only one thing to cling to: her identity as an IRS agent. After hearing DC was nuked, she finally realized she's not even that any more. Now she's just a survivor sharing Wheat Squares with Farm Boy.

[drew2k]

Hawkins became my new guy that ii wanted to know about. This week, they start to play up Jakes past again and there was virtually no Hawkins. (although we did get confirmation about what a lot of suspected about the family situation)Hawkins was obviously estranged from his wife and kids - the wife had a boyfriend after all! - so what could Hawkins have told his wife to get her and the kids to abandon DC and go to Jericho? Could he have told her the truth that bombs would be going off soon? If so, why does she still trust being around him?

Hawkins has to be careful now though. The Mayor-wanna-be is on to him; Hawkins only arrived two days before the bombs and bought his house in cash!

[drew2k]

Grace the store owner is probably the only "civilian" I see acting in a way I would expect someone in her position to react. She's becoming a hoarder, taking meaningless items in trade (candlesticks, music boxes, etc.) and jealously protecting her new acquisitions. She thinks she'll be a power in the town, but she's basically a nickel-and-dimer compared to Emmily's dad ...

[renov]

Thought this was the stongest episode yet. I know that isn't saying much, but at least we found out some more information about how things went down. My question is, if this was a terrorist attack, (which I don't, I still believe it is a coup) and individual's set off the bombs, who were we launching the missles at?

[durvivor]

What's interesting is that they said they caught the guys in NYC with a bomb in a steel drum. Wasn't it a steel drum that Hawkins went and got in the rain and sealed away in his basement? Then it was mentioned that Lawerence was hit, could it be that we have only seen the first wave of attacks on the big cities and then the smaller cities that survived the initial attack will be taken out by Hawkins and his "people"

Yep, it was a steel drum that Hawkins went and got in the rain. Tonight they mentioned, "why did they hit Lawerence and not Topika?" Maybe because Hawkins was supposed to hit Topika? But, decided against it?

[durvivor]

Thought this was the stongest episode yet. I know that isn't saying much, but at least we found out some more information about how things went down. My question is, if this was a terrorist attack, (which I don't, I still believe it is a coup) and individual's set off the bombs, who were we launching the missles at?

Well, we know the missles were launched at... Kansas. They detitna... detinate... blew up over Jerico a couple of episodes ago.

So, option 1) Somebody blew them up on purpose for the EMP to keep many, many folks in the dark.

2) They were launched accidently, and then blown / self destructed before they could cause harm, sadly causing Kansas to lose its electrical equiptment.

[dswallow]

If the missiles were destroyed using a self-destruct mechanism, there'd be no nuclear reaction; the missile would've just been destroyed with the pieces fallen to the earth; the effects would be limited to the same thing you'd get with a dirty bomb at most.

[Gunnyman]

Every time I see a scene involving Grace I cringe. I'm waiting for the town to revolt and take over the store, killing Grace in the process. That would be a don't miss episode. So glad to see the kid, (what the heck is his name) stand up to her.

[danplaysbass]

Our nukes dont have "self destruct" systems. Once they launch, you're committed unless you shoot it down. Additionally, their targets are preprogrammed and they have to be removed from the silos to re-aim them.

[newsposter]

What benefit would having trinkets have in a situation like this. The woman has to know that no other train will ever come and all she will have left is trinkets like jewelry boxes. NO one will be fighting to get flower vase even if it is tiffany. So everything she has will be worthless. Maybe she can eat the glass and wood?

why would the guy bring in a bomb then not be sure he has a way out? or does he?

[drew2k]

What benefit would having trinkets have in a situation like this. The woman has to know that no other train will ever come and all she will have left is trinkets like jewelry boxes. NO one will be fighting to get flower vase even if it is tiffany. So everything she has will be worthless. Maybe she can eat the glass and wood?As I posted earlier, this pleased me. This is an irrational response - one of the first shown by any Jericho citizen and strikes me as being realistic (finally!) that someone would be this irrational after the bombs went off ...

Based on her speech to Dale and her contempt for "rich girls like [Skylar]", I'm guessing she grew up poor and that in her current state, these new possessions she's trading for represent power and wealth to her. She's hoarding meaningless items, when she's really just deceiving herself.

[darthrsg]

Grace the store owner is probably the only "civilian" I see acting in a way I would expect someone in her position to react. She's becoming a hoarder, taking meaningless items in trade (candlesticks, music boxes, etc.) and jealously protecting her new acquisitions. She thinks she'll be a power in the town, but she's basically a nickel-and-dimer compared to Emmily's dad ...

Yes, but who runs Bartertown?

[Rob Helmerichs]

Based on her speech to Dale and her contempt for "rich girls like [Skylar]", I'm guessing she grew up poor and that in her current state, these new possessions she's trading for represent power and wealth to her. She's hoarding meaningless items, when she's really just deceiving herself.
And I hope the distinction you drew earlier between her and James Remar is deliberate. It seems to me that she is (unconsciously) trying to be him, but he has a sense of vision that she utterly lacks.

What's interesting is that in a strange way, he is a better person than she is. He is exactly who he claims to be, but is willing to work for the common good as long as it benefits him. She, on the other hand, is a petty two-faced lying jerk with, it would seem, no redeeming qualities whatsoever. Even her seeming act of charity (letting the boy live in the store) could have been just a way to arrange for free labor.

[ADG]

Our nukes dont have "self destruct" systems. Once they launch, you're committed unless you shoot it down. Additionally, their targets are preprogrammed and they have to be removed from the silos to re-aim them.
While that may have been true 20 years ago, I'm guessing that the state of the art has changed significantly since then and remote programming is now in use.

[darthrsg]

Thought this was the stongest episode yet. I know that isn't saying much, but at least we found out some more information about how things went down. My question is, if this was a terrorist attack, (which I don't, I still believe it is a coup) and individual's set off the bombs, who were we launching the missles at?
If it was a terrorist group that got off a helluva attack, Our govt EMPd to kill any remaining devices. You know "collateral damage". No tech versus extinction. Now I bet the nuke Hawkins has walled is up is worthless?

[danplaysbass]

While that may have been true 20 years ago, I'm guessing that the state of the art has changed significantly since then and remote programming is now in use.

Ummm...no.

The reason I know this is because I work in the industry. I work on the Air Force side, basically all our land based assets, so anything the Navy has on subs I don't know as much about. As far as our current nuclear arms, the most advanced fusing system is on the Mk-21 RV which was first introduced in the early 80s. The missile platforms they rely on are even older.

As far as all assets go, we still have RVs and fuses in the field that were designed and built in the early 70s.

My company is involved in the effort to extend the life of these assets another 30 years.

Its scary to think that in 2036 we will have our nukes that are 60 years old...

The accuracy of these are not that great (do they really have to be?) and they are not GPS or laser guided. Its all physics and, well, rocket science. These guys get launched into space and free fall until they impact or detonate (a la EMP).

We are working on a new type of RV that is maneuverable and gps guided but it will be non-nuclear. Congress won't pony up for a new nuke unless another cold war comes along...and none of us wants that.

[Domandred]

I've decided that I want to see giant irradiated ants! Bring on the ants!

[ihatecable]

Yes, but who runs Bartertown?Master Blaster runs Bartertown!

[MacThor]

Darn, I had some OTA reception issues and missed most of the "reveal" by Mr. mayoral-candidate-and-de-facto-sheriff ... and that was the only part that interested me! So NY caught the bombers? How did he get that info? What else did he say? I'll try to catch it on innertube. I hope the S3's tuners are that much better than the HR10-250.

I was able to watch this whole ep in about 20 minutes on FF1 and CC. Don't care about the teen angst, don't care about Mitch (although James Remar's character could become intriguing), don't care about the IRS, don't care about the affairs of Jake's extended family.

If Mayor Dad had actually died, this would have been a better ep.

[dcheesi]

Hawkins was obviously estranged from his wife and kids - the wife had a boyfriend after all! - so what could Hawkins have told his wife to get her and the kids to abandon DC and go to Jericho? Could he have told her the truth that bombs would be going off soon? If so, why does she still trust being around him?I think she already knew that his job involved some covert activity. That's the "work" that kept pulling him away from her in the first place. She obviously assumes that he is/was working for the government; whether or not that's true (or which government it is ;) ) remains to be seen.

[Gunnyman]

Master Blaster runs Bartertown!
2 men enter 1 man leaves.

[DevdogAZ]

Best episode yet, but that's not saying much. It will be interesting to find out what Hawkins intends to do with the bomb in his basement. Is he hiding it from the people who want to use it, or is he getting it in position for when he wants to use it?

I'm also glad to see that someone (Emily's Dad) is finally figuring out that there is no more government and laws and that there are all kinds of supplies out there for the taking. Hopefully the townspeople get smart and realize they can just go get this stuff themselves, but they'll probably be stupid and be beholden to the criminal guy to provide them with all their supplies.

[Steveknj]

While I still find myself hopeful that this series will get better, I'm starting to lose interest. I just don't find it as interesting as it really could be. It's more like the Waltons, and oh yeah, nuclear bombs have destroyed the country. The only character I find remotely interesting is Hawkins as I keep vacilating on whether he's good or evil. My gut tells me he's good, but he's so secretive that there's a thought he's not. The acting is pretty horrible too. How far is Jericho supposed to be from some larger community that might have gotten nuked? I would think, 4 weeks after the bomb, there'd have already been a flood of refugees there. So far, we've seen the one. I would also think that there'd be SOME military presense. Heck if NY survived, I would think they could get TV communications back up relatively easily, if not radio. You'd think there'd be more people wanting to listen on shortwave to find out more info too. And I'm also thinking SOME of the internet might have survived or there's some contingency out there that would have gotten it back up.

I want to see less of these love stories and interactions with the town's characters. These people seem WAY too happy and seem to be coping WAY too well to make this believable.

[DLiquid]

I would think, 4 weeks after the bomb, there'd have already been a flood of refugees there. So far, we've seen the one.Wasn't there a bunch of "refugee" corpses at a lake outside town?

[DLiquid]

I think I'm getting close to being done with this show. It's worse than Surface and Invasion and it's dipping into Threshold territory. The writing is just so painfully bad. I couldn't care less about any of this. Finding out the NY thing was the one thing that sparked my interest for a few seconds, then it was back to the hellish monotony. I think the only reason I'm still hanging on is that those mushroom cloud commercials over the summer really had me looking forward to this show. I was so interested I read the book "Alas Babylon," where this premise was actually executed correctly.

Whoever said it's like the Waltons is right, well a really bad version of the Waltons anyway. When the one post in the thread that gets me excited is joking about giant radioactive ants, that is a sad and funny thing. It's gotten so dull that I would welcome such a development.

[newsposter]

didnt the boy have a house before his parents were killed? Why not just stay there? That girl is staying alone at her parents house and certainly he has to realize he's smarter than her.Plus he carried everything 5 miles over the mountains and thru the snow!



If Mayor Dad had actually died

fine citizen may i correct you and ask don't you mean Major Dad?

[MacThor]

On this show, he's Mayor Dad.

[drew2k]

didnt the boy have a house before his parents were killed? Why not just stay there? That girl is staying alone at her parents house and certainly he has to realize he's smarter than her.Plus he carried everything 5 miles over the mountains and thru the snow!Dale's trailer park burned down in the same episode that took the library and April's/Cheating-Hubby's home.

[Steveknj]

I think I'm getting close to being done with this show. It's worse than Surface and Invasion and it's dipping into Threshold territory. The writing is just so painfully bad. I couldn't care less about any of this. Finding out the NY thing was the one thing that sparked my interest for a few seconds, then it was back to the hellish monotony. I think the only reason I'm still hanging on is that those mushroom cloud commercials over the summer really had me looking forward to this show. I was so interested I read the book "Alas Babylon," where this premise was actually executed correctly.

Whoever said it's like the Waltons is right, well a really bad version of the Waltons anyway. When the one post in the thread that gets me excited is joking about giant radioactive ants, that is a sad and funny thing. It's gotten so dull that I would welcome such a development.

The whole premise of life after nuclear holocost was what intreagued me and maybe I was expecting something more in the lines of "The Day After" which interestingly enough ALSO took place in KS (but Lawrence). So much of this story seems to be things that could happen in an every day town. The two-timing husband, the floundering son returns, the battle against profiteers. Who cares? I've seen it all before. These folks have reacted as if they are being "inconvenienced" not devestated.

I'll probably stick with it at least though the year as there STILL is potential for something interesting to really happen. It's a shame because THIS was probably the show I was most looking forward to coming into the new season and it's been such a disappointment.

[mrdbdigital]

You don't need fancy electronics to make a timer for a nuclear bomb, so stopping the "terrorists" would not require setting off an EMP explosion. EMP mostly only effects semiconductors. I don't think it would effect things like simple electrical parts (i.e. relays, solenoids, batteries, etc.). One could certainly build a nuke that could be detonated mechanically, since all you have to do is set off the primer explosive to start the cycle for a fission bomb. And, if you can detonate a fission bomb, then you could use that to set off a fusion bomb.

Of course, I'm no expert on this, as I'm sure someone will tell me...... <g>

db

[dswallow]

You don't need fancy electronics to make a timer for a nuclear bomb, so stopping the "terrorists" would not require setting off an EMP explosion. EMP mostly only effects semiconductors. I don't think it would effect things like simple electrical parts (i.e. relays, solenoids, batteries, etc.). One could certainly build a nuke that could be detonated mechanically, since all you have to do is set off the primer explosive to start the cycle for a fission bomb. And, if you can detonate a fission bomb, then you could use that to set off a fusion bomb.

Of course, I'm no expert on this, as I'm sure someone will tell me...... <g>
Timing is everything.

[mcarleton2000]

You don't need fancy electronics to make a timer for a nuclear bomb, so stopping the "terrorists" would not require setting off an EMP explosion. EMP mostly only effects semiconductors. I don't think it would effect things like simple electrical parts (i.e. relays, solenoids, batteries, etc.). One could certainly build a nuke that could be detonated mechanically, since all you have to do is set off the primer explosive to start the cycle for a fission bomb. And, if you can detonate a fission bomb, then you could use that to set off a fusion bomb.

Of course, I'm no expert on this, as I'm sure someone will tell me...... <g>

db

If they are only 20kt it must be fission only. The Nagasaki bomb was 25kt plutonium
and Hiroshima was 12.5kt of Uranium.

Why was the rich girl trading the music box? There must be a wine celler in that big house.

I always figured the bomb in the basement was to be used to get rid of the witnesses
once Hawkins needs to cut and run after his face appears on a wanted poster. It will
be up to super-Jake to defuse it.

My bet is that the IRS lady is also in on the plot but is just pretending not to know
Hawkins for no other reason than that she just happened to show up in town at
just the right time.

[ggalindo]

1. New theory, maybe Hawkins did -all of this- to get back at his ex-wife and her new love interest. A little much, but who knows. Didn't want to just hit DC and implicate himself, so he mixed in with a few friends to take out 10 more cities to throw the feds off of the case. (just kidding, but I'm sure he is somehow connected in the whole thing, now we have motive)

2. Where is the international community in all of this? Outside of the Chinese newsbroadcast, nothing has been said. If this was real, other nations would certainly be chipping in to either help or further destroy (take your pick). At very least, Canada would be around to help.

3. How stupid was it to not grill the "mayor wannabe" about everything he would know, not just NY and DC. Who did it, why, are we at war, etc. For crying out loud, there was more intelligence around what was going on in Red Dawn.

I'm so glad I can watch the show in 15 minutes; if I had to watch the show live, I would probably have stopped watching it as the other story lines are horrible.

[jsmeeker]

If Why was the rich girl trading the music box? There must be a wine celler in that big house.




She wanted diet soda. It's possible there may be a wine cellar in that house, but it may not have any diet soda in it.

[Polcamilla]

I wanna know how Topeka managed to communicate well enough with the outside world to know what was/wasn't hit when Jericho couldn't manage it. I'm guessing Topeka would have had to rely on the same basic infrastructure (short-wave radio?) for their intelligence.

The scene with Mayor Wannabe was just terrible.

Also, very bizarre that the set design people got all festive and had the town celebrating Halloween around all of this. Where the heck did they get all those pumpkins and shouldn't they be making more effort to preserve/eat them? And while I can buy that kids might have costumes stored away from last year, what exactly were people giving to the trick-or-treaters? I could see people making an effort to celebrate some of the religious holidays and perhaps Thanksgiving ("We're thankful we're still alive!") but I'd just cut my losses and cancel Halloween.

[mqpickles]

I wanna know how Topeka managed to communicate well enough with the outside world to know what was/wasn't hit when Jericho couldn't manage it. I'm guessing Topeka would have had to rely on the same basic infrastructure (short-wave radio?) for their intelligence. Topeka is the state capital. I (as a lifelong Kansan) hope Topeka would have better communications infrastructure there than the average farm community.

[Raimi]

I also thought this was one of the better episodes. It's frustrating to watch though, because there's so much potential for a really cool show here. I envisioned more of The Stand meets The Day after. Here's hoping it really improves.

[Ruth]

See, I think this was one of the worst eps yet. Hawkins only had about 5 lines, and he's the only one of these people I'm remotely interested in.

So the corn was protected by the husks . . . how did all those gorgeous pumpkins make it? :confused: ;)

[jlb.x]

Also, very bizarre that the set design people got all festive and had the town celebrating Halloween around all of this. Where the heck did they get all those pumpkins and shouldn't they be making more effort to preserve/eat them? And while I can buy that kids might have costumes stored away from last year, what exactly were people giving to the trick-or-treaters? I could see people making an effort to celebrate some of the religious holidays and perhaps Thanksgiving ("We're thankful we're still alive!") but I'd just cut my losses and cancel Halloween.
Exactly. Who would really be celebrating Halloween at this point?

Based on what I understand about nuclear detonations, a ground-level explosion would probably have done significantly less damage than one launched from a missile or dropped by a bomber. 20 KT is also fairly small compared to some of the megaton-class weapons that the US and USSR have deployed in the past.

A weapon like this deployed in the downtown of an urban area could have left the outer rings of the city and suburbs largely intact.

Then again, I'm not a physicist. And clearly, neither are the writers of Jericho. :p

[ElJay]

The scenes in the grocery store are very painful. I hope with little nerd boy out of there we'll see less and less of the crazy woman trying to run that dump. I could put up with the bad acting and horrid writing if the overall story was halfway interesting, but like others have said, the bland plot does not make this show worth watching. The EMP blasted the writers into a corner that they can't seem to get out of. Do they really expect us to watch people talking about corn and profiteers week after week?!

[gchance]

She wanted diet soda. It's possible there may be a wine cellar in that house, but it may not have any diet soda in it.

I may be smeeking, but...

Wine cellar... the OP wanted to know why she wasn't trading wine for diet soda instead of trading a music box for diet soda.

Wish I had a diet soda cellar. That'd rock.

Greg

[scottykempf]

Regular soda goes bad a few months after it's expiration date. Diet soda goes bad more quickly, like a month after it's expiration date. Why are people worried about drinking diet soda anyway? It's not like they have to worry about their figure after the bomb, heck they should be storing up the calories for winter anyway!!

[gchance]

Regular soda goes bad a few months after it's expiration date. Diet soda goes bad more quickly, like a month after it's expiration date. Why are people worried about drinking diet soda anyway? It's not like they have to worry about their figure after the bomb, heck they should be storing up the calories for winter anyway!!

I would imagine that your health should be at the forefront after the bomb. Simon would know better than anyone though (I'm still wondering where Simon is).

If that doesn't make people misunderstand me, I don't know what else will.

Greg

[goman]

I am official done with this show. TERRIBLE.

I hate mayor dad, super jake, cheating brother, teenage bitch, nerd boy, all of them.

good bye Jericho. Made me waste 5 hours of my life for this.

[bkc56]

I'm surprised to not see any discussion of Hawkins' reaction to hearing that NYC survived. There was a lot of surprise in his voice. What I can't figure out (good vs bad) is: was he surprised that they survived, or surprised that they didn't get nuked (he knew they were suppose to).

[classicX]

She is EVIL.

Plus she played the idiot that tried to get off of the bus in speed. I know their just characters but man, she is BAD.

[btw04]

Jake and bro were traveling by car about 90 miles to some other city in this recent episode, so what happened to all those airplanes that had to land on the roadways?

[Vito the TiVo]

I'm surprised to not see any discussion of Hawkins' reaction to hearing that NYC survived. There was a lot of surprise in his voice. What I can't figure out (good vs bad) is: was he surprised that they survived, or surprised that they didn't get nuked (he knew they were suppose to).

I noticed that, and I thought that I had noticed before on his map that NYC was nuked, Boston, Atlanta, but DC was not. Because I remember thinking, "Wouldn't 'whoever' hit the capital?"

I am curious about the Mayor Wannabe - I'm curious if he either got a) faulty information (imagine playing telephone over the whole country) or b) if he is making up/exaggerating pieces for his own reasons. Hawkins had much better info through the computer and the morse code than the future Mayor would have.

[Vito the TiVo]

Additionally, I can't imagine major cities survived, otherwise how long can the concept of this show go on before the US starts to revive? The only real answer is total devastation along the lines of "The Stand" forcing them to rebuild from the ground up.

And was it stated in the episode with the EMP that it came from "our" nukes? Because I was under the impression that it was a counterstrike from the US and then another counterstrike from wherever that caused the EMP. ie. the war's not over out there, its still being waged.

[dswallow]

Additionally, I can't imagine major cities survived, otherwise how long can the concept of this show go on before the US starts to revive? The only real answer is total devastation along the lines of "The Stand" forcing them to rebuild from the ground up.
Considering it took NYC almost 5 years to even BEGIN constructing anything considered as the start of a replacement for the World Trade Center, I'd wouldn't expect NYC could even being rebuilding the country in 5 years or less. As it is, I'd guess some 80-90% of the NYC metro population would die even if they weren't hit directly; simply by virtue of the destruction of the infrastructure that could provide food to the millions in the area. People will starve. IN extremely large numbers. And with that starvation will come extraordinary chaos.

Of course, the writers of this show have proved themselves incapable of running with this concept at all.

[drew2k]

I noticed that, and I thought that I had noticed before on his map that NYC was nuked, Boston, Atlanta, but DC was not. Because I remember thinking, "Wouldn't 'whoever' hit the capital?" A couple of episodes ago we saw a camera pan across Hawkins' map, and NYC was not pinned, but Philly and DC were, along with Atlanta, Colorado, San Diego, Chicago, and a few others. I don't recall getting a good look at New England to see if Boston was pinned.

[aaronwt]

So this show would have us believe that around a dozen cities hit by a small 20 kiloton bomb(probably at ground level making the damage even much less) would totally incapacitate the US? A 20kiloton bomb is pretty small(around the size of the Nagasaki bomb). Even an air blast isn't going to destroy a large major city let alone a ground blast. The worst effect of a bomb like that would be fallout and that would depend on the wind conditions. Of course the immediate area of a 20Kton bomb would be destroyed. It would be like a firecracker though compared to some of the 10 Megaton to 50 Megaton bombs in the US arsenal.

[Sadara]

I'm starting to get bored with this show. I'll keep recording and when I have time I'll watch the shows. I really do think they could expand their horizon, show more of the outside world and gain a lot more interest.

I don't mind 2 people being the center of the show, Jake and Hawkins. What I do mind is them not really exploring more of the outside area. I'm actually surprised that Hawkins hasn't tried to make more contact with the outside world. It bothers me, I can't help it.

Oh and they either need to say there was no radiation damage to the surrounding crops or they need to stop showing produce, like a ton of pumpkins. I noticed they were painted, maybe they weren't good. But, honestly people wouldn't want radioactive pumpkins sitting around.

[aaronwt]

No candles needed since they would glow in the dark. :D

[Rob Helmerichs]

Every week, I say, "Oh, hell, I'll give it one more week." So I guess they must be doing something right, but I can't figure out what it is...

I guess my natural inclination to reward the networks for doing genre material by watching it is outweighing my natural inclination to punish the networks for doing crap by not watching it.

[MacThor]

Ah, the old crappy post-apocalyptic-soap-opera is better than no post-apocalyptic-soap-opera dilemma.....

[modnar]

I really want this to be a good show, but it's just not right now. I'm not sure how far ahead they are in production, but I hope the show focuses more on survival and the mystery around the bombd and Hawkins and less on the soap opera stories soon.

[PJO1966]

She is EVIL.

Plus she played the idiot that tried to get off of the bus in speed. I know their just characters but man, she is BAD.


She should stick to comedy. She was perfect in Sordid Lives.

[kjnorman]

I read the book "Alas Babylon," where this premise was actually executed correctly.

Yep, to anyone interested in this show, you must read Alas Babylon. This book is very good and very believable - which makes it very scary. Even though commentators have mentioned that Alas Babylon tends to skip over the hordes of wounded that could overwhelm the town, the basic book is very sound and there are very few to this day that come to the closeness in accuracy of what a devastating nuclear attack might mean for the US.

In comparison Jericho is a major pile of suck with so many plot holes I do not even want to think about it anymore. So much running water? Err, isn't water driven by electric water pumps? Shouldn't people be hording gas and water and essential supplies. I do not see much of that. Do you really think people will be celebrating Halloween a few weeks after having a large proportion of the states nuked..

Its a train wreck of a show, but somehow I keep on watching...

[dcheesi]

Yeah, some kids in my school read "Alas, Babylon" for a class, but not me personally. Still it was the first thing I thought of when I heard about this show.

So is the book readable, or is it as painful/boring to wade through as most of the other books kids are forced to read in school? :)

[kjnorman]

So is the book readable, or is it as painful/boring to wade through as most of the other books kids are forced to read in school? :)

Majorly readable! I found it hard to put down. It was one of those books where I'd start reading before going to bed, and at 2am in the morning I'd have to force myself to put it down and go to sleep.

You have to adjust to the fact that the book is written with the time frame being the late 50s, but once you get into that frame of mind it is very "enjoyable". Prehaps enjoyable is the wrong word to use for nuclear holocaust..

[brott]

Every week, I say, "Oh, hell, I'll give it one more week." So I guess they must be doing something right, but I can't figure out what it is...

I guess my natural inclination to reward the networks for doing genre material by watching it is outweighing my natural inclination to punish the networks for doing crap by not watching it.

I think I have to second this. The show definitely suffers from bad writing. I'm still watching, though.