CBS Revives Jericho, Bumps up Big Brother for Strike Schedule

You never know that the networks will do to get though a crisis. Luckily for some fans, these plans include bringing back show left for dead, but can guarantee a bigger and better audience that either stale reruns or a new series can bring. And sometimes, you have to go to an old standby to help through the hard times. According to zap2it.com, CBS has decided to employ both strategies by bring back cult favorite Jericho and the usually summer-series Big Brother as part of their midseason plan.

Jericho is one of the best underdog TV stories. The show had been pretty much cancelled, but was saved by a huge campaign waged by its rabid fan base. CBS was bombarded by cans of nuts until they could no longer be ignored, and the show was saved. The seven-episode long second-season of Jericho, which follows the residents of a Kansas town after a nuclear attack in the Midwest, starts on February 12th at 10pm ET.

Jericho’s lead-in will be a huge boost for the show. At 9pm on February 12th, the first-ever winter edition of Big Brother will hit the air. The show, which zooms in on strangers living in a house with the potential of a big payout the longer they stay, will air three times a week, with episodes on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Sundays. Big Brother was one of the first shows CBS planned to bring on when the strike was first announced, with rumors of secret casting sessions and a possible “celebrity” version of the Julie Chen-hosted realityfest floating around as the writers hit the streets.

CBS has other plans as well for midseason as well. Drew Carey “other” game show, Power of 10 will start airing on January 2nd, as well as a new edition of Survivor in February. And while there will be a possible dearth of scripted programs, CBS will premiere The Captain, staring Jeffrey Tambour, and new episodes of The New Adventures of Old Christine.

In the case of Jericho, there is finally a feel-good story coming out of the writers strike. But then there’s the flipside: This year, the Chenbot is coming back early, whether you like it or not.