CBS responds to fans who fight the battle of ‘Jericho’

We were on to the “Lost” legion and “Heroes” worshippers, but who knew there were also “Jericho” junkies?

A “Jericho” online movement is afoot to bring back the just-canceled CBS drama, starring Skeet Ulrich. The show, which explored the aftermath of nuclear attacks in the U.S., seemed like it was going to be one of the TV season’s hits, but a large chunk of its audience disappeared during its winter hiatus.

CBS, like the rest of the networks, announced its fall lineup last week, and the network decided to cancel “Jericho” because the show had “lost its engine,” CBS President of Entertainment Nina Tassler said.

Since then, passionate “Jericho” fans have organized and bombarded the network with letters and e-mails that state feelings, such as, “This show has touched us like no other before” and “CBS has cast aside a gem in Jericho.” An online petition, www.jericholives.com, already has 60,000 signatures. One fan even wrote a Bring Back Jericho poem and posted it at https://jericholives.com/fight.htm.

Tassler was so moved by the response that she posted a letter to the fans on www.cbs.com, her spokesman, Chris Ender, said.

“She was touched by the letters and e-mails she’s received because they each had independent voices,” Ender said. “It was not an organized cookie-cutter type campaign. She was touched by the thoughtfulness of the response and wanted to directly respond to them.”

In the letter, Tassler told the fans that she also loved the show: “We truly appreciate the commitment you made to the series and we are humbled by your disappointment. In the coming weeks, we hope to develop a way to provide closure to the compelling drama that was the ‘Jericho’ story.”

CBS executives will meet this week to discuss how the network can let the fans know how the “Jericho” story would have ended.

maria.elena.fernandez@latimes.com