Jericho

I am a big fan of the CBS show "Jericho," which is a terrific and harshly realistic view of a small Kansas town in a post-nuclear America. It is a superbly crafted drama set in a very scary world where terrorists (or is it them?) have wiped out several key American cities with nukes. Because of its location, Jericho survives the fallout and must now face a post-nuclear America.

This SF show almost bit the dust due to sickly ratings in the right demographics, but when CBS announced that it was cancelling the series, fans began mailing CBS bags of peanuts as a protest.

Peanuts because in the last episode the lead character, when asked to surrender at the end of an assault by the neighboring town, echoes Gen. McAuliffe's famous WWII reply when also asked to surrender by the Germans when McAuliffe was surrounded during the siege of Bastogne: "Nuts!"

20 tons of peanuts later, CBS has the show back on the slate for six new episodes.

CBS Entertainment President Nina Tassler called the online outcry a "probably unprecedented display of passion in support of a prime time television series" and said CBS has ordered seven more episodes of the show for mid-season.

Gets me to thinking about what we could mail the WaPo and other moribund paper media to get them to pay attention to the visual arts?

A View From Maryland

With an Opening Reception next Tuesday, July 10, 2007 from 5 PM - 7:30 PM, the University of Maryland University College presents "Landscape and Nature: A View From Maryland," curated by Sigrid Trumpy.

This exhibit is the result of a partnership among the state of Maryland, the Maryland Sister States Program, and the Japanese Prefecture of Kanagawa. Participating artists include Mary Arthur, Denee Barr, Karen Birch, Larry Chappelear, Donald Cook, Richard Dana, Kevin D. Augustine, David Driskell, Aline Feldman, Steven Fiscus, Peggy Fox, Kathryn Freeman, Inga Frick, Stephanie Garmey, Ken Giardini, Joshua Greer, Ronnie Haber, Steven Hay, Matt Hyleck, Edda Jakab, Susan Johnson, Chevelle Makeba Moore Jones, Jeanne Keck, Patrice Kehoe, Jinshul Kim, Philip Koch, Perna Krick, Dan Kuhne, Eugene Leake, Ralph McGuire, Raoul Middleman, Tom Nakashima, Susan Due Pearcy, Jan Razauskas, Beverly Ress, Charles Ritchie, Michael Rogovsky, Nancy Sheinman, Joe Shepherd, Tony Shore, Elzbieta Sikorksa, Laura Vernon Russell, William Willis, Edward Winter, and Sharon Wolpoff.