Yeah, I've heard the story from a few sources. It is sad, but at least they can say they went out in a blaze of glory. Judging by their time slot, the lead-in show, and the fact CBS NEVER booked their cast for talk shows, they never planned on the show continuing past this 7 ep run.
I just find the current state of TV sad. It is quite paralleled to baseball over the last 25 years. Once upon a time, baseball was a game of strategy, in which you bunted, sacrificed, and stole bases to create runs.
Now, baseball is a glorified home run derby with larger than life, instant gratification overpaid free agents.
TV used to require studios to build shows from the ground up. You put a show in a good lead-in spot to try and keep viewers from one of your established shows. You advertise, you get your cast out there talking. It used to take a season or two to build a show.
Nowadays, studios expect instant gratification for EVERY show. They throw in a fancy CGI graphic and a free agent movie star and think the checks will roll in. This happened with Jericho at the beginning. "Look, we have Skeet Ulrich of Scream, and a cgi mushroom cloud. Come watch us!
Jericho never had a lead-in show once. Never, period, end of story. That is a BIG deal. I have never seen any cast appear on talk shows or any other show. The wife tells me that Skeet will be on Rachel Ray Monday. Wow, that helps now...
And what happens when the show doesn't hit homeruns in its first 3-4 episodes? The station is ready to pull the plug that quick.
About Sci-fi, they can suck it. That is ---That which is odiferous and causeth plants to grow--- that the reason they couldn't take this show on (same with Firefly) because of the budget. Jericho cut their budget almost in half this season and made a better show. Firefly was done on the supercheap for a graphics intensive show.
Are you telling me that Farscape, Babylon5, SG1, Atlantis, and BSG are cheaper? Give me a break!
All I can say is "Oh Well." I've enjoyed these episodes, and hope the finale is good. Even though I think the CBS studio brass are dumbasses, I am still thankful for the show coming back for the time it did.