Jericho: What about that alternate ending ?
By fred | March 26, 2008
Last night CBS aired the last episode of Jericho, the series finale. But the truth is, two version of this episode had been made, one to work as a series finale, with no cliffhanger, that’s the one we saw on CBS last night.
The other one was a little different, and ended with a cliffhanger to open season 3. While I’m sure this alternate version will eventually find its way on the Internet or or DVDs, meanwhile for eager fans, executive producer Carol Barbee gave a few answers in this little interview for TV Guide :
Will viewers have any burning questions coming out of the alternate ending/series finale ?
Carol Barbee: Let me see… I can tell you that in the original ending, Hawkins has to sacrifice himself to let Jake get away with the bomb and get it to Texas so it can be tested and prove that they were telling the truth. Texas would then swing their support to Columbus and defeat Cheyenne.
Does Hawkins mortally sacrifice himself, or just let himself get captured ?
Carol Barbee: Well, he gets captured but he’s also shot… He’s pretty messed up, and Jake feels like he’s leaving him for dead. So we show you where he’s taken and you see that the mission for the next season is, “We have to go rescue Hawkins and we have to stop these [bad] guys.” When they see the alternate ending, it certainly completes the story from this season and tells you everything you need to know to have understood Season 2. It just doesn’t point to that next mission. You meet John Smith, the guy who’s been pulling the strings. It’s [played by] Xander Berkeley (24). You’ve heard him on phone calls, and Hawkins is surprised by who he is and where he is. So you know who John Smith is, you know who planned the attacks, you know why, you know how….
Now it’s just a matter of making things right in the United States ?
Carol Barbee: Right. We would have moved on to the next level of a civil war between the Cheyenne government and the Columbus government. But if your readers do have any more burning questions, let me know!
If Jericho does find a new home on another channel, will Season 3 work off the alternate ending or the original cliff-hanger edit ?
Carol Barbee: What we would do is take the information that is in the original ending, and that would be the opener for the next season. When we leave them at the end of the original ending, we’ve got Hawkins back and he’s OK, but we still need to go fight the larger fight. I’ve always said that the alternate ending doesn’t wrap up the series. It just lets you know that everyone is OK and it closes out this seven-episode arc. But we could definitely keep it going!
Source: TV Guide.
I have to say, it doesn’t sound very different from what we saw last night, and to be honest it only reinforces me into thinking that last night’s version was way too “happy ending”. As she said, it let us know that “everyone is OK“, which isn’t so good. It’s a war, not everyone and everything had to be okay…
I truly hope that someone….anyone picks up this show. I really could not care which network does it because I will watch it even if I have to pay to see it on HBO. This was the one hour a week that my whole family got together, turned off their phones and ignored the doorbell. Like everyone else has said, all of the “other” shows are the same mind numbing bull and this was one of those shows that only come around every 10 years and actually catches your attention, keeps you guessing and keeps you watching. The writers did the best they could and I don’t blame them, I blame CBS for not advertising more, playing re-runs inbetween seasons and for just not caring what we (the people who keep their paychecks coming) want or like.
…NOTE TO CBS… I did like CSI but now I couldn’t care less what bug solved the case for Grissom or what korny line Horatio is going to say as he turns and takes off his sunglasses. You killed a great show that had an awesome fan base(considering how many people still like American Idol, the show you were competing with for that time slot) and you didn’t even blink. CBS you just lost 5 more viewers….Pensacola, FL
Yeah, I think CBS killed the show during its first season, and despite writers coming up with a great new & energized second season, CBS never really wanted it to succeed (I mean, Tuesdays at 10.00, after a weak lead-in like Big Brother ? They really couldn’t do better, with 80% of their schedule being reruns ?)
But sadly, I think the show won’t be picked up anywhere, no.
The fight to save Jericho is not over!
If you want more Jericho please write to: Ms. Nancy Tellem, President, CBS Paramount Network Television Entertainment Group, 4024 Radford Avenue, Studio City, CA 91604-2190.
For more information go to: http://www.jericho-kansas.com.