Stars: 'Jericho' won't come tumbling down

By CRISTINA KINON
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER

Friday, July 20th 2007, 4:00 AM

Fans of "Jericho" bombarded CBS programmers with peanuts after the network killed the show last spring.
The nuts were a reference to a famous wartime gesture of defiance, cited in the season finale, and so many peanuts came in that CBS renewed the series.
Now the cast of the show has other suggestions for things to send in should the drama get buried again.
"Snakes," star Skeet Ulrich told members of the Television Critics Association yesterday.
"Strippers," added Lennie James.
After the cancellation, the support from avid fans, along with appeals by the cast and producers (and perhaps the publicity), persuaded CBS brass to give "Jericho" another shot.
"When you get canceled in this world of television, and it happens a lot, you think that's it," said star Ashley Scott.
"When the fans started to roll on this nuts campaign, it only took a couple of days before we starting having conversations about, 'Is there something more we can do to keep the story going?'" said executive producer Carol Barbee.
"That's when I thought there was a possibility" for renewal, she said. "But I still thought it was a long shot."
Now that the show is back on the map, said Barbee, hard-core fans and newcomers alike should be able to enjoy, and understand, what's happening when the show returns.
The town of Jericho "has taken a step forward," since the finale, she said, "so it's going to be new information for everybody. And I think we do a pretty good job setting up what this new world is and understanding who the players are."
Barbee said the second-season premiere will start with last season's cliffhanger battle, then jump a couple of weeks to show the town as it rebuilds.
"Because it's a short order , because we have less time to do it, we had to be lean and mean," said Barbee. "The stories are focused on a couple of people, and I don't think it will be hard to follow."
Though some of "Jericho's" original writers have not returned because they accepted other jobs, Barbee said her "story engine," the main players and producers, are back.
Almost all the cast will return, a feat that some credit Ulrich with pulling off, by personally calling each star.
"I don't think I had to convince anyone of anything," said Ulrich. "Everyone was on board the second we heard."

Well.... I think * and I could be wrong here, that sending strippers.... would get really expensive , will have to check out the UPS charges for that!
I am glad to read that the stars are having a good time with this, but I am more happy to read about the new season.