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The Internet has become one of the most powerful tools for fans of threatened or cancelled television series to campaign for the return of their favorite shows. Nobody is more aware of this than CBS president of entertainment Nina Tassler and "Jericho" executive producer Carol Barbee.

"Jericho," the post-apocalyptic CBS series starring Skeet Ulrich, was essentially saved by a fan campaign coordinated on the World Wide Web -- a campaign which actor and SyFy Genre Awards nominee Lennie James (man of mystery Robert Hawkins) declared as "incredibly humbling," according to BuddyTV.

In May, fans of the show sent Nina Tassler more than 6,000 e-mails protesting the cancellation of the show, as well as coordinated a campaign to send what amounted to 50,000 pounds of nuts to CBS headquarters. The e-mail campaign, which Tassler characterized as being complex and well thought-out, persuaded her to read viewer comments on the series' message board, which ultimately persuaded the network to cancel it's cancellation, and order a second season for the show."Jericho" executive producer Carol Barbee, and the series' production team, recognizes that technology is an integral part their jobs and ability to communicate with the audience.

"More and more, shows are moving to the Internet," Barbee told fans at the recent Comic-Con International in San Diego. "Every show will need to be a hybrid show, like we are, that lives online as well as on television and iPods and the rest of it. The Internet is where we're all headed."

Barbee and the show’s writers often turn to the message board for feedback on the show, though attention to the comments doesn't necessarily mean they are trying to fulfill the wishes of the fans.

"We don't say, 'Oh, they want us to go that way, let's go that way.' There have been adjustments here and there," she said. "But I don't think we do anybody any favors by kind of blowing with the breeze. They can smell when you are just making it up as you go along. And we're not."

While e-mail and message boards played a major role in the save-the-show campaign, the 50,000 thousand pounds of nuts that were delivered to CBS offices, cleverly inspired by a line spoken by Jake Green (Ulrich) in the first season finale, may have had something to do with it as well, and the show's stars said they were impressed by the campaign.

"The fact that the fans actually got a show to come back on a major network is quite an accomplishment," Brad Beyer, who plays farmer Stanley Richmond, said. "I don't think the cast of the show can say enough about what they did for us. They got our jobs back for us. We're excited to come back and do a good show for them."

"Jericho" is currently airing reruns Fridays at 9 p.m. ET on CBS, and is expected to return with a shortened second season this winter.

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