AirLockAlpha.com

At least it's good that there's some buzz, right?

Some of the fandom has been in a tiny uproar over the past couple weeks because now that CBS is set to return "Jericho" within the next few months, some people are trying to define exactly what their roles were in helping the show come back.

Did you buy peanuts? Did you write a letter? Did you watch the reruns? These are questions that don't really matter here nor there. But the granddaddy of questions is this one: "Did you start the 'Jericho' campaign'?

It's not too hard to believe that all of the more public figures in the campaign that started last May until CBS reversed its decision to cancel the show in early June haven't been asked that question one time or another. Heck, I have been asked that question a number of times (and even had a couple of sites that gave me credit), when I didn't do anything to start the campaign at all. The only thing I did was write about it, and write about it a lot.

There is a lot of animosity toward people who are taking credit for the campaign, since a lot of the details of the very beginning are sketchy at best. But to be honest, whether someone is being assigned credit, or they are taking it themselves, I don't think it's being done with any malicious intent. Memories have a way of changing over time, and we begin to associate things with events, and next thing you know, you're telling a reporter that you invented the Internet just before getting your Nobel Peace Prize.

So, I am jumping into this "Jericho" discussion not to claim credit, but to do something that should've been done from the beginning: Check the facts.

As many of you know, Airlock Alpha was the first news outlet to post an interview with Jeffrey Braverman, owner of Nuts Online that delivered most of the nuts fans ordered for CBS. Luckily for me, the work I do allows me to save information, both in story form and in note form.

During the interview, I asked Braverman where the campaign started. Here is what he told me:

"When we first started getting these orders, and we realized what was going on, my first thought was, 'What are these weirdos doing?' It was bizarre," Braverman said last May. "But you know what? These are real people. These are normal people. They have been calling up, and these are some real nice people and I understood where they were coming from."

So Braverman, despite new memories that have been released recently, wasn't contacted by anyone specifically. Orders for nuts -- for whatever reasons -- started to come into Nuts Online, and Braverman started to ask questions of the customers to find out what was going on.

Now, I know what you're thinking ... I am assuming a lot from that quote. Well, there were a lot of quotes I did not use in the story for various reasons, but I went back to my notes, and Braverman had actually been more specific. So, for the first time, here are some of the expanded quotes:

"On Friday [May 18], we started seeing some orders come in," Braverman said. "I turned to my cousin and said, 'I think this is a little suspicious. I'm looking at the IP addresses, and there were a few more orders since yesterday. I think there are 40 to 50 orders for this 'Jericho' thing.

"I didn't even know the premise. But we started getting the orders, and I said, let's run with it. Let's create this page."

According to Braverman, on that interview conducted on May 21 when there had only been several hundred pounds of nuts ordered, no specific person called him and said, "Hey! You should get involved." Someone, somewhere, started pointing people to Nuts Online -- it could be one of the people claiming to be the genesis of the idea, or it could be someone totally different -- and when Braverman noticed the irregularity in orders, he investigated, liked what he saw, and became involved.

To be honest, it doesn't matter to me if people want to take credit or not, but like I said, I don't think anyone is doing so out of ego or anything like that. To me, the Nuts campaign was a collaborative effort that was unique not because of its concept -- many fan campaigns chose some product to mail in studios that were related to the shows they were trying to save -- but because of how seamless these thousands of fans who had no idea who any of each other were, came together as a single unit and conducted a campaign that needed to be conducted, and won not just the ears of CBS, but the hearts, too.

I am proud to have played the small role that I did. And I wouldn't give it up for anything.

SyPod

I have provided some additional insight on the "Jericho" campaign genesis with the launch (finally) of Airlock Alpha's SyPod service. Thanks to the invention of the Webcam (which I also am not taking credit for) you can watch SyPod in all of its video masterpiece. All you have to do is click here.

SyBits

Let's read some letters, shall we?

The only good reason to endure a 'Flash Gordon' episode is that we get to see these wonderful two-minute slices of 'Battlestar Galactica.' This clip and all of the other bits that I have seen on YouTube and all the Galactica-related things that I have read tells me that 'Razor' is going to be two fantastic hours of television viewing. Ron Moore and David Eick never disappoint.

-- Steven Poisson

I admit, I am not watching "Flash Gordon" to see the clips. I know they'll be on YouTube soon afterward anyway. I mean, it's not that I am not appreciative of SciFi Channel's efforts to market "Flash Gordon" -- it's not a bad idea. I just don't see why I would have to suffer through an hour of "Flash Gordon" when I can just wait a couple of hours to watch it online anyway.

And by the way, how about that actor that is playing William Adama, eh? Nico Cortez has Edward James Olmos spot on. That is some kick-ass casting if you ask me.

First off, I would like to say how much I like Airlock Alpha. I think it is the best sci-fi news site on the Web. It is very informative, and I visit it every day.

Secondly, a question. You did not mention how "Heroes" did on Monday night in the 18-to-49 age demographic. I was curious about that because even though the ratings have gone down since the start of the season, I have taken solace in the fact that "Heroes" has still been tops in the advertisers' favorite demographic. I am sure that as long as "Heroes" keeps that up, the show will be safe from the axe. Do you have this information?

I truly do not understand how the show dropped from an eight to a six [in household ratings]. It makes no sense to me. The show has not dropped in quality, so I don't understand why it has lost viewers.

-- Pierce Piper, Georgia

That's a great question, Pierce, and we've been asked that in the past why we aren't like some other news outlets and focus solely on the 18-to-49 age demographic. While it is a very important factor in determining the life of a show, to be honest, the only people who really pay attention to the demos are advertisers and networks. We don't really cater to either here, and we provide ratings on this site, if nothing else, to show people how their television programs are doing overall.

I am glad that you are reading our ratings information, which we pick up from Zap2it. Sometimes, I am not sure if people are enthralled with ratings numbers like I am, but it's good to know that I am not the only crazy person out there.

Send me a letter, and if you're lucky (or you suck up enough), it could appear right here! Just e-mail me at mhinman@airlockalpha.com.

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Have a great week, and don't be a stranger!

Michael Hinman, a 22-time winner of the British lottery and heir to three Nigerian fortunes, is the founder and site coordinator for Airlock Alpha, writing out of Tampa, Fla. He can be reached at mhinman@airlockalpha.com