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I know I reported on this a month ago, but I really was hoping to be wrong on this one.

While Christians observe Good Friday and get ready for the upcoming Easter holiday, "Jericho" fans had something to mourn: CBS canceled their favorite show, for a second time.

Cancellation is a hard pill to swallow, especially in shows that we love and admire. I know I take it hard, and that's why I refuse to become invested in any show until I see ratings from the first handful of episodes. If the numbers are strong enough, then as soon as I get time, I will make time. In the end, however, I'll give every show a chance, and it's the ones I like the most that never seem to draw the audiences necessary to keep it on the air.

"Jericho" is one of those shows. I was excited last May when we learned the show was going to be renewed, but angry a few days later when CBS changed course suddenly and decided to cancel instead. When I started getting e-mails from "Jericho" fans, I dismissed it as yet another half-hearted fan attempt to save a show. But it was no half-hearted attempt.

The fans of "Jericho" are an amazing bunch, and a big bunch they are. These are people who took a show about a post-nuclear America focused on a small Kansas town, and made themselves neighbors who not only observed, but when the time came for them to act, they enlisted in the Rangers and made sure CBS at least gave "Jericho" a fighting chance.

I will still call the "Nuts to You, CBS" campaign the most ingenious fan campaign that has ever taken place. You can't credit that campaign to a single person or entity, as it became more of a collective decision, so all those who were involved in coming up with this idea, my hat is off to you.

But my hat also is off to the hundreds if not thousands of "Jericho" Rangers who wrote letters, bought nuts, flooded message boards, wrote to every media outlet they could find, and shared why they felt "Jericho" didn't get a fair shake. All of you, each and every one of you, are absolutely amazing, and I will go to my grave 110 years from now still admiring the amazing things you did in 2007 to give my mom's favorite show, to give one of my favorite shows, another chance.

Also deserving a big hats off is Carol Barbee, the cast and crew of "Jericho" for bringing us such a compelling show, with amazing stories built around a difficult premise, and some of the finest acting this side of "Battlestar Galactica." There are few true quality programs on network television, and after March 25, there will be one less out there.

And finally, while some might be mad at them, CBS deserves a big hats off as well. This is a network that listened to their fans. Yes, they had to cancel the show a second time, and that's not something we wanted to hear. But they really did listen. I have seen dozens of fan campaigns come and go, with 99 percent of them not even receiving any acknowledgement of their actions at all from the networks they target.

But CBS not only acknowledged, they acted. And they deserve our biggest thanks for doing that, for not only trying to give "Jericho" a second chance, but just in case the return was ill-fated, they would allow us to find some conclusion to this amazing story.

I am going to miss "Jericho," but I am not going to forget it. Many great shows come and go, and some go far sooner than any of us will like. But know that there is other great programming out there, whether you're a science-fiction fan or not, and you will move on. And yes, you may even like some shows on CBS, too.

This is not a good-bye to "Jericho," but more of a "Until we meet again." Because I hope there is room somewhere, someday, for some type of "Jericho" return. And when there is, I will be in the front row to experience it.

Michael Hinman is the founder and site coordinator of Airlock Alpha, writing out of Tampa, Fla. He can be reached at mhinman@airlockalpha.com.