Nutty 'Jericho' Fans Make CBS Reconsider Canceling Show

June 6, 2007— -- A campaign to send CBS thousands and thousands of pounds of peanuts to protest the network's decision to cancel a television show appears to be working.

When CBS canceled "Jericho," a show about life in a small town after several nuclear bombs go off across the country, its fans started to rebel.

Internet chat rooms -- including a popular one on CBS's own Web site -- filled with talk about how to convince the network to bring back the show.

One method: nuts.

So far, nearly 40,000 pounds of nuts have been sent to various network executives in New York and Los Angeles. That's about 8 million peanuts.

Now it looks like the outpouring of peanuts might be working.

Quoting an anonymous source, The Associated Press Tuesday said CBS is reconsidering its decision to cancel the show. A decision on whether to bring the show back, probably for a midseason run, is imminent, the AP reported.

"They got us hooked on this great drama. … They make you actually care about the characters," said Kevin M. Russell, a fan-turned-nut-shipper from Fort Smith, Ark. "Then they pull the plug."

"Bottom line, it's to make a statement," Russell added. "We're tired of the networks telling us what to watch."

What started out as individual fans shipping nuts quickly became an organized movement.

Jeff Knoll, a fan in Oakville, Ontario, was thinking about shipping some nuts but was worried about them getting delayed in customs. That's when he stumbled across nutsonline.com.

He started talking to Jeffrey Braverman, whose family has run the nut distribution company now called nutsonline.com for three generations.

"I had never watched 'Jericho,'" Braverman said. "I was brushing this off at first. I didn't understand the magnitude of this."

He had noticed some strange orders coming in for nuts to CBS but didn't piece it together until Knoll picked up the phone.

That's when Braverman decided to revamp his Web site so "Jericho" fans could pool their resources.

Instead of shipping a few nuts at a time, the fans could chip in $5, $10 or $20 for a larger delivery that would make a statement.