Time to blow horn for last seven episodes of 'Jericho'

If only the world had come to an end when those 23 nuclear bombs dropped on the United States on the same day just over a year ago. But no, human life continues on its dreary, bathetic course when "Jericho" returns at 9 p.m. today on CBS' WBBM Channel 2.

Talk about fallout from the writers' strike. The last seven episodes of this post-apocalyptic prime-time soap opera -- brought back for an abbreviated second run to appease its small cadre of loyal fans -- probably would have been burned off with a minimum of fuss at the end of the season if the cupboard weren't bare of new product at CBS. So here it is getting a plum time slot in the midst of February sweeps.

What hath God wrought indeed.

"Jericho" stars Skeet Ulrich as Jake Green, and all aware readers need to know is that he is probably the worst lead actor on a major broadcast network prime-time series right now. David Caruso at least displays some hammy panache on "CSI: Miami." As for Ulrich, he runs the acting gamut from scowling to glowering, with a little blinking and eyes-wide staring and lip biting in between to really show off his nuances.

Even so, Jake is the de facto leader of Jericho after his pops, played by Gerald McRaney, got popped last year in a clash with the neighboring Kansas hamlet of New Bern over diminishing resources in the nuclear landscape. Tonight's season premiere finds Esai Morales, previously of the declining final years of "NYPD Blue," rolling into town in his Gulf War camouflage fatigues as Maj. Edward Beck.

"Order will be restored," he pronounces. But Jake still has an unfinished vendetta with Timothy Omundson's Constantino, responsible for his dad's death.

"There isn't going to be any reconciliation until he's dead," Jake insists.

Yet Maj. Beck says anyone disturbing the peace will be taking a dirt nap himself, and he attempts to co-opt Jake by appointing him sheriff. That doesn't keep Jake, however, from plotting to ambush and kill Constantino.

Maj. Beck runs a new flag representing the sitting government in Cheyenne, Wyo., up the pole, but who's gonna salute that thing with vertical stripes and a lot fewer stars?

Otherwise, however, things are returning to normal in Jericho. The nuclear clouds have cleared and the sun is shining. Brad Beyer's Stanley even has to worry about paying the back taxes on his farm. He might just ask Alicia Coppola's Mimi, an IRS agent, to share the rest of their lives together anyway.

That's the thing about "Jericho." It was CBS' attempt to do a cutting-edge drama last season, but CBS does what it does, and putting an edge on it is like trying to hone a bowling ball. "Jericho" aspires to the unfathomable mystery of "Lost" or the claustrophobic conspiracy of "The X-Files," but at its core it's really just an updated version of "Knots Landing."

Now, 23 is an odd number of nuclear bombs for anyone but an obsessive Michael Jordan fan to drop on the United States. What gives? It turns out there were supposed to be 25. One was intercepted on its way to New York City (thus sparing CBS executives, drat the luck), and Lennie James' Robert Hawkins, an undercover CIA agent who seems to have been tracking them when they went off, just happens to know where the other missing warhead is -- and it might have come from the people heading the new Cheyenne government. (There's your "X-Files" conspiracy angle.)

His secrecy, and the small detail that he just happened to be kidnapping his wife and their children when the bombs went off, has caused some marital problems with April Parker's Darcy Hawkins, but it's a good thing she's still around when Chris Kramer's Chavez gets the drop on him.

In spite of all this compelling conflict, I don't think "Jericho" is long for this TV world -- not with the writers' strike ending. It was something of a miracle that fans succeeded in bringing it back after it was canceled last year -- or something of a grandstanding move that CBS execs brought it back for a mere seven episodes, depending on how cynical you are about network TV. I believe one more big one is going to drop on "Jericho" when these shows run out, and this time there will be no survivors.