Will "Jericho" Get Cancelled?

It doesn't look good for "Jericho". The mushroom cloud of cancellation may have obliterated its chances for a second season, after the drama hit its third series low since it came back after a winter hiatus. What gives?

When "Jericho" premiered last fall, despite being panned by critics, it quickly became a sleeper hit with as many as 11 million people tuning in and CBS announced it would be the first freshman drama of the season to get the full season pick-up.

Then the network decided to copy the same tactic that some of its competitors used to eliminate repeats. It said it would split the season into two parts and take "Jericho" off air for almost three months.

But when "Jericho" returned in February the numbers went immediately down with the show hitting as many as three series lows, the latest this week when it pulled in only 7,91 million viewers.

Although one might argue that when it came back the drama had the misfortune of airing against "American Idol", "Jericho" posted the same low numbers when FOX aired the singing competition an hour later.

NBC's "Heroes" also split its season using a similar rerun-free policy, but it generated stronger buzz and higher ratings and its hiatus was much shorter. "Jericho" may have asked its fan base for too much and too early.

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