UPDATE:  I appreciate all the comments, guys.

I didn’t dig as deep as I guess I should have.  I DID try to contact Jeffrey Braverman at the number provided on the page, but didn’t get an answer there.  In the archived blog on the NUTS for Jericho site, they do discuss what will happen with all of those nuts:

I just received confirmation from CBS that the peanuts will be donated to our troops in Iraq and Afghanistan and possibly food banks, homeless shelters, and maybe even the Bronx Zoo.

I wish there had been something about that on the main page there, before you actually buy the nuts.  So, sorry for misspeaking yesterday.  Go buy some nuts.

ORIGINAL POST:
I’ve had a few people asking me why I haven’t done any coverage on the recent “NUTS for Jericho” campaign, so let me elaborate on that a bit.

‘Jericho’ was one of my favorite new shows of the season last year.  While I agree that it did hit a bit of a slump mid-season, which wasn’t helped by the ridiculously long hiatus that the show took, the show did manage to remain compelling virtually every week.  It didn’t pull in huge ratings by anyone’s standards, but it did as good a job as any show can do when up against a behemoth like ‘American Idol’.  And when the news came in that it was not going to be in CBS’s schedule next season, I was incredibly upset, especially considering the cliffhanger that the finale left us with.

The NUTS for Jericho campaign comes from a story that was told in the ‘Jericho’ finale.  In World War II, a U.S. general was surrounded by the Nazi army, who sent him an offer to surrender.  His one-word response:  “Nuts.”  This has become the battle cry of Jericho fans who demand that the show be picked back up.  The website Jericho Lives reads like a newsletter for a rebellion, with daily “Mission Orders” and inspirational quotes from the likes of Winston Churchill about never giving up in the face of overwhelming odds.

Taking it to the next step, several fans have entered into the NUTS for Jericho campaign, in which they purchase quantities of roasted peanuts to be sent to CBS headquarters.  At the time of this writing, the NUTS for Jericho site has sold 14,154 pounds of nuts, which will be sent to CBS in protest of the show’s cancellation.  That’s $19,377 worth of peanuts!  (Actually, at the time that this story was posted, I refreshed the page…the actual count is now 14,396 lbs at $19,707.)

Look, there are many things that a fan can do to protest to a network.  Sign a petition.  Write or call that network and express your feelings (civilly).  Find out who the biggest advertisers are on the show, and give them your business, then write them and tell them that you’re giving them business because of the show.  These are all things that I believe in, and have done in the past.

But don’t waste your money.  The sensationalism of thinking about 7 tons of nuts laying on CBS’s doorstep is, I’ll admit, kind of satisfying.  But at the end of the day, that’s a LOT of food that could have gone to feed the hungry, and a lot of wasted that could have done a lot of good elsewhere. 

I believe that we need to start a new campaign in which, rather than buying something that will be rotting in a landfill this time next week, we turn our efforts to something more substantial.

That’s where you, dear readers, come in.  What can we do that will send a message to CBS that we want this show back, but, at the same time, will allow us to be sensible with our money?  Maybe have some kind of set up where the money is donated to a charity, but have it known that it’s done in the name of protesting for Jericho? 

This campaign shows something that I’ve always known…when fans set their minds on something, they can have a tremendous impact.  But it’s time to show that we can have a smart impact, too.