Season OnePart-Lost, part-The Day After, television's first Code  Orange serial drama very effectively taps into palpable post-9/11 dread.  The residents of Jericho are literally in the dark when they are cut  off from civilization in the wake of a nuclear blast. Has the United  States been attacked? How many cities were destroyed? Was it terrorists,  or something way more sinister? It is up to Johnston Green (an  Emmy-worthy Gerald McRaney), the town's mayor (and series bedrock), to  calm the community, keep its citizens from turning on each other, and  protect them from predatory outsiders. Johnston's son, Jake (Skeet  Ulrich), a "screw-up," returns home just prior to the blast following a  mysterious five-year absence. Jake is at odds with his estranged father,  who is running for reelection, and his brother, Eric (Kenneth  Mitchell), his deputy. Nor is he welcomed back by his former girlfriend,  Emily (Ashley Scott), now engaged to a man who is missing following the  blast. With the fate of America in the balance, one would think that  "small town problems" wouldn't amount to a hill of beans in this crazy  new world, but it isJericho's human dramas that resonate most deeply.On the most cherished TV shows, characters come to feel like family.Jericho's  characters come to feel like neighbors. Dale (Erik Knudson), the  orphaned teenage outcast, forms an unexpected friendship with the town's  spoiled mean girl, Skylar (Candace Bailey). Robert Hawkins (Lennie  James), just arrived in town, introduces himself as a former cop from  St. Louis, but his secret basement command center suggests otherwise.  Gray Anderson (Michael Gaston), a mayoral candidate, politicizes the  disaster to undermine Johnston. Stanley (Brad Beyer), a farmer, falls in  love with his condescending IRS auditor from Washington, D.C. (Alicia  Coppola). And Eric plans to leave his wife, Alice (Darby Stanchfield)   for bartender Mary (Clare Carey). But at the heart ofJericho's  first season is Jake's hard-earned redemption in his family's (and  Emily's) eyes (suddenly, he's a regular MacGyver, able to perform a  tracheotomy with a juice box straw!).Star Trekhas its Trekkies/-ers and Laurel and Hardy its fraternal organization, theSons of the Desert.Jerichohas its "Nuts," who, in heroicIt Takes a Villagespirit, mounted a monumental campaign to rescue the series after it had  been cancelled. Fans posted a barrage of videos on You Tube and deluged  the studio with peanuts (the significance is explained in the season  finale). "What is it about this town that has you so addicted to it?"  someone asks Emily at one point. Just watch a couple of episodes, and  you'll also be hooked. ThisFirst Seasonset should rallyJericho's army and inspire new recruits.--Donald LiebensonSeason TwoThe second season of the cult favoriteJerichoshows in gritty,  emotional detail why fans adore this show. It's intelligently written,  and manages to make its out-there concept not only believable, but  mesmerizing. Part post-apocalyptic sci-fi, part Western, part conspiracy  thriller, and part juicy human drama,Jerichoin its second  season explores how the citizens of wee Jericho, Kansas, are coping six  months after a nuclear bomb destroyed most of the town--and the fabric  of the country. The layers of character and plot development, rare on  network TV, continue to surprise and develop. Our hero, Jake (Skeet  Ulrich), is helping put the pieces of his town and life back together,  while hostile forces from neighboring towns plan attacks. And the  mysterious Robert Hawkins (Lennie James) is hiding in town with a  literal smoking gun--a nuclear warhead that may prove the attacks were  carried out not by Iran and North Korea, but by internal forces. Hawkins  is on the run, and Jake is in on his secret. Amid all this chaos  arrives Major Beck (the charismatic Esai Morales), who's been sent by  the acting Western government to instill order in Jericho. "The  nightmare is over," he intones to the shaken townsfolk. "Order will be  restored."The nightmare is far from over, however, which accounts forJericho'sintense drama and creative storytelling. The viewer is never totally  sure whom to believe, keeping the viewer just off kilter just enough to  want to watch another episode, and then another. Extras on the boxed set  include terrific audio commentaries on virtually every episode, which  lend even greater appreciation to the set designers and  cinematographers. There's a featurette, "Rebuilding Jericho," giving  fans insight to the conception of a post-apocalyptic America, and  deleted scenes, and perhaps most interesting to devoted fans, an  alternate unaired ending to the season finale--worth watching just to  see where the creators imaginations can take them. --A.T. Hurley