2002’s post-apocalyptic Jeremiah delivered a well-developed world with intriguing characters as you would expect from J. Michael Straczynski, and it deserved to last longer than two seasons.
What Is It?
Loosely based on the Belgian comic strip of the same name, this series takes place in a post-apocalyptic world where a virus (known as “the Big Death”) has wiped out almost everybody above the age of puberty leaving only the youth behind to pick of the pieces of a shattered world. The series starts fifteen years after the plague and focuses on a young man named Jeremiah who is traveling across the remains of the United States looking for Valhalla Sector where his father had told him there might be survivors who can help rebuild the world. Along the way he teams up with another drifter, Kurdy, and these two also join up with a group of survivors who have taken over the Cheyenne Mountain complex (“Thunder Mountain”), the former location of NORAD. Thunder Mountain plans to use their resources to eventually begin rebuilding the world and they use Jeremiah and Kurdy as well as other groups to scout out the country and find bands of survivors that will eventually unite with them.
Aired: Showtime, 2002-04, 2 Season Totaling 35 Episodes
Crew: J. Michael Straczynski (Creator/Writer), Sam Egan (Writer)
Cast: Luke Perry, Malcolm-Jamal Warner, Sean Astin, Peter Stebbings, Joanne Kelly
Legacy:
Jeremiah never received the acclaim of Straczynski’s Babylon 5, but it had many of the same strengths as that show and delivered a well-made, post-apocalyptic series with strong characters, interesting arcs, and some first-rate stories.
A Closer Look:
In the early 00’s sci fi was still mostly anathema on the Big Four broadcast networks, but it was finding much more success in the syndication market and on cable. During this time, the premium cable channels did some experimenting with genre shows and Jeremiah was one of the ones that landed on Showtime (that network also produced one season of Odyssey 5 in 2002 and had produced the first five seasons of Stargate: SG-1 which began in 1997). This venue allowed the show to interject more adult themes than what the broadcast networks or basic cable channels could do because of FCC restrictions, and Jeremiah definitely took advantage of the freedom allowed to it. Not just by amping up the sex and violence (though it did do that), but also by presenting challenging tales that didn’t necessarily lead to the nice, tidy sort of wrap up that Prime Time television typically prefers.
J. Michael Straczynski was of course no stranger to these type of stories as he had already explored some of the same territory with his five plus year run on the Babylon 5 franchise, and he continued very much in the same vein with Jeremiah. The series began with more of an episodic feel (similar to the first season of B5) as it followed Jeremiah and Kurdy travelling across post-apocalyptic America. And it was in these episodes that Straczynski (as well as some of the other writers who contributed to the show) managed to deliver some hard-hitting tales rife with moral quandaries and challenging ideas (similar to the path that show’s like Lost, The Walking Dead and Game of Thrones would later trailblaze). The second season was more story arc driven, but still offered its fair share of good episodes.
Jeremiah had a strong cast leading up the series with familiar television faces Luke Perry and Malcolm-Jamal Warner playing against type and delivering good dramatic performances. The secondary characters stood out as well with Peter Stebbings, Ingrid Kavelaars, and others playing an important part as the crew guiding things from Thunder Mountain. Sean Astin joined the show in the second season as the mysterious Mister Smith and added an interesting dimension, even if his character did seem somewhat overused (similar to Galen in Crusade).
It ended after its second year, but Jeremiah managed to accomplish a lot in its two seasons and it deserves much more recognition than it has received since it first debuted. It is definitely worth checking out and since it does resolve its ongoing arcs, it will not leave you hanging. But you will want more from the show.
Cancelled Too Soon?
Yes. The second season of Jeremiah changed the format up some as it became much less episodic, and the overall feel of the show seemed to shift as well. It became more story arc driven, but also less intense and less focused on the moral quandaries presented during year one. The show’s studio MGM had started tinkering with it which led to frictions between them and Straczynski, and that–along with less than spectacular ratings–led to the series getting cancelled after its second season. JMS had plenty of advance notice on the cancellation, though, so the series does resolve most of its ongoing arcs. But there was still plenty more story there to tell as JMS had originally envisioned a five-year arc for the show.
Should It Be Rebooted?
No on the reboot, but a revival would be interesting. As mentioned above, the second season wrapped up the ongoing stories, but the show still had more potential. They could check in on the characters twenty or so years later and delve further into this post-apocalyptic world. Sadly, the passing of Luke Perry makes a revival that much more unlikely. But perhaps at some point J. Michael Straczynski could carry on the story in comics or a series of books.
Interesting Facts:
The show’s leads were both well-known young actors from the 80’s and 90’s. Luke Perry played Dylan Mckay on the teen drama Beverly Hills, 90210 in the 90’s, and Malcolm-Jamal Warner played Theo on The Cosby Show from 1984 to 1992.
According to IMDb.com, J. Michael Straczynski was so displeased with his experience working with MGM on the series because of the tight grip they maintained over the production that he claimed that he would never work with them again under that administration.
Where Can You Watch It?
The series was released in two DVD sets, but those have since gone out of print are are fetching pretty high prices from third-party sellers. Both seasons are available to purchase VOD from providers like Amazon.com. Seasons 1 and 2 are streaming for free (with ads) on The Roku Channel, though for some reason it indicates three seasons, breaking out the second into two batches of episodes.
Stream or Purchase VOD
