Regardless of what CBS says, it’s beginning to look like nuts again. The peanut protest in the name of Jericho‘s continued existence appears to be back, only this time, the nuts aren’t headed for CBS but for Nielsen, the company responsible for measuring TV ratings.
According to The Tampa Tribune, die-hard Jericho aficionados are scheduled to picket at noon today in front of Nielsen’s local office in Oldsmar, in Pinellas County in Tampa Bay, Florida.
The Tampa Tribune reported that Jericho devotees plan to unleash 4,000 pounds of peanuts on the office grounds to show their protest against what they call the company’s faulty and archaic system of measuring television ratings. They lay the blame at Nielsen’s numbers for Jericho, which effectively put the nail on the show’s proverbial coffin.
“It’s an antiquated rating system that does not count 99.999 percent of actual TV viewers,” Jonathan Whitesell, a Jericho fan and organizer of the protest, said of Nielsen’s method of sampling total viewership of a show.
Supplying the nuts for the said Nielsen nut dump is Mickey Freymuller, who owns Mickey’s Peanuts in Palm Harbor. To date, he has reportedly earned $5,000 for the 4,000 pounds of peanuts intended for Nielsen’s Oldsmar office. He has also revamped his official company web site to make it possible for Jericho supporters to simply order the peanuts online and have them sent straight to Nielsen. His special Nuts to Nielsen Save Jericho Peanuts are priced at $12.04 for the 10-pound bag or $60.24 for the 50-pounder.
All the animosity being sent their way is perplexing to Nielsen, which has never seen such a movement in any of its offices in its entire history.
“We respect the passion of the Jericho fans, but the decision to cancel the show was made by the network, not by Nielsen,” Gary Holmes, spokesperson for the firm, said in a statement. “We measure programming that is viewed live, on a video recorder and on a PC, and we are confident that our ratings provide a fair measure of what people are viewing.”
Nonetheless, Nielsen said they are prepared for any nutty deliveries headed their way, with officials allegedly saying they will seek out food banks willing to accept the nuts should they actually arrive.
-Rosario Santiago, BuddyTV Staff Columnist
Source: The Tampa Tribune
(Image Courtesy of CBS)
Staff Columnist, BuddyTV
