Blackjack Fairgrounds is going to be doing a series of reviews of other post-apocalyptic stories. Our first one is the TV series Jeremiah.
Jeremiah ran from 2002-2004 on Showtime. It starred Luke Perry and Malcolm-Jamal Warner as Jeremiah and Kurdy, a Jake and Hawkins type of team. It was created by J. Michael Straczynski (Babylon 5) and based on a Belgian comic series by Hermann Huppen.
Jeremiah is set 15 years after the big death, where a virus killed most of the world's post-puberty population. Jeremiah is the story of the children that survived. The first season was a "Wagon Train to the Apocalypse" type of story format - Jeremiah and Kurdy visited a new town every week. Jeremiah and Kurdy worked as a team for the Thunder Mountain group. There was a series arc of what happened to Jeremiah's parents and what was the mysterious Vahalla Sector.
In the second season, the stories were more like Jericho, since most of the action took place in two base locations (Thunder Mountain and Millhaven). Millhaven was the staging base that Jeremiah ran. The series arc quickly took center stage and the Thunder Mountain group and the series ASA equivalent (Daniel's group) clashed.
Since both Jeremiah and Jericho are post-apocalyptic there are similar elements. There is Morse Code used in a couple of episodes of Jeremiah. There is also a Mushroom Cloud in one episode. Jeremiah even has a mysterious Mr. Smith.
Jeremiah and Kurdy are very similar to Jake and Hawkins, with Kurdy being more street smart and Jeremiah often getting in trouble and needing to be rescued.
The ending of the series is emotionally fulfilling, but I wish that the series had been continued. I felt they rushed the series arc to finish by the end of the second season. I also think there was a lot more story potential left.
There is one scene so reminiscent of Jericho that it brought tears to my eyes. Right before the finale, they reintroduced the American flag and you see it superimposed over the Thunder Mountain stronghold.
The second season of Jeremiah has been released as an Amazon exclusive DVD, so now the whole series is available for those who missed it.
Jeremiah Comic: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeremiah_%28comics%29
Jeremiah Series: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0290966/