To Supernatural fans, Richard Speight, Jr is the infamous Trickster from Tall Tales and Mystery Spot but he’s also known for his work on Jericho and Band of Brothers.

Next weekend, he has a very special movie event taking place in San Francisco so he’s written a shout out to the fans:

(message from Richard)

On Saturday, June 13th, there is going to be a charity screening of an independent feature film called NORTH BEACH. Ten years ago, I co-directed and co-starred in this darkish comedy that chronicles a day-in-the-life of a guy trying to salvage his love life in the manic neighborhood of North Beach, right in the heart of San Francisco. The film played 13 festivals in the the U.S. and Europe and received great reviews in The San Francisco Chronicle, The San Jose Mercury News, on Filmcritic.com, etc.

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As my friends can attest, I could go on and on and on about the joys of the recent Supernatural Creation Con in Los Angeles, but I promise you, I won’t. Here are my last, and fairly random, thoughts on the event.

Creation decked the halls with faux stone gargoyles and cemetery pillars all around the stage. There was a HUGE praying angel by the registration table that had me reigning in my need to Blink! (Who fans in the house?)

And speaking of the good Doctor, Aldis Hodge (Jake) was asked about the fact that his character on Leverage is obviously a fan of the UK series. Hodge admitted that he only recently started watching Doctor Who and was unaware that the show went back as far as it did. The fans in the audience clued him in and loudly.

Aldis was one of my favorite guest star speakers of the weekend. It was his first con and I was afraid he’d be flash-struck but he wow’d the crowd. He talked about filming the big fight scene with Jared in All Hell Breaks Loose saying they enjoyed “being two crazy dudes rolling around in the mud and the rain.” A tight schedule meant no time to rehearse the fight, they were simply told not to kill each other and then, action! Aldis also hung out with fans and sang Karaoke with his brother until all hours of the morning, so I’d say he’ll be coming back to future cons.

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It’s not a major motion picture or another run on TV, but how about a comic based on Jericho? Will that suffice?

Devil’s Due Publishing (DDP) has announced a deal with CBS Consumer Products to publish a new comic book based on the series. The comic book series will pick up where the television program left off, answering many questions for its passionate fans. DDP has teamed up with the show’s creators and producers to develop an authentic story that will hit comic book retailers this fall.

“Jericho is alive and well, thanks to the amazing fans who’ve driven us to find new and fresh ways to tell the Jericho story,” says Dan Shotz, Co-Executive Producer of Jericho.  “Josh Blaylock and the DDP team are great partners and have shown a true love for our show.  We are so thrilled about this comic book series and the endless possibilities for the future of Jericho.”

Joining Shotz in developing the comic book will be most of the original creative team including Jon Turteltaub, Carol Barbee, Karim Zreik, and Jon Steinberg.

“I can’t tell you how cool it is for DDP to be able to continue the Jericho story in comic book form,” says DDP President Josh Blaylock. “We plan to give fans the story they’ve been craving.  This is going to be epic stuff.”

Photo: Robert Voets/CBS ©2006 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved

“When I think about the fact, a repeat of Jericho on CW actually has more viewers than an episode of Mad Men, you realize the difference between cable and broadcast, you realize the difference between what the press is watching vs. what America is watching.”

That’s Jericho producer Jon Turteltaub talking to IFMagazine about the Jericho reruns that are currently airing on The CW on Sunday nights. Turteltaub was out promoting his new series Harper’s Island when talk turned, as it inevitably does, to the show that wouldn’t die. Like the people of Jericho, the fans have refused to admit defeat even in the face of insurmountable odds. Turteltaub gives the slightest bit of hope in terms of a refueling if the series is a “remarkable success” on The CW.

I wouldn’t keep my schedule open waiting for that to happen, but it does sound like a big screen version of Jericho could become a reality. With Serenity, Sex in the City and the new X-Files movies all using the theater to offer closure to the fans, more and more shows are looking to go the same route. A Veronica Mars feature was recently announced and the Stargate franchise seems destined to head that way now that they’ve moved into the made for DVD movie market.

Turteltaub says that a Jericho movie would be bigger in all aspects, with looks at what’s happening all over America, not just in that one small town. But would the TV cast be invited back?

“Oh yeah!” says Turteltaub and that’s enough to keep the home fires burning.

Read the full interview at IFMagazine.com and thanks to Dawn of Jericho Revolution for the tip.

“Walls of Jericho” — Jake Green (Skeet Ulrich, right) and Gail Green (Pamela Reed, left) listen while Mayor Green gives a moving speech in the Church to the townspeople after a mysterious stranger who is suffering from radiation poisoning comes to town, on JERICHO, scheduled to air on THE CW Photo: Robert Voets/CBS ©2006 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved

With the holiday, I forgot to remind everyone that Jericho is back on The CW on Sundays. Sorry, no new episodes but it’s a pretty unprecedented move for the netlet — running a defunct TV series during primetime. They aired the first episode yesterday which means next week we’ll have “Fallout.”

If you’ve never seen the series, this is a great way to give it a try.  After all, what else is there to watch at 7:00 on a cold, wintery Sunday night?

Jericho: “Fallout“

Air Date: December 7 at 7:00 on The CW

RACING FOR SHELTER — With only an hour before the fallout from the nuclear blast in Denver hits Jericho, Jake (Skeet Ulrich) rushes to get the townspeople inside and away from the rain so that they won’t get radiation poisoning. When Jake and the others find that the official shelter is in disrepair and unusable, they have to come up with other protection fast. Meanwhile, Emily (Ashley Scott) and Bonnie (Shoshannah Stern) are held hostage by two men posing as police officers. Jon Turteltaub directed the episode written by Stephen Chbosky (#002).

Photo: Monty Brinton/CBS ©2006 CBS BROADCASTING INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

Jericho is coming to back to TV -  in a way, at least. CW today announced it will air reruns of cult favorite Jericho on its Sunday night schedule. This ends an interesting experiment for CW that saw it outsourcing its Sunday night lineup to Media Rights Capital.

That lineup included the drama Easy Money and sitcom Surviving Suburbia and today’s announcement confirms those shows didn’t work. Joining Jericho on the new (or should that be old?) Sunday night CW lineup are reruns of The Drew Carey Show and theatrical movies. The change becomes effective Nov. 30.

The good news here is that Jericho, one of the best shows most of America didn’t watch, is back on TV. It’s not as nice as new episodes, but it’s something.

Photo Credit: ©2008 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Michael Gaston, Lily Rabe, Michael Raymond-James, Fredric Lehne and Clifton Powell have joined HBO’s drama pilot “Last of the Ninth” as regulars.

The show is a gritty 1970’s drama about a Vietnam vet turned undercover cop.

Former Jericho star Michael Gaston will play the lieutenant in charge of the precinct. Former Lost star Fredric Lehne, who is known to Supernatural fans as “the yellow-eyed demon, will play a detective with a drinking problem.  And Raymond-James from the new series True Blood will play a macho narcotics detective.

Image details: 2007 Summer TCA Tour - Day 10 served by picapp.com

Showbiz Spy is discussing the prospects of a Jericho movie. courtesy of series’ stars Ashley Scott and Brad Beyer. Scott mentioned the pair have heard of a potential movie pitch. She said both would be interested in signing on and Beyer said it would be a way to give Jericho some needed closure.

If the project happens, it would follow cult classic Firefly which became the big screen’s Serenity. Unfortunately, most folks missed that excellent movie just like they missed the excellent TV show. Here’s hoping Jericho fares a little better.

Of course, there’s also talk of movies about Arrested Development and Friends. There are probably even more rumors in Hollywood than there are waiters with script treatments.

Three guesses who those were from. The fans of twice-canceled apocalyptic drama Jericho aren’t about to give up without another fight and are letting everyone know it.

Hollywood Reporter senior writer James Hibberd (you’ll remember him from the Moonlight fiasco) said the THR mailroom got 1,050 pounds of nuts Monday. They’re now good on nuts through the Fourth of July, much of the summer, heck probably until Christmas. All kidding aside, THR is looking for local outlets to donate the forty-two 25-lb. boxes of nuts to.

I can’t begin to predict how things with Jericho will turn out but I think it’s safe to say no entertainment reporter will ever forget the show or its fans.

Photo Credit: ©2008 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved

SFUniverse isn’t alone in noticing the great works of Jericho fans. The Dakota Voice has a great piece on Jericho Rangers rounding up 219 DVD’s of the show’s second season to support U.S. troops.

Twenty-one of those came from a middle school in Boca Raton, Fla where a teacher challenged her kids to make a difference. Hey, if the next generation is both donating to our troops and watching Jericho, I think they’re going to be OK.

The article notes that Rangers have raised at least $32,000 in charitable efforts, although that number could be much higher. Great job, Rangers! One of the things I love most about sci-fi is the communities it creates and the people that join together for positive causes. Though some people will never understand, it’s about a lot more than a TV show.