As everyone knows, ratings are the lifeblood of a television series. “Jericho” was cancelled at the end of last season, but a grassroots effort saved the show. The series is in the middle of its six-episode second season, and the ratings are just so-so.

For the first four episodes of the second season, “Jericho” is averaging 6.4 million viewers as compared to an average of 8.0 million viewers over the last 10 episodes of last season. There’s no telling what CBS would consider a “win” here. Given the effect of the writers’ strike, it’s difficult to guess what kind of numbers the execs see as a baseline for renewal.

There was a pretty big twist at the end of last week’s episode, and without giving anything away, it would seem that things are going to be pretty hectic in “Jericho” the next two weeks.