FEATURE FRIDAY, JUNE 24th EDITION

    In the late 1930s, a political organized crime syndicate took over Germany. They proceeded on a course to unite all of Europe under A New Order, and chose as their emblem the Swastika---an ancient Aryan symbol of peace and unity. To partake of the blessings of this New Order, all a nation had to do was to give up its sovereignty and submit to the Party Leadership.

      In 1940, Britain stood alone against this movement. Yesterday, the British people lived up to their ancestors' heroism and, standing alone, drove another would-be New Order movement from its shores.

       So what better choice for a weekend entertainment option could there be than watching Allied heroes foiling the schemes of the authoritarian elites? Hence, we recommend a little-known, but above-average WW2 espionage thriller, Jericho.

       Jericho ran for one season on CBS in 1966 and was one of the last products of television's Golden Age. The series followed a three-man special operations' team: an American, a Briton, and a Frenchman with special skills, under the direct command of British Intelligence. They were assigned missions centered on sabotage, reconnaissance, espionage, hostage rescues and other similar tasks. Jericho was the code word of their team.

      The episodes are an hour long and are engaging because the plots follow no 'formula' type predictability common in espionage programs from the mid-1960s onwards. Usually the team is given an assignment with a perfectly-scripted plan---and things never go according to plan. In one episode, they return to London after breaking up a spy ring---only to discover that a traitor has fed them a false lead. They have only minutes---while being chased by the British Home Guard who've been tricked into believing the agents are enemies---to foil an assassination attempt on Winston Churchill. In another episode, they find the Nazis are using human shields against their target. In another, the team gets separated attempting to assassinate a German general---when they learn the mission has changed because the general intends to defect---and they must stop their partner. 

        In these reviews, we recommend programs that portray masculinity in a truer light than those portrayed today by certain elements of the Manosphere. Jericho is instructive here (in many ways like the BREXIT vote) that men going their own way is not a hallmark of true masculinity. The three characters: Sheppard, Andre, and Gage are Jericho. Great accomplishments are not achieved by men acting alone as individual units; nor are they achieved by some manly Alpha leader who knows how to manipulate others to do his bidding. Good men who are experts at what they do team up with similar men and get the job done, no matter what the obstacles.

         The contemporary Manosphere is premised on a warped theory of Individualism. While it is true that a man's primary duty is to himself and his own well-being, many contemporary Manospherians claim it as his only duty. They extrapolate from that premise that the superior man, the Alpha Male in their parlance, stands above the herd and knows how to exploit and control the weaknesses in others for his own benefit. In reality, that philosophy is much closer to that which governed the Nazi or EU leadership. 

         The superior man is one who has expertise and ability to earn the respect of other men who work with him as an equal. That is because the truly superior man has humility---a quality decidedly absent from most Manospherians---enough to understand that the gamut of human interactions and relationships are too complex for any single man to master. He must co-operate and organize with other men of ability, if common goals are to be accomplished. In the case of Jericho, this goal was liberating a world from the tyranny of those who presumed themselves Alpha Supermen. 

         In the Manosphere today, this philosophy has reached the reductio ad absurdum wherein alleged male role models play with sex-dolls and spend hours on X-box while despising men of the type portrayed in Jericho as chumps and unenlightened fools. This is the same attitude every street bum and petty criminal ever held. Unfortunately, it has become the prevailing attitude among modern American men. That is why modern US soldiers end up on their knees crying in front of the Iranians instead of breaking into a POW camp to rescue hostages like the Jericho team once did.

          Jericho is an excellent series, it is unfortunate that it was so short-lived. It's demise was really more a product of its era than its quality. In 1966, television programming was moving more in the direction of predictable, formula-dramas and mindless comedies than in gritty, realistic drama; a trend which has never been reversed. Had Jericho been released a few years earlier, it likely would have enjoyed greater success.

            Although Jericho is occasionally available on public domain sites, it is currently not as of this writing. A DVD set is probably the best way to enjoy this series---and well worth the investment. Action, intrigue, teamwork---and some truly innovative plots---Jericho is a unique series that inspires a loyal fan-following among those who've seen it. Some scenes were reportedly filmed on-location in Europe.