Ulrich Happy To Be Surviving In 'Jericho'

The new CBS drama "Jericho," which is about a small Kansas town coping after a faraway nuclear explosion, is one of the first new shows this fall to be guaranteed a full season.

The show's star, Skeet Ulrich, said he was "completely shocked" when he heard the news, even though he thought people would enjoy "Jericho."

Ulrich plays Jake Green, who returns to his hometown after five years and sees a mushroom cloud on the horizon, which tells him the world has changed.

"I always think of it as that threshold there is no return from," Ulrich told The Early Show co-anchor Rene Syler. "And it sort of becomes about this town and the relationships. The first few episodes are the immediate survival instincts and how they need to get to safety and everything that you think you would need to do in this situation. They live through it."

Ulrich thinks "Jericho" resonates with people not only because of recent events such as North Korea's nuclear tests, but also because people like to live vicariously through the show's characters.

"There's a lot of other elements in it," he said. "You get to see the importance of humor … and the importance of love. They sound so trite in those circumstances, yet those are the things that people will cling to — to help, to not have to live in the darkness of this world that we have created in the show."

Ulrich, who starred in "Scream," said he's glad to have a steady job, even though it's a lot of hard work.

"We are having a blast — no pun intended — making the show," he said. "It's a great group of actors, crew, producers — everybody. It's been a collaborative experience from the start."

"Jericho" airs Wednesday night 8 p.m. and 7 p.m. central on CBS.