So it's easy for new viewers to come in. These seven episodes go like wildfire, because every episode, something huge happens."

That scope was hinted in last spring's finale. (That hour repeats in Universal HD's full-season this weekend, ending 8 p.m. Sunday. Sci Fi encores the first four hours 7-11 p.m. Monday.) After new Jericho resident and ex-espionage agent Robert Hawkins (Lennie James) said at least one government official was part of the nuke plot, we saw that same official (Daniel Benzali) issuing orders to military officers. Yet the American flag patch on their uniforms held not the familiar 50 stars and horizontal stripes but instead 21 stars and vertical stripes.

"This season is all about the country, the wider country, dealing with this attack," Barbee said last week by phone.

TOP WORLD NEWS PHOTOS

Archbishop of the southwestern cities of Lourdes and Tarbes, Jacques Perrier, right, puts his hand on a sick young girl's forehead, in front of the Lourdes shrine, southwestern France, during a ceremony. Feb. 11: Palestinians in a taxi drive past a section of Israel's separation barrier at the Kalandiya checkpoint, between the outskirts of Jerusalem and the West Bank city of Ramallah. Israel says the barrier is necessary for security, while Palestinians call it a land grab. Feb. 11: Iraqi police graduate stands at attention as national flags flutter above him, during a graduation ceremony in Baghdad, Iraq. Some 900 policemen graduated after a six week training course. Feb. 11: Pakistan election worker carries transparent ballot boxes in preparation for upcoming general election at an election commission office in Rawalpindi, Pakistan.

Starr says MLB trainers raised steroid problem in 1988

Those who watched The Big Red Machine dominate baseball in the mid-1970s knew a small-statured guy who wore red pants and a white shirt with scissors strapped in a leather holster on his hip.