“The Nine” – Another Casualty of the “New” Drama
November 26, 2006 by Kath Skerry
So much for seeing what really went down during those 52 hours in the bank. ABC has announced that effective immediately, it is pulling the freshman drama The Nine from its schedule. The show, which only aired seven episodes, will be replaced this week by a special edition of 20/20 (Nov 29th) and then Primetime will take over the Wednesday 10pm timeslot. According to Zap2it, ABC has said that The Nine will return later this season but they aren’t sure when. Yeah, I’m not holding my breath on this one.
I know I’m making a circle argument here, but let me just say that THIS is why people are hesitant to tune into shows like The Nine in the first place. Why would people want to invest time in a show that you have to watch week in and week out when networks are so quick to pull them from the air? People have been burned in the past and aren’t going to take the risk with these new layered-paced-dramas if the networks continue to pull them mid-season.
Forgive me for bitching about the problem without offering up a solution. Again, it’s a circle argument. People aren’t going to watch a show if they think the networks are going to pull it, and networks are going to pull a show if people aren’t watching. But I think the networks (and I mean all the networks) need to take a step back and figure out to approach these relatively new kind of dramas. This is the same problem that plagued Alias and continues to plague Lost today (although lucky for Lost fans, the ratings are good).
Maybe the answer lies within the recent trend of September/January premieres. Maybe more complicated dramas have their time split with other similar type shows (i.e., Lost and Day Break). Yes, the viewers get less episodes, but they also aren’t faced with a ridiculous amount of reruns throughout the season. The networks would benefit too, as it is less of a risk to commit to 10-12 episodes rather than a traditional full season of 22. Just a thought.
Anyway, here’s to hoping the networks figure out their issues before viewers get too gun shy to even watch new dramas. And let’s too hope that The Nine makes it way back on to the schedule, because I really, really want to know how this whole hostage thing plays out.
P.S. In case The Nine is over for good, can someone start to look for another show for Scott Wolf? How about Grey’s Anatomy? Scott played a doctor or Everwood and a doctor on The Nine. He will fit right in there. He could play McBailey! Oh no that won’t work. How about McDimples? Yup, done and done. McDimples it is.
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I AM angry, and for all the reasons you mentioned! I have been watching this show from the beginning, and this is how the network shows gratitude for ratings? What happened in the bank to pull Scott Wolf and his girlfriend apart? What will become of everyone? Are Tim Daly and Kim Raver ever going to get it on? I am PISSED now!
I am tired of reading about networks whine about how “people only want to watch reality TV” and crappy shows and blah blah blah…because you’re right: just because you start watching a show like “The Nine,” that’s no guarantee that you’ll actually get to see a resolution to it.
Thanks a lot, ABC. Best of luck to you and whatever new reality crap will eventually fill the timeslot vacated by “The Nine.” You win!
The show was dragging and the “What happened to the doctors to cause them to split” was so contrived…it was almost like ‘yeah, ok, whatever’. I really don’t care what happened to them, as you can see they all look to be doing fine afterwards. Not to mention its been almost 2 months after. I’ve wasted 7 hours of my life.
Alright, so instead of watching a real show, ABC is treating us to a frikkin’ newsmagazine? This is ridiculous. I really thought ABC was starting to understand that smart networks stay at the top.
Whaaaaa? I loved The Nine??!! This is egregious 🙂 !! I guess I don’t really follow ratings much, man, I had no idea that it wasn’t doing well. What a total bummer. These days the networks are friggin with my shows big time. I’m afraid to tune in for all kinds of reasons. It safer to wait and buy a season on DVD now, how sad.
The problem is The Nine was all about flashbacks, and flashbacks are the main reason a lot of people are sick of Lost. It’s like they copied the least popular aspect of Lost and expected a hit.
As much as I enjoy “The Nine”, I do see your point about it’s copycatting of LOST. That’s one of my issues with new programming – it’s like they see what works one season, and then the next season there are 456 copies. Nothing is new under the sun, I get that, but at least change it up a bit and be unique.
What?? Noooooooo. I must have had my head in the sand – I had no idea the ratings were bad. Dammit. I’m with you GMMR, it’s getting harder and harder to invest in new shows.
So glad I stopped watching after the 2nd or 3rd episode. This is why I am so hesitant to start watching new shows. I am all for McDimples. He couls be a heart surgeon that takes Burke’s place when he replaces the chief.
Figures…just when it finally started ti get good and we got some answers. Although I admit the reason why the doctor and his social work girlfriend broke up was a bit lame. She should totally hook up withe the hot bank robber!
They did this with Reunion. You got all invested in the mystery and then they yank the show and you never find out what actually happened. Robbery!!
I watched the pilot, decided it was decent but not especially exciting, and didn’t devote any more of my time to it. I already watch Lost, 24, and Prison Break and I only have so much time to devote to TV. Remember: whenever you watch a full season of one of these shows, you give up one day of your life (assuming 24 hour-long episodes). I just think there is only room for so many of them on TV.
Your argument is a good one GMMR. It is why I’ve checked out of TV watching. I now focus on one show regularly, others when it fits. Why invest the time when so many good ones get canceled. (Or not-so-good, but entertaining – my wife and I got sucked into Smith, only to be thwarted by the execs) Only Dunder-Mifflin gets me to my couch each week. It has since Day 1. Thankfully, someone (lots of someones, like you!) fought for it and They listened. Thanks for the blog Kath.
This sucks! Now I don’t know whether I should bother watching the episodes I have Tivo’d but haven’t seen yet. I think the problem with the show was that the flashbacks to the bank robbery were so riveting, that the modern day stuff with the characters, which took up most of the episodes, paled in comparison. Even though the characters were interesting and the performances were strong, all we wanted to know was what happened in those 52 hours. And that is hard to sustain. Oh well…I have too much tv to catch up on anyway! But I am still sad, because I liked this show a lot.
I like the McDimples idea. Though, the fact that Scott Wolf has now been on two critically acclaimed shows dumped this year worries me. I hope he’s not the new Eric Balfour (though at least Scott Wolf actually looks good AND has talent).
This is a crime!
I hate it when they do this. This show had potential to move forward and get past the flashback stage and move into a genuine drama where they can add new characters and story lines etc – like this week when we got a glimpse of Ex-Wife and her story.
Well – to quote one of my favorite lines, and a line they also used in last weeks episode:
“That Happened.”