The Nine is back, baby! Sure, it's only ABC burning off the remaining six episodes. And sure, they didn't film the last one as a finale, so we probably won't come out of it knowing what went on in the bank. But still! This is what I've been begging for since it initially got cancelled! According to TV Squad, the show will air in its original 10 PM Wednesday timeslot, beginning August 1st.
As regular readers will know, The Nine was one of the saddest casualties of the Fall '06 season for me. It was about hostages in a botched bank robbery, and focused both on their lives after the robbery and what happened during the robbery. It was great. Good acting, good writing, interesting plot...it just happened to fall victim to the serial drama craze that plagued this past television season. So sad.
At any rate, it's back temporarily, so can I get a hells yeah?
Friday, July 06, 2007
Nine-ies Never Say Die
Monday, November 27, 2006
The Nine: Ouch, ABC. Ouch.
Well, nuts. ABC is pulling The Nine from its schedule starting this week. I saw it coming from the ratings, but it still smarts. I guess this is what I get for getting hooked on a serial drama with low ratings. I've learned my lesson, though. Never again. NEVER AGAIN!
And now I'm getting all bitter at America. What's so great about Howie Mandel and babes with briefcases that zillions of people will watch them, but only 8.6 million will watch a smart, introspective, well-acted show, with fleshed-out characters that actually grow and develop as the show goes on? Now I'll never know what happened in that bank! Oh, I'm sorry, of course I will, since ABC says The Nine will come back later this season. Yeah, I'll believe that when I see it. Prove me wrong, ABC!
Thursday, November 02, 2006
The Nine: A Guide for Non-Watchers (Start Watching!)
Sigh. The Nine is still struggling with low ratings. Not cool, America. For those of you who aren't watching and feel like you're too behind to start, you can watch full episodes here at ABC.com or read extremely thorough recaps here at Television Without Pity. Alternately, here's a semi-quick rundown of who's who and what's been happening.
The premise is that nine (mostly) strangers were caught in a bank robbery gone bad, and kept hostage for two days. The show takes place in LA, and flashes back and fourth between current time and the bank robbery, in which a security guard was killed. The two robbers are Randall, a seriously bad guy who seems to have done most of the shooting and was shot by SWAT at the end of the hostage situation, and his brother Lucas, who actually seems to have a good relationship with most of the hostages and apparently tried to keep Randall in line. Lucas donated part of his liver to Randall two weeks ago at the request of hostages who wanted to face Randall in court, but they are not at all friendly with each other.
In the photo, from the left, we have:
Eva, a teller at the bank. A single mother (the dad's in prison) with a young son, she had an ongoing flirtation with Nick, and was shot somehow during the course of the hostage situation. She died during surgery soon after. Last night we found out that her ex and Randall were in prison together. However, it seems that Eva was not involved in the robbery, despite Kathryn and Nick's brief suspicions.
Franny, Eva's sister and another teller at the bank. She has a bit of a drinking problem, slept with Jeremy after Eva's funeral, and is struggling to take care of Eva's son. Unable psychologically to return to the bank, she now waitresses at a nightclub. She's angry with Kathryn and Nick for suspecting Eva.
Jeremy: A surgeon at the local hospital. He was dating Lizzie, who is (he recently learned) pregnant with his child, but did or said something during the hostage situation that caused her to end the relationship. He tried to poison Randall (who was at Jeremy's hospital due to the gunshot wounds he incurred when SWAT shot him), whose life was only saved when Lucas agreed to donate part of his liver.
Lizzie: A social worker at the hospital. Pregnant with Jeremy's child. Organized, with Egan, the hostages' weekly dinners, which help to keep them in contact. She's very afraid of Randall, but wants to face him for closure, and feels connected to her fellow hostages.
Nick: A divorced cop with a gambling problem. Wanted to go up against the police and FBI for their botching of the hostage situation, even in the face of blackmail, but backed down once they threatened his fellow hostages. Sometimes works with Kathryn, who is grateful to him for getting her mother released from the hostage situation. Was going to date Eva, before she died.
Kathryn: An assistant DA who is in a serious relationship with the actual DA. She's in a tough position with her boyfriend handling the robbers' prosecution, especially since she and the other hostages are apparently somewhat friendly with Lucas, one of the robbers. Nick had a plan with her to end the hostage situation, but the FBI supposedly screwed it up.
Egan: Tackled Randall to the ground as he was about to shoot at the SWAT team, and thus became a minor celebrity and got a new lease on life (he was going to kill himself before being taken hostage). This new lease led to getting fired from his job for trying to help people instead of the bottom line, and leaving his wife because he thought they were unhappy. He's crashing with Nick for now.
Malcolm: The bank manager. His wife is pressuring him to focus on his family more, but last night he went up against "corporate" to try and get them to offer more money to the dead security guard's widow in her lawsuit settlement by basically threatening to blackmail the bank with emails he had sent in the past requesting security upgrades which could have prevented the robbery.
Felicia: Malcolm's teenage daughter. She doesn't remember most of the traumatic hostage situation, although she feels connected to Lucas because she vaguely remembers he saved her from Randall. She hid during the beginning of the robbery, and got her cell phone to Lizzie, who called the police (which basically caused the standoff).
The man on the far right is Lucas. Right now in the current plotline, the case is about to go to trial. In the bank flashback, the police arrived during Randall and Lucas's getaway, forcing the robbers back into the bank with the hostages. We still don't know exactly what happened in the bank.
Let me know if you have any questions or if I missed anything (I'm sure I did), and for the love of God, start watching! Wednesdays at ten on ABC (after Lost). No excuses!
Friday, October 27, 2006
Good News for The Nine and Studio 60
Yay! The Nine and Studio 60 have both received additional script orders (along with Men in Trees, ugh, and Help Me Help You, which I forget to watch every damn week). This is by no means a sign of a full-season pickup, but it probably means they aren't gonna get put on hiatus during sweeps never to be seen again, at least! Way to go, NBC and ABC!
In other news, Mitchell Hurwitz is developing the U.S. version of a British comedy about Parliament called The Thick of It. I'm torn between joy that his brilliance will be back on TV, and sorrow that it won't be with Arrested Development.
[via TV Tattle]
Friday, October 13, 2006
The Nine: Nooooooo!
I have no sense of self-preservation. None. I missed The Nine the first time around since it's on during Project Runway and my VCR was on the blink, but I heard so many good things that I decided to get caught up this week (and it doesn't hurt that Tim Daly is one of "The Nine," since he's great in whatever he's in). So I dutifully recorded the second episode while I watched Project Runway, and watched it and the pilot (yay, online streaming) yesterday. And therein lay my mistake.
Had I been smart, I would have checked up on The Nine's ratings before watching the episodes. Then, I would have learned that it lost more than half of its lead-in audience from Lost this week, garnering an anemic 5.7/9, which is especially bad considering it's following an extremely popular show which probably has the same type of target audience.
Alas, I didn't check the ratings before watching, and now I'm hooked. I like the clever "What happened during the bank robbery?" concept, the constant flashbacks and flashforwards which keep me off-balance, the steady character development, the great cast (with many familiar faces), and the unexpected twists. Who would have thought that the renegade cop with a troubled past would actually take the top brass up on their offer to promote him in exchange for keeping his mouth shut? I love a show that keeps me guessing. I especially love John Billingsley's character, Egan Foote, which is surprising, since people with a new lease on life tend to be annoying.
Let's take stock: I love The Nine. ABC is totally going to cancel The Nine. Tim Daly is cursed (just thought I'd throw that in there). Dammit.
So...watch, people, WATCH!
