TVSquad

Well, you beat me to it. I was almost going to write another "I was wrong about" posts, to apologize to folks for so highly recommending this show, and every week I get more disappointed and saddened at what the show has (or should I say, has not) become (with the exception of last week, which was a better step in the right direction).

This show was originally meant to be a movie, but the creator(s) decided it'd be better suited as a TV show. Obviously there's an endgame in mind, and I at least hope it's revealed if this show does get tossed in the dumper.

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I watched the premiere and the second show; then, I let 2 more pile up on my TiVo. I tried to come up with one storyline, one character, that I really wanted to see more about. I couldn't. I deleted the episodes unseen and deleted my season pass. There are too many shows where I actually WANT to see the next episode to waste time on "The Nine".

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Amen. Great point. They were in the bank for only 53 hrs. Enough time to set us up - and then fill us up for a season. However, the way they are dragging this out already, it is clear that they want to drag this out for multiple seasons. (Heck, the trial itself could spread 2 seasons with little 1 or 2 minute snippets of the "53" hours every week....) Sorry -- the plot is good (for an "extended" mini-series -- but it does not have legs for 4 or 5 seasons. As the review states above, either put up or get out -- no matter how good the cast and acting, the plotline is begging to be played out in hour by hour chunks for a season and then concluded.

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Exactly as you I praised the pilot (on tv.com) and now quickly loose interest in the show. I, too, haven't seen the last episode yet and although it's ready to watch I already prefered like 10 other shows... I even favored "American Dad" and "The Amazing Race" :)
Too bad... it joins the fate of many other shows I gave up to watch...

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I still enjoy the show - however I do hope that the writers start focusing more on the robbery than what is currently going on. Save that stuff for future seasons. Once we are hooked on the characters and know the entire back story then we will want to care about what is going on now.

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I could flip the question around and ask, "How the hell does a show like this make it past the initial pilot ep?"

I mean, I don't mind all the pre-season hype -- it's almost what to expect on the cover of all the entertainment magazines during the long stretch of summer when the tentpole movies have faded, and everyone's still on vacation. Pre-season hype is a tradition, but with The Nine, it was painfully obvious within the first ten minutes of the first show and I would have turned it off if my spouse didn't want to watch it all the way through.

First off, the concept of any story with that many main characters where there obviously wasn't much of a story should have damned this thing from the getgo. The first ep was an intro, we get it, but while I'm sure this show was probably planned way before "Inside Man" (cough, cough), the opening interviews had me scratching my head. If there was some foreshadowing of an exciting event, I sure as hell didn't notice. What, we're supposed to be caring for these folks? WHY? If these characters were fresh off of a plane crash or a train wreck, we'd feel exactly the same thing. At BEST we'd feel what the characters are feeling -- empty. NOT the way to start a drama series.

Is there somewhere where I as a member of the TV audience can go and give the TV executives a virtual SLAP! and demand, "What the hell were you thinking? Quit wasting my time!"

I realize that some shows take time. Seinfeld, ST:TNG and several other shows were just plain awful until much later when the character portrayals just started clicking.

But a show with a mystery at the heart had better do some decent foreshadowing with some payoffs near the close of the show if there's ANY hope of keeping the audience's interest.

With The NINE, this would have been obvious just reading the first few scripts. This is why the folks that approved this must have been hoping that the cast was going to carry the day. I have enjoyed the talents of a few of the actors cast on The NINE in their previous roles, but it just plain hurts to see what stinker they got contracted into.

I realize I'm no longer young enough to be considered in the demographic sought after by the advertisers, and as such don't matter all that much. But my taste in TV watching has NEVER changed. With some shows, it's hard to tell. (When _did_ Prison Break get uninteresting enough?) Others I don't like, but understand full well why others do(CSI:Miami). But some shows, it's real obvious. The decline of The Nine started about five minutes into the first episode. With Standoff, it was about ten minutes into the second ep.

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My first thought after watching the pilot was how the hell are they going to carry that on for more than one year? Apparently, they are having a tough time even reaching the one year mark. It would have made a great mini-series, or a great one year only project, assuming the one year deadline would prompt them to move faster toward the conclusion. At this point, I only watch when I'm bored and I don't even record it.

I'm not sure what it is about programs, but I am having a difficult time remaining true to them, and that is unlike me. I never missed an episode of Buffy, Six Feet Under, Sex & The City, It's Always Sunny, the short-lived and fabulous Sons & Daughters, Invasion and a few others. But this year even last year's must see - Grey's Anatomy - leaves me cold. I record, and eventually watch, but I am not looking forward to it any longer.

Anyone else feeling this way?

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I lost interest after the first episode. My problem with the show is that we are looking back at what happened. For me that removed any tension, and the reason to watch. We knew who died and how the stand off ended. Sure, we knew one of them was traumatized, and Scott Wolf did something bad, but....yawnnnnnn.

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I still like it, but it is kind of an odd format. You can tell they are *far* more interested in the aftermath than they are about the 52 hours. Most of us would have rather preferred a show about the 52 hours, I suspect. Doling it out in 5 minutes per show, at that rate the first season wouldn't get you through the first hour. That's kind of dumb.

The idea probably would have worked better as a miniseries at the longest.

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Um. What exactly is wrong with this show? Episode One, introduce characters. Episode 2 Cop coverup, Episode 3 Egan Empowerment, Episode 4-now Pretrial-Doctor-Pregnant-Black Girl Arc, and the dissolution of the Nine.

It's a slice of life show. Dont you guys watch anime?

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i lost interest quickly too. loved the pilot, watched the next ep, and the rest stayed on my tivo until last week, when i deleted them along with the past few episodes of jericho...
if either end up going all out and becoming one of the best shows on TV, there's always netflix.
remaining new shows i'm still watching, in order of preference:
Heroes
Dexter
30 Rock
Studio 60
Justice (I need me some cheese...)

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jennifer, that's exactly what I was going to say. this show could've been great as a "feature event". instead, abc chose to try and drag it out, a la lost.

what ever happened to the miniseries, anyway? there used to be at least one every sweeps week, guaranteed.

the nine would've worked so much better in a limited run... there just isn't enough to the plot or characters to draw out more than 4 or 5 hours' worth of material.

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I loved the first episode. I gave up after second episode.

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I watched the first few but dropped it as well....

For me, the new ones I'm still watching are Studio 60, Friday Night Lights, and Shark.

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I agree completely with the article. For me, "The Nine" is turning into "Six Degrees"; nothing more than a pointless soap about people's personal problems and random interactions. The story needs to get into those 52 hours, and fast. I'd rather see it kick ass for a single season, or even 13 episodes, wrap up the story and go away than flounder like it's doing now.

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I think it was promoted with too much emphasis on the robbery and "what happened in there". Everyone, including myself keeps looking for something "more" or for some kind of mystery or whatever. Then we wonder how in the world this can last a whole season.

As soon I shifted my focus away from that and just see it as an ongoing drama with a great cast - I actually look forward to watching.

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At least something happens on this show. The acting is strong, the characters are interesting. The plot advances.

I'm not flighty enough to drop it yet, I guess. I gave Lost three years before I finally decided it was well past it's shelf life, I can somehow muster up the courage to stick it out a season with The Nine.

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I guess I like me some soap opera - I like the aftermath stuff and finding out about how they interact. But my wife and I also like Six Degrees and those characters' stories. We decided that while we do like Victor Garber and the other actors in Justice, we don't like their characters and have the same trouble with actually watching those episodes. And I really, really like both main actors on Standoff, but find the plots too be way too similar. So I think it might come down to whether one watches primarily for plot or character.

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I, too, liked "The Nine" to begin with, but now I actually find "Six Degrees" more interesting, mostly the Campbell Scott story. Which amazes me, because I usually find him irritating as hell.

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I love The Nine now....At first I couldn't keep up with it...it seemed to broken-up. But now I see the show the way I think the writters want. I see the way the characters lives have all changed.The PTSS is obvious.Please watch your taped shows and give this show more time.It took Criminal Minds a long time to catch on.This show will not disapoint you if you just stick with it longer.

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