Rewinding the Nine

I guess one interesting consequence of streaming TV shows online is that the networks can burn off remaining unaired episodes of cancelled series. NBC did it for Kidnapped, and ABC decided to do it for The Nine. (They actually tried to air them on actual TV but then poor ratings caused it be yanked yet again, this time to be released on iTunes and ABC.com only.)

Unlike Kidnapped which had barely started going when it got cancelled, the Nine had 7 episodes air, and it had progressed quite a bit and I'd really really liked it. I thought the stories were all intriguing, I liked how the relationships between the hostages had been evolving, I liked the pace at which they were revealing what happened at the bank. The last 6 episodes of the original 13-episode order continued all that brilliantly, with things getting even more and more interesting, but of course tons of questions were left unanswered, questions that will never be answered. Which sucks!

A quick refresher: the show was based on the premise of a 52-hour hostage situation at a bank. There were nine hostages, a bank security guard, and the two robbers, brothers Randall and Lucas. This is Randall's "third strike" and he'll be going to prison no matter what happens, but Lucas is much more conflicted, and several of the hostages find him sympathetic. The security guard and one of the hostages, Eva, are killed during the crisis. The remaining hostages have formed a sort of strange bond, and in the weeks after their release their stories all intertwine as they deal with police investigations, media coverage, and rebuilding their lives.

Two of the hostages, Jeremy and Lizzie, were a couple before the hostage crisis, but have broken up despite the fact that Lizzie revealed that she was pregnant afterwards. Jeremy is now involved with Franny, whose sister Eva was the hostage killed. Kathryn, a prosecutor, finds herself running for District Attorney with the hostage crisis as a major selling point of her campaign. Nick, the police detective, is doing his own investigations into the crisis, which led to him getting closer to Kathryn as their used their respective connections (And they kissed in the last episode! Squee-worthy moment of the series, haha.) Egan, who entered the bank that day intending to kill himself, has completely turned his life upside down, getting a divorce, changing careers (he volunteers to work on Kathryn's campaign), and just changing his attitude in general. And Malcolm, the bank manager, whose daughter Felicia was also a hostage, proves to be the most surprising of all. All the way through he's been honest and religious family man, it was revealed in the last episode that he had helped plan the robbery as a way to cover up money that he himself had stolen from the bank.

So...sigh. Another good show with no closure. Matt Mitovich over at TVGuide has a thread up for questions that he may be able to get answers to. So I'll definitely be watching that space.

I do wonder though, how had they been planning on making this a multi-season series I would have liked a full season to reveal everything but any more than that and it just would have been another Lost-type situation. Not that it makes any difference now...

Shows I've been neglecting to write about...

I think that I generally find it easier to criticize rather than praise, so there have been a bunch of shows that I've really been enjoying this season but haven't been writing about. Here are a couple of them:

Friday Night Lights - Who would have guessed that my favorite new show of the season would be about football? I haven't even been tuning out during the game sequences like I predicted. Maybe it's because I care about the players? In any case, I've really been loving nearly everything about this show. It somehow has the ability to get me choked up pretty much every week because it's just so dang heartfelt! The cast is made up of mostly newcomers but they're doing an awesome job. Kyle Chandler is doing his best work as Coach Taylor and I love his intensity on the field versus his dynamic with his family. I love how they're handling Jason Street's rehab storyline, although Lyla pretty much annoys the heck out of me. I seem to like Tyra, even though I'm usually not a fan of the bad girl. Tim and Smash are alternately endearing and aggravating but always true to life. And um, I totally have a crush on Matt Saracen. I realize this is pretty pathetic since I'm so far done with high school but at least the actor who plays him is older than me. And because no high school show can ever survive without some good ships to root for, consider me officially on the Matt/Julie ship. Tami should be grateful that at least it's the nicest guy on the team (and probably the whole school, he's so damn adorable) who's going after her daughter. Let's hope he keeps hanging out with Landry (who's hilarious) instead of taking too much advice from his teammates.

How I Met Your Mother - This show has really stepped it up a notch this season. Every episode has so many moments of brilliance, it's incredible. I think the change has been that they've stopped focusing on Ted and his search for love. I like Ted, but his dreamy romantic pinings were getting super boring. Now that he and Robin are together and somewhat stable (for now) the writers seem to be able to stretch their creativity a lot more. Barney's been in top form, and Marshall's been allowed to shine a lot more also. And Robin's teen pop star past was just awesome. That song was stuck in my head for days.

Bones - I watched this only casually up until this season but lately I've been really loving it. It balances the seriousness of the crimes with the quirkiness of its characters extremely well, and I guess it's just the nerd in me that likes seeing extremely smart people doing what they're good at. I love the dynamic between Brennan and Booth, and Hodgins and Angela are super cute.

Ugly Betty - Definitely the feel-good show of the year. It's shamelessly campy and sappy and clever all the same time and I love it. The stab at TomKat (baby Chutney??) in last week's episode had me cracking up like no other. Every character is super funny but they've taken time to make them all sympathetic too (except maybe Walter, can we get rid of him?). I still don't really care too much about the whole Fay Summers thing but everything with Betty's family is wonderful, Amanda and Mark and Justin are hilarious, Daniel's really endearing, and even Wilhemina has her moments. And Christopher Gorham's Henry has been upgraded to recurring!

The Nine - I'd actually been enjoying this show quite a bit, but ABC has shelved it and it probably won't be returning to the schedule. It's kind of bummer because things had just started getting interesting. The last aired episode gave a lot more background info on the characters and I really want to see where things go. Oddly enough I'm not really as interested in what happened at the bank. But I can see why the show didn't gain a terribly big audience. Kind of a shame.