The Nine pulled from ABC schedule

Hey Tubers, I’m back from a Thanksgiving holiday vacation to the Big Apple, and what I’m most thankful for this year is, my life, after some high-speed crazy cab rides that quickly made me understand the appeal of the New York City subway system. While I was away, plenty of TV scoop broke, so let’s get to it.

Fans of The Nine, brace yourselves. We won’t find out what happened inside that bank anytime soon. ABC has pulled The Nine from its schedule, saying it will return “sometime later this season.” However, the network offered no specifics on when that might be. I’m guessing sometime close to never. (Pausing for your collective screams of disgust here.)

The Nine averaged 8.6 million viewers last week, losing more than half of the 17.7 million viewers, who watched the show’s lead-in Lost. This week, 20/20 will take its Wednesday timeslot, and Primetime will air in its spot the following week. ABC made the announcement Saturday, during the holiday weekend, when most TV critics were on holiday, (or risking their lives in a cab to make it from the Waldorf Astoria to The Guggenheim.)

For those of you who warned me about falling for another serial drama that could suffer the same fate as my beloved Invasion and Reunion, I guess I should have listened. But, it was Tim Daly, people. I’d pretty much watch him read the phone book. Oh, and Scott Wolf and Kim Raver added extra incentive to watch. Plus, the show was actually good.

Here’s my advice/plea to ABC: Every show can’t be a ratings homerun, with 20 million viewers watching. So, why not keep high-quality shows with meager ratings, and be the network that chooses high standards over high ratings? I know the answer already: money. Ratings equal bank. But wouldn’t it be nice if ratings didn't trump quality? It’s the theory they're using over at Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip. Wait. Bad example.

ABC has done no wrong in my book this year, until now. They had the best fall schedule of any network, filling it with quirky shows like Ugly Betty and Men in Trees and dramas like The Nine. Maybe they’ll surprise us and bring back The Nine, but I wouldn’t count on it. Apparently, 8.6 million people aren't enough to ABC to quantify caring about what happened in the bank.

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