319 replies to this topic

[folktale]

Well, it seems like ABC is giving The Nine a good jumping off point with a Lost lead-in. Then again, Lost will be going off the air for months after just six episodes, won't it? At least, that's what I heard. The pilot really captured my interest, and I hope that the first few episodes will be enough to really cement an audience for this show.

[ray254]

Hello all, yes Lost is set for 6 episodes then a 12 week hiatus and back to finish the season with 17 straight episodes. The Nine season starts in October and 13 episodes have been ordered so far. I am also hoping for a few good episodes to build a fan base.

[Appreciate the caution, but programming news usually isn't a spoiler. Thanks for being careful, though! --Kim]

Edited by Kim, Sep 7, 2006 @ 12:08 PM.

[DB in London]

I think the lesson that ABC learned with Invasion is that it needs a series that jumps right into the action in order to not only get viewers to sample (they did for Invasion), but stick with. The execs did say that research showed that Lost was event television and thus they didn't have overly high expectations for its lead-out series, but... DH was also "event" tv but as the monster success of GA showed, viewers will stick around for two hours if you give them something good to watch.

[TheNorth]

Hello all, yes Lost is set for 6 episodes then a 12 week hiatus and back to finish the season with 17 straight episodes. The Nine season starts in October and 13 episodes have been ordered so far. I am also hoping for a few good episodes to build a fan base.

Given what happened with GA, like already mentioned, this doesn't worry me too much. I think that the 6 shows already slated to air will be more than enough to catch viewers' attention and cement the show into the schedule. I really do think it is one of those shows that grabs you from the beginning.

[Micha]

This one looks like a sleeper hit. I think it will stick around for a while.

[TheNorth]

I agree, Micha! I think that it's definitely going to get a solid audience following from the start, especially with its Lost lead-in and the fact that competitors from other networks don't seem to be that strong.

[ToddyEnglish]

I give The Nine 9 episodes before we say...buh Bye.

The serial craze in primetime television has gone overboard. This one doesn't have a prayer...

Of course, just because I said it, it will be a major hit. haha.

[TheNorth]

I think that you may be right about the latter part of your post, because it really does seem like this show is getting just too much positive press and buzz to go away in such little time. Plus, the timeslot is just going to help it even more! I mean you really can't go wrong in following Lost.

[Chipper730]

Given Kidnapped's failure, the only real competition is CSI:NY. Two very different shows. If the LOST lead out holds, we should be good.

[TheNorth]

Agreed. I wasn't expecting Kidnapped to be a solid competitor anyways. CSI :NY worries me somewhat, but it isn't even the strongest of the series so I think that The Nine will most probably win the timeslot easily.

[TheNorth]

I didn't notice that Six Degrees lost half those viewers. You have to think that people aren't going to stick around yet for a show that they are not yet familiar with. I liked the pilot, and I love this one...I think because the show is somewhat similar to Lost, spillover may be a little greater for this premiere than it was for Six Degrees.

[artisfashion]

I might be wrong, but wasn't Eyes in the exact same time slot? Lost lead-in, etc.? I remember thinking that Eyes was going to do great because of the critical response and it's time slot, and then it just... well. Didn't.

I hope it's not a Tim Daly thing.

[argrow]

Eyes was in the same time slot but its lead in was Alias, and not Lost.

[Tookie]

Also Eyes was not promoted at all by the network. In fact, there are rumors that Tim Daly angered the network by making a bunch of talk show appearances on his own. He kind of took the intiative to do what the network wasn't doing and he got crap for it.

The Nine, on the other hand, is being heavily promoted and is obviously backed by the network.

[Cress]

Eyes did okay the first night; it wasn't a total bomb. But because the ratings weren't spectacular, ABC dropped almost all promos for the show. They had absolutely no patience; Eyes had been introduced in the March, when most of the other midseason shows had been aired already. It needed time to find an audience. How was Eyes going to pick up any more viewers, if ABC had already given up so soon? They did similarly with Jake in Progress too.

I want to hope that ABC will behave better this time, but I'm reluctant to trust them.

[kieyra]

Without being spoilery, I'll just say that the pilot hooks you faster than any of the other fall pilots I've seen. I think they will probably start off really well out of the gate. Not sure how they're going to sustain the drama of the pilot when they move into other episodes, though.

[c3k]

I wonder if having episodes available on ABC.com has networks giving more time to shows because they can go to the webiste to try the episodes, and then ABC can just find the right timeslot for the show.

[TheNorth]

I think that what they are trying to do with the online availability is making it easier for viewers to sample a lot of the new shows that they wouldn't have before, if the new show was in a timeslot that conflicted with a previously viewed show. I am already loving the online eps, bc I had forgotten to tape a couple of the episodes that premiered last week, so I got to catch up.

I have to make sure NOT to do this with The Nine...I just know that people are going to be going crazy talking about it, and I would hate to be one of those that didn't see it!

[cdmc]

This can beat CSI: NY in the 18-49 demo.

[politikgirl]

This show has one of the best pilots of the fall pilots (I am not counting the wonderful Traveler [ABC] and The Black Donnellys [NBC] midseason pilots) and it is part of a great lineup... It's got the necessary ingredients for ratings success. Now let's just see if the audience responds as it should...

[Darn]

I think the show will have excellent viewer retention out of Lost. Better than Brothers and Sisters out of DH, Six Degree out of GA and Shark out of CSI. It just seems to fit so well.

[argrow]

From Mediaweek

Lost led into the debut of drama The Nine, which is likely to share dominance with CBS’ CSI: NY in the 10 p.m. hour once the fast nationals are released. As it stands, The Nine debuted with a second-place 9.1/15 in the overnights (but is expected to dominate among adults 18-49 courtesy of lead-in Lost). While that was an improvement of 17 percent in the overnights from year-ago occupant Invasion (Overnights: #3, 7.8/12 on Oct. 5, 2005), there are two other things to keep in mind about The Nine.

1) Retention out of Lost was 74 percent in the overnights (with similar results expected among total viewers and adults 18-49). That may not sound great, but comparatively it was an improvement over former occupant Invasion.

2) Erosion in the second half hour was 11 percent in the overnights (9.6/15 to 8.5/14), with similar results expected among total viewers and adults 18-49.

[Stinger97]

Though T9 seems to have had a hard time with the ratings, it also appears that Lost is down somewhat as well. Hopefully ABC takes this all into account when deciding if the show gets picked up. They haven't had a breakout hit this season, so perhaps anything that scores fairly well with the audience (and is such a critical darling) will be given a reprieve from cancellation.

Look at me, talking about cancellation after the first episode. What has television become!?

Edited by Stinger97, Oct 5, 2006 @ 12:05 PM.

[SanLynn]

Ok, so 3/4 of the viewing audience gave it a shot after Lost, that's not too bad. And it did give CSI:NY the normal time slot leader a run for it's money by the sound of it.

Seems to me if those numbers can hold in the upcoming weeks, this show has a decent chance. I hope they do, I thought it was outstanding.

[cdmc]

The viewer erosion from the first to the second half-hour was not as bad as that for Six Degrees.

[Beacon]

Zap2it has this:

"CSI: NY," 10.2/17, won the 10 p.m. hour for CBS. The premiere of "The Nine" on ABC lost a significant number of "Lost" viewers to finish at 7.8/13. NBC's "Kidnapped" took another hit, coming at 3.7/6.

Link

[SanLynn]

wow, so much for mediaweek's stance of the Nine sharing dominance with CSI, unless they're talking about 18-49 demos.

Fast Nationals look a lot worse than the metered markets. Makes me wonder what Invasion's fast nationals were last year. Hmm

[officersun524]

I sure hope this show sticks around; I'm so sick of the various permutations of CSI beating anything that features interesting characters, great acting and an engaging plotline.