ABC says "Daybreak," "The Nine," "Six Degrees" will get closure

from zap2it

Killed ABC Serials Get One More Breath
'Day Break' headed to web, 'Nine,' 'Six Degrees' may air
By Rick Porter

'LOS ANGELES -- As much as any network, ABC bore the brunt of the
Great Serialized Show Turn-off of fall 2006.

Three of its new shows -- "Day Break," "The Nine" and "Six Degrees" --
were pulled after a few weeks on the air, leaving what fans there were
of each series on a limb. It looks, though, that ABC will offer some
form of closure for all three shows.

"Day Break," which was to have plugged the "Lost" hiatus hole between
November and February, got the hook after five weeks on the air. It
will, however, make its way to ABC.com by the end of February, ABC
Entertainment chief Stephen McPherson said Sunday during ABC's time at
the Television Critics Association press tour. (It was to have been up
by now, but he says some music-clearance issues have held things up.)

altec3220...

Well, at least he is not trying to gloss over the fact that ABC
announced the show would be on the air earlier.

As for "The Nine" and "Six Degrees," "those two actually may get back
on the air in [primetime]," he says. Neither show has a specific
return date, but McPherson says it's likely they'll be back on before
the season closes in May. "Six Degrees," in fact, remains in
production after going dark for a while to retool.

altec3220...

Still in production, eh? That is a disappointment. This was going
nowhere fast and although I kept watching hoping *something* would
happen, I would much prefer it being canned and The Nine getting an
extra episode or two. Like that would happen. And why bother
retooling when it is not getting picked up?

13-episode order this season. That means, in the case of "The Nine,"
that viewers won't get to see a complete resolution of the
bank-robbery story that fuels the show.

altec3220...

So does that mean The Nine has wrapped production on all thirteen
episodes?

"It wasn't designed to end at the end of the 13, so it doesn't answer
that specific question," McPherson says. It's possible, though, that
ABC would work with creators Hank and K.J. Steinberg to offer fans
some way (short of shooting more episodes) of finding out how the
story ends.

altec3220...

If that does happen, I doubt it would be given away for free. Whatever
ABC and the producers come up with will most likely be included on a
DVD release.

As for why the shows didn't click with audiences, McPherson can't
point to any one reason. He does believe, though, that there wasn't
anything wrong with the series creatively.

"The shows were incredibly well-produced. We loved the shows
creatively," he says. "I don't look back in kind of hindsight and say,
'Boy, we should have done this differently, that differently,' about
those shows. [It] may have just been timing."

Going forward, ABC is looking for a better balance between serialized
shows and those that don't necessarily demand an every-week commitment
from viewers.

"There's so much good drama on right now that you're asking a lot of
the audience," McPherson says. "On every night there's two or three
shows, not just on our network, but across the board. I think in the
mix as we go into development this year, we have more stuff that is
procedural or close-ended."