Saunders: 'Nine' looks like a survivor

Published October 4, 2006 at midnight

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Neither the setting nor the opening nasty dialogue is new.

Hostage dramas, with gunmen brandishing their weapons, are as familiar as comedy laughtracks.

And if you researched a Dragnet script from the '50s, you'd probably find a page where a bad guy yells: "No talking, everybody down!"

Thus ABC's The Nine initially seems to provide a trite and true crime story line.

But The Nine is decidedly different in both theme and execution, at least based on tonight's premiere.

And if following episodes retain that style, The Nine will be, by far, the most resourceful and entertaining of the nine serialized dramas on the networks' fall schedules.

Nine individuals are among those inside the Fidelity Republic Bank in downtown Los Angeles when two hardened criminal brothers enter with their eyes blazing. And their guns soon follow suit.

A gut-wrenching 52-hour hostage situation occurs.

And when it's over, the nine survivors painfully realize their lives will be irrevocably changed and intertwined with their fellow survivors.

The excellent cast includes Tim Daly (Wings), as a chip-on-his-shoulder cop with gambling problems; Kim Raver (24), a workaholic assistant DA; Scott Wolf (Party of Five), an outstanding young surgeon; Chi McBride (Boston Public), the soft-spoken bank manager; and John Billingsley, a disconsolate drone of a man planning his own demise.

How the nine accept this brush with death and how it changes the course of their lives is just part of the intriguing scenario.

What went on in the bank during those 52 hours?

"We're not telling," says co-producer Hank Steinberg (Without a Trace), who created the series with his younger sister, K.J. (Judging Amy).

Even the actors are being kept in the dark as to what happened to their characters during those crisis hours.

They learn weekly from script to script.

In tonight's premiere, viewers will only get a glimpse of what occurred during the robbery.

Subsequent episodes will deal with the tense events inside the bank and also follow the nine as they move on with their lives - for good or for bad.

Hank Steinberg, outwardly confident of a full-season run, says the story lines "will unravel during the course of the full season."

How about a second season?

The Steinbergs claim they have plans mapped out for several years down the line.

"We feel this is a very rich, complex character drama that will continue to evolve," Hank Steinberg says.

"And the catalyzing events of the bank robbery will always ripple through their lives even though the robbery will recede in the background as the show evolves."

Daly feels scenes showing how a variety of people respond in crisis situations will drive the appeal of such a series.

"Everyone has moments of tragedy and trauma in their lives," Daly says.

"How a group of diverse people respond - both to the hostage situations and in their future lives - provides an intriguing premise."

Like Lost, the current king of serialized dramas that precedes it on the schedule, The Nine will feature several interlocking story lines that are not resolved in a single episode.

LACK OF CONFIDENCE: When the boss is disappointed in your work, the future is not bright.

NBC chief executive Bob Wright told an Internet entertainment service that Kidnapped, the network's struggling Wednesday night drama, "is a bit of a disappointment," adding "it's probably too difficult a concept."

A serial about the kidnapping of a teenage boy from New York's fashionable upper East Side, Kidnapped drew only 7.5 million in its debut two weeks ago. Last Wednesday, the figure dropped to 6.3 million.

Kidnapped's main opposition has been CBS' CSI: New York. And tonight ABC's The Nine joins the audience battle.

TV'S CASTING COUCH: Liza Minnelli has signed on for an episode of Law & Order: Criminal Intent, playing a former beauty queen who discovers that her young daughter has been murdered. After suspicion surrounds the mother, a pedophile-type confesses to the crime.

Story line sound familiar?

TODAY'S NOSTALGIA: On Oct.4, 1972, ABC premiered ABC's Afterschool Special, a high-quality monthly series of dramas designed for teenage viewers.

The Nine

• 9 p.m. today, Denver's 7

Dusty Saunders is the broadcasting critic. Saunders@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-954-5137

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