Think of the time we’ll save. The list of this season’s fallen serials is growing: CW’s “Runaway,” CBS’s “Smith” and now NBC’s “Kidnapped” are history.
Another freshman series, holding on but deserving increased attention, is ABC’s “The Nine,” a consistently taut drama about the emotional aftermath of a bank robbery gone wrong. I’d hate for it to join the parade of the defunct.
There’s nothing cute or sudsy about “The Nine,” which makes it a tough sell.
Week to week, the hour offers somber, incisive observations about the effects of trauma and free-floating anxiety. This isn’t a paranormal scarefest like “Lost” or a soap-operatic family saga like “Brothers & Sisters.” “The Nine” is a frighteningly relevant post-9/11 social commentary. But don’t let that stop you – it’s also full of lust.
This week, at 9 p.m. Wednesday on KMGH-Channel 7, in an episode titled “Take Me Instead,” the story flashes back and forth between “Hour 2” in the bank and one month later.
Relationships are strained and in flux. The former hostages, bonded after their 52-hour ordeal, are trying to move on while being psychically scarred and forever attached to their shared horror.
The easy standout is John Billingsley as Egan Foote, a lifelong loser reborn as a gusto-grabbing winner as a result of his experience. More subtle but equally admirable performances emerge from “24’s” Kim Raver as attorney Kathryn Hale, who is ambivalent about her longtime lover, and Timothy Daly as Nick Cavanaugh, a cop with a gambling habit who shared key moments with Kathryn inside the bank.
The out-of-order time sequencing – flashing back, inching forward – helps viewers knit the complex piece into a nicely textured whole. While it may feel halting at first, it delivers literary satisfactions.
Among the tentative relationships forged during and after the aborted robbery is one involving Lucas Dalton (Owain Yeoman), the more sensitive robber/hostage taker, and Lizzie Miller (Jessica Collins), a nurse pregnant with a child by Dr. Jeremy Kates (Scott Wolf). This is romance with a twist, Stockholm syndrome-like.
“What happens when someone’s pointing a gun at you is not who you are,” the repentant perpetrator, Lucas, tells Lizzie. In coming weeks, we’ll no doubt learn that the opposite is true, too, for certain of the characters.
“The Nine” deserves to hold more of the audience tuning in for “Lost.”
Speaking of which, while the initial season of “The Nine” unfolds in a tricky but circumscribed way, “Lost” struggles in its third season, meandering far afield.
How lost is it? So lost that “Criminal Minds,” the lame Mandy Patinkin drama, drew 1 million more viewers than “Lost” Wednesday when Mr. Eko (Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje) was fatally bounced around by the mysterious black smoke monster.
The straying plot, additional characters and whole new island have made this old favorite a challenge. I’m still interested enough to do outside reading, however. The best theory I’ve seen is from Entertainment Weekly’s online site, specifically “The Redemption of Television Theory – The Secret Purpose of The Dharma Initiative and The Allegory of The Pearl Station.” (Visit ew.com and use the search engine.)
In short, the theory posits, it was the goal of the Dharma folks to alter the world’s energy field to switch the human impulse for destruction to an impulse for enlightenment. So flip that switch already!
If you follow this line of reasoning, the goal of “Lost” is to use the hypnotic power of television to make positive change in the world. The idea is to have such a profound effect on the way millions of people think, that it leads to, well, redemption.
That’s mighty pretentious, in a season of ratings decline and endless mumbo jumbo. But I like it.
Only a cockeyed optimist (or one who makes a living watching television) would believe it’s possible to attain enlightenment by watching a TV serial. But “Lost” still inspires us to think, and for that we’re grateful. Here’s hoping a through-line is found soon.
TV critic Joanne Ostrow can be reached at 303-954-1830 or jostrow@denverpost.com.
