The premiere for the new ABC drama, "The Nine," is nearly everything its cheesy promo tagline suggests. Nine complete strangers inadvertently meet at the location of a bank robbery, which snowballs into a SWAT-storming, 52-hour hostage lock-down. With two hostages dead, the nine survivors "are now banded together like an unlikely family" as they try to deal with problems of the past, present and future.
The first moments of the program consist of an overly dramatic monologue delivered by one of the bank hostage survivors, which sets the tone of melodramatic dialogue and screen shots to follow.
All the "survivors" are soon introduced: the perfect doctor in a relationship with the compassionate hospital social worker, the busy bank manager and his deprived-of-attention teenage daughter, the depressed middle-aged man contemplating suicide, the detective with a gambling problem, the uptight female assistant district attorney, bank teller sisters and two stereotypical-looking gunmen waiting to commit a bank robbery.
Sharp and quick camera cuts conveniently place each of the nine stars in the same central location: Fidelity Republic Bank. No surprise there. The sequence tries to create the sense of human connectedness that was brilliantly achieved in last year's Oscar-winning film, "Crash."
Though reminiscent of its structure, "The Nine" fails to obtain the same emotional connection reached in Paul Haggis' film and, instead, becomes quite contrived. With improved and continued character development, perhaps a similar chemistry and genuine unity between characters may be attained.
When the SWAT team finally moves into the bank and retrieves the hostage victims, viewers discover that one gunshot victim is actually one of the bank teller's sisters, a woman named Eva (played by Lourdes Benedicto). Eva is rushed to the hospital, and the survivors come to the comfort of Eva's sister Franny (Camille Guaty). Despite the aid from doctor Jeremy Kates, played by Scott Wolf of "Party of Five" fame, Eva does not make it.
Eva's funeral soon follows, and the hostages are reunited. Though meaning to be a sad and tragic event, the funeral reception took on quite a different air. With lively Hispanic music playing in the background, the gathering seemed as if it were a backyard barbeque rather than a funeral reception.
Franny, previously shocked and saddened by her sister's death and recent burial, speedily heats up her relationship with Jeremy during the reception. Apparently Will Ferrell's funeral-crashing character in "Wedding Crashers" (2005) was correct in proclaiming grief "nature's most powerful aphrodisiac."
Days after the funeral, the survivors try to regain some normalcy in their lives. The bank manager, played by Chi McBride ("Boston Public"), returns to work, as do most of the other survivors. Nevertheless, it is apparent that the event continues to have a strong presence in their lives, as none of the survivors seem to act like themselves.
The survivors do manage to re-immerse themselves in their problem-filled lives. The bank manager's daughter, Felicia (Dana Davis), is clearly depressed and has an odd connection with one of the gunmen, as revealed in the puzzling final scene of the program when she visits him in jail. The social worker, Lizzie Miller (Jessica Collins), is unable to tell her philandering boyfriend Jeremy that she is pregnant with his child, and the assistant D.A. is told she has "lost her edge."
When viewers think for a moment that the survivors will lose touch in the coming weeks, time and distance don't prove to be factors in destroying the still-unexplained bond between the nine. A get-together is soon organized; apparently a 52-hour hostage tribulation warrants a reunion. Here, the tension between the triangle of Franny, Lizzie and Jeremy strongly resonates.
Inadvertently, Scott Wolf's character delivers the most realistic and honest line of the entire show, remarking to his girlfriend, "It was a moment - does it have to mean everything?" At this point, the impractical drama was growing tiresome and this line brought the show back to reality, at least for a second or two.
Why are the characters connected? What happened in those 52 hours that has some substance? Viewers are plagued by these questions ironically relating back to Wolf's inquiry.
Chi McBride told ABC, "I think there will be at least, hopefully, nine seasons; I think that's the metaphor for the season. Yes, yes, that's it." Though the first half of the show was a bit over-the-top, several interesting questions were posed towards the end of the program that, if explored in the right way, will make for a slightly more intriguing season.
But if the dusty plotline remains, and the forced bonds between characters continue, the most meaningful remnants of "The Nine" will be nine actors out of work.
