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Happy New Year! Our new TV season is already half way through and a few of the good shows have already been canceled. That’s not a surprise since these shows just don’t get the proper time to prove themselves. Sometimes I have to wonder how many series

like Cheers, All in the Family, Hillstreet Blues, Cagney and Lacey or The Fugitive are we being deprived of watching because the networks haven’t the patience to let shows develop and pick up an audience. Money, money and ratings are the key and we don’t as viewers really matter, especially if we’re not in the right demographics.

Some of the new shows I picked as possible hits did manage to survive but a few I liked and thought had a good chance are gone. The ABC series The Nine is one of the shows I fell in love with and thought it had an excellent chance of being a hit. The show was put on hiatus in November and there is still no word when it will return. That’s not a good sign and usually means it will be gone. ABC did say they will show the remaining six episodes and see how it does in a different time slot. These days a viewer is seriously afraid to get involved in good shows because they just don’t know if the networks will give them a chance to survive.

The Nine has a story with a real twist about nine people who are caught in a bank robbery gone wrong and spend fifty-two hours in a hostage standoff that leaves more than one person dead. Their lives will never be the same and they all end up with a common bond of what happens inside the bank and will be forever affected and intertwined.

The acting in The Nine was superb. The show starred Tim Daly, Scott Wolf, Chris Mcbride, Kim Raver just to name a few. If ABC does cancel the show I hope they let the producers give it a proper ending.

For those of you who watch The Nine and want to see the show return write a nice letter to ABC Entertainment President Stephen Mcpherson, 2040 Avenue of the Stars, Century City, CA 90067. Don’t be nasty when writing just let them know you’re up set with them canceling the show. Don’t e-mail them because they really don’t listen to that approach. A nice letter does wonders and they feel the viewers are really committed if they take time out of their busy lives to sit down and write.      

It’s too late to save another show I liked because it’s already gone. The CW’s Runaway that aired on Mondays lasted only a few shows. That’s how much I know, I really liked this series. It reminded me of The Fugitive. .

Friday Night Lights is a show I found to be very entertaining and it was not a disappointment. Although I felt that NBC was trying hard to lose the viewers by changing its night from Tuesday at 7:00-8:00 p.m., CST to Wednesday at 7:00-8:00 p.m., CST. Changing nights is usually a good sign the network is trying to kill a show off. Fortunately the viewers were able to follow the change and it’s doing great in it new time slot. Many of my readers thought the show would have been more appropriate on Friday night because of the name of the show. The only problem with that is Fridays is not a could viewing night especially for the younger male audience that the networks live and die for.

Friday Nights Lights was inspired from the hit feature film and is a bout a high school football coach (Kyle Chandler) and a small Texas community obsessed with winning. This is a show a family can sit down and watch together.

Another series that ABC moved to another night was Men in Trees which reminds me a little of Northern Exposure and is a delight and fun to watch. They moved it from Friday night at 8:00-9:00 p.m., CST to Thursday at 9:00-10:00 p.m., CST. In this case that was a wise and good move. The show would have died in its Friday night slot and moving it to 9:00 p.m. was excellent because of its adult content.

Other shows that have been a success this new season that I also picked as possible hits are ABC’s Ugly Betty (Thursday, 7:00-8:00 p.m.,CST), Brothers and Sisters (Sunday, 9:00-10:00 p.m., CST) and Heroes (Monday, 8:00-9:00 p.m., CST). All these shows are doing well in the ratings so they should at least be around to the end of the season.

CAGNEY AND LACEY NEWS

Cagney and Lacey fans I received an e-mail from Barney Rosenzweig, executive producer of the series, this week. His book Cagney & Lacey…and Me should be released and be available for sale in April.

FOX is planning a major announcement of the C&L DVD release in a couple of weeks and they will clarify the release date which Barney believes will be the first week of May. Since I did the interview with Sharon Gless for my column many of my readers have inquired about the possibility of a C&L DVD. Also Sharon Gless, Tyne Daly, Barney, and Carole Smith, Barney’s assistant will be launching a new web site, cagneyandlacey.com. It will serve to update their fans on the latest news of the book, DVDs, appearances by the women, etc.

Sharon and Barney have been big supporters of Viewers Voice, if it hadn’t been for them I’m not sure we’d be in existence today.

Sharon Gless recently has done a six-part action-packed thriller TV series for the BBC UK Network. She plays Lynne Warner the American Secretary of Defense. The series will air in February on BBC America. When the time and date becomes available I will put it up on the Viewers Voice web site (viewersvoice.org).