'Tis Lousy to Have Loved and Lost... : 2006-2007's TV Casualties Part 6

SIX DEGREES

Synopsis: The lives of six strangers in New York City come together through coincidences and interlocking story fragments.

What Worked: Yeah, sounds like a boring show, huh? Not necessarily. While this particular J.J. Abrams concoction didn't have superspies or nanobot black clouds, it had a few very good things going for it. Firstly, I have to commend Abrams for once again finding a perfect laid-back tone that was warm and inviting, an attitude he also brought to personal favorites "Felicity" and "What About Brian?" (more on the latter in a few days). He never shows all his cards and allows these shows to evolve naturally, changing direction at a moment's notice. This may sound like a haphazard way to guide a show, and in a way it is, but to me it keeps everything fresh and involved.

Second on that list is the A-level ensemble, which included Hope Davis ("American Splendor") as a grieving widow of a war correspondent, Campbell Scott ("Singles") as a divorced alcoholic photographer, and the likes of Jay Hernandez ("Hostel"), Erika Christensen ("Traffic"), Bridget Moynahan ("The Recruit") and Dorian Missick ("Lucky Number Slevin"). While the intersecting stories sometimes tried to hard to mimick "Crash" (not the awesome Cronenberg movie, but that lame Haggis one that just happened to win an Oscar for best picture), it never steered into melodrama, and credit has to be given to the cast for trusting in their instincts and playing it as true as possible.

This was a show about second chances, about having faith in those around you, about never saying "die." Unfortunately, ABC didn't follow any of the themes and dropped it after only showing six of the 14 episodes.

What Didn't Work: Well, not much really happened on the show. Everything was set up in the pilot, and the six characters quickly connecting in a fun little "Magnolia" way very quickly, but after that where is there to go? The show found more and more ways to create new combinations of these characters, but sometimes forgot to get into the souls of the people. It was mildly frustrating, but not even remotely bad.

Why Not Enough People Watched: It's all laid out pretty well above. Not enough happened quickly enough, and after about two episodes the audience just went away. Unable to capitalize on the post-"Grey's Anatomy" spot, it withered away into nothingness, based on its quality that some would consider lackadaisical.

In a lot of ways, ABC was smart in canceling this. Save for HBO shows, one of the "CSI" craptaculars, "Rescue Me" and the one "Law & Order" version that's not struggling for ratings (that would be the one about pedophiles and rapists going head-to-head with that scary fucker from "Oz" and the daughter of Jayne Mansfield), it is a very bad idea to film in New York. It is always too expensive, it always yields shows Middle America doesn't care about, and it always gets canceled. First chance they got, the suits let this go.

Overall Series: 6.5 (out of 10)

Final 2006-2007 Neilsen Rating: #68 (8.3 million viewers)

Fun Fact: This was San Francisco Chronicle TV writer Tim Goodman's favorite pilot of the season. Also, it was designed originally for WB, where I think it may have lasted a full season, but nothing more.