Question: I just saw that last week's two-hour episode is probably the final episode for October Road. I'm usually pretty up on shows that are ending, but I must've missed this one. What's up with these networks, and can I do anything to try and save it, or is it too late? And do you know if Friday Night Lights has found a reprieve yet?
Answer: As I write this on deadline, no new news has surfaced on the Friday Night Lights/DirecTV cost-sharing arrangement, but let's stay hopeful on that front. I can't be as positive about October Road, which performed miserably during its second season this winter. ABC did its part, keeping the show on Mondays for its entire 13-episode midseason order, giving it plenty of time to build an audience. Didn't happen. (And while many of us felt the time period could have been put to better use, so be it.) It isn't officially dead, to my knowledge, but I'd be amazed if this isn't the end of October's road. And in this case, no way would I put the network a ...
read more
Monday's numbers:8 pm/ETThe Bachelor: Where Are They Now? topped the hour with a scant 7.7 million total viewers, but enough to edge out the debut of Canterbury's Law. The legal drama delivered 7.6 mil, qualifying as Fox's lowest-rated series premiere in the time period, ever. (MediaWeek's Marc Berman makes a great comparison, noting that a House repeat did 9.7 mil in the time slot a year ago.) An Old Christine (7.5 mil) improved considerably upon last week's Welcome to the Captain.9 pmTrailing Deal or No Deal (11.6 mil) and CBS' old Men/new Old Christine combo, New Amsterdam drew 8.8 mil, a 17 percent drop from its most recent (Thursday) broadcast. October Road's two-hour season finale averaged 4.7 mil — or 50K for every inch of guest star Stacy Keibler's two legs — dropping 600 thou. Girlicious did a typical 1.7 mil.10 pmBehind a CSI: Miami retread, Medium was up just a hair, to 9.2 mil.
read more
Executive Producer Scott Rosenberg, Laura Prepon and Bryan Greenberg, October Road
You can check out new episodes of Scott Rosenberg's October Road on Mondays at 10 pm/ET on ABC.
It was one of the worst winters in New England and I had retreated to the house I grew up in, some 20 miles outside of Boston, to lick my wounds over the dissolution of a seven-year relationship with my girlfriend, Trish. I had decided to write a script. I would call it Beautiful Girls, and I would base it entirely on my friends from home. These guys, my high school crew, had largely remained in our hometown, and most of them were landscapers, snowplow drivers and construction workers. I went so far as to use their actual nicknames. I was hoping my chums would see the movie as a valentine to them; to their myriad struggles; to their noble work ethic; to their histories, with all of their Springsteenian flourishes. And they di
read more
Stacy Keibler by Jeffrey Mayer/ WireImage.com
Dancing with the Stars alumna Stacy Keibler will guest-star on the March 10 episode of ABC's October Road. Keibler and her 45-inch gams will play Rory, an ex of Eddie's who broke his heart years ago and now wants reconnect with him.... Extra is reporting that Jason Gedrick will return to Desperate Housewives this spring as the former pizzeria cutie who cooked up trouble for Lynette and Tom. (If I recall correctly, he nearly held her anchovies.)
read more
Question: You are an idiot! October Road is a great show and we are sick of hearing you trash it!
Answer: OK, I'll stop — but only because you were such a class act about it.
read more
Katee Sackhoff; William Petersen; Sarah Wayne Callies
Question: Yay! The strike is over!
Answer: Woo-hoo! You know what this means, right? I no longer have to make up questions for this column! We can stop watching October Road!
read more
Question: I agree with you that October Road is poorly written. No one is going to deny that. But did Grey's Anatomy ever get knocked for its bomb fiascos and endless love triangles? While people do complain about Grey's, it can't even compare to the amount of grief given to October Road, which may have poor writing, but which portrays homeliness and neighborly feeling in a remarkably warm light. The characters may be plain, but they're your best friends from high school. Whereas McSteamy is just plain Superman with an addiction to sex (like we've never heard that one before). I personally believe that all TV has its cheese. Leave the edge and the realism to full feature films.
Answer: But again, as I've often pointed out (though perhaps not with this particular metaphor): There's cheese and then there's mold. And an attitude like this explains volumes about why a show like Friday Night Lights struggles for an audience, if people are so willing to settle for the stinkiest of cheese as
...
read more
Question: Why don't you like October Road? Everyone I know loves it, and we are dying to find out who Sam's father is. Any hints?
Answer: I don't like October Road for the same reason I don't like getting an air-conditioner dropped on my head: It's painful. Having said that, we're in the middle of a strike and I'm desperate, so here's a hint about Sam's daddy: While we'll learn more about his paternity in these final episodes, don't expect the mystery to be solved until Season 3. [Shudder]
read more
Question: October Road is not on your handy-dandy Strike Countdown Chart. How many episodes are left? I'd appreciate an answer.
Answer: I'd appreciate a question about a show that sucks less, but you don't see me complaining, do ya? Just speaking the truth kidding, Meg. Check the SCChart again. Just for you, I added OR.
read more
Question: Are you aware that the producers of October Road have clearly attempted to exact revenge upon you for your bad reviews? There is a character called "Matt Lauche," who is described in one scene as "the hater of all things good." They then goes on to say, "Matt Lauche is a tool," "Matt Lauche is a creep," etc. And apparently he is going to emerge as a major villain on the show. I'm sure it doesn't bother you too much. After all, no one is watching really, are they? But it is kind of disrespectful. They make you look really bad. You should sue.
Answer: Is that show still on? Honestly, who knew? Sometimes an insult from the right source is the best sort of compliment, I always say. But I won't flatter myself to think this is anything but a coincidence. I'm sure I'm not the only critic who wrote that October Road had me running screaming from the room in nauseated horror.
To be fair (because, really, when am I not?), here's a defense of the show from Jerusha N.: "Sometimes all you
...
read more
