October Road: Extra Series Finale Still in the Works

For many viewers, one of the most heartbreaking cancellations of last season was that of the October Road TV show. Though the series had decent ratings in its first season, the viewership numbers declined in season two and ABC decided to pull the plug. As a result, loyal viewers were left hanging. Will we ever learn the identity of little Sam’s papa?

October Road debuted on March 15, 2007 as a midseason replacement on ABC. The series centers around Nick Garrett (Bryan Greenberg), a writer who left his Massachusetts life behind to author a best-selling book about his hometown. After developing writer’s block, he makes the hard choice to return home to face his family and friends. The Knights Ridge residents are played by actors like Laura Prepon, Brad William Henke, Geoff Stults, Tom Berenger, Jay Paulson, Evan Jones, Warren Christie, Slade Pearce, Odette Yustman, Rebecca Field, Jonathan Murphy, Lindy Booth, Elizabeth Bogush, and Penny Johnson.

Shortly after Road was cancelled, the show’s creators — Josh Appelbaum, Andre Nemec and Scott Rosenberg — sat down and wrote an end the series. They envisioned it as a 15-page mini-episode called “Don’t Look Back: An Epilogue for an Epic Love.” It picks up where the last episode of the series left off and then skips forward seven years to answer most of the show’s unresolved questions — the identity of Sam’s father, the Commander’s health, and the fate of each of the relationships.

Life on Mars and Road castmember Murphy recently told TV Guide, “They’re hoping to get everybody together and shoot and put that on the Season 2 DVD, so all the Roadies will get some wrap-up, closure with the show. I think it will start some time around where the actual series left off and pick up a few years down the road. You will see what’s been going on and what happens. [The fans] were left hanging, and it’s our last hurrah and a ‘thank you’ to all those who wrote e-mails and sent pictures and all the things they did to try to save the show.”

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Fans have been eagerly awaiting the finale for months but the former castmembers have been busy on different projects. The producers have been busy with ABC’s struggling Life on Mars. As proof that they haven’t forgotten about Road, they’ve been including sly homages to the fallen series on Mars.

The delay is also due to having to find a way to pay for the finale since a network is no longer footing the bill. Applebaum recently told The Futon Critic, “We have every intention of producing it and it’s just been a question of finding the financing for it. We could do the down and dirty version — all the cast has agreed to be in it, [Gary] Fleder’s agreed to direct it, we wrote it, crew members have offered their services to come back and work for free — but just to pull off the look of the original show, it’s still going to cost money. And we’re looking to find that money and if we can’t, we’ll just do a more down and dirty version.”

Without giving too much away, Applebaum offered a few more clues about the finale, saying, “It was great, it is great — it starts out at Hannah’s wedding to Big Cat and basically she says, she’s with Janet, and she says, “I can’t get married until the truth comes out. I can’t marry him without the real truth coming out. I can’t get married until Sam knows who his father is.” And she runs, wipes frame [and] we fade to black and it says, “Seven years later.” And then we pick up seven years later and I’ll just leave it at that. It’s about a ten-minute sequence where all the answers to where everybody ends up are… and ultimately we find out who Sam’s father is. I think it’s wonderful. Hopefully we get to shoot it.” Stay tuned!