Though October Road debuted to strong ratings, ABC plans to cut the freshman drama’s season short and only air two-thirds of the episodes. Why?
The new October Road drama on ABC (no relation to the 2002 James Taylor album) tells the story of a young and famous NYC writer named Nick Garrett (played by Bryan Greenberg). Nick authored an extremely popular book which was essentially a “tell all” novel based on his home of Knights Ridge, Massachusetts. He subsequently gets a bad case of writer’s block and decides its time to return to his hometown after ten years away. As you might guess, his reception isn’t exactly a warm one. In addition to Greenberg, the series features Laura Prepon (That ’70’s Show), Tom Berenger, Warren Christie, Brad William Henke, Evan Jones, Jay Paulson, Slade Pearce, Geoff Stults (7th Heaven) and Odette Yustman.
Following a new episode of Grey’s Anatomy, October Road debuted on March 15, 2007 to great numbers. Despite mixed reviews, Road attracted 13.93 million viewers and came in at #9 for the week. The second episode lost 16% of its previous audience and about a half of lead-in Grey’s Anatomy’s viewers. Still, Road performed much better than Six Degrees or Men in Trees had in the same timeslot. You would think that ABC would be anxious to air the rest of the season’s episodes. You would be incorrect.
Like more and more new shows, October Road’s initial season is a short one, consisting of only six episodes. Rather than run all six of them to keep viewers hooked, ABC plans to air only four of them this season. If the show gets picked up for another year, the remaining two episodes will be broadcast at that time. ABC did the same thing to Grey’s Anatomy its first year.
You can view this stockpiling as either pretty good assurance that Road will return for season two or, that ABC execs don’t have faith in the series. The final decision will have a lot to do with how well episodes three and four perform. If Road’s audience continues to erode, it probably won’t be back. We’ll likely know by mid-May what ABC decides to do. Stay tuned! 
Please! Please! Please! Let “October Road” Come back next season. I absolutely love it. It got better and better each week and then it was just gone. Same with “Men in Trees”. I loved it as well.
wht do they spend 15 minutes going over what happened in episdoe 1 every new episode. Its like they planned for a 30 min show but they need to fill a 1 hour time slot.
I love October Road… I am plain tired of “reality tv” shows and I was greatly surprised to find this show. I think the cast is great and am looking forward to it coming back on the air…
I wish all the reality shows would be taken off the air and replaced with more shows like October Road, Jericho (just cancelled). Please bring back October Road. It’s great.
I think October Road was the most horrific show on ABC. I am thrilled that it was shortened. I can sleep in peace now. THANK YOU ABC…
I love October Road!!!!! It reallyis a great show….ABC would be wise in putting it back on!!
Absolutley love the show. I agree as soon as I find something worth watching they cancell it. Thursday are my one night I get home in time just to watch Grey’s and October road. After October went away I have been DVR’ing grey’s and going out. I hope they wise up and bring it back. The characters are wonderful and yes it is great to have a show that is for us 20-30 somethings. Something other than CSI shows or “reality TV” I dont want to watch another survivor show or another dance show. I think they had a good… Read more »
I love October Road it is one of the best shows I’ve seen in a long time.I’m so sick of TV execs. Making new shows and not giving them a chance to make it before it gets cut. What happened to the days of having good shows on that you can count on watching every week at the same time..Now you find different shows every week in those time slots Pull it together TV industry. Keep viewers happy!!
Let’s put it this way..October Road is the ONLY show I’ve ever bothered to look up on the internet (almost every week I check) to see when the next episode will come on. As a person who grew up in the northeast, these characters just totally are so realistic, and I love to watch it!
I really liked October Road and hope you bring it back. While we’re on the subject, what happened to Invasion? You people piss me off.
I just wanted to say that October Road was one of my favorite shows. I’m asking you to please bring it back!!
I can’t get enough of October Road, which by the way should not be compared to Men in Trees. Both shows are great and they should be brought back to ABC and if not then another channel should pick them up.
I normally do not like anything ABC puts on TV. Then the two shows that I would pass ER and CSI up on get taken away (Men in Trees and October Road)…I don’t know what to say, other then BAD FORM! I hope that ABC desides to bring both back to the line-up, in whatever time slot. Not everyone likes house wives that cheat, doctors who sleep (using that word loosely) with anyone, or non-stop nanny’s: October Road and Men in Trees are like a breath of fresh air in the ABC bubble, and I didn’t mind having my 14… Read more »
i too like october road. i also think that abc should run the episodes consistently week to week and not break them up. i get tired of watching one week and then tuning in the next week to see a re-run, then the following week is a new episode that gets missed because you think it’s going to be a re-run. please run the shows consecutively and then run the re-runs during the off-season.
I love October Road! I hope it stays on, and I hope it stays in the same time slot. It’s nice to have some funny drama after Gray’s Anatomy sad drama! October Road seems to have hope to it in every episode, and I like that and look forward to it. I hope someone that counts is listening and will keep it on the air!