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! 
This show has me hooked! Not only the story lines, but the music is the best. Hope they bring it back for a second season and ratings go up. I love this show.
please keep this show, its very entertaining, and seem to be a hit with me and my roommates, we even moved poker thursdays to accomidate, PLEASE KEEP THIS ONE ON FOR NEXT SEASON!
nooooo! i love this show! i only missed last weeks, cause it was my birthday and we went out to dinner. but i did catch up with it online. please don’t cancel it, give it a chance. it’s a lot better than greys anatomy by a long shot.
i love october road please dont cancel it i really really want it to stay on i will cry if you dant put it back on the air so please dont cancel it
I am not a big TV watcher but I am hooked on October Road. I was so bummed last week to find out the season is over. This is a great show and many I know love it. I have a hard time waiting until next episode. Please don’t cancel it. Finally there is a show for the 20-30ish crowd that isn’t stupid or obnoxious or a reality show we are sick of them.
I am also a huge fan of October Road. I was hooked on the first show…..Please bring it back!
Please keep October Road. The show is GREAT! I love it. I have never missed an episode. I was totally disappointed to hear the show plans to air only six episodes and that there is a possiblity that the show will be cancelled.
October road has potential,but some of the dialogue has to go – “I am the police of your soul” is by far the most foolish thing I have heard from a scripted program.Writing like that can make me lose interest fast.
I absolutely love this show!!!!! When will we know when it is coming back and how can I check??
October Road is a great show with great actors. It also has really good music! ABC, if you’re listening, keep the show!!!
I just want to say that I think that this is an excellent show. I wait all week just to watch it.
Last night after the episode of October Road they showed previews for next weeks episode! And it said that it was the season finale! I was so p-o’ed! OCTOBER ROAD is a GREAT show! I LOVE IT! PLEASEEEEEE bring it back! I can’t believe they cut it short! It’s such a great story line and an even better cast! Mos. def. need another season!
Ok Bill, my name is also Bill. But you are an idiot. October Road is awesome. If you don’t like it, go somewhere else.
this show is amazing,
im really disapointed that its going off.
i really enjoy it,
i think it would become a huge sucess unlike men in trees,
which is un-intersting.
I Love October Road and will be crushed if it doesn’t return. You can’t even begin to compare it to Men In Trees. I mean come on! The cast is excellent and it is very well written. Good lord, if ABC execs have any common sense it will return.