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The Nine

NEW SHOW (ABC) 10-11PM Debuts Oct. 4

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The scoop on ''The Nine'' | 14421__thenine_l

WOLF, RAVER, MCBRIDE, AND DALY

The Nine cast photograph by Justin Stephens

By Jessica Shaw

Scott Wolf likes to talk about ''the moment.'' Problem is, he doesn't really know what it is that he's talking about. At some point during the 52-hour bank-hostage crisis that engulfs the titular players on ABC's The Nine, his seemingly perfect character, Dr. Jeremy Kates, starts to unravel. ''His life was going exactly according to plan up until this moment,'' says Wolf. ''I don't fully know who this guy is when he comes out of the bank because, for the first time in his life, he doesn't know.''

It's a similar story for everybody unlucky enough to walk into that Los Angeles bank. Among them: a hotshot assistant DA (24's Kim Raver); the gentle bank manager and his daughter (Boston Public's Chi McBride and Dana Davis); a gambling-addicted cop (Wings' Tim Daly); two young tellers (Camille Guaty and Lourdes Benedicto); Jeremy's girlfriend (Jessica Collins), a social worker with a secret; and a suicidal shlub (John Billingsley). ''I wanted to do a show about a group of people bonded by a traumatic event,'' says K.J. Steinberg (Judging Amy), who co-created the series with her brother Hank (Without a Trace). ''How can you face a life already in motion when everything has changed for you?''

But what, exactly, changes? Let's just say there are a lot of ''I could tell you but…'' jokes floating around the set. ''We pretty much know everything that went on during the 52 hours,'' says Hank, ''but we're not sharing.'' Since each episode includes flashbacks that shed light on what occurred inside the bank, the actors can only piece together this puzzle as they go along. ''It's like The Matrix,'' says McBride. ''I know exactly what I need to know.'' Adds Raver, no stranger to secretive story lines since her gig on 24, ''I'm hoarding every piece of information I get.'' Wolf has a far more anxious take. ''It's nerve-racking, frankly,'' says the Everwood star. ''Every script is numbered. Every time I get handed a piece of paper, my heart skips a beat and I just want to give it back. There's so much security around the show.''

Ask for plot details, then, and the Steinbergs are predictably tightlipped, other than to share that reluctant bank robber Lucas (Troy's Owain Yeoman) will be put on trial, while mastermind/gunman Randall (Jeffrey Pierce) will be treated at the hospital where Jeremy works. All other plotlines are as closely guarded as those of The Nine's lead-in, that other flashback-friendly ABC ensemble about a group of people who survive a traumatic event. Which raises one major concern: If viewers stick around for both Lost and The Nine, how on earth will their heads not explode as they try to follow the 10 trillion interlocking story lines? ''There's a lot to keep straight on our show,'' admits Hank. ''But we're grounded in reality, so I don't think you'll feel twisted around each week. And whatever happens, the one thing I promise is there's no hatch in the bank.''

By Jessica Shaw