After a reported 76 million visits and almost two years of near-daily shows, Yahoo!’s entrée into the online, pop culture newscast calls it quits. Any traffic to the The 9 – which featured the smiling face of child television–reporter-star, Maria Sansone counting down 9 items of must-see internet ephemera – now redirects to Primetime in No Time – Yahoo’s daily The Soup-style recap of last night’s television.
Rocketboom creator Andrew Baron never thought too highly of the show – “Yahoo 9 was really the worst online video show I have ever seen” – but it wasn’t that bad. I didn’t watch often, but when I did I appreciated Maria’s enthusiastic presentation and especially the choose-your-own news functionality.
###Yahoo producer Embassy Row took advantage of the web’s user-driven nature by allowing viewers to click on specific news items and bypass others. Although lots of other web shows and series tout their interactive capabilities, I’ve yet to see anyone execute as simply and elegantly asThe 9.
Its replacement has similar features. Users can watch Frank Nicotero’s entire recap of yesterday’s television primetime or choose to view snippets of the shows he covers. If you’re into the subject matter (who got kicked off of Dancing with the Stars, who did Cowell eviscerate on American Idol, etc.) it’s okay viewing. Frank offers a good summary, and he’s funny enough, but he’s no Greg Kinnear.
