NBC Tries "Heroes" Hail Mary

When Ben Silverman, co-chairman of NBC Entertainment and its associated production studio, addressed a meeting of reporters in July, he confidently predicted that "Heroes," the network's biggest prime-time drama, was going to get even bigger.

Although the series had been off the air since the writers' strike last year, Mr. Silverman said that Tim Kring, the creator of "Heroes," had successfully addressed the problems that had plagued the show's second season -- confusing plotlines, scattered characters, questionable leaps in logic, all of which led to a shrinking audience from the critically acclaimed first season.

"We're really confident, and we're excited to see the audience respond and come back," Mr. Silverman said, "and we think it's going to be its biggest year ever."

That has not happened. With ratings for "Heroes" down 20 percent from those of a year ago and regular third-place finishes in total viewers for its time slot, NBC took action last week, midway into the show's third season. Two co-executive producers were fired: Jeph Loeb and Jesse Alexander, who also served as senior writers and oversaw much of the script development.

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Comments

[cjopbj]

I agree with "Housewife". Too many characters are switching sides. The only one who is interesting is Gabriel/Sylar. But even with him, becoming good doesn't mean all is forgiven. The worst is watching Clare kill Peter, finding out there is a third Nikki/Jessica/Tracy, and Mohinder turning into some sort of spider-monster. I like the Hiro/Ando/Daphane chase. Thank goodness Matt is still a good guy. The new villians - Arthur and the guy who gets stronger and the fire guy are pretty good.

I think the main problem is that the threat they are trying to avoid is too unclear. So what if everyone gets abilities. Maybe they can fix global warming. Season one's bomb was a focused threat with a great central villian driving the plot forward.

Finally, I don't know how they can judge ratings when you can see Heroes online at Netflix, Hulu and NBC.com. Are thoses calculated into the ratings numbers?

[7sunday7]

The problem with Heroes this season is not enough Hiro.

[firelord5000]

Give NBC credit for ruining a great show by putting it in an extremely competitive time slot, with a terrible show in the form of chuck scaring away the viewers. House moving to Mondays at 8, followed by 24 won't be helping either.

The clowns at NBC shoulda had this show at 8 till the house move, would have easily been ahead of big bang and prison break.

The show also needs better story lines, and show more of the intriguing characters, IE the invisible man and Haitian.

[firelord5000]

Also, last nights episode didn't make sense. Mr. Patrelli can alter memory and make people do what he wants, as shown by what he does to his wife, yet he can't / doesn't do it on Nathan and attempts to kill him.... Once again a major boo boo.

[WRPrintz]

I mostly agree with Housewife....this thing has been a mess, with few exceptions.

However, the 11/10 episode was MUCH better. Intelegent, well written and informative. I actually liked it. Give it a second try and check it out on a rebroadcast site.

[mrcontinental]

They took an excellent show and ruined it by trying to do to much at once. Keep it simple works for a show like this because it has so many characters. They should go and watch old Dallas reruns to learn out it should be done properly.

[Rockwell]

I've already given up on Hero's. When you're prepared to invest in a good sci-fi fantasy but you spend all your time going WTF?? you know that's a bad sign. Season 2 to Season 3 is like going directly from A New Hope to Phantom Menace.

[mamacat]

I thought Nov. 10th's show was pretty good. A change of direction, that was interesting. We shall see.

[justwondering2]

NBC may not want to recognze or acknowledge that they lost a lot of their audience due to the Hayden/Milo relationship. A grown man dating a child - she was no more than 17 when they started dating.
A great deal of effort has gone into making her look older and more sophisticated, but the truth of the matter is that she is only 19.

[Mabo]

Shows like Journeyman and Jericho get cancelled while this show continues to spiral downward getting renewed again and again. I like it still, but they better do something spectacular very fast or they will lose it completely.

I miss Journeyman...oh, well.

[WRPrintz]

That was a good show. Kevin and Moon were great together.

[Big0725]

Just goes to show that most of Hollywood execs can fu*k up a free lunch.

IDIOTS!

[crayola 08]

i eagerly awaited every episode during the first season. the X-Men were my favorite comic book when i was a kid, so Heroes naturally appealed to me. Didn't miss the second season either although i was getting frustrated with the stupid plot twists. i kept thinking "gee it'd be great if the X-Men suddenly appeared and kicked these mutants asses cause they're totally screwin everything up." havin said all that i lost interest in much of network tv after the writers strike. ain't even seen the 3rd season of Heroes and quite frankly i'm not interested in it anymore. the only show on network that i still watch is the Office.

[robbor]

I faithfully watched every episode of Heroes during the first season, faithfully until the last episode of the season. The last episode was the lamest, cheesiest piece of programming I have ever sat through and felt I had been completely duped. That's it, no more Heroes for me! And I have held true to my word. Heroes is dead and gone from my point of view.

Can't wait for season 4 of Lost

[drkazmd65]

I loved the first season,... mostly liked the second,.. but haven't been able to get into this season.

A lot of the other writers here have hit the nail on the head,... the writers should have stopped while they were ahead. Kind of reminds me (in a general way) of how one of my favorite shows of all time, Northern Exposure, tried to go on after Rob Morrow's character began to be phased out. Another example,... X-Files painful attempts to remain 'interesting' after the X-Files movie came out.

Instead of focusing on character development in the existing characters, they focused on trying to 'pretend' that nothing had changed when the major character left. Something along that lines is occurring here,... the writers knew where they wanted the first season to end, and got to that point. Then, they realized they had no idea how to continue.

They should have gone into the show like the old Sci-Fi series, Babylon 5 did, with a defined plot line & time line, and a conclusion in mind. Then - ended it before it had a chance to peter out.

[pottery]

It wasn't just me!! Can't a character die in peace on that show!!?? GEEZ!!!

[behindthescene]

THIS WONT POST BUT IT SHOULD BE MENTIONED

HAYDEN PANITIERRE HAS ALSO REJECTED THE GREEN AND CHANGE VOTE...

TMZ HAS REPORTED THAT SHE HAS JUST PURCHASED A 2.6 MILLION $ LA HOME IN ADDITION TO A MILLION DOLLAR COMPOUND IN NY.

SO MUCH FOR HELPING THE POOR.AND BEING GREEN