Please. Please, don’t fuck with it.
Stupid TV execs.
Normally, I’d be happy to hear that the show is popular enough to merit more attention (including an all-but assured THIRD season, given the format of the spin-off)….but this just smacks of brain-dead empty suits positioning the ski-jump and the shark tank in preparation.
Um, yeah, that’s kinda brain-twisty. I could see them doing that on the website, like they’ve been doing the comic book, but I’m kinda weird with them doing them on tv and then voting like that…
They intend for the 6-episode Origins series to run during the normal hiatus, so try to avoid the ratings drop they had this year. Why don’t they just run the show without interruptions instead?
Wanna hear my TV Exec Impression? Here it is:
“SIX MORE HOURS!? That’s another hour to hour and twenty minutes of AD time! Wheeeee, profits! *cackle*”
Stupid tv execs.
It’s not a bad idea, actually. All shows these days suffer from the same problem–they run roughly 22 eps per season and then have to figure out how to keep viewers interested in between.
Lost hit upon the online “Lost Experience” last year, which actually worked well–it wasn’t until the show started up again that viewers lost interest, and that was only because much of this season has sucked.
Heroes had a bit of a drop when it was on prolonged hiatus so they want a way to counter that. And this is a great way to test out new characters and see who the audience likes enough to watch regularly.
This doesn’t guarantee a third season, though. It makes viewers assume it will have one, but if they can’t make the dreaded leap from first story arc to second, the show will still get cut, possibly even before Origins airs. I’m hoping not, of course, but I’m prepared for the worst.
Because then they’d be over six weeks early, and entirely miss May sweeps.
Or, if you meant “why don’t they just have a 30-ep season?”, because most shows don’t do that anymore. I’m guessing it’s partially because the cost per ep is so high that they can’t get away with the budget they’d need for that many eps in one season, but there are probably other factors as well (like actor burnout).
Dear NBC (and the other networks while I am at it):
Stop trying to inject “reality show” elements into good shows. I don’t want to vote on anything nor do I want the characters to vote on which other characters get whacked.
I hate reality TV because it’s not.
Off o soapbox.
They can start the series later, ala 24 or what they intend to do with Lost next season. The whole concept of the TV season is going the way of the dodo in any case; the line is getting very blurry about what’s the season and what is not.
I wouldn’t actually want them to do 30 eps of Heroes; they’d be straining to fill the episodes with meaningful content, I think.
I agree that in a few years the old seasons will be gone. They’re lingering for now, particularly on the major networks, but they can’t last. It will be interesting to see what happens once those and sweeps and the Nielsens have all been phased out.
Hmm
I heard an interview the creator of Heroes and he talked about the fact that his interest is in writing the origin story of the heroes, he was going to chuck the cast every season and start fresh. Being a smart man and not wanting to get crucified he changed his plan when everyone fell in love with the current characters. This might be his way of getting to write what he wants and still writing for everyone else.