Microsoft and NBC may resurrect HEROES

There are many TV shows that have ended before their time and fans want to see them back. Squarely not amongst that number is NBC's Heroes. Airing for four seasons in 2006-10, Heroes was infamous for having an excellent first season and then suffering a catastrophic collapse in quality. When the show finally slinked off the air, few people cared.

However, Microsoft and NBC are in discussions to resurrect the show. The thinking is to bring it back as a Netflix-style on-demand series, a bit like House of Cards, but which will air exclusively on Microsoft's download service. This service will launch with the next X-Box (but will probably also be available via the existing X-Box 360) and form part of Microsoft's multimedia-device strategy for their new machine.

Whilst a nice idea, I don't think a new Heroes - even one with a mostly new cast and possibly new producers - is the show to do it with. The show's reputation is in shambles and its return would not really excite that many people. Microsoft would be better off partnering with, say, SyFy and maybe trying to bring a different type of superhero show to the screen...

Now that might work.

HEROES is cancelled

Relax Joe Abercrombie fans, that's the NBC TV series Heroes which has been canned after four seasons.


Heroes debuted in 2006 and was touted as a Lost-beater, promising to resolve mysteries and story arcs within a few episodes rather than letting them drag on for years. A large cast of intriguing characters was introduced, given superpowers and shown learning how to cope with them whilst a sinister 'company' tracked them down and a power-stealing serial killer was on the loose, all against the backdrop of a prophesied cataclysm that will destroy New York City. The first season was tense, well-written, well-paced and concluded in a decent manner (although the finale was a bit of an anti-climax, with the budget not stretching to the big showdown fans had been waiting for).

Unfortunately, the series never seemed to know where to go next. Attempted format changes and new characters never really took off, whilst other characters vanished without a trace (remember Peter's Irish girlfriend, lost forever in a collapsed timeline?) and plot elements were introduced and then immediately forgotten about (Claire's resurrecting magic blood). The limits and details of characters' abilities changed episode by episode. The evil serial killer Sylar became the most popular of the show, leaving the producers having to come up with increasingly ridiculous storylines to keep him around (he's bad, he's good, he's bad again, he's a spirit living in another character's head). The show very rapidly became a parody of its former series, and for the past two seasons Heroes fans have actually been asking NBC to cancel it whilst it retained a shred of dignity.

NBC have pulled the plug, following disappointing and dropping ratings (the show shed 12 million viewers between its first episode and its Season 4 finale). However, the show was profitable in international sales and DVDs, and NBC are reportedly considering a TV or DVD movie to round off the remaining storylines. But Heroes as an ongoing TV series is no more.

A shame, because when it was good in its first season, Heroes was really good, but when it was bad it was one of the most excruciating things on TV. Unfortunately, the show spent most of its time in the latter mode than the former.

In related genre show news, ABC has renewed V for a second season whilst cancelling FlashForwards. NBC has renewed Chuck. HBO are widely expected to renew True Blood for a fourth season after Season 3 debuts next month.

Heroes: Season 3.5 - Fugitives

Given that the first half of Heroes' third season was almost unwatchably bad, it is unsurprising that many fans have given upon the show and its ratings are in decline in the USA. However, before the second half of the season debuted it looked like there was still hope the show could be redeemed. Writer-producer Bryan Fueller, credited with being behind the energy and enthusiasm of the first season, returned after a long absence and some new blood was added to the show, such as BSG's Mark Verheiden. The producers most responsible for the nonsensical plot twists the series had taken in Season 2 and the first half of Season 3 were both summarily fired. So, was this emergency surgery enough to save the show?


Events pick up after the end of the previous volume, 'Villains', with Nathan Petrelli now convinced that people with abilities are dangerous and need to be controlled. He recruits Noah Bennett to his cause and is assigned a tough enforcer, Danko, to carry out the mission. A new government organisation is set up to control the heroes and in the first episode these agents strike, taking the heroes prisoner and packing them on a flight to take them to an institution where they can be studied. Thanks to Claire and Peter's machinations, the plane crashes and our heroes are now on the run from the government.

The first few episodes of 'Fugitives' are unexpectedly good. Peter and Hiro's powers have been radically weakened so they are no longer show-breakers and the battle of nerves and wits in the agency's HQ between Danko, Bennett and Nathan is well-played. Tracey gets a lot more to do than she did last half-season and Ali Larter excels in the role, turning Tracey into an angry, driven woman who no longer fears her powers. Sylar also gets a sidekick, which is quite amusing, though ultimately the plot goes nowhere. Some former characters the show seemed to have forgotten about also return unexpectedly in new and logical roles. There seems to be a bit more thought going on than there was previously.

This culminates in the episode Cold Snap, written by Fueller, which sees Tracey's story reach its climax, the unmasking of the mysterious 'Rebel' and the culmination of another story thread between Matt Parkman and Daphne. These story elements are handled very well with a deft touch and the result is the best episode the series has done since the end of Season 1. It really fills the viewer with hope that the series, at long last, is starting to get back on track.

These hopes are immediately dashed as the plotting towards the end of the series becomes incoherent. Sylar's character is destroyed by atrocious writing and completely unbelievable character turns. The attempts made to make Danko sympathetic are utterly pathetic. The Season 3 finale is the most contrived, nonsensical and borderline-insane 44 minutes of television I have seen in a long time. It reads like particularly moronic Heroes fan fiction and the script should have been burned and the writers responsible for it fired immediately. The fact that they went ahead and produced it boggles the mind.

To some extent, these problems are still not fatal. Fueller's return to the show was very late in the day and the ending of the season was locked and scripted to the point where there was little he could do to save the finale. For Season 4, which commences with the volume 'Redemption', there needs to be a major cull of the weaker writers on the show, a lot of fresh blood needs to come on board, the remaining baggage from earlier in the show (particularly Sylar, who serves no useful purpose any more) needs to be swept away, they need to stop wimping out on showing us the major fights and, generally, the show needs a total revamp. If they can pull that off, a good show can still be dragged from the wreckage of the last two seasons. Given the falling ratings and increasing critical scorn, they're very lucky to have a fourth season at all, but it will be the last unless they can turn things around very quickly.

Heroes: Fugitives (**½) is the strongest 'volume' of the show since the first one, but this isn't saying much. Of the dozen episodes here, there are about four which are really good and a few others that aren't offensive. But the show is still nowhere near the form of its first season and is clearly on its last legs if things do not decisively change for the better.

Heroes: Season 3.0 - Villains

Sometimes you have to admit defeat and that it's time to take the poor old dog outside to the yard and put the shotgun to use. If Heroes was a dog it would be one that's become confused and incontinent, not quite capable of operating healthily any more and whose quality of life is doubtful. NBC have started loading the shotgun but aren't quite ready to put the show out of its misery yet. Amidst plummeting ratings and mounting critical scorn, producers have been fired and the main creative force behind the barnstorming first season, Bryan Fueller, has been brought back to see if he can put the show back on track.

Fueller's return won't have any impact until late in the second half of Season 3 and into Season 4, when he will be co-showrunner. In the meantime, Season 3 has been split into two arcs. The first, consisting of thirteen episodes, is subtitled 'Villains' and sees the show's roster of good and bad guys shaken around, with some good guys turning bad and some bad ones at least being teased towards becoming good. The second arc, 'Fugitives', will see most of the heroes on the run as the US government finally learns of the existence of people with powers and sets out to contain them.

The first arc starts off strongly. Picking up the wreckage from the troubled second season, the heroes quickly learn that a formula exists that could grant powers to everyone in the world. However, a future incarnation of Peter Petrelli travels back in time and reveals that doing so will doom the world to destruction. A convoluted opening set of episodes reveals that someone long thought dead has returned to threaten the world and the heroes must act against him, but his agenda tempts some of the good guys to the dark side. At the same time, Sylar finds himself reluctantly joining forces with the Company in order to survive.

The opening half of Heroes' third season is a mess, and no mistake. Character motivations are confused and not tremendously well-defined. Whilst the first couple of episodes succeed in giving us a rapidly-moving storyline and establish a clear threat to the world, the precise nature of that threat rapidly becomes diffuse (the exact, specific cause of the destruction of the world is never defined, unlike the first two seasons) and muddled. The big selling point of the season is characters swapping sides, but the reasons for them doing so are monstrously contrived and don't always make sense, particularly the evolution of Nathan's character. The nerfing of Peter and Hiro's powers, although interesting from a dramatic point of view, likewise feels too much like a set-up. The world-ending threat is also far too repetitive. For the third year running the entire planet is in danger and our heroes have to save the day. There's also the time travel, which now makes no sense at all.

Amidst the dross there are some good ideas. Recasting Ali Larter as a new character (albeit one set up by prior seasons) is a good move and she works better in a supporting role rather than as a major protagonist. Moving characters who have nothing to do off-screen rather than trying to find things for them to do is also a sensible development. Individual character arcs also work well: new character Daphne (Brea Grant) has a good storyline and a fun power which is explored logically throughout, and her activities bring Matt (the always-likable Greg Grunberg) back into the main storyline. The attempt to push a wedge between the Hiro 'n' Ando partnership is clumsy, but the reunion between the two and their adventure in Africa is amusing. Kristen Bell's character, Elle, after being ill-served in Season 2 is given a much greater chance to shine in Season 3 as well.

Unfortunately, the good points about the season only barely manage to keep the show's head above water. The trite dialogue, clumsy exposition, confused motivations and bizarre character twists make watching the show hard work this season, and it has to be said that NBC has shown remarkable confidence in keeping the show on-air for another year to see if Fueller can work his old magic on it once more.

Heroes: Villains (**) has just finished broadcasting in the USA and UK. The next 'volume', 'Fugitives', will begin airing on 2 February 2009, and will frankly have to seriously raise its game to be noticed whilst Lost's penultimate season and Battlestar Galactica's final ten episodes are airing.

Heroes: Season 2, Episodes 1-11

TV shows very easily become victims of their own success. Lost, for example, suffered a severely disappointing second season following its impressive debut and it was a long time before the show got back on track halfway through the third year. Similarly, Battlestar Galactica has come in for a lot of flak for its third season.

Heroes, having emerged onto the scene firing on all cylinders last year, was widely anticipated to avoid the same mistakes these other shows had made. The show's ability to set up a mystery and then resolve it just a few episodes later and its use of short-term story arcs supporting a much larger narrative would seem to be able to support many different kinds of stories and characters, and as a result the second season was widely anticipated as one of the highlights of the 2007-08 season.


Things get off to an intriguing start. It's four months since the events of the Season 1 finale. Peter Petrelli is missing, presumed vapourised, but his brother Nathan is still alive and well (it isn't explained how, at least not yet). At first it appears that other characters have gone back to their old lives, but gradually it becomes clear that several of the existing heroes have formed a conspiracy to bring down the company which caused so much trouble for them last year. At the same time, several new heroes are introduced and a lengthy subplot takes us to feudal Japan, where Hiro has inadvertantly thrown history off balance by his interference and is working hard to restore the proper timeline.

All of this sounds fine, but in practice Season 2 of Heroes opens far too slowly and far too quietly. A lot of time is spent on new characters who are not especially compelling (despite some great ideas for their powers) and some established characters have all but disappeared. The writers also seem to delight in being obtuse for the sake of it, as it's not until eight weeks in that we finally find out what happened after the events of the Season 1 finale. As when Battlestar Galactica did this in its third season, it's built up to be a huge revelatory episode which doesn't tell us anything that couldn't have been explained verbally in about five minutes.

That isn't to say the actors are doing a bad job or the story itself isn't compelling, merely that the pacing is seriously off this year. The major threat the heroes have to avert isn't introduced until quite late in the day (the seventh episode, in fact) and the misdirection games that are played about the identity of the main villain only serve to make it blatantly obvious who the main villain is before he turns up. There are also several seriously unconvincing romances and some bluescreen work which is utterly atrocious.

Things pick up after the eighth episode. With an identified villain and goal, things kick into gear and some of the intensity of late Season 1 returns. We also see how the new heroes fit into the overall story arc a little better. But just as things get going, they suddenly stop again. Thanks to the American writer's strike, Season 2 ends with the eleventh episode. Although a reasonable job is done of making this an end-of-season finale, there are still some major plot elements left unexplained and unresolved, and the introduction of a deus ex machina plot device in the form of 'magic blood' that can heal anyone of any trauma, even death, leeches a lot of suspense from the Season 2 cliffhanger ending.

There is no denying that Heroes remains watchable, but the second season falls distinctly flat when compared to the first with some very poor writing decisions made. Whilst still enjoyable, the second season is something of a letdown when compared to the first. When Heroes returns, I hope the producers learn from their mistakes and can come up with something more impressive.

Heroes, Season 2 (***) will be released on DVD some time in 2008. The fate of the latter half of the season seems unclear at the moment, but most likely it will be held back until late 2008 and will now serve as the opening half of Season 3.

Heroes: Season 1

The big TV success story of last year was Heroes. Seemingly coming out of nowhere, it became a major success both critically and with the viewers, winning NBC big audience figures and making its forthcoming second season (which begins in the USA on Monday) one of the most eagerly-awaited shows of the new season. The BBC recently begun airing Heroes in the UK, where it has won even more plaudits and fans.

With superhero movies generating big business at the box office and Smallville an established television success, it was only a matter of time before a specifically made-for-TV superhero series aired. Tim Kring's creation is a resounding triumph, successfully encapsulating the things that make superhero comics so much fun and mixing it with modern television and storytelling devices whilst at the same time learning from some of the mistakes made by other shows (most notably Lost, the troubled slow pacing of which is explicitly rejected by Heroes). Whilst not flawless, the first season of Heroes is a highly enjoyable work.



The series opens with Indian geneticist Mohinder Suresh hearing about his father's death in New York City whilst trying to track down people with 'special powers', whose existence he had postulated after looking into the results of the Human Genome Project. Mohinder is drawn to New York City and is soon following in his father's footsteps. But a shadowy organisation is also interested in Suresh's research, and a sinister man in horn-rimmed glasses named Bennett is on the trail of these 'special' people as well.

Elsewhere, health care worker Peter Petrelli is divided between following his own ambitions and desires and supporting his brother Nathan's campaign to be elected to congress. At the same time Peter has started having vivid dreams that he can fly. In Tokyo an office worker named Hiro Nakamura believes he can freeze time and teleport, to his friend Ando's disbelief. In Las Vegas a young mother named Nikki is struggling to give her son a good education. In Los Angeles a cop named Parkman discovers he has a special skill and is drawn into the FBI's pursuit of a serial killer named 'Sylar'. In Odessa, Texas teenage cheerleader Clare has discovered her own power.

As the series unfolds we are introduced to more and more 'heroes' and meet a radioactive man, a woman who can access the Internet with her brain, a boy who can tell computers to do anything, a man who can pass through walls and an artist whose pictures always come true...and his latest picture shows the obliteration of New York City in a nuclear firestorm.

The first season of Heroes is an impressive piece of work. The regular cast is enormous, the secondary recurring cast even more so, but the writers fluidly move from character to character and plotline to plotline, keeping this huge rollercoaster moving. The series adroitly employs cliffhangers, with the first five episodes seeking to outdo one another for jaw-dropping finales. Be warned that you may sit down to watch one episode and end up watching five in a row. Most - but not all - of the plotlines culminate in the explosive season finale, but enough loose ends are left to hook the viewer into watching Season 2. Although one huge story, Season 1 is divided into four acts which loosely can be identified as 'Genesis' (episodes 1-5), 'Save the Cheerleader, Save the World' (5-9), 'The List' (10-18) and 'How to Stop an Exploding Man' (19-23).

The problem with such a plot-heavy emphasis is that the series occasionally fails to delve into characters' motives very well, particularly with the secondary cast. Ted Sprague's motivations seemingly shift from episode to episode depending on what the writers want him to do. The series is also very heavily serialised, even more so than Lost or Battlestar Galactica. There are few respites from the ongoing storyline and it's often difficult to remember which events happened in which episodes. That said, the writers deliberatly insert 'special' episodes at regular intervals to break up this pace. The special episodes - 110: Six Months Ago, 117: Company Man and 120: Five Years Gone - are usually set in a different time period or focus solely on one situation rather than encompassing all the myriad plot strands simultaneously. The special episodes are also notably the best episodes of the series.

Another problem is the lack of full-on fight sequences. Whilst there are several gun battles and an impressive sword training montage, there isn't much in the way of pyrotechnic combat between the heroes. This can be put down to either a lack of budget (something surely to be rectified in Season 2 following the first season's success) or perhaps a deliberate move to undercut the audience's expectations of what it expects from a superhero show. Either way, it is a minor factor. Slightly more irritating is that each episode starts with a recap of what happened before, sometimes in an original way (by showing the same events from a different character's POV, for example) but more often than not taking up valuable screen time. More bizarre is that sometimes the recaps feature different events and dialogue than the end of the preceding episode, like a 1960s episode of Doctor Who. It is a measure of how good this series is that these minor annoyances are the worst sins it commits.

Heroes: Season 1 (****½) is a superb and impressive piece of work. With great acting from regular and recurring cast alike (expect to see a lot of Zachary Quinto and Masi Oka in coming years), excellent directing and a superbly planned and realised story arc, Heroes is now the hottest show around and it will be very interesting to see where it goes in Season 2.

Heroes is currently available in the United States with the entire first season in one box set plus some impressive extras (including the uncut version of the pilot), both in standard DVD and in HD-DVD.

A Heroes graphic novel, collecting the 34 online comics produced for Season 1 plus various artwork from the series itself, is also available.

The UK version of the box set will be released on 10 December, although it's unclear if it will have the same special features. The box set is also being split in half with Part 1 released on 1 October, but the full box set is better value for money.