Heroes Honeymoon = Over
Enough Rope
The Point About Heroes
No one could say Tim Kring did not get all the room he wished to make himself a hit show. Heroes seemed fail-proof, in the sense that there was nothing anyone could do to stop the momentum. Worldwide, at home, it seemed a phenomenon.
The fact that the emperor had no clothes didn't seem to factor in at all.
What is Heroes? A TV show that's nothing but concept. What's the concept? Human beings evolving into super beings. X-Men without Xavier. (No, sorry, Mohinder Suresh is not Dr. X.)
So what happened? The show never evolved past concept (i.e the idea for the show). The entire first season could have been fit into a two-hour pilot.
We watched and waited. The fan accolades were out of this world. Magazines, newspapers, everybody was all about Heroes. I myself emailed just about every sci-fi fan I was friends with: YOU HAVE TO WATCH THIS SHOW. The potential was magnificent.
So what happened? We watched and waited. Kring had brought on Jeph Loeb. Why? I wondered. Heroes is not Smallville, a show with a decent following on a small network. Heroes is NBC, Heroes is juggernaut. There was also Brian Fuller. I...guess...
NBC turned on the spigot. How much money does an episode need? One million. Two million. Four million? You got it. What are you doing with FOUR MILLION?? Visual effects out the wahzoo. In service of the thinnest plots on primetime.
We were still at "concept."
Show hurtled to a season finale so terrible, so threadbare, paper cutouts would have suited it fine.
Along came Comic Con. Screaming, screaming fans. We had been there the year before for previews. World tour of the cast, internet sites, backstories. Kring in la-la heaven.
Through it, I'm sitting and wondering, When is this guy going to put together an actual show? He'll will soon run out of ticky-ticking plot. Should have run out of it three episodes into season one.
Plot-plot-plot, no real characters. Characters in service of plots not being characters. Get real writers, I thought. Loeb is a comic book writer, great for the medium (yummy yummy Superman For All Seasons), great maybe of television concepts, perhaps, but not a television writer. Get you some real TV writers, before your audience comes down from euphoria.
Nothing happened. The writers strike did not hurt the show, it saved the show. Kring now has breathing room to retool the show. Season two was a disaster, Kring having to apologize in print, explain what he should have done instead of what he had done.
Okay so now we get real TV writers.
Nope.
Season three hemorrhaging viewers. Talk of "DVR effect" not convincing.
Fortunately for Kring, head of NBC TV too busy partying. NBC floundering, floundering. Industry starts to make some noise, and not in a fun, partying way. Studio heads start to take notice. Realize they have to do something about their network, their "Lost."
One morning everybody wakes up. Kring is fired. Along with his two head writers/executive producers, Jeph Loeb and Jesse Alexander.
No, wait. Kring is not fired. Too valuable to the franchise. Oh, but he was never fired. Yes, he was.
So what happens? We watch and wait. Shaken, Kring maybe finally, finally, hires the writers he so badly needs. They exist in the industry. You just have to pry yourself from the sultry arms of your fame, start understanding that screaming fans at Comic Con don't mean much if you can't deliver, and start doing the leg work. The piper has come for his due and your Id is about to get an ass kicking.
p.s. Writers from Crossing Jordan? I wouldn't.
The Point About Heroes
No one could say Tim Kring did not get all the room he wished to make himself a hit show. Heroes seemed fail-proof, in the sense that there was nothing anyone could do to stop the momentum. Worldwide, at home, it seemed a phenomenon.
The fact that the emperor had no clothes didn't seem to factor in at all.
What is Heroes? A TV show that's nothing but concept. What's the concept? Human beings evolving into super beings. X-Men without Xavier. (No, sorry, Mohinder Suresh is not Dr. X.)
So what happened? The show never evolved past concept (i.e the idea for the show). The entire first season could have been fit into a two-hour pilot.
We watched and waited. The fan accolades were out of this world. Magazines, newspapers, everybody was all about Heroes. I myself emailed just about every sci-fi fan I was friends with: YOU HAVE TO WATCH THIS SHOW. The potential was magnificent.
So what happened? We watched and waited. Kring had brought on Jeph Loeb. Why? I wondered. Heroes is not Smallville, a show with a decent following on a small network. Heroes is NBC, Heroes is juggernaut. There was also Brian Fuller. I...guess...
NBC turned on the spigot. How much money does an episode need? One million. Two million. Four million? You got it. What are you doing with FOUR MILLION?? Visual effects out the wahzoo. In service of the thinnest plots on primetime.
We were still at "concept."
Show hurtled to a season finale so terrible, so threadbare, paper cutouts would have suited it fine.
Along came Comic Con. Screaming, screaming fans. We had been there the year before for previews. World tour of the cast, internet sites, backstories. Kring in la-la heaven.
Through it, I'm sitting and wondering, When is this guy going to put together an actual show? He'll will soon run out of ticky-ticking plot. Should have run out of it three episodes into season one.
Plot-plot-plot, no real characters. Characters in service of plots not being characters. Get real writers, I thought. Loeb is a comic book writer, great for the medium (yummy yummy Superman For All Seasons), great maybe of television concepts, perhaps, but not a television writer. Get you some real TV writers, before your audience comes down from euphoria.
Nothing happened. The writers strike did not hurt the show, it saved the show. Kring now has breathing room to retool the show. Season two was a disaster, Kring having to apologize in print, explain what he should have done instead of what he had done.
Okay so now we get real TV writers.
Nope.
Season three hemorrhaging viewers. Talk of "DVR effect" not convincing.
Fortunately for Kring, head of NBC TV too busy partying. NBC floundering, floundering. Industry starts to make some noise, and not in a fun, partying way. Studio heads start to take notice. Realize they have to do something about their network, their "Lost."
One morning everybody wakes up. Kring is fired. Along with his two head writers/executive producers, Jeph Loeb and Jesse Alexander.
No, wait. Kring is not fired. Too valuable to the franchise. Oh, but he was never fired. Yes, he was.
So what happens? We watch and wait. Shaken, Kring maybe finally, finally, hires the writers he so badly needs. They exist in the industry. You just have to pry yourself from the sultry arms of your fame, start understanding that screaming fans at Comic Con don't mean much if you can't deliver, and start doing the leg work. The piper has come for his due and your Id is about to get an ass kicking.
p.s. Writers from Crossing Jordan? I wouldn't.