Holy crap. How things can change in six months. The top-rated NBC action series Heroes, which was an instant hit two years ago, has been canceled after a 25% drop in viewership with the third season’s premiere. With advertisers dropping off left and right, NBC will air the remaining seven episodes that have already been filmed and, presumably, wrap things up with a quick season finale - if fans are lucky.
No doubt, fans like me are going to protest this like crazy, as Heroes is one of the most refreshing shows on television. It was a risky venture by NBC - after all, even with superheroes being as popular as ever after successful franchises like X-Men and Spider-man, TV audiences can be finicky, and the thought of a television show about “realistic” superheroes was pushing the acceptability factor of people. Nonetheless, it launched with a slam dunk and just went from there, delivering some of the best television we’ve seen in years (OK, not nearly as good as Lost or Battlestar Galactica).
Unfortunately, the second season was a bit weak at times, and the last several episodes were hurried by the writer’s strike, cutting short major season arcs and conveniently wrapping them up in overly ambitious ways. Season Two saw a ridiculously small amount of episodes, and apparently that was more than enough to kill it for audiences. Still, a 25% decrease is pretty shocking, and NBC must have passed the break-even point as I’m sure Heroes is quite pricey (despite having rather crappy special effects by today’s standards).
Anyway, while Heroes did experience a 25% drop with its season premiere, NBC of course is not really canceling one of its most popular shows. Did you really believe that? Did you?
Tags: cancellation, heroes, nbc, television, tv
Category: Television/TV | Comments RSS
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September 24th, 2008 at 8:24 pm
your sense of humor with the presumably innocous lying is getting annoying… you should stick to what you do (review movies), and leave the 5 year-old practical jokes to the toddlers, otherwise you’ll probably see a 25% drop
September 25th, 2008 at 4:59 am
I don’t mind your sense of humor. It’s generally funny, but maybe to please everyone you would want to space out your jokes. The Godfather 4 is somewhat believable just because of the times we’re in right now, but Heroes being canceled isn’t at all.
September 29th, 2008 at 9:26 pm
Thanks for the feedback, guys. I don’t think I’ll stop my blatant lying, but I’ll try to do it in a less predictable fashion perhaps. Or not. We shall see…
October 14th, 2008 at 11:35 am
I HOPE THIS IS A JOKE. IF HEROES IS CANCELED I WILL STOP WATCHING NBC ALL TOGETHER!!! I’M STILL UPSET THEY CANCELED JOURNEYMAN!!! ALL I HAVE LEFT IS MY NAME EARL AND HEROS.
October 28th, 2008 at 10:33 am
Okay… I get that you were lying and having a little bit of fun. Whatever, cool. However, I heard all of this information from a friend of mine who watches the show with me. He says that he read in an article that Heroes dropped by 5 million views, and that NBC may or may not cancel the show after Volume 3 concludes.
All of this is kinda strange, because Wikipedia has just updated their database on Heroes and has mentioned nothing about it. Anyone know anything else?
October 28th, 2008 at 11:28 am
Hi Shane,
Heroes, along with many other network shows, have seen tremendous drop-offs this season. Their season opener did receive a 25% drop from last season; the writer’s strike seems to have disenfranchised people (also, the second season wasn’t as good as the first). However, I have not heard anything that Heroes might be on the chopping block.
Erik