I was thinking about this the other day. Even though I named Heroes as the best show of the year, I've been worried lately that season two might turn out to be an over-hyped, overdone disaster that will make me tire of it really quickly. I mean, they're adding cast members at an astonishing rate (Kristin Bell, Nichelle Nichols, David Anders, Stephen Tobolowsky, Janel Parrish, Jessica Collins). They're going to have a storyline in another time (Hiro), produced a spinoff mini-series to be directed by Kevin Smith, produced online stories and comics to keep fans entertained and well-fed and gone on a world tour to promote the show. It's really overwhelming, and I hope they're not doing too much, too soon.
The Boston Globe's Matthew Gilbert is worried too.
Gilbert's main point is that it seems like Tim Kring and NBC are throwing so much at us that it's turning the little show that could into an overyhyped money machine that dwarfs even other overyhyped shows:
As the fall TV season approaches, and we wonder which series will shame themselves, "Heroes" is looking increasingly like a prime suspect. Since the Monday night show is NBC's only newish non-reality hit, the network and Kring have spent the summer heaping tacky expansion gimmicks onto it with abandon. "Heroes" has been turned into a relentless and tiresome source of merchandising, casting, and spinoff hype -- hype about how the show will grow as a product, not media-generated hype about how good it is.
To me, it's as if NBC is pressing "Heroes" into child labor. The network is working the show like a mature blockbuster -- on the order of "CSI" or "Lost" -- too soon. Underneath all the great expectations, there is just a wee sci-fi TV series whose unformed back is carrying too much weight.
"Heroes" has great potential, based on much of its first season, to be special and enduring. But, like many new series, it still needs refining and tender loving care before it deserves to be turned into a synergistic linchpin. Its Emmy nomination this summer for outstanding drama series came too soon.
He makes some good points, though there's no way I'm not going to watch, of course. The first season was way too good to simply say this show has "jumped the shark" (I really hate that term now) already. I just hope they really weave the new cast members into the show really well. There was already a giant cast, and now they're adding a ton more, and those storylines could really get out of control really fast. Unless they plan on killing most of the original cast (which of course they aren't).
So what do you think? Is Heroes going overboard?
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
8-23-2007 @ 10:46AM
Blair M said...
Well I've been soured on Heroes since halfway through the first season because it was overhyped. IMO, it's a decent but not great show with an overly zealous and exaggerative fan base.
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8-23-2007 @ 11:44AM
BDUB said...
I am so done with the term "Jump the Shark".
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8-23-2007 @ 11:29AM
Gilbert0 said...
I have to totally disagree. Heroes deserves the hype and it will pay off. Watch for it to be the #1 drama on TV next year and lift NBC out of last place. Anymore a show is not a show - its a product. And they are certainly taking advantage of any hype they can get. It won't take but three episodes for Americans to get hooked.
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8-23-2007 @ 11:28AM
Chuck said...
I was worried about this, too. I saw the promo for the new season last night for the first time, and I swear it was the most overdone, overdramatic piece of hype I have ever seen. Seriously, it almost made me not want to watch the show again it was so terrible.
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8-23-2007 @ 11:42AM
kel said...
Thank you Gilbert0. Tell the folks at the NBC marketing department we said hi! OK, maybe you're not a shill, but you sound pretty damn close to one.
I'm worried about Heroes too. I love the show, but the bloom came off the rose with their season finale (I'm still thinking WTF?) I'm betting on a sophmore slump, then the creative juices will flow again once the powers that be get their hunger back.
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8-23-2007 @ 11:50AM
Adam said...
Too many new characters being added this season. And to a show that wasn't THAT good at switching between different storylines in their first season (Niki/Jessica story; Matt Parkman). I know there are more heroes in the world than the first season showed, but the supporters of the show love it for the Heroes of the first season, not because the writers are good at making up new powers. They should at least give us 2-3 seasons of these characters before introducing half a dozen more.
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8-23-2007 @ 11:52AM
Ryan said...
It's not like NBC can pick and choose what hits to promote since they're lacking in those.
Look, they're promoting the hell of a really good show. If they weren't, other people would complain. Plus it's a genre "cultish" show that's also mainstream. How do you walk through that oxymoronic tightrope, right?
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8-23-2007 @ 12:37PM
C C said...
I suspect the they're doing the six "Heroes: Origins" episodes not as a stunt, but as a pre-emptive move in case there's a writers' strike. If there's a work stoppage that lasts a few months, they'll have these "extra" shows in reserve.
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8-23-2007 @ 12:38PM
Dan Chichian said...
I watch next to nothing on NBC so i have not seen the hype but at least they are promoting the show. How many networks dump a show instead of putting in the effort to promote it (yes, I am still angry about Traveler), unless of course it is a game/reality show.
Overhyping a show can definitely be a bad thing: Cane has not even aired yet and I am sick to death of hearing about it and am not inclined to watch when it does air.
As to cast bloat, aren't most of the people listed above signed for short arcs? There were a number of heroes in the first season that we barely met before they were killed so I would imagine the same will be true for this season.
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8-23-2007 @ 12:59PM
metz said...
The original idea behind Heroes was to have a revolving cast. That went out the window during season 1 when they decided to not kill of cast members. Unfortunately it appears that no one sent the memo to the HR department and they kept hiring to fill replacements that weren't needed.
Yeah, I'm worried. You have to prove you can handle a big cast (Joss Whedon) before you should embark on hiring one. Tim Kring showed no ability to manage a large cast last season.
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8-23-2007 @ 1:22PM
Jack said...
Ah, the internet, where people can get together and worry about things that haven't happened yet. It really is the sewing circle of the 21st century.
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8-23-2007 @ 1:38PM
farfisa said...
Yeah, the term "jump the shark" has totally jumped the shark.
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8-23-2007 @ 1:39PM
khamel said...
they will be fine if the show actually gets good (or stays good). it was a fine show but nothing spectacular. kill off ali larter, her husband, parkman, the kid just off the top of my head and maybe the show can succeed. if there are 30 characters then its going to be hard to juggle them all and make a decent show.
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8-23-2007 @ 1:53PM
Oreo said...
It will not be number one anythnig except the number one show on NBC... MAYBE.
They are adding way too many charaters, that will most likely confuse new viewers and some of the old viewers still hate the way the first season ended.
I think this show will fall from grace as quickly as it rose.
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8-23-2007 @ 2:07PM
Jennifer said...
Well, is it possible? Yes. But I am going to wait and see how they handle things before I make a judgment.
At any rate, Heroes is my favorite show currently on the air, so...
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8-23-2007 @ 2:26PM
Joey Geraci said...
Heroes really and truly never deserved the hype it received, and I really can't understand how anybody could possibly say it is the best show on the air now. After a great start, it devolved into a merely OK show.
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8-23-2007 @ 4:33PM
Dave said...
It seems that everyone has forgotten how terribly the season ended. Did we ever get an explanation of why he couldnt just fly himself away from everyone else??
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8-23-2007 @ 5:39PM
radwimp said...
I was pretty tired of it after the quality of the last few episodes tanked. 'Company Man' was the last 'wow!' episode for me, and also the best of the series. Oh well, hope I'll get back into it when the new season starts.
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8-23-2007 @ 5:49PM
Mel said...
*rocks back and forth*
"I have complete and total faith in Heroes and it deserves the attention it gets... I have complete and total faith in Heroes and it deserves all the attention it gets..."
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8-24-2007 @ 5:42AM
fred said...
Not only are they overselling it, which might for sure have a negative impact on the way people feel towards the show, and yeah I watch that latest promo... OMG. Are they full of themselves or what!??
But the worst part is, they seem to have lost any interest in writing a good show anymore. Kring wanted a new set of charcaters each season, then agreed to change his mind because network said it would be best, that fans liked those characters.
Then he changed his mind again, and they're having a brand new set of Heroes, only they didn't take any risks and (pretty much) won't kill anyone from the first season either, and now the decisions are made from a marketing point of view, not a creative one.
Look at the S1 finale, piece of crap, and the more it goes the more I feel seaosn 2 will follow those footsteps...
http://88.191.26.34/i_watch_tv/2007/08/23/will-too-much-heroes-kill-heroes/
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