Hayden Panettiere-related stories
Posted Mar 10th 2009 6:02PM by Bob Sassone
Filed under: Industry, Programming, Watercooler Talk, Heroes, Reality-Free
Interesting story over at
The Hollywood Reporter:
should NBC give an end date for Heroes like ABC gave an end date for
Lost?
It's an intriguing idea. If they were to say that
Heroes was going to end, let's say, after the 6th season, then the writers and producers could actually start planning the story in a certain way and give it a real ending. I also think that if the show were to have a definite end date, fans and former fans would watch the show, knowing that it is actually going somewhere. James Hibberd makes a good case, saying that scarcity increases demand, that it will probably increase ratings, and the show is, well, a goner anyway.
Of course, this could probably be said about a lot of shows on TV, that giving them an end date would make the stories better and get fans interested. Except for
According To Jim of course. ABC just renewed that the sitcom through the 2021-22 season.
Posted Mar 7th 2009 12:02PM by Bob Sassone
Filed under: Programming, Heroes, Pickups and Renewals, Reality-Free
OK, OK, SPOILER ALERT!
There are still a bunch of episodes left in this third season of
Heroes, but producers and writers are already working on the fourth season (the show was
renewed by NBC for another season earlier this week). There isn't much being disclosed about specific plots or what is going to happen to specific characters or what characters are going to make it out alive from this third season (though I would assume The Hunter will be gone). But there is one big clue as to who won't be the major character that is going to die at the end of this season, and we'll discuss that a bit after the jump.
Continue reading Here's a sneak peek at Heroes season four
Posted Mar 5th 2009 11:55AM by Bob Sassone
Filed under: Industry, Programming, Heroes, Pickups and Renewals, Reality-Free
This isn't a real surprise (to me anyway), but
NBC has confirmed that Heroes will indeed return for another season this fall.
There's been endless talk about how the quality of the show has declined since the first season, and viewer numbers have been dropping this past season, but it's still a good show that draws a core audience and NBC understands this. It still has a certain amount of buzz associated with it, and NBC needs to hold on to what loyal fans the network has, especially since we don't know what the hell is going to happen with NBC's schedule when Jay Leno takes over 10pm Monday through Friday.
By the way, the
Day One show mentioned in the article linked above is a new drama from Jesse Alexander, one of the producers of
Heroes who was let go this season. It's about a group of residents from an apartment complex who have to band together after some sort of catastrophe. It could air on Monday nights too.
Posted Mar 2nd 2009 2:04PM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: Daytime, Reality-Free, TV Squad Ten
Did you know that double Oscar winners Dustin Hoffman and Robert De Niro acted in soap operas? It's true. Many of today's biggest stars honed their craft by doing New York soaps like
As the World Turns and
Another World. Before she was
Buffy, the Vampire Slayer,
Sarah Michelle Gellar was Susan Lucci's daughter on
All My Children.
Hollywood soaps like
Days of Our Lives,
General Hospital, and
The Young and the Restless also produced stars.
Tom Selleck, for instance, was a
Y&R hunk before becoming
Magnum, P.I. There are a lot of current stars right now on hit shows who were daytime characters just a few years ago. After the jump, we count down the top ten primetime stars who started in soaps.
Continue reading TV Squad Ten: Primetime stars who started in soaps
Posted Feb 17th 2009 2:21PM by Jason Hughes
Filed under: OpEd, Heroes, Episode Reviews, Reality-Free
(S03E16) Spoiler Warning! The scene to the right happens in this episode. But don't worry, it doesn't really accomplish much ... for Tracy. It looks like the Justice League is forming under the tutelage of "Rebel." But who is he? We've got another
Heroes mystery on our hand. You know, like the mystery of whether or not HRG is a good guy or a bad guy (that one will be addressed next week) and the mystery of who Sylar's father is. And if Claire will whine and bitch this week. Okay that last one isn't much of a mystery.
We went in three major directions tonight with the plot, skipping one group of "heroes" altogether, and surprisingly not missing them. First we had more drama in the Bennett household, complete with Claire rebelling against her father. It's nice to see that fifty episodes into the series, Claire's character has really grown and evolved into a mature young woman. The same goes for Hiro, who's gone from being an immature man-child with delusions of grandeur to an immature man-child with delusions of grandeur. Hmmm, doesn't sound as impressive when you put it like that.
Continue reading Heroes: Building 26
Posted Feb 10th 2009 1:03PM by Jason Hughes
Filed under: Heroes, Episode Reviews, Reality-Free
(S03E15) The second chapter of the newest volume of
Heroes wasn't quite as strong as the first one, but it kept things moving in a positive direction. I guess the writers were wanting to keep the fugitive heroes as weak in power base as possible, based on the casualty we experienced in this episode. In a way, I can say I knew it was coming, but was hopeful that it wouldn't. While I agree that the cast had gotten a little sprawling and out of control at times thorughout the series progression, I never thought this character was a problem.
Continue reading Heroes: Trust and Blood
Posted Feb 4th 2009 3:04PM by Bob Sassone
Filed under: Heroes, Reality-Free
One of the
Heroes is going to die this season. And not just one of the disposable ones that aren't important to the plot, but one of the main characters.
That's the news being reported by
TV Guide and others. So which one will it be? There are even rumors going around that both Ali Larter and Hayden Panettiere want to leave the show, so they are both possibilities. Here's a quick analysis on each main character. Let's see if we can narrow down who could be the hero to kick the bucket (and I'm assuming it's really kick the bucket, not
Heroes kick the bucket where they could still come back to life).
Continue reading Which of the Heroes is going to die at the end of the season?
Posted Feb 3rd 2009 3:30AM by Jason Hughes
Filed under: Heroes, Episode Reviews, Reality-Free
(S03E14) Now that's more like it! Yes, we're only one hour into this fourth volume ("Fugitives") of
Heroes, but already we're looking at a vastly improved product. We're no longer fragmented trying to keep track of a million different seemingly unrelated storylines. Everything's connected, there's a very common and familiar enemy that needs to be dealt with, and it's a natural progression from where we've come.
Nathan's progression to the point we see him tonight has been handled pretty well. From the beginning, he was always portrayed as kind of a dick who felt pretty differently than Peter about abilities and those with them. Now we see just how strongly he feels. The addition of Zejlko Ivanek (
Damages) as the man in charge of the hunter squads is a great casting choice. Already he brings an intensity to the role that's much appreciated. It's early to say, but this reminded me so much of the tone and atmosphere of the first season that I think we can declare
Heroes back.
Continue reading Heroes: A Clear and Present Danger
Posted Dec 16th 2008 9:54AM by Jason Hughes
Filed under: Heroes, Episode Reviews, Reality-Free
(S03E13) Man, they did it again. Set up a potentially solid climactic final chapter to a "Volume" and then just kind of fizzled out. Sylar's antics bordered a bit on the ridiculous, and I don't at all buy Nathan's character path over the past three seasons as plausible. I was pleased with the continuation and ultimate resolution of Hiro's story as it involved also Ando, Matt and Daphne. As it turns out, while these are by no means the central figures in the plots for this Volume, their story was the best.
Maybe it's because there was a minimum of whining (Peter) or pouting (Claire), and quite frankly there's only so much of that crap you can take. With the end of "Volume Three" tonight, as we've done in the past, we got a sneak peek at "Volume Four: Fugitives." And as has been the case in the past, the few minutes we got on a preview of the next volume was much more compelling than the finale of this current volume. Just like real comic books, you usually get a great build up in these big stories, ultimately leading to disappointment.
Continue reading Heroes: Dual
Posted Dec 2nd 2008 9:42AM by Jason Hughes
Filed under: Heroes, Episode Reviews, Reality-Free
(S03E11) Well, that was a whole lot of hullabaloo about nothing. I know, I know can't spoil anything before the jump. Can I say that I'm really enjoying Hiro these last couple of episodes? Maybe all he needed was to be a 10-year old boy. In fact, I wasn't too terribly annoyed by anyone in this episode ... except for Mohinder. Come on, dude. Let it go. Do you really think she's still going to be interested after everything that went down?
You just know that Seth Green and Breckin Meyer were just geeking out about getting a role on this show. In fact, we need more
Heroes sketches on
Robot Chicken. Now there's no excuses. As for the rest, the eclipse came and went and all those huge promises about what a big freaking deal this would turn out to be were for naught. Their powers disappeared when the eclipse came. What happened when it left?
Continue reading Heroes: The Eclipse - Part II
Posted Nov 20th 2008 3:00PM by Bob Sassone
Filed under: Programming, Heroes, Reality-Free
Everyone seems to have an idea on how
Heroes can be improved. I think it's still good, but ratings are down, fans are fleeing, and it's probably not a show new fans can get into. Now
creator Tim Kring has an idea.
For next season, he'd like to see more self-contained episodes instead of a long continuing storyline over the entire season. He talked about what he intended to do with the show and what the future might hold at the Creative Screenwriting Expo last weekend. He wanted to give NBC a show like
Lost or
24, one with a serialized storyline that would have fans coming back each week. Now he says he's not sure if that was the right decision, describing those shows as "an absolute bear to do." He thinks that the way that people watch TV nowadays is a lot different than just three years ago, because of DVRs and online viewing and all that, and that has changed how viewers watch serialized dramas since they don't watch them live every week.
Continue reading What if Heroes wasn't a serialized show?
Posted Nov 18th 2008 3:10AM by Jason Hughes
Filed under: Heroes, Episode Reviews, Reality-Free
(S03E09) It's a shame that nobody's watching this show anymore, because tonight was all about setting the stage for the battle to come. With "Volume 4" coming either in December or early next year, we should be moving fast and furious to the big confrontation between Team Pinehearst and Team Primatech. By the end of this episode, all of our major players appear to have chosen sides. The stage is set, after only nine episodes, to get to the meat of this volume.
Remember when we were told that there was going to be an examination of the generations of
Heroes, and possibly struggles between them. It looks like the Writers Strike swept all of that off the table. Hell, the only people left from the "first" generation are Angela and Arthur Petrelli, and now they appear to be on opposing sides. It took awhile to get to this point, what with wasting all that time on Mohinder and Maya early on this season, but it looks like we're finally getting to the good stuff. Creator
Tim Kring took pen to paper, or more likely fingers to keyboard, to write this pivotal episode. Is there anybody left watching to appreciate his efforts?
Continue reading Heroes: It's Coming
Posted Oct 28th 2008 8:48AM by Jason Hughes
Filed under: Heroes, Episode Reviews, Reality-Free
(S03E07) Have you noticed how quickly an episode of
Heroes goes by? It's not a bad thing, but it just goes to show you how much they pack into each episode. It helps that they're juggling forty to fifty storylines at any given time. It's one of those things where when you're looking at writing up a review of the show there's just so much that happens. Again, I liked this episode but there weren't any major developments as far as the bigger events.
We did have another de-powering as well as another death. Kristen Bell returned to the show as the troubled Elle, and Claire's mom again showed us what her power was by holding her palm up and having fire dance on it. Hey lady, we're sooo over it! Does Peter get his powers back? Does Sylar really just need a hug? Did Hayden Panattiere finally get any acting lessons so she can show more than "earnest" on her face?
Continue reading Heroes: Eris Quod Sum
Posted Oct 21st 2008 5:10AM by Jason Hughes
Filed under: Heroes, Episode Reviews, Reality-Free
(S03E06) Say what you want, but I think this episode continued the good streak established last week. It looks like, after a shaky start, the
Heroes train is finally back on the track. All it took was some patience. That's a good sign for the rest of the season. Now if it could just get some of those lost viewers back. I hope NBC is factoring in downloads, DVR playbacks and streaming views online into their decisions regarding this show as I know it performs extremely well there.
Continue reading Heroes: Dying of the Light
Posted Oct 6th 2008 11:23PM by Jason Hughes
Filed under: Heroes, Episode Reviews, Reality-Free
(S03E04) A lot of people have said in the comments that it appears as if I don't like
Heroes. Believe me, that's not true. I'm actually a huge fan of the show. As a huge comic book junkie for more years and dollars than good sense will allow me to admit, the potential and general premise of this series is tremendously exciting. And the fact that it achieved such mainstream success right out of the gate was nothing short of astounding.
However, just like you'll tell your wife whom you love more than anything else that she has a piece of lettuce stuck in her teeth, I'm not going to just put on rose-colored glasses and pretend that every scene, line and moment of each episode is solid gold. If I see lettuce, I'm going to call them on it. Because the way I see it, it's just lettuce. It doesn't change how wonderful and beautiful she is in the slightest. It's just a little thing that needs to be taken care of because it's distracting me and it doesn't really fit the whole look her face is going for. Kind of like whatever's going on with Mohinder.
Continue reading Heroes: I Am Become Death
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