TVSquad

Lots of news coming out of the Television Critics Association press tour, and a lot of it makes you think that NBC is either a.) filled with mad geniuses who are so ahead of the rest of us that we'll all look back in a few years and realize how prescient they were, or b.) they have no idea how to run a network.

The latest move that TV fans will be talking about is this: prime time entertainment chief Angela Bromstad says that Day One, the new drama from ex-Heroes producer Jesse Alexander, might only last one season and then be done.

Reading a quick description of Day One and seeing this behind the scenes footage, I think this might be NBC's version of Jericho. That's probably the show that this will be compared to, though this one looks more action-oriented. It's from ex-Heroes/Lost/Alias writer/producer Jesse Alexander, and it's about a group of people from an apartment complex in Van Nuys that have to band together when something mysterious happens to the planet.

Please, Pushing Daisies fans, please note that I say IF. I even put it in capital letters!

There was talk that Bryan Fuller would be asked by Tim Kring to return to Heroes after NBC told Kring to let two other producers on the show, Jesse Alexander and Jeph Loeb, go. Now Fuller confirms that he will definitely go back to the show if Pushing Daisies isn't picked up after the 13th episode of the series, which will be completed in January.

The other day we told you about NBC telling Heroes creator/executive producer Tim Kring to fire two producers on the show (Jesse Alexander and Jeph Loeb), and now Kring says that he agrees with some of the criticisms of the show.

Kring has been very, very involved in the show this season as the showrunner, and many think that might be the problem. So now Kring wants to get back to a more simplified type of storytelling, with more character development and less outlandish scenes. This is welcome news to fans that think the show has gone off course but still want to watch it, as will this news, that not only will Kring possibly replace the two producers with first season producer Bryan Fuller, but also that some heroes are going to be killed off to clean up the story a bit. The "Villains" chapter ends next month; then we'll have the "Fugitives" chapter for the second half of the season.

This isn't the first time that Kring has agreed with criticisms of the show. He said it a few months ago about the second season too.

So the big Heroes backlash now has two victims.

NBC has fired two producers that have been with the show since day one, Jesse Alexander and Jeph Loeb. The show has been getting a lot of negative press lately (actually, ever since the strike-shortened second season), including this Entertainment Weekly cover story on what's wrong with the show and how to fix it. Sources say the two were let go because Universal is unhappy with the direction and cost of the show.

Look, is Heroes as good as it was the first season? No, it's not. But I think that's because of two reasons. One, it's not new anymore. Two, way too many characters, and when you have too many characters it affects the structure of the show. Now, the show has always had a lot of characters and storylines going at the same time, but now they have more "extra" characters on the show we have to follow (and often follow them in two different years, heh). So that criticism of the show is accurate.

If you take Jesse Alexander, the Executive Producer of the popular series Heroes and Lost, and add the word 'pirates', what do you think you would get? Well, it could be a show featuring pirates that have superhuman abilities who crash into an island that really isn't an island at all. If you were thinking that, then you would be way off base. If you're thinking more in the realm of information-sharing pirates you would be taking a step in the right direction.

It seems that Jesse Alexander is teaming up with Matt Mason, author of The Pirate's Dilemma for a show about modern-day piracy and how important it is for today's society. For those not familiar with the book, Mason makes an argument that the open source culture that we now have with information sharing is changing the shape of economies and breaking down walls that allow easier access to software, music, television shows, and other forms of media and technology. According to a post on TorrentFreak, the show will aim to educate people on how piracy has been an innovator in our society and how it will shape our future. A teaser of the show can be found on TorrentFreak as well as Mason's own blog.

Warning! There be some mild spoilers ahead. Proceed at your own risk, because Hiro ain't here to turn back time. Plus you can click the images for larger versions.

TV Squad was invited to visit the set of Heroes last month, and it's just about time for the episode we saw them filming to hit the airwaves. Tonight's episode is the much talked-about Episode 20 'String Theory', where Hiro and Ando have journeyed five years into the future, and encounter "Super Hiro" -- who is basically normal Hiro with a ponytail, soul patch, Matrix-esque clothes, a flawless English accent, and much more control over his powers. However, something has gone wrong ... right? Because if he had total mastery of those time-bending and teleporting abilities, he could've stopped New York from going boom.

As we saw in the last episode, Hiro and Ando find some sort of mish-mash network of strings, photos, and more in Isaac's old loft, where Future Hiro has clearly set up shop and appears to be working out some problems with the timestream in a sort of A Beautiful Mind fashion. It looks like he's been charting connections between people and events, and I'm sure we'll see more of that. During our visit, we caught up with Hiro Nakamura (Masi Oka), Ando (James Kyson Lee), and Kaito Nakamura (Hiro's father, and Trek legend George Takei) while they were filming Episode 21 'The Hard Part', and we got to watch them at work and talk with them about their characters, the show, and what lies ahead.