Heroes - various rumours about cancellation

[lathany]

Note: No spoilers (although actors still in it get mentioned).

I don't know who else is still watching this (other than floralaetifica and me), but there's a new set of rumours about season five.

About a week ago, the speculation was that a 12/13 episode series would be commissioned. Now, however, the rumour is that it's cancelled. The original source, as far as I can tell, is here.

What's the history of this?

• Heroes has dropped in rating every season from an average of roughly 15 million for the first season to 5 million in season four.
• After season four, various people, including Greg Grunberg (Matt Parkman) said that season four didn't wrap up the story properly and they expected a season five. (Ali Larter (Niki/Jessica) also said, towards the end of last month, she thought it would be renewed).
• The network (NBC) and the creator (Tim Kring) had reportedly discussed it more than once and various sites suggested that Kring was keen on a 12/13 episode season and that NBC were hinting this was OK with them (which surprised me as I thought 100 episodes was a magic number for syndication and Heroes doesn't hit that for another 22 episodes... but hey, I'm no expert on the USA TV industry).
• Then today this rumour has surfaced: that NBC are very happy with their new shows and would choose Chuck (which I've never seen) over Heroes for renewal (as both are "on the bubble", ie. NBC was unsure whether to renew or not).
• As part of this rumour, there is a suggestion that Heroes will be given a proper exit with some sort of two or four hour TV movie / mini-series. And, I guess, they might also consider the thirteen episodes at that point if one of their promising new shows doesn't deliver depending on when they make the arrangements for the finish (ie. the thirteen episode thing had already been suggested as being prepared to cover cancellation).
• One nice thing about today's news is that, apparently, NBC will confirm their schedule on Sunday (and it's published Monday). So I'll know for sure by Tuesday (UK time) at the latest.

I'm disappointed about this as I really hoped, particularly given all the earlier up-beat rumours, that it would be back. And, yes, it isn't as good as it used to be, but I still find it more watchable than pretty much anything else and I'm going to miss it. The one bright spot is the continuing rumours of some sort of resolution series/mini-series or movie. I don't want an end, but a prepared one beats the hell out of the too-many shows that didn't get one.

Comments

[http://users.livejournal.com/_kent/]

Well, I'd argue that the characters in LotR act in a coherent storyline that someone planned out before writing.

I have lost patience with Heroes several times over the last few years, only to have been drawn back in because it's marginally better than stuff like 24, and so few alternatives left within the genre. I'd certainly recommend Chuck over it, even though it's well past its best.

[bateleur.livejournal.com]

Well, I'd argue that the characters in LotR act in a coherent storyline that someone planned out before writing.

You'd have to word that as "as though someone planned it out before writing", because in fact JRRT famously just scribbled piles of notes - it was allegedly his wife who mostly compiled the books!

[http://users.livejournal.com/_kent/]

Well, even if that has to be modified to "Substantially edited into a coherent plotline before being unleashed on an unsuspecting world", the point still holds :)

I spent far too much time watching Heroes feeling "this will become good at some unspecified point in the future" rather than "this is good *now*." Even season one, which was more than occasionally good, could have benefitted from heavy editing.