NBC counter-strike against Heroes’ hiatus
By fred | July 30, 2007
I think pretty much all networks finally realized that hiatus was a stupid thing, and that putting a show, any show, regardless of how great and/or popular it is, and especially for serialized drama, would hurt it.
Last season, many shows went into hiatus and got badly hurt, as many viewers didn’t tune back in when it came back. Add that some retarded decision not to rerun not promote the show, and you got the mess that Jericho went through.
As a reaction many have decided to follow Fox’s 24 scheduling, and have the season go on without any hiatus or reruns along the way, even if it meant bringing back the show and starting the new season later that usual.
With Heroes, NBC went another way.
They decided instead to have more of the show on the air, and without going for reruns or anything like that, it’s all new. But not really all of the show. Along with the regular 24 episodes scheduled to air for this season of Heroes, there will be 6 episodes of a brand new mid-season show: Heroes: Origins giving a total of 30 new episodes to the fans, without hiatus.
The six-part anthology will begin airing in late April and run straight through the end of May, during Heroes hiatus. The show will obviously not deal with the main stories on Heroes, but it takes place in the same “universe”, and each episode will introduce a new character who recently discovered he had an ability.
NBC execs wanted to avoid the hiatus, which hurt the show on his first season, and NBC chief Kevin Reilly told that they were “trying to stay more consistent in our scheduling for the audience ; [And] asked [Heroes creator] Tim Kring to come up with an idea, and what I love is not only did we bulk up with 30 hours next season, but also a whole new idea which I think is going to take the show to the next level.”
Each of the six episode will be directed by a different auteur, and the “next level” mentioned by Reilly comes with this little extra twist : After all six episodes aired, viewers will be able to vote and decide which character will join the cast of Heroes as series regular for season three.
