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Was Firing Writers On ‘Heroes’ Really Necessary?
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Does Internet Fan Reaction Help Or Hurt Your Favorite Shows?

So I just finished watching the latest episode of Heroes (on VHS — insert old-timer joke here) titled “Dual,” which everyone seems to have liked and it got me thinking. There has been so much news and talk on the Internet about how tired and convoluted the show has become and how it is no longer as good as it was in season’s past that producers have started taking notice of the negative fan reaction.

Recently, several of the writers for Heroes were fired after the show dipped low in the ratings and fan complaints surfaced, but was that a good thing? Tim Kring, creator of Heroes, has told fans that the series has already completed a good portion of the entire third season. As it turns out, this last episode which people are starting to come around to was written by Jeph Loeb, one of the writers axed. So could NBC have jumped the gun in causing such a shake-up? Could perhaps the show have eventually regained some of its ratings on their own?

Personally, I think the show hasn’t changed one bit. It is still marginally well acted with recurring storylines that, like in comic books, reoccur quite often. I think it’s good that TV land pays so close attention to what the fans want, but we are such a fickle lot that it’s hard to tell whether the viewers should have this kind of power. And was firing Leob and fellow Heroes writer Jesse Alexander really the correct reaction to the situation? When news of the firing broke last month, Leob said, “Someone had to take the fall.” They sure did.

A wise man named Joss Whedon once said in an interview that it is his job when writing any show to give fans not what they want, but rather what they need. I think if producers and writers follow this one mantra, things should go without a hitch.

5 Comments »

  1. The internet ruins everything

    Comment by Wil — January 1, 2009 @ 7:03 pm

  2. Listening to the fans to closely is a mistake. Fans love and hate everything, sometimes at the same time.

    Comment by Rod — January 2, 2009 @ 10:12 am

  3. I too loved aspects of the show, and recently hated most. Which is why I’m dropping my viewership. I felt “Dual” was pretty badly done, like all the arc finales of the show. Looking back at the past three arcs, each one kicked into high gear about half way through with the “flashback/reveal all” episode… often this being the best episode of the season or one of the best. It then builds up, but writing and pacing wise never adds up for me and i feel let down. Someone show the writers how to write good finales and you might get your viewers back for Fugitives. But it doesn’t matter, I doubt I’ll have time to commit to the show come Spring anyways. Bad Robot will have my attention for two hours of the week as it is.

    Comment by Slipstream — January 2, 2009 @ 11:29 am

  4. This season of Heroes sucked. I stopped watching around episode 4 or 5. Too many reversals, dead characters resurrected, stupids revelations, etc.

    I wish The 4400 was still on the air. That show got better and better.

    Comment by Film-Book dot Com — January 5, 2009 @ 5:16 pm

  5. Heroes, like every other show, unfortunately got blindsided by the writer’s strike. It’s the primary reason why people dropped off after Season 2. They really shouldn’t have though, the first ten episodes of Season 1 made up the “save the cheerleader” arc just as the first eleven of Season 2 made up the “virus” arc. Had they had more time they would have whipped out the “outbreak” and then Villians. All that would have been in Season 2.

    Ratings-wise Volume 3 pretty much stabilised at about 8 million TV viewers, 18 million viewers overall (not counting overseas).

    In the end people still love Heroes. They even won a 2009 People’s Choice Award for best Sci-Fi/Fantasy Show, beating Terminator and Supernatural.

    Comment by James Madley — January 14, 2009 @ 8:13 pm

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