ALL SCI-FI

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Before the Marvel & DC superheroes really became huge & prolific sensations in film & television we had the terrific sci-fi series Heroes.

Created by Tim Kring, Heroes ran from 2006~2010 for 4 seasons on NBC.

Ordinary people suddenly find themselves endowed with superhuman abilities.

The show was an enormous hit with both critics and viewers.
And it was a hit for me.

[Bud Brewster]

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Save the cheerleader!

I loved it. Spock was evil. (Well, it was same actor, at least . . . )

_____Save The Cheerleader, Save The World | Heroes


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Lots more YouTube videos here.

The artwork was terrific, too.







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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

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Wikipedia:

Creator/producer Tim Kring originally designed his show to have an ever-shifting cast. However, he realized just how popular some of the original first season cast members were with the audience and ended up bringing back many of the first season cast for the second season.

The idea for the show came to Tim as he was pondering how big, scary and complicated the world is, so he wanted to do a character-driven series about people who could do something about it.

He would have ordinary people who discover that they now mysteriously possess extraordinary abilities, but the show would still be rooted in the real world.

Lost creator & friend, Damon Lindelof gave Tim invaluable ideas on how to pitch Heroes to the networks. Damon also told Tim about the lessons he learned when working on serialized television dramas.
Tim had worked for Damon on the TV show Crossing Jordan.

The writing team: each script writer took a specific character on Heroes and would write individual scenes surrounding that individual.

The stories were then combined and given to the episode writer.

This system allowed every writer to contribute to every episode, this in turn enabled the writing team to finish scripts sooner.
This would also allow the filming crew to shoot more scenes whenever they were on a location.

Several scripts had to be ready so that this process could be implemented in the serialized drama because one has to know where each character's development is heading.

Sidebar: I've never heard about such a writing system like Heroes had on any other TV shows. Seems clever that Tim devised it. It might not be a system applicable to every kind of TV series, but I wonder if there ever were some shows that would have benefited from such a system?

I'm thinking of shows that ended up behind schedule and ran into other problems. If they had adapted Tim's system of writing perhaps the show would have not fallen into a mess.

[Bud Brewster]

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I didn't know that Tim Krin (creator of Heroes) and Damon Lindelof (creator of Lost) were friends, but I loved those series . . . until the conclusions, which were both unsatisfactory (in my opinion).
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

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I share your opinion regarding the disappointing endings of Lost & Heroes, Bud.

In fact, I gave up on Lost after regularly watching it for the first 2 seasons. I found that the writers just piled on one mystery after another after another until I was "lost" as to what was going on. The premise became so convoluted & dense that it was no longer fun to watch it any longer.

I did manage to stick with Heroes until the end. The show started out so strong & promising with its first season. Then it went off the rails with its second season.

It was like watching a superb dancer perform (season one) and then watching them again (season two) and they keep stumbling as though they've forgotten how to dance anymore.

[Bud Brewster]

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Your description of the unsatisfying experiences you had with both series parallels mine exactly.

The plot of Lost became frustrating because it was obvious the producers couldn't think of a good story, so they just jerked the audience around with meaningless plot elements!

Like you, I gave up well before the end.

Heroes teased me along until the end of season two, but I certainly wasn't pleased by the so-called conclusion.
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

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Screen Rant article from October 9, 2023: TV Episodes That Made Viewers Give Up On A Show, by Richard Craig.

Heroes: "Four Months Later . . . "

After a highly successful first season, Heroes was set for a triumphant return with season 2, episode 1, "Four Months Later . . . " Many were eager to witness the events which followed season' 1's dramatic finale but were soon disappointed. Right from the beginning, the new season felt detached from the previous one, and it opted to set up a swathe of new storylines and characters, rather than focus on the established, and now beloved, original characters. The shift felt very noticeable, and viewers quickly felt less enthusiastic about continuing with the series.

Sidebar: I was excited seeing the NBC promos for the show in late summer. Once it premiered, I really liked it. To my amazement it was receiving both huge viewership numbers and critical raves. I say that because s-f TV shows are challenged in getting smash ratings, even if the critics are giving a series high praise. When the series returned, it never seemed to regain its footing. Something was off about it. I stayed with it to the end, where the show regained (learned?) its quality by the last season. It was too late by then with its ratings in the tank, it went to the cancelation graveyard for television.