NBC Strongly Considering a Final Season
THR is reporting that Heroes is still among shows that are “on the bubble” and “the Peacock strongly considering a final-season order.” That’s back to back stories of encouragement for Heroes fans. First we here from Ali Larter that she believes Heroes will be back for a 5th season and now we have word that NBC is strongly considering more episodes. Oh yeah, in case you missed it, Ali Larter recently spoke up about Heroes during the Resident Evil panel at WonderCon. Even though Larter feels that the show will be back, she encourages everyone to tweet and blog about it. You can check that out HERE.
My Personal Opinion
If NBC had plans to cancel Heroes, wouldn’t they have done it by now? I know some people are saying we’ll find out in May but Heroes has a big following and usually we would have heard something by now. Why keep the actors waiting and why not try to promote this as the final season in the U.K. if they had decided on ending with Season 4? This season might be over and done with in the U.S. but there are still more episodes airing in other places. Okay that last part may be a bit of a stretch but it would seem to me that NBC might be past the cancel/renew stage and they are trying to determine how to market the final season of Heroes. I’ll even go as far as to speculate that NBC might be considering more than just one more season. With the ending we were given for Volume 5 it might be tough to end the series with one final comeback. Would I be happy with only getting one more order of episodes? Sure I’ll take what I can get, but we have no idea what Tim Kring has actually pitched to NBC. I do feel that Heroes has a good chance of being back and the only thing that NBC is deciding on is how they’re going to market the show. I don’t want to give fans false hope so I want to clarify that this is completely personal opinion with zero inside knowledge on the situation. I may very well end up eating my words but I strongly believe there’s hope. What do you think? Sound off!
-Joe
Sources: The Hollywood Reporter and Celebrity-Mania.com
I agree with you Joe. If they were gonna do it, I think that they would have done it by now. But like you I could be completely wrong. They could be pulling us along until the final episode in the UK, so they don’t loose that fan base too.
While the 4th season turned out a gigantic disappointment, jumping the shark over and over again, it makes sense that NBC is thinking in terms of finality.
Having a fifth season designed to close the book once and for all before the season begins can only be a good thing. However, if written and acted poorly, it could be another “Lost”
I really understand where you coming from Joe. With the way they end season you wou would kinda feel sad for NBC not bring it back. I do have to say if they take the new season into five years gone. Then we might get more then one season. Let me know what you think.
Darrius
@Syclone – I did consider them staying mum so they wouldn’t lose UK fans as well but they really wouldn’t have much to lose. I’m sure that a majority of the commercial spots are already spoken for and it would be stupid for NBC/BBC2 (whoever is making that decision) to not have taken advantage of the extra $$ they could have earned by promoting “The final 4 episodes” – Commercial spots probably would have been worth more money.
@BenMech I can’t say that season 4 jumped any sharks, it was a very different season. I think any “serialized” story is going to benefit from an end date. I personally think Lost has done quite well and if anything there’s not enough time to close it out. Just my thoughts…
@Darrius It would be terrible if the fans didn’t get anything from that giant setup at the end of Volume 5 and I think there’s new and interesting stories to tell. I like the idea of starting Season 5 off in the future, just not sure how much it will resemble “5 years gone” but that’s a great concept that I think we talked about in the finale.
At this point, i just want more Heroes. Two, 14-16 episode seasons would be ideal for me.
I definitely have to agree with Joe on this one. The simple fact that the executives over at NBC have been relativley quiet has to say something one way or the other. At this point NBC is sort of in a bad place when it comes to their marketing after a big key decision at the start of the year so I’m fairly sure that they are going to be keeping their lips sealed until what they think is the perfect moment to announce their plans.
Something that I think would help their cause is the fact that “24″ one of “Heroes” biggest competitors is ending its run on television after 8 seasons. NBC would be wise to try and find a way to market the show to the people that watch “24″ because the shows are alike with the volume layout, single days for 24 and the episodes for Heroes. Both shows have great actors and it wouldn’t shock me if they tried to pull some of them away from FOX to come over to NBC, they did it once before with Robert Knepper and that worked out fairly well.
As for a direction, well we know that Tim Kring pitched an idea and that the executives heard it so we have to hope that it must have been decent or they would have decided the show’s fate a long time ago.
I am just going to wait like everyone else and cross my fingers that the show gets renewed [PLEASE NBC RENEW HEROES
]
that assumption sounds about right, Joe.
I hope you are right but I think you may give NBC too much credit. I don’t know if they are smart enough to think of all those positives. I do believe the show will be back though
Whatever happens, pick up for a final season or not, Mondays won’t be the same without Heroes.
Hopefully later rather than sooner though.
Thought 1: Why not do another season then jump into DVD movies (ex. BSG, stargate). Heroes does very well in other media and this seems like a good thing to transition intofor heroes. in movies, they could focus on one or two known charaters and introduce new characters.
Thought 2: if cancelled, would SyFy be an option for picking up the series? I think they would jump all over the opportunity to have heroes.
Thanks.
I think that, yes, if NBC was sure about cancelling, they would have done so by now. BUT….24 was only just cancelled as was another show.Still quite a few bubble shows left though.
Eric – If Heroes was going to air on another network it would have to be something that NBC owned. NBC owns Bravo, SyFy, USA and A & E so anyone of those could be a possibility.
SyFy is a natural, of course. The right market, the right audience. Support shows with smaller, but very devoted followings. Knows how to market to their base, and don’t expect a niche genre show to go up against House and beat it, after moving it around timeslots like a chess piece.
USA would be my second choice. Great source for original programming.
Hey Joe, good points made, but regarding the NBC/BBC2 marketing, I’m afraid BBC2 buy every episode for a fixed price before the season even begins here. At this point in time, where the deal has already gone through, there is no benefit in marketing to the UK.
I think the reason we haven’t heard is because NBC hasn’t decided which of its new pilots to pick up. Once that is decided, if there is room for Heroes, then it may get renewed.
I think NBC will push through the new season solely on the premise that they will have 100 episodes for syndication
regardless of what anybody says I still love the show and hope it keeps going, as long as it can stay compelling (which I feel it can)
Heroes won the wildcard race that @kristinalert was doing on E for the Save One Show campaign. That’s some amazing fan support! Go vote!
http://www.eonline.com/uberblog/watch_with_kristin/b175352_save_one_show_this_itvote_now_in_final.html
I think it heroes could get 1 season (maybe 2) to complete the overall story and not feel rushed. i.e Jericho.
thing is well NBC be willing to even give Heroes enough time to actually do what Tim Kring wants to do if he wants to finish it out?
Also, Heroes is NBC’s flagship for the non-reality fans. This is the show that makes NBC money with things like DVD sales. Neilson making a mess of things again.
I think it should come back but, also won’t shed a tear if it doesn’t. This shows has had 9 lives compared to better shows (Firefly) that have fallen under the axe. Its always seemed to me that the producers really didn’t know where to go after the first season. A few of the earlier characters that were kill off were the wrong choices and re-hashing of plots didn’t help either. That being said, I hope it does come back because there’s still some interesting things that could happen. I feel they really need new show handlers. Recently, I watched the Smallville “Justice Society” ep. and the fight they had with the Ice bad guy blows away 95% of the fights Hereos have ever shown. Even the hand to hand fights are better in Smallville. If Smallville can do those effects and battles with their cheap budget…then what’s up will hereos then? That is just another question for the producers of Heroes. I do want it to comeback…I just hope it’s worth watching if it does.
News from the 20th: “NBC still has a couple major titles on the bubble for renewal — namely “Chuck” and “Heroes” — but sources indicate both will probably return, with “Heroes” likely receiving a 13-episode “final season” order.”
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/news/e3i9d00b780a7553c213df79ad6e7e04239