September 30th, 2009 by Joe | 5 Comments
While this isn’t exactly “Heroes” news, it does have to do with the studio that runs the show. According to the Los Angeles Times, Comcast is looking to purchase NBC Universal from GE for approximately $30 – $35 billion dollars. The Times goes on to say that there hasn’t been any word from GE that they were interested in selling NBC Universal, however the industry has been speculating for a while that something like this could happen. It might be speculation at the moment but it’s definitely causing some buzz on the internet. I wonder what kind of impact the sale of NBC to any company (not just Comcast), would have on the current shows that air on NBC? For the full story, follow the link below to the L.A. Times. Also, just in from TheWrap.com, there’s more information surrounding a meeting between the two companies. What are your thoughts on this possible deal?
Source: Los Angeles Times or TheWrap.com
September 8th, 2009 by Joe | 9 Comments
**Update**
Netflix has responded to my inquiries with NBC Universal. Apparently the NBC employees aren’t sure as to what is going on so they forwarded my requests to Netflix. The official response: “Netflix has a long standing relationship with NBC Universal and titles regularly come in and out of availability. There is a natural ebb and flow to what we have available at any given point in time.”
I’m not buying any of this and have asked for more information. The removal of NBC’s top shows isn’t “natural ebb and flow” in my opinion. We’ll keep you updated.
Apparently NBC doesn’t want their content to be viewed instantly by millions of Netflix subscribers. According to the Netflix Queue, certain NBC shows will no longer be available after October 1st of this year. From what we can tell these shows include Heroes, The Office, 30 Rock and Friday Night Lights. Although NBC is a backer and supporter for Hulu it’s still surprising that they don’t feel the need for their content to be available via Netflix. Is this NBC vs. iTunes all over again or is there no chance for the shows to return? I’m sure this all comes down to money and it’s disappointing to say the least. This puts a stop to an exciting Xbox Live feature we were looking forward to. On Demand Heroes parties, where up to 8 people can view an episode at a time together. It could very well be a mistake but I doubt it since there’s a report that CBS shows are being pulled as well. All in all we’ve scoured the web and there’s very little information available about this topic right now. We’re very curious to see what the mass media has to say and we’ll update this story as we get more information. One interesting thing to note is that Heroes Season 3 does not have an end date like the rest of the NBC shows. Maybe they’ll keep the most current season and this is an attempt to bump up DVD sales? Let’s hope Netflix and/or NBC releases an official statement soon.
Contributing Source: Screencrave.com
May 8th, 2009 by Joe | 5 Comments
We weren’t expecting too much Heroes centric news after the finale, however we were stunned to learn that Greg Beeman (Executive Producer/Director) was no longer going to be a part of the Heroes staff. Beeman posted on his blog that he would not be returning for season 4. He starts off by saying “Dearest readers, this is a sad moment for me, as it will be, not only my final blog for Season 3, but also my final blog for HEROES.” Beeman goes onto give an amazing farewell to every cast and crew member he worked with and that alone is a testament to his character and the amazing person that he is. Beeman came over to work on Heroes after being an integral part of Smallville and what a job he did. Not only was he a major part of the production staff and writing team, he was also responsible for directing some of the finest episodes of Heroes to date. To say the least, Greg Beeman will be missed greatly.
NBC didn’t give us too much time to digest this before delivering more bad news. We recently learned that Allan Arkush, another amazing Executive Producer and Director, was also “let go” in an attempt to trim the budget. This is another huge shock considering Allan came over to Heroes after executive producing and directing for Tim Kring’s previous creation “Crossing Jordan.” Like Beeman, Arkush was responsible for many stellar episodes of Heroes and he will be missed dearly.
With that said, we’ve lost two key figures that were responsible for making Heroes such a success. Arkush and Beeman were both a part of Heroes from the beginning along side Tim Kring and they brought a magic that will be hard to duplicate. In fact, right after the first episode “Genesis” was directed by Tim Kring, episode 2 “Don’t Look Back” was directed by Allan Arkush and episode 3 “One Giant Leap” was directed by Greg Beeman. They were both executive producers at that time as well. Without their creative input it will be interesting to see what direction the series is headed but we have faith it will not stray far from the precedence they’ve established.
On a positive note, they have both left the door open to possibly come back and direct some episodes during season 4. Nothing is official at this time but it would be nice to at least have them back to direct a few episodes. From what we know, this was a choice by NBC/Universal to trim down the budget going into next season and nothing more than a financial decision. Greg Beeman and Allan Arkush deserve a ton of credit and we wish them the best!
What do you all think? Send your thoughts to HeroesPodcast@gmail.com
Sources: TheODI & Beeman’s Blog
