Heroes to break new ground with "Origins"

One of the big announcements at yesterday's NBC upfronts was that Heroes will air 30 new episodes over the course of the 2007-2008 television season.  Twenty-four of these episodes will follow the Heroes mythology, much like this year.  However, the remaining six will air under the title of Heroes: Origins. 

Heroes: Origins will consist of stand alone episodes taking place within the Heroes universe, but will not involve any of the main cast members or have to do with the season's main plot.  They will simply give us the "origin" of a new hero each week.  On top of that, at season's end fans will vote on who their favorite new hero from "Origins" is.  The winner of this vote will become a main cast member on the third season of Heroes.
The stand-alone origin episodes are a cool, creative idea by themselves, but adding the fan involvement (with far reaching story implications) makes this ground-breaking.  NBC obviously has put a lot of faith in Tim Kring and the Heroes franchise.  You can't blame him.  The show has finally brought an original drama with comic book sensibilities to television, and the same audiences that have flocked to movie theaters over the past decade have followed to TV. 

The worry here is that NBC is over-exposing one if its hottest properties, but, given that the six additional episodes are one-offs with brand new characters, it shouldn't be an issue.  The impetus for the 30 episode order was, apparently, that NBC was worried about the extended hiatus Heroes was forced to take late this season.  According NBC President Kevin Reilly, the Origins episodes won't simply be sprinkled across the year intermittently.  There are two main options on the table:  The first is to run through the whole season of Heroes, and then tack on the six Origins at the end of the season.  The second is to air the block of Origins episodes sometime in the early Spring, and follow them with the last chunk of normal Heroes episodes.

It's a great way to avoid the dreaded hiatus, as well as  repeats.  Repeats don't play well for serial dramas, something that Lost and 24 have previously learned.   What do you think of this move by NBC?  Is is too much?  Is it possible to have too much Heroes?


-Oscar Dahl, BuddyTV Senior Writer

(Source: Zap2it.com)

• NBC Announces Fall Schedule - Heroes Gets 30 Episodes, Studio 60 Falls
• Heroes Spoilers 4/10
• Heroes 3.22 "Landslide" Spoilers
• Exclusive Interview! Heroes' Sylar - Zachary Quinto
• Heroes 1.22 - Landslide - Recap

Original article at http://www.buddytv.com/articles/heroes/heroes_to_break_new_ground_wit-6542.aspx

Back To Top