Matt pointed me to a crazy story today, from Entertainment Weekly:
[Creator Tom] Kring himself is keenly aware that Heroes is broken. Here’s his candid critique:
THE PACE IS TOO SLOW We assumed the audience wanted season 1 – a buildup of intrigue about these characters and the discovery of their powers. We taught [them] to expect a certain kind of storytelling. They wanted adrenaline. We made a mistake.
THE WORLD-SAVING STAKES SHOULD HAVE BEEN ESTABLISHED SOONER The premonition of nuclear apocalypse created a larger context that unified every story line last season. Kring now sees that Volume 2 would have been better served if Peter’s vision of viral Armageddon had appeared in the season premiere rather than episode 7. “We took too long to get to the big-picture story,” he says.
THE ROOKIES DIDN’T GREET THEMSELVES PROPERLY New Heroes … shouldn’t have been introduced in separate story lines that felt unattached to the show. The way we introduced Elle … by weaving her in via Peter’s story line – is a more logical way to bring new characters into the show…
HIRO WAS IN JAPAN WAY TOO LONG Hiro’s … time-bending adventure in 17th-century Japan – where he mentored samurai hero Takezo Kensei — – finally came to an end on Nov. 5. But Kring says it should have [lasted] three episodes. We didn’t give the audience enough story to justify the time we allotted it.
YOUNG LOVE STINKS Kring regrets sticking Claire … with a super-dud boyfriend and forcing Hiro to moon over a cutesy princess. I’ve seen more convincing romances on TV, he admits. In retrospect, I don’t think romance is a natural fit for us.
Wow, that’s candor! I’ll admit that while Heroes hasn’t seemed as good as it was last year, I didn’t expect the creator to apologize to fans.60; That said, I’m glad he did – talk about “stand up”! I think Heroes has been a bit of a victim of it’s own success. Last year, there were no expectations for this show. I was just excited that comic geeks had something to watch on network TV. The quality story-telling of Heroes blew everyone away, and single handedly converted our Monday 24 Nights to Heroes Night (with 24 afterwards).
November 5th’s episode was a dramatic improvement, and it was really cool to watch that show come together the way it did. It’s a bummer that everything may be back on hiatus with the WGA strike.
With Tom Kring doing what he did, a part of me wishes we’d see a similar statement from the 24 creators about last season…