What if Heroes wasn't a serialized show?
Everyone seems to have an idea on how Heroes can be improved. I think it's still good, but ratings are down, fans are fleeing, and it's probably not a show new fans can get into. Now creator Tim Kring has an idea.For next season, he'd like to see more self-contained episodes instead of a long continuing storyline over the entire season. He talked about what he intended to do with the show and what the future might hold at the Creative Screenwriting Expo last weekend. He wanted to give NBC a show like Lost or 24, one with a serialized storyline that would have fans coming back each week. Now he says he's not sure if that was the right decision, describing those shows as "an absolute bear to do." He thinks that the way that people watch TV nowadays is a lot different than just three years ago, because of DVRs and online viewing and all that, and that has changed how viewers watch serialized dramas since they don't watch them live every week.
I don't know if DVRs hurt serialized shows that directly (Kring also calls fans who watch the show live "saps"), but it might be interesting to see the show change to a more "standalone episode" format. That way they could focus on a couple of heroes per week and even have guest stars for the week. Or maybe it could be like The X-Files, where there was an ongoing story throughout the series but many standalone episodes too. Although, if you think about it, the show doesn't do a whole season of one storyline, it's usually split up. For example, the current "Villains" chapter will end soon and the second half of the season chapter "Fugitives" will begin.
| Keep it the same, just fix it a bit. | |
|---|---|
| All standalone episodes please! | |
| A mix of the two. |

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