Fantastic Talent Working On Heroes: Origins!

As the premiere for the new season of Heroes approaches (Monday 9/24/07), I am spending the weekend watching the DVD set of the first season. I’m about halfway through and am more and more excited about the new season.

So on top of that, you can imagine how happy I am to learn that some big-time talent is on board to write (and, in some cases, direct) episodes of the newish series: Heroes: Origins! Fans of the show Kevin Smith (Clerks, Mallrats), Michael Dougherty (co-writer of Superman Returns, X2: X-Men United) and Eli Roth (Cabin Fever, Hostel) are all set to write an episode of the new show, with Smith and Roth directing as well. How cool is that?

For those who don’t know, a TV show will go on a hiatus or two throughout the season, unless it airs without repeats straight through from the mid-point of the season to the end (January to May). Shows that do this include: 24, American Idol and now Lost. Although it’s great not to have repeats of shows when the episodes tell a sequential story, these long breaks have the potential to lose viewers for the series as they may lose interest while waiting many months for a new season to return.

One brief hiatus occurs during the holidays, when viewers are too busy shopping and watching old Holiday favorites on TV and DVD. The other happens between February and May sweeps, and lasts around 4-6 weeks.

Well last year, Heroes lost a disturbing number of viewers during the second, longer hiatus, so NBC smartly decided to create a new series: Origins, which highlights new characters developing their newfound powers. It’s also a quasi-reality show, where viewers can vote for their favorites, who will then appear in future seasons. Again, this is a smart and fun way to keep viewers’ interest alive. On a side note: Although Heroes was one of the top-selling TV show download purchases on the Apple iTunes Store, NBC has recently ended its contract with Apple (uh-oh, NBC).

Anyway, I love Smith’s films, plus Dougherty kicks butt as a writer, and while I liked Roth’s Cabin Fever and his Rotten Fruit animated show, I never bothered with the Hostel flicks, as I don’t like torture porn.

If you haven’t seen Heroes, go buy or rent it on Netflix it now! I didn’t like the one or two episodes I saw last season because I kept missing so many others, but now I love the show.

Source: Superhero Hype!

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