Heroes News

In defense of Heroes, many viewers were likely tuned to the NCAA Championship Game last night.

Then again, that contest didn't begin until halfway through the episode - and any loyal Heroes fan could have missed the opening few minutes of North Carolina's blowout of Michigan State.

However you analyze it, the show dipped to a new series low last night: only 6.05 million people tuned in for it.

The show was also down 30% in the important 18-49 year-old demographic.

Angela Petrelli will be the focus of next week's installment. Let's hope it turns the ratings around!

We need to focus on all the positives we can when it comes to Heroes' ratings.

Overall, last night's episode set yet another low for number of viewers. Only 6.3 million people tuned in.

But the ratings did increase a tad in the coveted 18-49 year-old demographic. So that's a start!

By comparison, the night's top-rated scripted show was Two and a Half Men. It garnered 14.4 million viewers.

The main problem is that Heroes is, BY FAR, one of the most expensive shows on TV to produce. Combine that fact with that measly ratings and it makes us wonder if season four is truly guaranteed.

Sadly, this is scarcely even news anymore.

A record-low number of viewers tuned in for last night's new episode of Heroes. It was only watched by 6.5 million people.

This is the second time in three episodes that the series has hit an all-time low. We've asked before and we'll ask again:

How would you fix the show in order to increase its viewership?

Like Mohinder in this scene, Heroes is in a lot of pain these days.

It's a good thing Heroes has already been renewed for a fourth season.

Let's just hope it's not too late for NBC to reverse that decision.

Last night's new episode, "Shades of Gray," was the lowest rated hour in the history of the show. Only 6.6 million viewers turned in to see Sylar finally come face-to-face with his father.

What do you think should be done in order to boost ratings? The series needs all the suggestions it can get!

Like Sylar in this scene from last night's episode, we can only hope Heroes will soon bounce back, full of vegeance!

Heroes is coming back for a fourth season.

There's been doubt about this show's status because ratings have been awful (and that's being generous).

NBC plans to order 18-20 episodes for next season, according to NBC entertainment president Angela Bromstad.

Calm down, Matt. Heroes is coming back.

Despite the low numbers, Heroes is tied with The Office as the network's number-one show in the key 18-49 year-old demographic.

"Every single place you go has heard about Heroes - whether you’re in China or Japan or Russia," Bromstad said. "And to me, that is global content."

Stop what you're doing.

Go tell your family, friends, enemies and pets to watch Heroes. The show is in serious danger of not making it to a fourth season.

This week's episode drew 6.9 million viewers. That might not mean much to the average viewer, but consider this:

Last year at this time, during the 9 p.m. Monday time slot, NBC aired the ridiculous reality competition My Dad Is Better Than Your Dad. It received 900,000 more viewers than Heroes. Seriously.

If Heroes cannot earn higher ratings than a reality show tha costs a fraction of Heroes' budget to make, then we may be seeing the last few episodes ever of this once-popular show.

Based on current ratings, if Parkman could read the mind of most viewers, he'd hear how unhappy they were with the series.

Two Heroes producers, Aron Coleite and Joe Pokaski, recently answered a handful of questions from fans.

Among the storylines and spoilers they revealed, the producers said...

• Micah will return;
• Daphne's fate will be focused on next week;
• Regarding Peter's new, different, confusing abilities: "He’s still trying to get a handle on his powers. Just like during the first season, it’s gonna take him some time to get a handle on these powers."

Days after Heroes premiered its fourth volume, with an episode titled "A Clear and Present Danger," fans are still buzzing about the new storylines.

Were you impressed? Has the show found its groove once again?

Click on the following photos from this week's episode and then answer our poll question below...

What did you think of A Clear and Present Danger?

Rest assures, fans, Mark Verheiden knows Heroes has some problems.

In a new interview, the writer/producer says the show's staff is hard at work trying to improve upon the "Villains" volume.

"I think in going forward what we’re probably doing is leaving some of the stuff of Villains behind," Verheiden said. "You’ll see that Primatech and Pinehearst aren’t viable anymore. So those entities will be dissolved and a couple of characters have decided to, one in particular, taken a dramatic new turn that will set off where we’re going with “Fugitives" very clearly."

Other rumors and spoilers have revealed that the character in question is Nathan.

Let's hope one of the changes in store for Heroes involves a better use of Hiro.

As for the criticism that has befallen Heroes, Verheiden says the producers are aware of it.

"We listen to what the general drumbeat is and as we go forward, I think we’ve made some adjustments. But they were adjustments that were being made before all this stuff really came down," he said, adding that everyone is working to improve story lines:

"You don’t stay in the office until midnight and work seven days a week and all this stuff because you’re just knocking it out... [E]verybody who’s there is killing themselves to make the best show possible. You can’t fault us for lack of trying."

While we're still lamenting the cancellation of ABC's brilliant Pushing Daisies, at least that show's demise has led to a return by Bryan Fuller.

Fuller was a lead writer on Heroes before leaving to create Daisies. He'll return in time to play a role in this season's 19th episode, and beyond.

He also recently sat down to analyze the state of his former show with Entertainment Weekly columnist Michael Ausiello. Here are excerpts from that interview:

Where did Heroes go wrong, in your opinion?
It became too dense and fell into certain sci-fi trappings. For instance, in the “Villains” arc, when you talk about formulas and catalysts, it takes the face off the drama. And I think the goal for everybody is to put a face back on the drama. You have to save something with a face; otherwise you don’t understand what you’re caring about. I thought the "Villains" arc started out very interestingly, and then became sort of muddy and dense and I couldn't get my hooks into the characters to understand their motivations.

I also started to feel confused about what people's abilities were. One of the great things about the first season is that the metaphor for their abilities was very clear. Those metaphors seem to have gotten complicated in the past two seasons. I share that concern with everybody on the writing staff. It's not like I'm coming in and saying, "This is what you need to do to fix it!" Everybody knows what needs to be fixed and everybody is sort of rowing in that direction.

Any plans to trim the sprawling cast?
People will die. And some will return. Matt’s wife [Janice] comes back. We’ll find out what happens when you have a superbaby. We're also going to tell fewer stories per episode. We're going to limit it to three or four with one big one that you can wrap the stories around. We're altering the structure of the show so that there's a very clear A story that takes up a larger percentage of the show so that that story gets traction.