Watching Heroes

At the Upfronts yesterday, Co-Chairman of NBC Entertainment and Universal Media Studios, Ben Silverman, announced that Heroes would be returning on September 15 with a three hour event. The first hour will be a clip show, recapping the previous seasons and refreshing our memories about where we left off. The 2 hour season 3 premiere will follow.

Silverman also announced that the show will air re-run free throughout the season, taking only a brief hiatus in the winter. American Gladiators will replace Heroes during the break.

Chuck will return to Monday nights and a new show, My Own Worst Enemy starring Christian Slater, will round out the night.

Also - it looks like the spin-off Heroes: Origins is officially dead now. Apparently the network thought it was too much to ask the producers to complete 30+ episodes per season.

You can read the complete press release concerning the 2008-09 television season at NBC.com.

Source 1

Source 2

First we heard that Heroes: Origins was changing names, now TV Guide is reporting that NBC has pulled the plug on the spinoff!

The show, which would introduce new characters with abilities, was slated to run next April as a companion piece to the Heroes series. Sources are telling TV Guide that the possible strike by the Writers Guild of America may have been a factor. The guild’s contract expires at midnight Thursday.

“Looking at everything in context of the strike, we’re evaluating all of our production commitments,” said one insider. “Scripts haven’t been written yet.”

Several prominent directors including Kevin Smith (pictured here), Eli Roth, John August and Michael Doherty had been slated to do episodes.

Could the lower ratings and “sophomore slump” buzz be contributing to the network’s decision as well?

We’ll keep you posted as more information becomes available.

*The Heroes spinoff will apparently not be called Heroes: Origins. The Chicago Tribute is reporting that a representative for the network said that a title for the new series has not yet been chosen. In the same article there is a nice interview with Kristen Bell.

*Speaking of Kristen, it seems to be her week. She has interviews in the Tribune as mentioned above and in People Magazine. She was also named “TV Babe of the Day” by IGN today.

*And if that’s not enough Kristen Bell for you, she talked to OK Magazine and told them that Hayden Panettiere and Milo Ventimiglia are NOT dating. She says they are just “great friends.”

*Ali Larter made Entertainment Weekly’s list of the top Butt-Kicking Babes. She comes in at #22 for her role as Niki/Jessica Sanders on Heroes. The site her skills as “a reservoir of strength and ruthlessness.” That and her lap dancing skills…

*Set your TiVo’s because the Heroes are making the talk show rounds. Here’s a schedule for the next few weeks (check your local listings for times):

10/19 - Greg Grunberg on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno
10/22 - Adrian Pasdar on Live with Regis and Kelly
10/25 - Ali Larter on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno (this is a repeat of her 9/19 appearance)
10/26 - Greg Grunberg on Ellen
10/29 - Zachary Quinto on The View
11/2 - Zachary Quinto on Jimmy Kimmel Live

*And finally - here is a five-minute preview for the next episode, “Fight or Flight.” More Parkman! Yay! (thanks to Heroes-Revealed.com)

The web is buzzing with Heroes interviews, news about Heroes: Origins and more!

*Pulp Secret has revealed more about the Heroes: Origins series. As we had heard before Eli Roth, Kevin Smith, Michael Dougherty, and John August will be writing, but he has also revealed that Jeph Loeb (who we already know from Heroes and Smallville) will also be contributing an episode. They also tell us that each episode will feature two stories, and will pay homage to Rod Serling’s Twilight Zone. The six episode series will run following the regular Heroes season.

*Cleveland.com’s The Plain Dealer talks about the Nerds who are taking over Monday nights and television in general. He mentions our favorite nerd, Hiro. It’s a great piece, especially for people like me who consider themselves a nerd.

*The Ventura County Star has a piece on Zachary Quinto on its website today. It mostly discusses his upcoming Star Trek role as Spock, but has a little Heroes talk in there as well. As a bonus, there is a small blurb about Jimmy Jean-Louis (The Haitian) at the end of the article.

*Ali Larter is featured in a piece on the Boston Globe’s site. In it, she discusses why she finally has women fans, where her character is headed and what we can look forward to with Niki/Jessica this season and how much she loves working on Heroes.

*The Boston Herald interviewed Milo Ventimiglia (Peter Petrelli) about growing up. Milo has bulked up, adding 20 lbs of muscle to his body (as we could all see in last week’s episode…rawr!). He said he’s tired of playing high school punks and is ready to be a man. Well, Milo, I think the plan is working.

*Broadcasting and Cable inquired why NBC and Heroes, famous for their prominent placement of Nissan’s, would plug the iPod after their much publicized dispute with Apple. NBC says it was pure coincidence and, unlike Claire’s Nissan Rogue, we won’t find out what happened to the shipment of iPods.

*And finally, I leave you with a clip, posted by NBC, from tonight’s episode where we finally see Niki and Micah…AND we get our first glimpse of Nichelle Nichols as Nana.

The Season 2 premiere is just one day away, and our Heroes are showing up everywhere. Videos, magazine covers, interviews, photo shoots…you can’t go anywhere in the entertainment world without finding some Heroes.

Entertainment Weekly has revealed the cover for their September 28th issue, which features Masi Oka as Hiro, all decked out in his Samurai gear. Inside the issue you’ll find a sneak peak of Season 2 and photos of new and returning cast members. There’s also a great video on the site that goes behind the scenes of the photo shoot and interviews many of the cast member. There are some great candid moments, especially between friends Zachary Quinto (Sylar) and Kristen Bell (Elle).

Speaking of magazines, the ladies of Heroes have also shown up on the cover of the October 1 issue of TV Guide. Newbie Kristen Bell joins Hayden Panettiere (Claire) and Ali Larter (Niki/Jessica), all three looking beautiful (and blonde). The issue will also include an article billed as “The Ultimate Guide” to Season 2. It hits newstands next Thursday, September 27.

Heroes creator Tim Kring showed up on G4TV’s “Attack of the Show” last Thursday. He talked about how Season 2 will be different from Season 1, explaining that some valuable lessons were learned from Season 1. He explained that Season 2 will be broken down into 2 or more volumes, the first being 11 episodes. The first volume will wrap up before Christmas. He also announced some of the writers and directors for the new Heroes: Origins series. It was announced at Comic Con that Kevin Smith of Clerks fame would direct an episode. Tim revealed that Eli Roth (Hostel) will also be writing and directing an episode and John August (Big Fish) and Michael Dougherty (Superman Returns) will be be writing episodes.

Watching Heroes, NBC Heroes, Entertainment Weekly Interview, TV Guide cover, Masi Oka, Kristen Bell, Hayden Panettiere, Ali Larter, Tim Kring, G4TV, Attack of the Show, Kevin Smith, Eli Roth, John August, Michael Dougherty

Tim Goodman: the Bastard Machine over at SFGate.com had a nifty bit of info regarding Heroes: Origins. Origins will consist of 6 episode and air on Mondays during the shows summer hiatus.

From the blog:

Perhaps the biggest news from NBC was the announcement that it would, in effect, spin-off Heroes into a second series called Heroes: Origins, a limited run six-episode drama that will introduce a new character each week and incorporate an online element that will allow Heroes fans to vote on which of the six new characters on Origins will be added to the original series. As a breakout freshman hit, Heroes has reshaped NBC’s thinking in several ways. By increasing the number of episodes to 24 this season, and adding six episodes of Heroes: Origins to the schedule next year, NBC gets 30 total episodes and makes a significant attempt to keep viewers from scattering during the inevitable rerun period. (Origins will air on Monday nights when Heroes takes a break.) This notion of stemming the loss of viewers from broadcast television will likely be a trend seen all week as new schedules are announced. Already ABC has said Lost won’t air until midseason (ala 24) to reduce reruns. More staggered premieres are likely to be announced as each network unveils its schedule.

Definitely worth checking out.