Comic Vine News

69 Comments

Off My Mind: What Does The Cancellation Of HEROES Mean?

Can superhero shows work on mainstream networks?

No Caption Provided
Here's something that may or may not surprise you, I wasn't the biggest fan of the television show Heroes. You would think given that I spend the majority of my day knee deep in superheroes and comic books that I would absolutely love the show, right? That wasn't the case. Don't get me wrong. I did like the show. Emphasis on the past tense. I enjoyed it. It was fun. I think you'll agree, something went wrong. The show felt like it had so much potential but it just fizzled out. I've mentioned on our podcast before that I still haven't watched this entire past season. I watched probably the first 4 or 5 episodes and the rest are still on my DVR (I will still watch them one day). Now that the show is canceled, what does that mean for superheroes on television?
 
While I'm sure that some may have cheered when the news of the show's cancellation was made but I wonder if this could be a bad thing. Would the fact that the show stopped working affect the decision of TV executives in the future? Someone could have a really great idea for a superhero show and networks might be hesitant to go forward with it. Then again, NBC has announced their new superhero-ish show, The Cape. I would assume that this show was given the greenlight before Heroes was canceled. We'll have to see how much promotion and money NBC puts into the show.
 
The fact that Heroes was canceled doesn't mean that comic book ideas won't work on television. Smallville will be going for its tenth season in the Fall. Perhaps Heroes was too ambitious and tried doing too much in the beginning. And while it might not be in the superhero genre, Human Target has also been renewed for a second season. With the success of Smallville and superhero movies (look at how Iron Man 2 is doing), I think it's safe to say that people do want to see heroes on television, just maybe not the show HEROES.
 
Perhaps we should bow our heads for a moment and say goodbye to Sylar, HRG, Hiro, Peter Petrelli, Claire Bennet and the rest (actually, I'm not even sure if they've survived this last season). I am a little bummed the show is over. I would've liked the show to continue to be a success. I hope this won't prevent any kick ass future shows of this genre. TV execs and writers should learn from what went wrong rather than rule out any future shows dealing with superheroes.