Written by: Kyle Nin (SoSF Staff Reporter)
Kevin Reilly, the president of NBC television is indicating that they have learned their lesson from the way the network was rough-shod over fans of their scifi show “Surface” and says that now NBC will be committed to keeping its viewers happy if those viewers will be willing to invest their time watching the new SF series “Heroes.”
“In the case of the fish show (that would be “Surface” – not really about a fish), there were a lot of people that did want it to continue, but that did have closure,” Reilly told reporters at last week’s Television Critics Association’s press junket. “We did air a final episode. We did not yank that prematurely.”
“We don’t like pissing off the customers,” Reilly said. “And, by the way, I get the e-mails, OK? I wake up in the morning and I get, ‘Dear Moron.’ We know that takes a toll, but the nature of television is when you’re taking risks, you hope you take a risk. You may end up with Heist, or you may end up with LOST or My Name Is Earl. So I’d rather risk the upside. … Any show that gets canceled has had people who are upset or people who are angry who have invested in it. That’s just the nature of what we do.”
Well, Kevin may feel better by stating that Surface got closure, but in this reporter’s opinion, “Surface” did not have adequate closure. As a viewer of the show, I saw that the ending did not explain all that was going on. It would be like saying that the ending of The Empire Strikes Back movie had closure for the Star Wars series (if Return of the Jedi was never produced). Yes, it cleared up a bit more about what was going on, but the story was definitely not over or resolved. I guess you can tell I’m still steamed about NBC cancelling “Surface.”
“Heroes” is set to debut on September 25th opening with a 2-hr pilot. The show is about a group of people from across the globe who discover they have unique powers. New episodes will air every Monday at 9PM ET/PT. A free download of “Heroes” will be available on iTunes beginning September 1st.
I really hope they give it a good chance. I was hooked as soon as I saw the cheerleader jumping off a building at a work site, landing hard from a fall that would kill most people, get up, jam her dislocated shoulder into place and say “That was jump #16.” (or whatever she says).
Yes, I was lucky enough to see the first ep for this one last month and really enjoyed it – there is enough in it to make it a really interesting series.