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Kring Offers An Apology

November 24, 2008 By Mike Hickerson 14 Comments

Last week, “Heroes” creator and producer Tim Kring opened his mouth and firmly inserted his foot.  The comments about fans who use DVRs to time shift the series as being “poor saps” or “d******s” set off a firestorm of controversy and reaction across the Internet.

In our most recent episode, the studio gang discussed Kring’s remarks.

Now, Kring is trying to make amends to the fans for what he called a “mangled quote.”

“It was made while trying to explain the rise in DVR and online audience for the show,” Kring said in an open letter to fans. “I was making the point that these platforms now offer a superior way to watch the show (without commercials, with extra content, commentary, at the audience’s convenience, etc.) And went on to say how it’s getting to the point where ‘watching the show on the air is relegated to the poor saps and dipshits who can’t figure out how to program their DVRs.’

“It was a boneheaded attempt at being cute and making a point. Instead, it turned out to be just plain insulting and stupid. I know now how it sounded, but I truly never meant to suggest anything bad about our audience.”

Kring went on to say that his focus now is on improving “Heroes.”

“No one cares more about the fans than we do at ‘Heroes,’ and no one appreciates them more than me,” Kring said. “We are grateful for whatever way people are finding our show. Now more than ever.”

Filed Under: TV News

Comments

  1. Kyle Nin says

    November 24, 2008 at 6:22 pm

    I watch it live. Not because I can’t program my DVR, but because I don’t HAVE a DVR. Not everyone is so well off.

    Reply
  2. Emily says

    November 24, 2008 at 6:31 pm

    So…um….he’s now just insulting the people who watch it live? lol, sorry. I couldn’t hlep it ::)

    Reply
  3. Lejon from Chandler says

    November 24, 2008 at 6:52 pm

    Once I get caught up on my Heroes, which I record on TAPE using timed recording THAT I PROGRAM MYSELF, I may forget that all of this ever happened, and start complaining about how the plots are non-existent and the development has fallen in a hole…Or, I could just enjoy the show…I’m easy.

    Reply
  4. Michael L says

    November 24, 2008 at 8:54 pm

    Tim Kring,
    You are a dipsh*t, not only because of the comments you made, insulting Heroes fans, but because your show has gone from an “edge of your seat” adventure, to a mind boggling numb mess. Fix it, and I may return next season to watch. Otherwise, good bye.

    Reply
  5. Chris says

    November 24, 2008 at 9:02 pm

    Hey Slicers, this is your regular call in Chris. (I need something more identifying don’t I?)
    Anyway, Kringe has been great at making these kinds of stupid choices hasn’t he? Because insulting someone and then firmly saying “no one cares more about you than I do” after you get in trouble doesn’t sound fake right? I agree with Lejoin…it would be so much easier to forgive if I wasn’t forgiving enough about the show each week anyway.
    Seriously debating dropping it for Eleventh Hour or Num3rs. No joke.

    Reply
  6. Michael Mennenga says

    November 24, 2008 at 9:08 pm

    I expect we’ll be chatting about this in two weeks when we are back from the holiday. The comment was confusing to begin with, but I never dreamed that Kring would insult the viewers paying the bills… That was unthinkable to me.
    Yeah… Way to drive away the fan base keeping you on the air…!!

    Reply
  7. Buzz Ryan says

    November 24, 2008 at 10:22 pm

    I am sorry Mr. Kring that I thought you made your shows for us instead of recognizing that it was a masterpiece that you wanted me to fawn over and tell you how it changed my life repeatedly!

    You can think anything you want to but there are a whole lot of steps that have to happen to make it from inside your skull to the printed word, and at any point along the way it could have remained in the dark.

    No sir you wnated the world to know this and it did, so appologizing becasue your agents and producers convinced you it was a bad move is to late.

    Look in the mirror you jackhole the next time you want to call someone a poor sap or dipshit.

    I would have respected you more as an artist if you would have just stood by your statement instead of waffling. I WILL NOT BE THAT EASILY PLACATED.

    Reply
  8. Bronzethumb from Australia says

    November 24, 2008 at 10:52 pm

    Apology? All he’s done is said “No, I meant to insult the *other* half of my audience.”

    Reply
  9. Thomas says

    November 24, 2008 at 10:58 pm

    So he basicly verified what a bunch of us in the chat were saying and that Brian had read the quote the wrong way. But yes he shouldn’t have insulted his audience base as the more important point.

    Reply
  10. Robin says

    November 25, 2008 at 3:56 pm

    I think it’s quite responsible of Tim to clarify his remarks. Was it a bad joke? Yeah. Is it even worse because you can’t convey a sarcastic tone in text? Absolutely. But at least he’s willing to admit that.

    Not that a single display of humility can make up for the weirdness that is this season, but it’s good to know that he at least hears the fans when we make a big enough outcry.

    Stay classy, Mr. Kring.

    Reply
  11. STYLES says

    November 25, 2008 at 7:43 pm

    Tim Kring stole the original concept for Heroes from two NYC artists called The Twins. these artists now have a lawsuit against NBC and tim Kring in a NYC Appellate court.
    to read more about this lawsuit google The Twins names
    ENJAI EELE and AMNAU EELE.
    this lawsuit will answer a lot of questions of why the story lines became confusing on Heroes and the show’s ratings are in the toilet.
    tim Kring is a thief and hack writer and this lawsuit will bring a lot of un-known facts out about tim Kring to the public’s attention.
    Heroes was never tim Kring’s original concept and the lawsuit is going to blow the fans away.

    Reply
  12. Brian Brown says

    November 25, 2008 at 10:56 pm

    I disagree Thomas. I read it as it was printed. It was, as has been stated, a confusing piece of commentary from Mr. Kring. I still stand by my interpretation of what was printed. So NYEAH!

    Of course I’d be backpedaling if I was Kring… and it appears he’s been making “clarifications” *cough*

    Reply
  13. Matt says

    November 29, 2008 at 1:33 pm

    I read the post on this site and the full article and thought he was talking about watching the show each week when it is broadcast. It was very stupid to call the viewers that keep your show on the air names. The show has been going downhill since Season 1 and even then it wasn’t a “great” show but had a lot of promise. I hope Kring is the next to go. This recent escapade showed how ignorant he really is and if he doesn’t care about keeping the viewers he does have how can he possibly care about improving the show?

    Reply
  14. THE MOVEMENT TO PUT TIM KRING IN JAIL says

    December 1, 2008 at 6:27 pm

    Tim Kring claims his “Sap and Dip-Shit” comments were his “bone-headed attempt at being cute”.
    A grown ass man with a wife and two kids thinks insulting NBC’s paying customers is being cute.

    People are losing their jobs, homes, bank accounts, pensions etc… in America and a grown ass man with a high end paying job thinks the answer to his lack of talent or sense is to insult that hardworking NBC customer base.
    Can anyone of you insult your boss’s customers and still keep your job? At NBC you can.

    The WGA-West coast( A chop shop for writers that steal intellectual properties) protested outside of Tyler Perry’s studio a few weeks ago.
    why?
    Because Tyler Perry is black and successful outside of their antiquated lame racist system.
    one of the WGA -West coast members named Tim Kring is nothing more than a hack writer and head of a gang of stealing writers that operate like a car theft ring.
    Tim Kring insulted NBC’s customers and we have not heard one word from the WGA about his insults and no one from the WGA is outside of TailWind Productions owned by Tim Kring protesting.

    If NBC writers Tim Kring, Jeph Loeb, Bryan Fuller, Alan Arkush, etc.. were Itallian, Black , Latino etc.. the American government would view this group of criminal writers as organized crime and they would be raided, arrested and tried under the Rico law.
    But these writers names are not Gambino, Gotti, Kamal Johnson, Hector flores etc.. and Mr. Gambino, Kamal or Hector can’t hide behind NBC or GE’s dollars and bought judges.
    If these writers were the people of color that you sometimes see selling fake handbags, movies etc.. in cities across America, like China town in NYC, these writers would be tried under the bootleg law that Hollywood uses to protect herself and prosecute people of color.
    No, instead NBC just continues to produce negative stereotypes about Italian, African, Latino, Asian people etc… through lame shows like Heroes.
    Tim Kring is not a writer, he copies and paste only.
    He uses his access as an employee of NBC and his weekly show Heroes to insert stolen work, concepts, ideas etc.. from other artists with real talent.
    Tim Kring will buy a ticket to a another writer’s show, listen to that writer discuss his copyrighted work and after that writer’s show Tim Kring will rush back to his office, write the idea down, copyright the other writer’s work as his own, sell to NBC for peanuts and insert the stolen work on to the show as his idea and the viewing audience thinks he’s talented and a genius.
    That’s not being creative and that’s not talent.
    That’s stealing, it’s pre-meditated and it’s criminal.

    NBC and Tim Kring thought they had gotten away with” the steal of the century,” but Karma gave them bad ratings and a stupid big mouth fool named Tim Kring instead.
    And like a bad mummy curse out of an old HollyWood film ,Tim Kring has no idea what he has stolen and NBC has no idea what they’ve bought.
    Bad ratings? that’s just the beginning.
    The Movement dedicates Stevie Wonder’s” Superstion” to NBC and her merry band of thieving writers.
    or try the song “I put a spell on you.”
    Heroes season 4 should be a comedy, because NBC is a joke.

    The movement To Put Tim Kring In Jail

    Reply

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