HEROES Producers Fired
November 3, 2008 by Kath Skerry
Last night I wrote up a small piece on two HEROES producers, Jesse Alexander and Joseph Loeb, leaving the show. I had meant to post it this morning but I forgot all about it. But in hindsight I’m glad I’m didn’t because there was more the the story than what was released on THR.com yesterday.
Here’s my original post…
Seems as if the former fans of HEROES aren’t the only ones jumping ship. According to a report that just broke on THR.com, Jesse Alexander and Joseph Loeb – two of HEROES co-Executive Producers- have bid farewell (probably not a fond one) to the show. They say they are leaving due to “creative differences” which is the entertainment equivalent of “irreconcilable differences”.
Let’s hope the remaining Executive Producers know how to turn around the cluster-F that is HEROES.
That was last night. But today reports are surfacing that Loeb and Alexander were actually fired from the show. This bit of news certainly changed my perception of things over at HEROES. Originally thinking that the two producers quit on their own accord, I had visions of rats leaving a sinking ship (not calling Alexander & Loeb rats of course, but in the analogy HEROES is most definitely the sinking ship). I figured if those who have been there since the beginning are leaving then maybe there was no hope. But that was all before word was leaked today that Alexander & Loeb were actually fired from the show. Now I’m thinking that perhaps HEROES is taking on the mentality of out with the old, in with the new. Is this a step in the right direction?
I’m of course just passing along what I’ve read – I promise you I have no inside scoop on this debacle – but I thought it brought forth an interesting question to ponder. Do you think the show is heading in the right direction by firing these two producers or are you worried that getting rid of guys that were there in the shows best of times could be even more harmful?
I’ve pretty much given up on the season. I had fallen behind in the series and hoped to catch up, but everyone I talked to told me not to bother because it just wasn’t worth it. Oh how the mighty have fallen.
Speak up HEROES fans. Do you think Jesse and Joseph’s departures means further turmoil for the show?
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I still have the last two episodes on my DVR unwatched.
I hope to get to them, but can’t work up the enthusiasm.
I don’t know who on the staff is at fault for the shows decline. If these two are just being scap-goated, things will only get worse.
On the other hand this may signal a change and getting the show back on track. TPTB have to stabilize the story lines (in my inexpert opinion) so we know what is and has happened (as opposed to had happened but no longer happened due to time travel affects) and so that when people change from Hero to villian and back we know the reason and it makes sense.
Well, I have been watching, and, like Lost before it got better, it has steadily gotten worse. Just enough to keep you interested, but not enough to keep you from groaning every time one of the characters does something idiotic. I think part of the problem is that Season 1 was SO fantastic, different, well done, etc. that it is impossible to equal. They should have just kept it a one season deal. What is the need in Hollywood to keep going and going long after the thrill is gone?
Sounds like a step in the right direction. Now if they could fire about half of the characters in the show and get it back to a core group of heroes whose characters they could actually develop, they’d really be on the right track.
I would like to be rid of Borehinder.
And, please, for the love of all that is good and holy…once someone is dead, just leave them dead. Please.
That is all.
This is the one show that sits on my tivo list for weeks and weeks I stil like it, but it is no longer must watch tv for me anymore.
I’m kinda still sticking with it because I feel like it’s picked up a lot from the beginning of the season. I really don’t know who’s fault it is that things have gotten to the point that they’re at, but I can tell you what the problem is–someone (or someONES) have fallen in love with their own bullshit.
These people need to learn how to let characters go when they’ve outlived their usefulness. For example: Mohinder sucks. Hiro is useless. Nathan Petrelli is SO BORING. I never liked the Niki/Jessica story, so I was happy that they killed her off, but now they’ve just brought her back as ANOTHER character. And granted, this one is easier for me to understand, but it pisses me off on principle. And do not even get me started on Claire and how effing over her I am. She is the worst character of all for me.
And then they let go really awesome characters! What about the girl who would mimic movements? Adam Monroe? Hello! These are actual, bona fide, interesting characters. Why ditch them? And yet we still have MAYA?
And they were totally painted into a corner with Peter–it was getting to the point where he was all-powerful and couldn’t be stopped. So I guess we’re back to square one with him of no powers, but now it’s the same problem with Pops Petrelli, and characters that are too powerful, IMO, are not interesting. At all. (Although I will say–great casting on that dude. Looks just like an older Nathan.)
And the time traveling has got to effing stop. I will tolerate a little bit from Hiro only, but everyone else … just no. I do not want to jump back and forth five years to get a story told, over and over and over. It’s confusing, and then I start thinking about the intracies of time travel, and it takes me straight out of the story.
I guess on the plus side, it’s not all bad. My favorite character is and always has been Sylar, and I love the direction they’ve gone with him. I like their little plays on what’s a hero and what’s a villain, and African Isaac is a great character. He’s the comic relief that these dumbasses wish Hiro was. And Daphne is great too. Parkman and the turtle? Love.
But like … why can’t Malcolm McDowell just stay dead? There is absolutely NO REASON for him to be back. It’s not like Nathan would take advice from him, and Daphne has no connection to him so Old Parkman planting him in their brains is stupid, and I think that part of the story has been completely unclear. And now that Old Parkman is dead, are we done with Malcolm McDowell too? Because I seriously hope so!
Me and Billy (who, btw, is a huge comic geek and so this show is a little perfect for him) were talking about how they’ve totally lost the human element of this show. The only one that really still has unrelated personal things going on is Parkman, but everyone else is just powers, powers, powers all the damn time. Like, can’t Claire (if we must keep her around) have drama with high school and cheerleading and other people fight with their spouses and so forth? That was what made the show good in the first place … normal people with extraordinary powers. Now … geez.
Well, thanks for letting me get THAT all off my chest! Ha!
I know some of the Heroes team, and this move stinks. Jesse in particular really knows his stuff, and knows what works and what doesn’t. Remember that this is a guy who worked with Lost and Alias when both shows were excellent too (well, I still love Lost, but Jesse left before it had its Season 3 dip). He’s also one of the master minds of the show’s life beyond the TV, which, regardless of what you think of the show, has been brilliantly executed. So to me this smells badly of NBC trying to find scapegoats, and doing a bad job of it.
The good news for Heroes is that it still provokes passionate responses, which the earlier comments do a nice job of summarizing.
I began watching Season 1 from a Saturday marathon on Sci-Fi Network, and I was hooked after the first 20 minutes of episode 1. After missing the Season 2 premiere because of work conflicts, I read a recap online and have yet to see a minute of the show since.
The EW article was helpful to viewers like me who have been wondering what we were missing. It appears that Kring and his reconstituted writing staff need to refocus the storytelling and tell a tale that can be understood by new and returning fans.
I’m a bit of a comics nerd, and Jeph Loeb (who is a comics writer) has gotten a reputation in recent years of writing some pretty awful comics (see “Ultimates 3” which featured great moments such as sibling incest and a character making fun of another for the fact this family was murdered). So I think his leaving could be a good thing.
I can see why everyone thinks Heroes isnt what it was like in the last 2 seasons. Buts thats only because we liked seeing people get there powers and trying to control them. Now its more of them trying to save the world. Im still very drawn to Heroes this season and still find it just as exciting. And yeah you are missing out on a pretty decent season 3. Right now i say its almost better than the first.
The first season was awesome because it was new and fresh, and built up suspense week to week (but then didn’t deliver at the end).
I really liked (what there was of) Season Two, and truly believe it would have been highly regarded if not for being cut short by the strike and if had been allowed to unfold over the course of a full season.
But Season Three — and this is coming from a huge fan of the show and people involved in it — is really a mess. It’s just a huge mashup of recycled characters, characters muddled together with each other’s traits and abilities, and illogical story points and character development.
They need to reel it back in to what made the earlier episoes so great if they want to keep their fanbase.
As a fan from day one, yes they have had some bumps, but overall it is still one of the best shows on television. Each episode gets better and better and I am left dying to know what happens next. Just my opinion;)
I really don’t know what to think. I could be as many have said NBC looking for scapegoats or it could be that there really were problems. All I know it that Sylar used to be my favorite character. He questioned where the line was drawn between hero and villian. If you did evil with good intent did that still make you evil? If you did good with evil intent did that still make you good? He made this point clear when he fought Peter in Kirby Plaza. (A fight that could have been executed a lot better with all of the powers they had at their disposal and Sylar’s innate ability to understand how they work [Also did I miss something or did Claude just bugger off after Peter flew them off the top of that building away from Bennet and the Haitian?])
Now his character is all screwed up! He is no longer an antithesis, he is more of an indecisive, homicidal maniac. “Well you see Elle I was a good guy for all of five minutes, but I’m evil again and now I’m going to cut open your head and set you on fire” O_O What?!
Stop screwing around…kill off Mohinder and make Sylar badass again!
Thank you,
AngelRahl