Heroes: Too Much, Too Soon?

at .

Heroes is huge.

After just one season on the air, the show is sending its cast around the world, while also spawning trading cards, video games and even an already-planned spin-off, Heroes: Origins.

Matthew Gilbert the Boston Globe, therefore, couldn't help but ask: is this way too much, far too soon, for a series just getting off the ground? Here are excerpts from the article:

Heroes World Tour
To me, it's as if NBC is pressing Heroes into child labor. The network is working the show like a mature blockbuster - on the order of CSI or Lost - too soon. Underneath all the great expectations, there is just a wee sci-fi TV series whose unformed back is carrying too much weight.

Heroes has great potential, based on much of its first season, to be special and enduring. But, like many new series, it still needs refining and tender loving care before it deserves to be turned into a synergistic linchpin. Its Emmy nomination this summer for outstanding drama series came too soon.

Every week, it seems, NBC releases yet another tidbit of obviously targeted casting news, to reach the cult- and comic-book-minded. The latest name is Kristen Bell (from Veronica Mars), who follows David Anders (from Alias), Nichelle Nichols (Uhura from Star Trek), Dominic Keating (from Enterprise), and many others onto the show.

Viewers who've watched the series loyally know that if there's one thing Heroes emphatically does not need, it's more characters. By May's abysmal season finale, the plot had sprawled too far and too wide to fit together satisfactorily, and the rules governing the many characters' magical abilities had become convoluted and random.

The hour was busy, crowded, and empty all at the same time.

Lost tried the same trick in its second season, trying to open up the story to new viewers by adding new characters, and it failed miserably. Older fans wanted to see more of the original ensemble, and most of the newer faces did not entice.

Now, Lost has wisely returned its focus back to its core group. With too many come-and-go characters such as Claude the invisible man, Heroes will only become more chaotic, and more diffuse.

Follow our link to read the full Heroes article.

And let us know if you agree with any of its points.

Matt Richenthal is the Editor in Chief of TV Fanatic. Follow him on Twitter and on Google+.

Show Comments
Tags:

Heroes Quotes

You are not faster than me, nemesis.

Hiro

Only together can we be the stewards of our own destiny.

Nathan

Heroes Music

  Song Artist
Song Road to Joy Bright Eyes
Song Mustang Sally Wilson Pickett
Song I Want It That Way Backstreet Boys