EXCLUSIVE: NBC Cancels HEROES -- And JAY LENO Is Seriously To Blame

We can't say we didn't see it coming - and you probably did, too.  So it was no surprise   Friday when NBC announced that their long-struggling Heroes won't be returning for  Season Five. Apparently, the network seriously mulled bringing the show back for a shortened final season, but ultimately Heroes' poor record of keeping its twisty narrative on track  - and the cost of the hour-long comic book-inspired drama - failed to provide a truly compelling reason for NBC to do so. 

NBC cited both reasons when they canceled Heroes last week, although they didn't make any secret of Heroes' constantly-declining ratings also being a factor in their decision. While we won't delve into numbers analysis of the beleaguered series, we're of the opinion that Heroes was strong enough and likely would have returned to its 9pm time slot if not for the biggest prime time disaster in recent memory - The Jay Leno Show. 

It wasn't NBC as much as its nationwide network of affiliates that Leno's abysmal performance hurt, as the show's ratings resulted in 'bleeding' viewers - and advertising dollars - from late local newscasts across the country. The affiliates 'revolted,' prompting the cancellation of the Leno Show and, subsequently, the debacle between NBC and Conan O'Brien. 

Trying to build the muscle necessary to carry viewers into their NBC-affiliated newscasts is the  unfortunate goal of the network's new fall slate, which was announced in its entirety earlier this morning. All together, the early 2010 line-up includes seven new series, with five of those (one each weekday) filling the 9pm lead-in slot.  Another five new series are being primed for mid-season.

In a Leno-free world, or one where he didn't bomb, Heroes likely would have survived -- at least long enough to bring closure and perhaps a bit of clarity to the series, which had regained a good measure of its storytelling legs in Season Four.  Unfortunately, our world is not the Leno-less one we'd like, and in it, neither Heroes nor the comic-booky-named Conan O'Brien had the power to pound the 'Joker' that is Jay Leno.

 Must be the chin...

Our conclusion is mostly us reading between the lines, but it's more than that, too. With their announcement today, NBC also reasserted that they've left the possibility open for Heroes to return next season, not as a series but as a television movie, to wrap up loose threads.  This makes complete sense - probably as a 'Sweeps Week' event - and stands as evidence that Heroes likely lingered on the network's precipice of decision rather than being summarily discounted. While we'd be the first to admit NBC's  horrendously poor judgement obliterating O'Brien from their late-night laugh-in, the final fate of Heroes wasn't similarly decided. 

We should mention that the Clown Prince of the Peacock also put the official toe-tag on Law & Order, ending the series after a full twenty seasons.  That may have caught a few fans of that series off-guard, although ABC's cancellation of Flash Forward most certainly didn't - despite the rather awesome ads they pulled too late from their Tarot deck. 

What's your dabbling determination on Heroes? Did the 'Joker of Late Night' condemn Peter and Claire to oblivion or did they do themselves in?? And are there really any Jay Leno fans out there at all??? We want to hear from you before the new season rolls around, so get us your Back Issues now!

Misfortune Telling for FLASH FORWARD

We weren't the only ones who had high hopes for ABC's high-concept show Flash Forward before the Fall 2009 Season began.  But within just a few short weeks, the show's clever premise was showing its holes, and after three months, its initial viewing audience of almost 13 million fell off -- nearly by half. Considering Flash Forward's premise -- an inexplicable planet-wide event causes everyone on the planet to black out and see visions of their future lives, only then to wake and deal with the ramifications -- it's ironic that the show's producers couldn't predict the troubles ahead of them. 

Marc Guggenheim, co-creator and Flash Forward's executive producer (not to mention the next writer of DC's Action Comics and former scribe of Marvel's Amazing Spider-Man, as well as the scriptwriter of Warner Bros forthcoming Green Lantern feature), departed last October, leaving Flash Forward in the hands of the show's second formidable showrunner, David Goyer.  Yet shortly after Guggenheim's departure, ABC pulled Flash Forward for hiatus, rescheduling the show for a January reintroduction. Now that date's been pushed back to March; for a show suffering from a bad case of ratings, Flash Forward's time is quickly running out. 

If the protracted hiatus wasn't bad enough, Variety reported earlier this month that Goyer also exited the series in early February to focus on his film career.  As his aforementioned career includes screenwriting Christopher Nolan's next Batman sequel, most people we know aren't shedding a tear for Flash Forward's loss.  Still, we can't help feel for Flash Forward's embattled cast and crew, all of whom must be wondering who'll be steering their 'ship,' what's coming their way next.  

 Perhaps that collective uncertainty was the impetus behind these four new Flash Forward advertisements that recently showed up on Ads of The World.  Publicis, the firm behind the advertising, deserves a round of applause; their use of tarot cards and future predictions gives Flash Forward a 'technicolor Twilight Zone twist' that's truly inspired.  If ABC's sinking ship was half as sexy and clever as these ads, or as forward-thinking as the publicists who created them, Flash Forward's future would be bright indeed...

Media Idea: Flash Foward Momentum

Guess I was too busy shopping the New Release aisle at Best Buy (Hmmm, should I drop my Ulysses S. Grant on Heroes Season 3 or Smallville Season 8?) to notice that the new fall television season has already begun. If network re-runs haven't had you glued to your TV set, either...what's wrong with you, friend?!?

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What's in a name? If you're one of ABC's two new candidates on TV's increasingly competitive genre-show ballot, a lot. The only way to sum up the future of their Defying Gravity, set in a near-future where American audiences watch live as eight astronauts embark on a six-year mission, boldly going where no one has gone before -- to the outer reaches of the solar system -- and suffer dire consequences from an encounter with a mysterious force with a mad-on, is grave.

Why? Even though ABC tried to get a jump on the new schedule by beginning Gravity's season back in August, the one-hour drama still couldn't win its 10pm time-slot on Sundays, coming in fourth after repeat episodes of Fox's The Simpsons and Family Guy and CBS police dramas Cold Case and Without a Trace. The result? ABC grounded Gravity's shuttle early, ending its first "season" September 13th. Look for the box set before Christmas.

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It's a different speed all-together for Flash Forward, the prime-time front man for ABC's Thursdays. For this show. the race is already looking good. Despite almost no-hype beyond the big push the show received at this summer's San Diego Comic-Con, Forward was one of only two genre shows to be represented in a recent Nielsen poll of early audiences' top new intent-to-view programs this fall.

It's easy to see why the Nielsen peeps 'flash-forwarded', too. Here's why we think so:

(1) Nifty premise. A whole bunch of people experience a large-scale event that, for two minutes, gives them all a peek into their lives six months down the road. Their two-minute time-out passes, and that same bunch of people get back on real-time only to find everyone else that didn't 'flash forward' has dropped dead. Or, in other words, if you can't bring the people to the island, bring the island to the people. Which isn't obvious if you're not paying attention or watching that other show called...

(2) Lost. ABC's top-rated cult fave finds its final season in 2010, and I've got to imagine the powers-that-be don't want to lose their ratings momentum. Flash Forward, by premise and by population, has quickly moved into the first-place successor spot over at the alphabet network. 

(3) Men in Motion. The show's based on a novel by Robert Sawyer, who also has his hands in the shows creative direction. But Flash Forward was developed for television by two of sci-fi's best men: Star Trek: The Next Generation's Brannon Braga and former comicbook writer (Justice Society of America) David Goyer, who also happens to be the guy who wrote a little movie called The Dark Knight. Ahem. Yeah, Goyer is golden. And if Braga's Forward even comes close to his former TNG counterpart Ronald Moore's Battlestar Galactica, I know where I'll be on Thursday nights. 

(4) Enterprising Actors. Forward's got the star power of prime-time supernova. The series stars the very pretty and popular Joseph Fiennes (Shakespeare in Love, Enemy at the Gates) in the lead role, with the #2 position going to John Cho. Yup, the same John Cho who cemented his own place in pop culture's Pantheon by appearing opposite Chris Pine and Zachary Quinto as Hikaru Sulu in last summer's Star Trek ret-con. Your kids will know who he is. Trust me.

(5) It's name. Unlike the dismal destiny that seems to await Gravity, Flash Foward's success seems to be built right in to the show's title. A literary device of foreshadowing to enable readers to gain predictive knowledge, Flash Forward's fate will be written in stars. And probably a few Emmy's, natch. Words are magic. We swear.

Flash-Forward is shaping up to be a powerhouse. But keep your peepers peeled, abbracadabblers! ABC's pitting their pilot up against Fox's own heavy hitting F-word, Fringe. Ratings are unforgiving and only one of these guys is gonna walk away. It'll be a close one, folks. Still, we're pretty confident to predict one thing: Thursday nights are going to be F-ing crazy this Fall. 

Media Idea: Get set to get F-ed up with a few of your closest friends for the season premiere of Flash Forward, beginning Thursday, September 24th at 8pm.