Brian Damage
03-01-2010, 11:47 PM
Even with a devastating plummet in ratings, Greg Grunberg says that even Heroes can be saved.
“I'm hearing rumors, I'm hearing good rumors,” said Grunberg at the MILK + BOOKIES First Annual Story Time Celebration at the Skirball Center in Los Angeles. “We clearly did not wrap up the overall lure and story of Heroes [in the season finale]. I love the last episode. I thought it was awesome. First of all, I was very powerful in it. But I also love the fact that it came to a point where now everyone is going to know about us and how do you deal with that now that it's all exposed. It was really exciting that [Claire] jumps in front of all the press. We'll see, I just felt like we do need to wrap this up. I think it would be great if they announced two more seasons or something like that. That would be so great for us because then like Lost there’d be an endgame and exciting, almost like waiting till the end of the movie.”
Once a thriving cult series for NBC (originally pulling in over 16 million viewers), Heroes has endured a sharp decline in audience popularity over the last couple years, sparking rumblings that the season 4 finale (which aired Feb. 8 to a dismal 4.4 million viewers) was in fact its series last.
But Grunberg doesn’t seem to think so, based on its famed international reputation and NBC tenure.
“NBC has so many pilots as you know and some of them are really great, so they're going to take a look at all that and then weigh it and then say, ‘Okay, can we use Heroes to launch some of these new shows?’" said Grunberg. “That's the good thing is that at least it's a show that's well received all over the world—DVD [has] huge sales, all that stuff is good for us. And also they can use it as a platform to launch other shows. NBC right now they need product.”
Grunberg says bringing it back would mean bringing it a full 360 degrees.
“I think we've tried some different things and I think it's just getting back to the roots of the show, which is, it’s a character show, a family show [with] the family relationships within the show. Think that's what we need to do,” he said. “So far we killed Adrian. How many times can you kill one of these characters!? So I just wish that and I know that we're going to go back to basically season one of what happened. I mean, I hope. I don't know what's going on. But I talked to [creator] Tim [Kring], he's excited about the possibility should they pull the trigger and say, ‘okay, yeah.’”
Even his character has come full circle.
“I've been so happy with my character, really. Season one, it was, ‘Wow, we want to see more, we want my character to be more important to the story,’ then somebody introduced my father, more part of the history these characters, and now they turn to mean to take down Syler! I mean, I can't complain! I'm very happy with where they've taken him and hopefully they'll lean on my character a lot more in future episodes.”
In a twist, now the fans even want to become heroes to rescue their favorite show—but Grunberg thinks it’s unnecessary at this point.
“I'm hearing from fans, like they put something out on my Twitter stream that says, ‘Sign this petition!’ I’m like, ‘We’re not at that place!’ We don't need a petition. We really don't. I so appreciate it though and I love the fact people are passionate about it. I think we’re fine, I really do. I'm the one who's at speaking the loudest.”
http://www.tvguidemagazine.com/news/can-heroes-be-saved-4208.html
“I'm hearing rumors, I'm hearing good rumors,” said Grunberg at the MILK + BOOKIES First Annual Story Time Celebration at the Skirball Center in Los Angeles. “We clearly did not wrap up the overall lure and story of Heroes [in the season finale]. I love the last episode. I thought it was awesome. First of all, I was very powerful in it. But I also love the fact that it came to a point where now everyone is going to know about us and how do you deal with that now that it's all exposed. It was really exciting that [Claire] jumps in front of all the press. We'll see, I just felt like we do need to wrap this up. I think it would be great if they announced two more seasons or something like that. That would be so great for us because then like Lost there’d be an endgame and exciting, almost like waiting till the end of the movie.”
Once a thriving cult series for NBC (originally pulling in over 16 million viewers), Heroes has endured a sharp decline in audience popularity over the last couple years, sparking rumblings that the season 4 finale (which aired Feb. 8 to a dismal 4.4 million viewers) was in fact its series last.
But Grunberg doesn’t seem to think so, based on its famed international reputation and NBC tenure.
“NBC has so many pilots as you know and some of them are really great, so they're going to take a look at all that and then weigh it and then say, ‘Okay, can we use Heroes to launch some of these new shows?’" said Grunberg. “That's the good thing is that at least it's a show that's well received all over the world—DVD [has] huge sales, all that stuff is good for us. And also they can use it as a platform to launch other shows. NBC right now they need product.”
Grunberg says bringing it back would mean bringing it a full 360 degrees.
“I think we've tried some different things and I think it's just getting back to the roots of the show, which is, it’s a character show, a family show [with] the family relationships within the show. Think that's what we need to do,” he said. “So far we killed Adrian. How many times can you kill one of these characters!? So I just wish that and I know that we're going to go back to basically season one of what happened. I mean, I hope. I don't know what's going on. But I talked to [creator] Tim [Kring], he's excited about the possibility should they pull the trigger and say, ‘okay, yeah.’”
Even his character has come full circle.
“I've been so happy with my character, really. Season one, it was, ‘Wow, we want to see more, we want my character to be more important to the story,’ then somebody introduced my father, more part of the history these characters, and now they turn to mean to take down Syler! I mean, I can't complain! I'm very happy with where they've taken him and hopefully they'll lean on my character a lot more in future episodes.”
In a twist, now the fans even want to become heroes to rescue their favorite show—but Grunberg thinks it’s unnecessary at this point.
“I'm hearing from fans, like they put something out on my Twitter stream that says, ‘Sign this petition!’ I’m like, ‘We’re not at that place!’ We don't need a petition. We really don't. I so appreciate it though and I love the fact people are passionate about it. I think we’re fine, I really do. I'm the one who's at speaking the loudest.”
http://www.tvguidemagazine.com/news/can-heroes-be-saved-4208.html