Why Can’t NBC Come Up With Good Genre TV Anymore?

I find it interesting that NBC still has the Heroes website up and running. When other networks cancel a show they usually shut down the show’s website within days or weeks after the show’s cancellation. Yet here it is over a year later and the website is still up and it’s message boards still get regular traffic, almost as much as it did when the show was still on the air.

I think that one of the big problems is that as they are trying to appeal to superhero fandom with superhero shows, they are missing the mark by not being ‘in touch’ with the fans. Heroes was great because it was original, but yes, very over exposed. It could come back strong if they don’t try to over market it again. I don’t hold high hopes for Wonder Woman because from everything I’ve heard on that show, it’s going to be Wonder Woman almost in name only. When you say Wonder Woman, you instantly think of the comic book icon, either straight from the pages or the Linda Cater portrayal. I think WW will fail on the return to TV because of the departure from what everyone knows.

I’m in the UK and I’ve been really enjoying The Event on Channel 4 over here. Sorry to hear it may be axed. I like the fact it regularly resolves plotlines and appears to have a clear direction – something that The X-Files and Lost (at least in the beginning for Lost) never had.

Never understood the hype around Heroes. I nearly turned off halfway through the first episode it was so dull. It got better but I didn’t watch it beyond the first series. Sounds as though it was for the best!

CHUCK is my best series on TV

I think Heroes should be revived as a comic book just as Buffy was

Do you have any idea what genre means? You use the term 8 times but never tell us what genres you are talking about.

I think the problem with shows is that networks don’t like to see the fan base plateau. If they are not increasing watchers every episode then it should be cancelled. For example, Farscape of the Sci-Fi channel (which is owned by NBC) had a constant fanbase but no new watchers so it was cancelled.
But then you have the whole, “let’s do something totally different. Let’s make KITT morph into a 10-passenger van and a pick-up truck.” What is wrong with sticking with the basics of what made the original a hit. Guy drives a talking car and solves cases.

As for the Cape, people are just burned out on superhero shows and also burned out on the long over-arching stories that take 6 seasons to tell. I know I like the one-and-done stories. Also the long, drawn out stories are really hard to watch on DVD or Blu-Ray. With Heroes, Lost, or even the Event, you can’t just pop the disk in and watch one story from start to finish.

Community is fantastic as it has embraced the NON-genre by having a different genre show every week with comedy stylings. Wondering when they’ll do their super-hero episode (or did they do one and I forgot?). Donald Glover as Spider-Man.

I think the thing with the action-adventure shows of the ’80s was that they weren’t serialized, for the most part. You didn’t need to see the first episode and every episode after that–you could jump in at any point during the season and still get the gist of what was going on during the opening titles. While shows like LOST, 24, and HEROES definitely found success in the 2000s with long storylines that played out over an entire season–if not the entire series–I don’t think you can do that with EVERY show. Some shows may be better served by being more episodic in nature, with mostly “done in one episode” stories.

!!NBC!! bring HEROES back! The world is requesting, you don’t have a choice.
BRING HEROES, SAVE NBC!

Wasn’t Star Trek a CBS show?

think after Heroes lost its way NBC mostly being the network for comedy kind of tried to keep duplicating heroes like with the cape or got stuck on the every thing old is coming back trend. thus with bionic woman and knight rider. though Nbc big problem trying to get out of its slump is that it really stuck on throw something to the wall and see if it sticks and old is new again.

Have I missed something or, aside from WB/CW (which has a much lower threshold of ratings success), have the other broadcast networks (ABC, CBS, FOX) recently had a staggeringly high success rate with “genre shows”? No? Then maybe the the problem isn’t NBC. Maybe the problem is that the general (i.e., non geek nation) audience for those kinds of shows isn’t large enough to sustain them under the existing model of financial success used by the broadcast nets?

Heroes came out of the gates strong and then petered out. Same with a lot of the genre shows that came after it. I think general purposes audiences just have developed a limited tolerance for these continuity based shows and their never ending stories. Heroes and Lost garnered a lot of attention because they were novelties (at the time). Now that everyone’s seen the card trick, they know how it works and they’re not ll that impressed anymore.

Dear NBC, please Disregard that last request. Thank You.
Sincerly, someone who recognizes the fact that Heroes was going nowhere fast.

How is Wonder Woman “relatively obscure”?
She’s been dominating the news cycle for a couple of weeks now, and she’s instantly recognizable from the 70′s show. In addition, she had five years worth of exposure on Justice League and JLU, which was an immensely popular show. On top of that she rakes in millions for DC on licensing alone, with her likeness on shoes, clothes, stationary, backpacks, lunchboxes, etc.
“Relatively obscure” is an understatement. What other character (besides Superman) has caused such a ruckus in the mainstream just from a change in costume or a haircut?

The worst part is that NBC may not realize that by canceling so many shows on a row, they might give the fans (genre or not) the impression that sticking with one of their shows is a waste of time… thus making their problem worse.

But then, these are the people who thought that replacing Leno on the Tonight Show (a then-current hit) with Conan (a big maybe) was a good idea. Instead of just waiting for Leno to retire on his own or the ratings to go down.

I like Chuck too, but I’m not sure if it fits the definition of a genre show as the author says it is. To me its a tribute to genre shows, not one itself (but I love it).

This isn’t about drawing an audience or what happened back in the 80s it’s about one thing and one thing only….QUALITY!!!

Lost was tremendously well done and was a level of quality you won’t find on NBC. Heroes started off so well and was stunningly awful season two and got progressively worse. It was almost like NBC wasn’t even watching or cared.

The Cape is not even Syfy worthy and Bionic Woman basically a How To Guide in what to do WRONG.

Wonder Woman needs a well guided hand towards an engaging season pong story arc

“Chuck” is a lot better then any of the shows in your “fine history” …

There are no reports about “Wonder Woman” being in trouble; there’s just a lot of internet whining. You lost all credibility when you made the false claim. The show hasn’t even aired yet; it might do very well.

FYI: Heroes sucked.

I agree, adding that this unfortunate reality doesn’t just apply to genre TV. Years ago, there was a struggling sitcom. In its first year it was failing to find an audience. At the time, Brandon Tartikoff was at the helm, and not the aforementioned bean counters. He said, give it a chance. It’s a funny show, it will find its footing. In its second year, it did, and quickly rose to become one of the top sitcoms of all time. Or at least of the ’80′s and ’90′s.

I was told a while back by a friend of a friend who works in the TV industry (literally a friend of a friend) that in today’s climate, the show would have been cancelled before 13 episodes. Too many channels, too many choices; you HAVE TO BE a hit out of the ballpark from day one or you’re dead in the water.

That’s how the current network heads see things, and you’re right, its not going to change; rather we’re going to see more and more reality TV through NBC and NBC’s sister stations (Bravo and SyFy especially…why do you think Jeff Zucker bought ‘em in the first place) to make more money for the network. And good SCRIPTED shows will get the axe. Unless they’re a hit from day one.

Oh, for the curious among you, the name of that sitcom? “Cheers.”

um.dont you mean syfy?

I think what’s missing is that, in some cases, network executives seem to care more about the end product than the production company executives do, and that’s bad. And in other cases, the networks seem to just want something they understand, and to cater only to what fits their sensibilities.
It matters greatly how much everyone involved insists on a good product, and also allows the show appropriate marketing and time for its appropriate audience to see it. When someone’s not on the right page, it shows.

The Event and The Cape are both really cool. Especially the Event.

I would like to see some closure in The Cape though. I think given more time it could have been pretty epic. It’s got a all kinds of crazy and likable characters, not to mention awesome actors like the though little guy in the Carnival of Crime, the guy who played Scales, and the Cape himself. Even if its a little goofy it is a cool show! Plus tv history is full of goofy-ass shows that have been successful. Even if they just gave it another 6 or 8 episodes and allowed Farraday to get back his family that would be acceptable. It would in essence be an extended length film. Too bad. I think that show was really fun.

I think out of all the shows right now on the channel, tho, that The Event has the most promise. It has a wild plot, great writing and acting, suspense, building suspense and mystery, shocking moments and cliffhangers, a plot showing realistic government/corporate/private corruption, potentially the inclusion of Ancient Astronaut Theory, and great cinematography and production quality. DON’T CANCEL THE EVENT!!!!!!!!