Heroes, and Flash Forward: A Eulogy

It’s been a real hack and slash kind-of week for the American networks, with NBC and ABC respectively canning a big name series each, those being: Heroes and Flash Forward.

This is sad for differing reasons. Heroes was a show which showed such potential in its early days, being well written, well cast and engaging, but never lived up to its initial success in latter years and ended up driving frustrated fans away (myself included) with its grandiose plots which went nowhere, and for falling for the age old sci-fi habit of introducing way too many new super-powered characters no-one cared about. Now the old dog that was Heroes has been led out into the yard, by its master NBC, and been given a bullet in the back of the head, to put the once great superhero drama out of its misery (and so we never have to put up with Peter Petrelli's gurning look of surprise, or whiny super-cheerleader Claire, again). A cruel, but kind, punishment indeed, but the old boy was just too much to keep.

Flashforward on the other hand has been prematurely axed, having only been on air for one season, and really

never showed us what it could really do. Once again there was a stellar cast (of mainly English origin, I might add), and an interesting - albeit quite ambitious - premise, but it just never lived up to its promise. With Flashforward it feels like the plug from the incubator has been pulled by ABC. And all that might have been, simply becomes a never was.


As you can see it’s been a bad day for the established American Dramas; with Scrubs - another shadow of it's former self - being put out of it's misery too, and Lost only two weeks away from its finale, we can expect the American schedules to be drastically different from now on. We have entered a brave new world of American drama it seems.

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