HEROES's Kring Signs New NBC Pact

From the Hollywood Reporter:

HEROES creator/executive producer Tim Kring, has inked a new overall deal with NBC Universal Television Studio, the studio behind the hit freshman show.

Under the two-year pact, said to be one of the biggest in television, Kring will continue as the showrunner on HEROES and will shepherd its upcoming spinoff, HEROES: Origins, as well as the various HEROES offshoots in print and digital media. Kring also is expected to develop new projects for the studio.

This marks the first major talent deal to close since Katherine Pope took the reins of NBC Uni TV as president several days ago. That couldn't be more fitting as Kring and Pope are close friends going back to the early days of NBC Studios, which the two joined within months from each other in 1999-2000.

Read the full story here.

Bianco (pre-) Handicaps (pre-) Nominations for the Prime-time Emmys

As nominated soap actors race look to the Daytime Emmys (a week from tomorrow), the soapiest actors in prime-time are at the start of the process to determine who will share the slate with their non-serial bretheren on the prime-time Emmy ballot.

This week, "nominations for nominations" ballots for the prime-time awards fest begin arriving in Academy member's mailboxes. In honor of the occasion, USA TODAY's Robert Bianco offers his suggestions for who should fit the bill.

Bianco's picks are heavy on soap players, including both prime-time serial women (Evangeline Lilly of LOST, America Ferrera of UGLY BETTY, and Sally Field of BROTHERS & SISTERS) and, after recognizing Kyle Chandler of FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS on his best actor list, Bianco stocks his supporting actor slate 100% with nighttime soapsters, including Masi Oka of HEROES, T.R. Knight of GREY'S ANATOMY, and Sam Neil of THE TUDORS.

Bianco's list is strong, if a bit safe. He rightly cites that nearly every woman on UGLY BETTY could be nominated for an Emmy, before proceeding to choose the predictable--and most famous choice--Vanessa Williams as the one most deserving. While I like Williams on the show a great deal, stars Ana Ortiz and Becki Newton have given revelatory performances with characters that could easily have been one-note. He also shortchanges BETTY's men in his calculations, with nary a mention of Eric Mabius or the delightfully surprising Michael Urie. (Personally, I would have thrown Adrian Pasdar, who's complicated take on what--literally--could have been a cartoon made viewers willing to patch over a huge plot hole in HEROES's season finale, and to hope that said hole somehow means he'll still be flying into living rooms on Monday nights next season.)

Still, Bianco shows the nighttime serial the love it deserves by recognizing some of the amazing contributions that have been made by TV stars, movie stars, and newcomers alike to the genre and prime-time slate this past season. To read his full predictions, click

David Bauder Looks at Fall's Network Serial Plans

From the Associated Press' David Bauder:

There were two lessons from this season that television executives clearly didn’t forget: Don’t overdo the serial dramas with complex story lines that require a serious viewer commitment, and keep interruptions for successful ones to a minimum.

More dramas — and network TV is primarily in the drama business these days — will tell stories that won’t baffle the viewer who happened to miss last week’s episode.Three successful serials were particularly hurt this season by long intervals with reruns. That was fatal to CBS’ “Jericho,” which was canceled. The other two, ABC’s “Lost” and NBC’s “Heroes,” will run their new episodes uninterrupted next season, following the model of Fox’s “24.” So will the CW’s “One Tree Hill.” CBS will try the same thing with “Swing Town,” one of its most promising newcomers.

“I don’t know if we know the ideal model yet for each of them,” said Kelly Kahl, chief of scheduling at CBS. “We’re looking, experimenting, trying to find the best way to do it.”

One of the surefire ways to make sure a water-cooler show does not face the dreaded sophomore slump is to make the kind of casting choices that not only keep new viewers interested, but might lead others to sample the show for the first time. NBC may be doing just that in adding a vet of a departing show of equal water-cooler appeal to the cast of the superhero soap HEROES next season.

According to the Hollywood Reporter, Dania Ramirez, known to passionate fans of HBO's THE SOPRANOS as the fiancee of troubled Soprano scion A.J. (played by Robert Iler), will join the cast next season as a new character with powers.

FOX and ABC Set to Debut Action-Adventure Serials for Summer

The Hollywood Reporter ran a story this week entitled "Serialized Dramas Hope to Reheat Ailing Genre," but it was less an examination of the industry and more a profile of two new nighttime serials to set to debut as late mid-season replacements. ("Ailing" is, of course, relative, as the pick-up rate of 21% for new serial dramas has already met--and if only one more is renewed this season, it will excced--the average rate for all new shows, of any genre.):

Fox's DRIVE and ABC's TRAVELER -- both heavily serialized dramas -- were developed during the 2006-07 development cycle when the [serial] genre was red hot.

A year later, the genre is in the freezer after the majority of ambitious new fall series with continuous story lines crashed and burned.

Now Drive and Traveler slated for a May 30 launch, will test the airwaves to see if the serialized drama curse has been lifted.

<...>

Indeed, observers note that it was the dark serialized dramas such as VANISHED, KIDNAPPED, SMITH, THE NINE, and DAY BREAK that fizzled, while lighter fare such as the heavily serialized HEROES and the soap UGLY BETTY became the breakout hits of the season.

Drive and Traveler are in the action-adventure genre -- Drive chronicles an illegal cross-country race and its participants, while Traveler revolves around two graduate students searching for their friend Will Traveler, who disappeared after framing them for a terrorist act. That makes the shows a good fit for the summer movie season that kicks in next month....

Read the full article here.

Network Honchos Tackle the State of Nighttime Soaps

Scott D. Pierce writes an absolutely fantastic piece entitled "To Be Continued..." for the Deseret Morning News on the place and future of the nighttime serial on network television. I've included a highly truncated version below, but recommend reading Pierce's full article here.

From the Deseret Morning News:

Last fall, network executives were…declaring this the Season of the Serial — in addition to the [many] shows with storylines that continue from week to week returning—[execs] added 19 more.

By midseason, some critics were declaring the effort a big flop and predicting the end of serialized shows on network TV.

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As with all things in TV, this is cyclical....if the executives were wrong last fall, so were those critics at midseason. The truth lies in the middle. Of those 19 new serials, four — BROTHERS & SISTERS, HEROES, MEN IN TREES, and UGLY BETTY — have already been renewed for next season [a success rate of 21 percent].

A 21 percent success rate is just about [the same] for all new network shows. If one or two more get picked up…this year's crop of serialized newcomers will exceed that average.

Part of the thinking [is] that serials are a risk, but offer a big reward. If they prove popular with [viewers], those viewers will come back week after week.

"Serialization is still one of the biggest hooks that we have into an audience," NBC Entertainment president Kevin Reilly said. "[It's] rocket fuel when you hit it."

The risk comes because you're asking viewers to tune in to every single episode [and] the risk increases when there are so many serials on the air, because viewers can't commit to all of them.

Fox's Entertainment president Peter Liguori thinks that serials have to be not just good, but better than other shows. "It seems to me that in order to put on a serialized show, you have a higher standard," he said. "If we're going to ask viewers to make that kind of commitment, you better be great."

<…>

It would be nice if quality always wins out [but] some good shows get canceled; some very bad shows succeed.

The thinking is that there were just too many serialized shows on the air at one time...if a viewer is already watching 24 and LOST and GREY’S ANATOMY, how many of the 19 new shows did he or she have time to start watching [also]?

Reilly acknowledged that critics "were right to acknowledge the overabundance of serialized shows." Particularly too many shows that were so much alike in tone….but [that] you can't argue serials don't work, "because there's Heroes, completely defying the logic," Reilly said. "Highly serialized, highly complex and it's the breakout hit of the year."

And ABC Entertainment president Steve McPherson believes that "escapism" equaled success, pointing to Betty and Brothers & Sisters.

Liguori postulates that "shows that have a more singular focus and a singular goal may have a leg up. PRISON BREAK — get out of prison; 24 — save the country."

Network programmers…expect to program fewer new serials this fall. "We're...looking and saying. 'How much [of a] commitment can an audience make to an overall schedule?"' McPherson said. As a result, he's looking at more "stuff that is procedural or closed-ended" for next season.

"We're not running away from it," said NBC's Reilly. "But we are balancing it out a little bit more."

HEROES: Coming to a Phone Near You

From Yahoo! Biz: "Gameloft and NBC Universal Enter Worldwide Agreement to Bring The #1 Television Drama Series 'Heroes' to Mobile Phones." Read it here.

Additional Serials Tapped for Early Renewal by Networks

Though its future had been in question, FOX's twisty prison serial PRISON BREAK, starring Wentworth Miller, has been selected for early renewal, along with episodic dramas HOUSE and BONES.

Additionally, NBC has renewed freshman serial HEROES, though the supernatural soap's combination of high ratings and buzz had essentially guaranteed its return.

(More on the expansive list of early renewals handed out by ABC earlier this month here.)

NBC, FOX Announce Deal With Internet Leaders AOL, Yahoo! To Create Online Video Site

Proposed venture set to rival YouTube.com, and be eventual web home for NBC and FOX programming (short- and long-form content), including current NBC serials. More details here.

Writer McFarland Handicaps Primetime Faves Ripe for Cancellation

In her article, Spring Can Be the Cruelest Season for Favorite Shows, Melanie McFarland of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer handicaps the mid-season status of primetime network shows in the cancellation crosshairs, including several serials.

Including each net's point-of-contact information for the action oriented, MacFarland runs down her list, which includes:

CBS: JERICHO

"Proving how fickle fortune and audiences can be, the post-apocalyptic drama had momentum and buzz on its side last fall, only to be crushed by American Idol when it returned in February. CBS could move it, but finding a suitable fit is going to be problematic. Besides, why shift JERICHO if replacing it with a show potent enough to fend off the Idol threat makes more sense?"

ABC: No serials/no dramas

"Only a few seasons ago, ABC had no luck landing a decent drama. Now that it's lousy with 'em, including a couple that are among television's highest-rated, it can't score a decent sitcom to save some development executive's neck. No one could blame the network if it scrapped the lot and started completely fresh..."

NBC: FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS, Crossing Jordan, Studio 60

"The Peacock is facing a bit of a dilemma as is flies into May. HEROES became a hit, but other freshmen such as FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS suffer from a mismatch between acclaim (high) and ratings (low); and veterans, even [the original] Law & Order are barely treading water. NBC fumbled the promotion campaign for [LIGHTS] last summer, but it can make up for that in the run-up to season two....there's less hope for the likes of Crossing Jordan and Law & Order: Criminal Intent, which might be pushed on top of the cancellation grenade to preserve the mother ship L&O—and save the cost-cutting NBC some money."


FOX: PRISON BREAK, Standoff

"PRISON BREAK has yet to be renewed, but it's safer than Standoff, which is getting a last chance to justify its existence by turning around the Friday night death slot. (Not gonna happen.)

THE CW: VERONICA MARS, GILMORE GIRLS, 7th HEAVEN

"VERONICA MARS fans are used to hearing gloomy predictions about its survival odds this time of year, but now they really have to be worried. First, its season order was shortened. Then, hiatus replacement The Pussycat Dolls Present: The Search for the Next Doll drew in higher ratings. Another whammy: The stars of GILMORE GIRLS haven't decided whether to extend their contracts for another year. Without GILMORE, Neptune's finest might be done. If those shows go down, they had better take [HEAVEN] with them."

(Read the full story, including McFarland's sitcom pics, here.)

New York Artists Sue NBC's HEROES, Claim 'Striking' Similarities

Reuters reports that two artists are suing NBC Universal and the creators of the net's superhero serial HEROES, claiming their work was unlawfully appropriated for the hit show.

In a suit filed last week, the pair charge that HEROES based a key storyline, about an artist who can paint the future, on a short story, film, and series of paintings they exhibited in 2004-05. The artists' suit claims the character and story of "Isaac Mendez" (portrayed by Santiago Cabrera) is "strikingly similar" to that earlier work.

HEROES, a nighttime serial about a group of ordinary people who discover they have superhero-like abilities, has been credited with helping to boost NBC's ratings this season. The show's stars include Hayden Panettiere (ex-"Lizzie Spaulding," GUIDING LIGHT, ex-"Sarah Roberts," ONE LIFE TO LIVE), Jack Coleman (ex-"Steven Carrington," DYNASTY), Milo Ventimiglia (ex-"Jess Mariano," GILLMORE GIRLS, ex-"Chris Pierce," AMERICAN DREAMS), Adrian Pasdar (ex-"David Bradley," DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES, Judging Amy, Profit) and Greg Grunberg (ex-"Sean Blumberg," FELICITY, ex-"Eric Weiss," ALIAS).

In a statement, NBC (a unit of General Electric) said the network believes the suit is without merit, stating "we intend to defend it vigorously and expect to prevail."