Culture

NBC to Air a 'Heroes' Reboot, Divide America All Over Again

NBC interrupted the Sochi Olympics last night to announce that the show Heroes will be back next year.

By Adam Chandler
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NBC interrupted last night the Sochi Olympics to announce that the show Heroes will be back next year. Details about Heroes Reborn are vague. What we do know is that the once-upon-a-hit show, which ran from 2006 until 2010, will be back in miniseries form, stretching over 13 episodes.

Here was the ad that quickly stirred excitement among the nerdly masses and reopened the wound left by the series' widely-panned final season.

In a press release, NBC Entertainment President Jennifer Salke praised the show's early domination of the cultural landscape back in 2006 before teasing everyone with ambiguity.

“Shows with that kind of resonance don’t come around often and we thought it was time for another installment. We’re thrilled that visionary creator Tim Kring was as excited about jumping back into this show as we were and we look forward to all the new textures and layers Tim plans to add to his original concept. Until we get closer to air in 2015, the show will be appropriately shrouded in secrecy, but we won’t rule out the possibility of some of the show’s original cast members popping back in.”

As you might recall, Heroes enjoyed one of the more meteoric rises in recent television history, captivating audiences and scoring major ratings for a flagging NBC network. Even the (not nearly as popular) second season of the show was NBC's sole offering to breach the top 20 most-viewed series in 2007-2008. The show, which was about normal people who discover superhuman abilities, featured a talented cast, many of whom found success after the show ended its run.

But like a wayward peacock, the breakout show (sort of) flew too close to the sun, mixing nonlinear plot points with surface-level character development, and plummeted unceremoniously down the ratings drain. By 2010, the show was done for. There was some excitement out there about the reboot, but mostly the reactions went something like this:

The decision also spawned its own derisive Twitter thread about NBC.

This article is from the archive of our partner The Wire.