Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Business News
January 22, 2007 Monday
Big hero at NBC: Series creator Tim Kring deftly guides 'Heroes
BY Hal Boedeker, The Orlando Sentinel, Fla.
Jan. 22--PASADENA, Calif. -- Are you on the list of Heroes fans? Your wait is almost over.
This season' most-watched new series returns at 9 tonight with its first new episode since Dec. 4. Fans will learn more about the everyday people with extraordinary powers, from the flying politician to the prophetic painter to the mind-reading police officer.
Grateful NBC has renewed the adventure for a second season. The first year will conclude with a cliffhanger, but also a definite end.
"We will wrap up the story of the prophecy of this apocalyptic event," series creator Tim Kring says. "I don't think that it's any shock we will somehow save the world."
Heroes, which averages 14.5 million viewers, gained a promotional lift with the slogan "save the cheerleader, save the world." A line of dialogue inspired that publicity.
Another bit of dialogue yielded the current slogan, "Are you on the list?" Translation: Many people beyond the main characters have superpowers.
"It's not like we fished around for lines to impose onto the show," Kring says.
"But it also helps T-shirt sales," says actor Masi Oka.
In the large cast, Oka stands out for his enthusiastic Hiro, a Japanese geek who can stop time. The real hero behind Heroes, Oka says, is Kring.
"Tim is just so open-minded and so collaborative," Oka says. "He definitely sets the tone. The way he runs the writers' room. The fact that he has every writer write on the episode so that everyone has an investment in that episode. . . . That generosity comes down, top down, to the actors and the crew. When you see the crew happy, you know you have a good show."
A happy mood is essential for a series with a large cast, a sprawling plot and eye-popping effects. Jokes don't hurt, either. Hayden Panettiere plays Claire, the imperiled cheerleader who recovered from an autopsy.
"I die all the time," she says. "I feel like Kenny in South Park."
Panettiere praises Kring's ability to steer Heroes. "He's brilliant," she says. "He has it all mapped out."
A good thing, too, because struggling NBC needed Kring's savvy and showmanship on Heroes.
"It's been one of the reasons NBC has had a better season," says Jeff Zucker, chief executive officer of the NBC Universal Television Group. "It comes from our television studio, so it's an in-house success that will be a huge asset for the company, hopefully for many years to come."
Zucker cites the essential ingredient to this success story: "Tim had a vision from day one for this show."
Kring is no stranger to surviving in the TV industry. His Crossing Jordan has been on NBC for six seasons. Yet hitting a ratings payoff can be misleading.
"It doesn't change the job one bit," Kring says.
How does it feel to have captured the public's imagination with Heroes?
"I'm still very skeptical of it," Kring says. "It's only anecdotal for me. I'm not feeling it. I'm not experiencing it the way that the audience is."
Rather, Kring and his writers study what worked on serialized shows 24 and Lost. Kring didn't want an ultimate goal -- such as getting off the island on Lost -- because that would be "too handicapping." After the apocalyptic event in season one, season two will concentrate on another story.
Kring says he and his writers feel as if they've "made a pact with the audience that something is going to happen every week." The writers and NBC also collaborated on how to schedule Heroes.
"That was an absolute direct reaction to the audience frustration over Lost," Kring says. "We were very much conscious that we wanted to avoid that."
Heroes tonight presents the 12th of 23 episodes this season and starts a string of fresh installments. Six new episodes will play at the season's end.
Kring says he expected comparisons between Heroes and Lost. Damon Lindelof, co-creator of Lost, worked as a story editor on Crossing Jordan. Kring watched Lindelof develop Lost. And Kring sought Lindelof's advice on Heroes.
"We're still great friends," Kring says. "I bounced everything I could off him. He was very helpful."
Kring's skill helps Heroes transcend cult-hit status, Oka says.
"The fact that he's not a comic-book person, I think, is a great thing," the actor says. "We have amazing writers. Tim will say, 'Hey, I don't get that. What do you mean, this time-travel thing? Can you kind of explain it?' If Tim understands it, America's going to understand it."
The characters' personal lives are just as important as "the crazy supernatural stuff," Kring says. "The show can go on forever as long as their lives have normal needs of jobs and relationships."
In that way, Heroes differs from Lost, whose producers have talked of wrapping up their adventure in five seasons.
"We don't have an end date set," Kring says. "I right now can't muster up enough negativity to think about where it's going to end."
