Thaindian News

By Madhuri Dey
May 15, (THAINDIAN NEWS) The runaway success story of Heroes has come to a tragic and abrupt end as the fifth season of the TV show has been called off by NBC. The reported cause of cancellation of the show is lack of interest of the American audience evident from the drop in its ratings and the high production cost. Sources claim that internal changes in production and script has led to a significant fall in the show’s popularity. NBC has reportedly considered three options to wrap up Heroes-a 13 episode order mid season, a 4 to 6 episode order on weekends or outright cancellation of the show. The show attracted the highest audience in the 18-49 demographic.

Debuting in 2006, Heroes was an instant hit for NBC. The story revolved around a group of people who developed special powers that changed their lives in a positive or sometimes negative way. The show was successful not just in the US but internationally as well and was compared to the super-hit series ‘Lost’. With strong connections to Star Trek and the Star Trek regulars making appearances on the show, Heroes became quite a success in it’s first two seasons by pulling in the Star Trek fans as well. The sci-fi series brought in a whopping 17 million viewers in its first season but ended with a whimper when only 4.4 million watched season four.

The special effects and the large ensemble cast that included the likes of Ali Larter, Hayden Panettiere, Jack Coleman, James Kyson Lee, Sendhil Ramamurthy and Zachary Quinto, became quite a cost burden for NBC which already had a long list of hour-long dramas to choose from.