RKMBs Forums .::Robegories::. Media NBC's Heroes

NBC has given a full-season order for 2006-07 to "Heroes" (Mondays, 9-10 p.m. ET) - the critically acclaimed and #1 new series this fall in adults 18-49 (tied with ABC's "Brothers & Sisters") -- it was announced today by Kevin Reilly, President, NBC Entertainment.

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Rob Kamphausen said:
thank you, animaljim.

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Jim Jackson said:

There's no reason to autopsy someone who was young and by all accounts healthy and "died" from a tree branch in the neck.

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Fused said:


I think she was being scientifically dissected and studied by "daddy".

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Jim Jackson said:
Quit watching it so we don't have to go through this with you every week. Criminetly.

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Then, I guess I shouldn't comment, eh?

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Fused said:
**Spoilers

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Jim Jackson said:

There's no reason to autopsy someone who was young and by all accounts healthy and "died" from a tree branch in the neck.

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I think she was being scientifically dissected and studied by "daddy". I think normal hospitals wouldve shut the case on her cause of death.

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thedoctor said:
Much better episode this week. Hiro is still my favorite character. Loved that bit with him at the end and the Rain Man nod they gave.

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Excellent episode.

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thedoctor said:
I wouldn't call it excellent, but it's really good.

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I am kinda depressed that the stripper chick's power turned out to just be Multiple Personality Disorder.

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Jim Jackson said:
I don't think it's that simple. While all appearances she has a second personality, I think the second personality is the one with the super-powers. No way Rose-Niki can beat up the thug. But Thorn-Niki did easily. I think she's the "super-strong" member of this bunch, but that she's only super-strong when the Thorn personality is conscious.

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Wednesday said:
Here it is

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thedoctor said:

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Jim Jackson said:
I don't think it's that simple. While all appearances she has a second personality, I think the second personality is the one with the super-powers. No way Rose-Niki can beat up the thug. But Thorn-Niki did easily. I think she's the "super-strong" member of this bunch, but that she's only super-strong when the Thorn personality is conscious.

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I really did simplify it. It's the whole Hulk/Banner thing without the Hulking out part. They coulda been a little more clever with it, though.

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thedoctor said:
For stealing a basic, common comic book plot?

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thedoctor said:
For stealing a basic, common comic book plot?

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Jim Jackson said:
We have an intelligently written super-powered super-hero show on.

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Yeah, I love The 4400, too...

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Jim Jackson said:

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thedoctor said:

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Jim Jackson said:
I don't think it's that simple. While all appearances she has a second personality, I think the second personality is the one with the super-powers. No way Rose-Niki can beat up the thug. But Thorn-Niki did easily. I think she's the "super-strong" member of this bunch, but that she's only super-strong when the Thorn personality is conscious.

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I really did simplify it. It's the whole Hulk/Banner thing without the Hulking out part. They coulda been a little more clever with it, though.

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Man, some people just can't be pleased. We have an intelligently written super-powered super-hero show on. Let's not get wrapped up in whether or not we've ever seen one character's super-power before. The forest and the trees, remember?

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Jim Jackson said:

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thedoctor said:
For stealing a basic, common comic book plot?

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To you and me, it's a basic comic book plot.

To the vast majority of TV watchers, perhaps it's not so common.

This show is not being made to cater to us fanboys.

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Prometheus said:

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Jim Jackson said:
We have an intelligently written super-powered super-hero show on.

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Yeah, I love The 4400, too...

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For stealing a basic, common comic book plot?

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Jim Jackson said:

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thedoctor said:
I am kinda depressed that the stripper chick's power turned out to just be Multiple Personality Disorder.

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I don't think it's that simple. While all appearances she has a second personality, I think the second personality is the one with the super-powers. No way Rose-Niki can beat up the thug. But Thorn-Niki did easily. I think she's the "super-strong" member of this bunch, but that she's only super-strong when the Thorn personality is conscious.

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Glacier16 said:
Really? From the way the kid and the mother were acting I was thinking that Niki's "personality" is actually that guy that is supposedly on the run- the kid's father. The kid mentioned that no one would ever find him implying he is someplace unreachable and the mother (kid's grandma) acted like her boy didn't split and she knows more than she is letting on.

Then in this latest episode the "personality" came out and said "don't ever threaten our kid." Granted that could still be taken as 1st person, but with everything else and how this "personality" is protecting her and her son and displaying the level of violence that other characters said he was capable of, I think it is him inside her. That maybe she isn't one with powers and the kid's father is. That maybe he can hop into bodies like Deadman (only so far it seems to be Niki's). That's my take anyways.

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thedoctor said:
Sci-Fi Channel reruns them on Fridays before Doctor Who.

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NBC has had a big hit with its new show "Heroes" on Monday nights. The series, about a bunch of people with super powers, appears to be appealing to the same group of young people that have flocked to movies based on comic books during the past few years.

Through mid-October, "Heroes" has pulled in about 13.5 million viewers a week. While that's only good enough to make the show the 27th most watched overall, the numbers are significantly better with 18-49 year-olds. "Heroes" ranks 11th with that demographic. NBC has already announced that it has picked up "Heroes" for the full season.

The other new NBC show on Monday nights has not been as successful though. The heavily hyped "Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip," the "dramedy" by "West Wing" creator Aaron Sorkin about what goes on behind the scenes at a late-night comedy show, debuted to strong ratings but has since slipped in the rankings.

Although the show is loved by many critics, some think that the subject matter of "Studio 60" may be too narrowly focused to appeal to a wide audience.

"What we're seeing with 'Studio 60', the audience is thinking that it's too insider-ish. That's a common complaint. It's probably affecting the viewership," said Michael Coristine, a sports and entertainment analyst for Brandimensions, a market research firm that looks at consumer opinion based on Internet chatter from blogs and message boards.

But NBC also has a "new" hit show on its hands with "Sunday Night Football." NFL games are averaging 17.7 million viewers so far, making the prime-time football telecasts the sixth most-watched show. (Sunday night games used to air on ESPN last year.)

One media buyer said football has also helped NBC because it can use time during those telecasts to tout shows airing on the network later in the week.

"Football has really done NBC well. You can't go wrong with using that as a promotional platform," said Shari Anne Brill, vice president and director of programming with Carat USA. To that end, even some older NBC shows such as "E.R." and "Law and Order: SVU" have seen a bump in ratings so far this season.

The ratings turnaround is good news for NBC parent company General Electric (Charts). GE reported Friday that thanks to some of its new hits, the NBC Universal division, which also includes cable networks Bravo and USA and a movie studio, should report an increase in profits during the fourth quarter. Earnings for the unit fell 10 percent during the third quarter.

"NBC Universal is making good progress in finishing the year on the upswing with positive momentum from the new prime-time line-up," said GE CEO Jeff Immelt in a statement Friday.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- NBC is getting sued by a garbage disposal maker that claims the network's new hit show "Heroes" casts its product in a negative light. You can't make this stuff up.

Apparently, the first episode of "Heroes" shows one of the characters, a cheerleader who is blessed with the power of indestructibility (must come in handy when being at the top of those human pyramids), sticking her hand into a garbage disposal and getting it all mangled. A few seconds later her hand heals.
What's the big deal? The brand name of the machine in question is visible in the scene. It's called the InSinkErator. (Sounds like a bad Schwarzenegger movie. "Hasta la vista, gah-bage. Foooood. I'll be back...to chop you.")
"Heroes" is leading a ratings comeback at NBC

Anyway, Emerson Electric (Charts), the company that makes the InSinkErator, isn't too happy to have its product shown bloodying the hand of a pretty, young cheerleader. So Emerson filed a suit in a U.S. district court in St. Louis against NBC Universal on October 2.

In the lawsuit, Emerson claims that NBC used Emerson's trademark without the company's consent and that the show "implies an incorrect and dangerous design for a food waste disposer."

The company added in its complaint that NBC's depiction of the InSinkErator "casts the disposer in an unsavory light, irreparably tarnishing the product."

Emerson is asking the court to order NBC to remove Emerson trademarks from future broadcasts of the show and also reward Emerson damages suffered as a result of NBC's acts of "unfair competition, trademark infringement, and trademark dilution."

Dan Callahan, spokesman for Emerson, said the company, of course, does not recommend anybody put their hands in a garbage disposal that is turned on.

But he also pointed out that, according to data from the government's Consumer Products Safety Commission, you are actually ten times more likely to get injured by your dishwasher than your garbage disposal.

And I've been told that if you did stick your hand in a garbage disposal (not that I've tried) you would hurt yourself but you would not wind up losing any fingers as was the case with the girl on "Heroes."

So I can see why Emerson would be mad at NBC. The network is merely perpetuating this myth that garbage disposals are a menace to society! Garbage disposals don't chop off people's fingers. People chop off people's fingers.

Still, I'm not sure why Emerson has to be worried about its product being cast in an "unsavory light." Anyone who willingly shoves their hand in a garbage disposal because they saw someone do it on TV is a moron. That's not Emerson's problem.
Will InSinkErator sales really hit the skids?

So what's NBC's response?

"While we do not believe there is any legal issue with the episode as originally broadcast, we nonetheless have decided to edit the episode for future uses," said an NBC spokesperson in a statement.

Presumably, that means rebroadcasts on NBC's sister cable networks like USA and Sci Fi, broadband viewings (the show is available on Apple's (Charts) iTunes), the inevitable DVD release of the first season and possible syndication.

So if NBC has already edited out the offending InSinkErator trademark, then why is Emerson persisting with the lawsuit? Callahan said that Emerson has seen NBC's response about the pilot being re-edited but that the company has not heard directly from the company about its lawsuit.

Now is this just another example of a company seeking publicity and using the court system to do it? Heck, I'm writing about the InSinkErator so if the suit was a PR move, it worked.

And it is easy to label Emerson as yet another example of an overly litigious culture. I find it hard to believe that "Heroes" really "did in fact cause pecuniary harm to Emerson" as the lawsuit alleges.

First off, even though the trademark is clearly visible on what I'm told is called the flange (I'm no Bob Vila) of the disposal it's in tiny print. So even if you own a 50-inch HD plasma TV, I doubt that you would have noticed the InSinkErator name. Plus, the flange wasn't exactly the focal point of the scene. I'd argue that the cheerleader's bloody hand wins that honor.

And call me crazy, even if people did notice that the disposal was an InSinkErator, something tells me that Home Depot and Lowe's aren't going to be stuck with scores of unsold InSinkErators because consumers will be afraid about what may happen to their paws if they intentionally shove them into the disposal.

In fact, I called a Home Depot in Secaucus, New Jersey Monday and spoke to a sales rep from their appliance department. I asked him if any customers have had complaints or questions about the InSinkErator since "Heroes" debuted. He seemed confused by why I was asking such a bizarre question but quickly said no.
NBC should have known better

But on the other hand (which I'm keeping as far away from garbage disposals as humanly possible), NBC may also be guilty of something here.

At the very least, the producers and the network's legal department were reckless because they did not check all their Ps and Qs.

Instead of showing a sink with the InSinkErator disposal, NBC could have easily created a fictitious brand name for the garbage disposal and avoided unnecessary legal risk. People make up fake product names on TV all the time. Or they could have edited out the name from the get-go. It wouldn't have affected the integrity of the show.

Even better, NBC could have shown some love to its corporate parent with a blatant product promotion. After all, NBC Universal is owned by General Electric (Charts), which also makes garbage disposals. And isn't GE all about synergy?

Then again, showing your product chop off the digits of a cute cheerleader probably isn't the type of publicity that GE's appliance division wants. So maybe Emerson is on to something after all.

GE does compete with Emerson in the garbage disposal market. It would be a little different if "Heroes" aired on CBS (Charts), Walt Disney (Charts)-owned ABC or News Corp.'s (Charts) Fox since their parent companies aren't in the household appliance business. So perhaps it wasn't an innocent oversight by the producers. Hmmm.

Now this sounds like something more suitable for an episode of "Law and Order." Ripped from the headlines, indeed.

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