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‘Heroes’ Creator Tim Kring Heads to Fox

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The mastermind behind NBC’s Heroes has landed a new gig at a rival network. But he’s holding firmly to his supernatural roots.

Tim Kring has sold Touch, his first pilot since Heroes’ cancellation, to Fox. Touch is an unconventional father/son drama about a dad who discovers that his mute, autistic son can predict events before they happen. Fox has given the potential series a pilot order, which means that the pilot will be cast and produced, and if Fox execs like it, they can give it a series order. If not, the pilot will likely never see the light of day.

Heroes had such potential in its first season, riveting viewers with one great twist after another. But then it bungled the season finale with a whimper of a climax, and was never able to recapture its greatness. There are endless theories on what went wrong with Heroes — ranging from a sprawling cast with too many divergent storylines, to characters that were written erratically with no memory of past events — but the bottom line is that Kring and his writers just fumbled the thing in the end.

I still believe Kring has some solid storytelling mojo in him, so here’s hoping that Touch, with its scaled-down cast size and far simpler premise, will hit a home run by leaving plenty of room to let the characters breathe.

The Most Pirated Shows of 2010

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Lost has garnered one more accolade for its final season, though I’m not sure if this is one that it’s creators would relish.

According to TorrentFreak, people are still illegally downloading TV shows instead of watching them on live TV. In fact, two of 2010’s most-pirated shows — Heroes and Dexter — outnumbered their live Nielsen ratings.

Anyhoo, here’s the ten most pirated shows of 2010, followed by their approximate number of illegal downloads:

  1. Lost – 5,940,000
  2. Heroes – 5,480,000
  3. Dexter – 3,880,000
  4. The Big Bang Theory – 3,270,000
  5. House – 2,610,000
  6. How I Met Your Mother – 2,490,000
  7. 24 – 2,240,000
  8. True Blood – 1,920,000
  9. Glee – 1,700,000
  10. Family Guy – 1,620,000

‘Heroes’ Star Returning to NBC

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You’d think actor Milo Ventimiglia might be tired of comic book stories. Not true. The former Heroes star has been working lately on his own comic book series, called Rest, and now NBC has picked up the TV rights, with Ventimiglia himself starring and executive producing the potential series.

NBC has given a script commitment to Rest, which follows protagonist John Barret, a New Yorker who takes part in a test for a new drug that claims to eliminate the need for sleep. It isn’t long before Barret becomes addicted to the drug, but there’s a lot more going on than it first appears, since the government is sponsoring the drug trial. The story is said to have the tone of “the Bourne films-meets-Running Man.”

Craig Zadan and Neil Meron are writing the script, which is based on the comic book by Ventimiglia, his producing partner Russ Cundiff, Mark Powers, and Mike O’Sullivan.

Heroes gets the axe

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After conflicting reports that a final fifth season was on-again and then off-again for Heroes, the final word is in. And that word is canceled. Although NBC has left the door open (just a crack) for a made-for-TV movie to give the show a proper wrap up, the network ultimately decided that even a truncated season simply wasn’t worth the investment.

All but the most hardcore of fans gave up on the show after its memorable first season ended with a whimper instead of a bang. Heroes was never able to repeat its Season One success, and struggled with meandering storylines that often ignored rules and events that past episodes established.

The axe falls at NBC & ABC

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It looks as though NBC’s celebrated, 20-year-old series, Law & Order, is coming to an end. Despite indications earlier this year that the show would go on to a record-breaking 21st season, negotiations have fallen apart for next season and NBC is reportedly on the verge of dropping the show altogether. Law & Order has, for years, trailed behind its spinoff, L&O: Special Victims Unit, in the ratings. (SVU is in no danger of being canceled.) Meanwhile, the latest spinoff for the franchise, Law & Order: Los Angeles, is still set to premiere this fall.

It also looks likely that NBC’s Heroes won’t be getting a fifth season. The show has struggled in the ratings for years, but it’s held on despite storylines that have wavered between ridiculous and so-so. But NBC is not blind to the show’s dogged fans, who still hope for some kind of proper ending, and are considering giving Heroes a 2 or 4 hour wrap-up movie/miniseries at some point next season.

Meanwhile, over at ABC, a number of high-profile shows have gotten the axe, including FlashForward (which the network once hoped might become the next Lost), the long-running Scrubs (which jumped networks from NBC not too long ago), Better Off Ted (which is universally loved by critics, but has too few viewers), and Romantically Challenged.