The TV Zone

One of "Heroes" most famous behind-the-scenes guys has been ousted from the show. Jeph Loeb, a comic book author extraordinaire, and (I believe) a founding producer of "Smallville," was shown the door by NBC over the weekend, along with another co-exec producer, Jesse Alexander.

What happened? Besides the fact that every critic in America has been dumping on "Heroes" and the show's numbers have been sliding? If you read between the lines, it sounds like less a creative implosion than a cost one; as Variety reported, the show regularly goes over $4 million per episode, and NBC clearly wants it under $4 mill per; and as showrunner with Alexander, it's certainly incumbent - one would imagine - upon Jeph to keep those bills in line. But (one would also imagine) it would also be incumbent on Tim Kring too. And, if the show's numbers were booming, then $4 mill wouldn't seem too bad. So, maybe a combination of both...

What's wrong with "Heroes?" Beats me - since the season premiere, I've been woefully out of touch with the show. But perhaps...perhaps...it's become so knotted in its mythology that even hardcore fans are having a tough time keeping up. Plus, darn it, when you name episodes in a foreign language, notably a dead foreign language, than you're asking for trouble. (The recent "Eris Quod Sum?" As Wiki translates, that means "I was what you are, you will be what I am." Okay, thanks.)

Here's a clip...