…save my show.

I like Heroes. I’m not embarrassed to say that. It’s sort of like X-men, but sanitized for network television. It’s less sexy. Not a lot of back story. No overly complex relationships. There’s a lot of hand holding from point-A to point-B to help slow viewers. Like me.

Actually, that’s not fair. I’m not a slow viewer. I’m a multi-screen viewer. I yack on the phone. I check my mail. I search for Nintendo Wiis for sale. I text message my pals in Phoenix. Sure, I can pause or rewind the show thanks to my TiVo goodness… but it’s a lot easier if the show I’m watching holds my hand. Slowly. From point-A to point-B. Enough repetition and slow movement and it eventually sinks in.

I figure that in the 2 hours I had my TV tuned to NBC, it had my attention for about 15 or 20 minutes. But I still feel like I absorbed 2 episodes of Heroes. (And a Lexus commercial for a car boasting 306hp)

I wish the Heroes crew would break up the show in to smaller segments. 8 minutes at a time. Daily releases. Sponsored. Using my preferred methods of tuning in. Sure, they could do that. Sure, they could make them for less money. Release episodes. Try to build an audience. Mobilize sales. The whole thing could take years before they see a nickel from Revver or Blip. If only their network had audience online and we could slot programs on that network in new and exciting ways.

It’s great that they are trying to embrace the Internets. Sure, some of their existing business practices may take precedence in serving audience online. But, at least they are trying. They really are, but the stuff that they put on NBC.com doesn’t enhance my fandom. I mean, they’re not consistent about putting an NBC ID in front of the iTunes Store downloads, so how can they do something that really uses online? But, they do try. They offer some cutting room floor stuff. Some character and actor bits. They have an NBC player and lock the content to their player — and that irks me. That’s like saying “The Tonight Show will no longer be available on Sony televisions.”

The progress of technology is amazing, but let us redefine progress to mean that just because we can do a thing, it does not necessarily mean we must do that thing and remember that I’m the customer and I’m always right.

It’s time to start the Next New Networks.

Please promulgate us on the interweb.

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Posted by Emil at 11:44 am on Tuesday, January 9th, 2007 in Media. You can follow responses through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.