This week’s nod goes to Alex Zalben’s recap of an article featured in Entertainment Weekly discussing the nose-dive Heroes took in season two. Let’s hope they can recover from the sophomore slump.

as seen on Pulp Secret

08 November 2007
Kring Apologizes for Heroes, Season Two
By: Alex Zalben

Don’t like Heroes, Season Two? Neither does exec. producer and creator Tim Kring.

Speaking ridiculously candidly with Entertainment Weekly, he outlined the faults with the second season, including:
THE PACE IS TOO SLOW ”We assumed the audience wanted season 1 — a buildup of intrigue about these characters and the discovery of their powers. We taught [them] to expect a certain kind of storytelling. They wanted adrenaline. We made a mistake.”

THE WORLD-SAVING STAKES SHOULD HAVE BEEN ESTABLISHED SOONER The premonition of nuclear apocalypse created a larger context that unified every story line last season. Kring now sees that Volume 2 (the first 11 episodes of season 2) would have been better served if Peter’s vision of viral Armageddon had appeared in the season premiere rather than episode 7. ”We took too long to get to the big-picture story,” he says.

THE ROOKIES DIDN’T GREET THEMSELVES PROPERLY New Heroes Monica (Dana Davis), Maya (Dania Ramirez), and Alejandro (Shalim Ortiz) ‘’shouldn’t have been introduced in separate story lines that felt unattached to the show. The way we introduced Elle (Kristen Bell) — by weaving her in via Peter’s story line — is a more logical way to bring new characters into the show.” (That said, Kring says a few newbies won’t make it beyond this second volume, which wraps Dec. 3.)

HIRO WAS IN JAPAN WAY TOO LONG Hiro’s (Masi Oka) time-bending adventure in 17th-century Japan — where he mentored samurai hero Takezo Kensei (David Anders) — finally came to an end on Nov. 5. But Kring says it ‘’should have [lasted] three episodes. We didn’t give the audience enough story to justify the time we allotted it.”

YOUNG LOVE STINKS Kring regrets sticking Claire (Hayden Panettiere) with a super-dud boyfriend and forcing Hiro to moon over a cutesy princess. ”I’ve seen more convincing romances on TV,” he admits. ”In retrospect, I don’t think romance is a natural fit for us.”
Cool. Now, if we could get him to apologize for Season One, as well…

It’s long past the point where the combined output of our networks is so much, I don’t know when we’ve done something cool, or who did it, ’til days or weeks go by.

See for instance yesterday’s Fast Lane Daily, shot in the back of a moving Bentley, or Girls Gone Styled’s green fashion episode. So I’m not sure who from the Pulp Secret team posted this cool little video spot about comic book action words, but it’s fun, and a nice surprise this morning. Check it out.

Just had to post this because it’s so darn cool. Our friend Lan Bui of Noodlescar greatness made this killer video of photographs he took during this weekend’s Comic Con. Keep an eye out for NNN peeps like Zadi from JETSET and Casey and Justin from Pulp Secret, and frequent JETSET correspondent (and Noodlescar host) Bonny, Lan’s muse and partner in crime.

Click To Play

p.s. Happy belated birthday, Lan! (You can see Bonny with cupcakes in the early photos.)

Well, as live as we get… we’re not Justin.tv (though putting a camera on Casey for a day would have been a fun idea), but we are posting updates from San Diego Comic-Con ‘07 every day on Pulp Secret, the first network devoted to comics.

Our full team coverage of the biggest comics and pop culture event of the year includes daily reports from Pete, Justin and Alex from THE STACK, and they’ll also be doing a special Pulp Secret Team-Up episode guest-starring Casey from A COMICBOOK ORANGE. Steve and Zadi from JETSET are there shooting a report for next week, and from Next New Networks HQ, Ian is out shooting, editing, and posting the reports like a true super-hero, and Erin is also along helping field marshal the troops on the ground. We’re also giving away a fully-loaded video iPod (with a complete collection of Pulp Secret videos) to one lucky Comic-Con attendee — if you’re at the show, ask them for a postcard for a chance to enter.

The team’s first report is in — stay tuned to Pulp Secret for more.
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I completely dropped the ball on blogging about Pixelodeon after Fred tagged me to do it, but suffice it to say it was a great time and might just be looked back on as a watershed moment, when videobloggers, YouTubers, and some of the creative rebels in Hollywood all first started talking and realizing how much they have in common.

One thing I’m particularly happy about is that we played a small part in getting some folks we know at G4 excited about it, and they came down and covered the event. Here’s a piece they put up on (broadcast) TV that includes Next New Networks stars Zadi from JETSET and Casey and Rudy of Pulp Secret (and of course Galacticast) fame, as well as friends of ours new and old from the event.

I also really dug Micki Krimmel’s Pixelodeon video, shot on a little hand-held throughout the second day, which gives a better idea of the breadth of people and the feel of the event, and is a lot more intimate and personal than anything G4’s TV crew got. Sorry, my friends at G4, but a videoblogger had to win this one. It’s Pixelodeon! Plus, it has Fred.

Click To Play

And from our house, be sure to check out JETSET’s Pixelodeon recap, which has even more videobloggers and YouTube superstars.

We’re very happy to announce that beginning tomorrow, Wednesday, June 6, we’ll be adding A Comicbook Orange, a spinoff show from Casey McKinnon and Rudy Jahchan, the creators of Galacticast, to Pulp Secret, our network for comic book fandom and culture. Here’s a little preview:

Casey took the gutsy move not too long ago of quitting her day job and focusing full-time on building up the production company, and both of them put untold hours every week into making Galacticast continually great, and we couldn’t be happier to be their partners on their first project since taking the big leap. We hope you’ll all check out the first episode tomorrow, and let us know what you want to see on A Comicbook Orange.

For fun, here’s one more teaser.