Is Heroes in Trouble?

Fans of NBC’s Heroes have the night off this week, but two of the show’s producers have the night off permanently.  Is this shake up a sign that the end is near for the once super hit series?

According to SyFy Portal, co-executive producers Jesse Alexander and Jeph Loeb were fired yesterday as a result of Heroes continual decline in the ratings and budge issues.

Can even Arthur Petrelli and his army of villians help Heroes?

Can you believe that not even two years ago, this show was on a ratings high?  After the first season, Heroes launched a world tour and had plans for a spin-off (that have long since been discarded).

Did the series bite off more than it could chew?  Or was the writers’ strike a mark of death for the show?

Either way after a dismal second season, the show has been scrambling to get viewers back.  But not only is the show not gaining back its fans, it’s still losing them.  The viewership from the third season is down 18 percent from last year.

Blog and entertainment sites across the web are all coming up with plans to “save” the show, but I have to wonder if the show can be saved.

Will the exit of Alexander and Loeb really help the flailing season?  Do they have new/better help in the wings?  Or is a sinking ship trying to rid itself of “dead weight” (one could argue if Alexander and Loeb are really the right choices here) in an effort to save itself?

So do any of you have the power to jump to the future or paint it and tell us what’s in store for Heroes?  Is this the beginning of the end?  In this Heroes last season?  And should it be?

Should Children’s Books Have a Rating System?

A recent article has me wondering if we should be taking a closer look at what we qualify as “children’s books.”

A recent article said that a bookstore in Shanghai is pulling the children’s book “Book of Bunny Suicides:  Little Fluffy Rabbits Who Just Don’t Want to Live Anymore’ after a rash of suicides by children and teens.

I had mixed emotions when I read this article.  In general, I’m against book banning.  Authors should be free to express their opinions.

And I don’t really believe that a normal, healthy kid read this book and then suddenly wanted to commit suicide.  I’m not even sure it even really gives a kid ideas for how to commit suicide since some of these illustrations are unrealistic — head in a DVD player for instance.

But what I am wondering is how this book got classified as a children’s book.  It’s definitely not age appropriate for young kids.

Suicide is a very sensitive subject that kids – and many adults, myself included – don’t entirely understand.  I can understand why there might be a book in the children’s section explaining to a child how to deal with it when a friend, family member or other loved one commits suicide.

But why would a book mocking suicide be considered a children’s book?  Because it has cute little bunnies in it?  If that’s the qualification, then we really need to look at how a book gets classified as a children’s book.

I recently read The Golden Compass.  When I went to buy the book, I found it in the children’s section.  Sure the story deals with the adventure of a little girl, but the book itself is a fantasy that deals with some pretty dark themes. 

While I wouldn’t call the book scary, I did have some very gloomy dreams when I read it.  And I wondered how it would affect a young reader.

After reading this book, I wouldn’t let my child read this book until they were well into their teens.  How did this book get classified in the children’s section?

So my question is do we need to be more diligently in accurately classifying books (i.e just because it had cute little bunnies in it doesn’t mean it’s meant for children) or do we need to take it a step further? Do we need a rating system (like we have for movies, video games, music) for children’s books?

Knight Rider Races to a Ratings High

If you were caught up in the nostalgia of the ‘80s Sunday night when NBC aired its second-generation Knight Rider than you’ll be happy to know that it looks like we haven’t seen the last of Michael Tracer and KITT.

On Sunday night more than 12 million viewers tuned in to see the new improved KITT, giving Knight Rider a 5.0 rating, the best a TV movie has seen in nearly three years.

NBC has made it clear that the movie was doubling as a pilot.  And with numbers like these, you can expect to see this high-tech car and its new driver this fall.

We will have to wait until May when NBC announces its fall lineup for confirmation.  But if I were you and a fan of this ‘80s update, I’d reserve some time on my schedule in September for more Knight Industries adventures.