As I’ve posted before, I’m a big fan of the show Heroes, for many reasons. One of the things I really like about it is that unlike Lost/Twin Peaks/XFiles, it’s a quirky show that doesn’t have a huge weird mystery that may or may not get resolved to my satisfaction. It has a plotline, and it clearly has twists and turns, but should it end this season, I won’t be wondering what it’s all about forever.
Also, despite it being so semi-geeky a show, it’s captured the #1 slot for Mondays, and is one of NBC’s highest-rated shows. But yet any time, day or night, that I turn on NBC, there it is, a preview for Heroes, chock full of suspenseful-looking spoiler-ridden clips. And it’s driving me nuts.
See, I’ve got this little problem in that, if I see something in a preview, I tend to remember it the whole time I’m watching the show. So if I see fire in the preview, I’m waiting for fire in the show. Doesn’t matter how quick, I notice it. I’m not exactly bragging here, by the way, that part of my brain could clearly be used for more important things, but I just can’t seem to turn it off.
So please, team NBC, I beg of you: stop with all the footage from the upcoming episodes. You have a huge fan base, and based on the number of fan sites all over the ‘net, you aren’t losing us any time soon. So how about you let us decide when we want to go find a spoiler, and when we don’t? You have plenty of footage to continue to get new viewers without ruining it for the rest of us.
And by the way, this goes for your Web site too! If I want spoilers, I’ll seek them out (probably here – warning, that link CONTAINS SPOILERS!). It’s not like you’re trying to peddle us on a series based on “From Justin to Kelly” or something…
These spoilers are even worse if you are time shifting Heroes because after a show airs, NBC isn’t shy about giving away endings. Normally, I’m pretty good about keeping up to date on shows, but for something like Heroes I like to save up a months worth of episodes and then watch them all at once because they ALWAYS end the show with a cliffhanger.
On a side tagent, if I ever see part 1 of 2 in a program description, I’ll always wait an extra week and watch both parts together. There used to be a time, where I’d be forced to live with the teaser, but thanks to time shiting, NBC plays by my rules now instead.
ABC/Lost pulled the same crap last fall. You don’t know if Sawyer survives, and then in the preview for the next week you see him running through the jungle. Jericho is guilty as well. I can understand giving away a little to keep people interested, but this is just out of control.