Does Internet Fan Reaction Help Or Hurt Your Favorite Shows?

So I just finished watching the latest episode of Heroes (on VHS — insert old-timer joke here) titled “Dual,” which everyone seems to have liked and it got me thinking. There has been so much news and talk on the Internet about how tired and convoluted the show has become and how it is no longer as good as it was in season’s past that producers have started taking notice of the negative fan reaction.

Recently, several of the writers for Heroes were fired after the show dipped low in the ratings and fan complaints surfaced, but was that a good thing? Tim Kring, creator of Heroes, has told fans that the series has already completed a good portion of the entire third season. As it turns out, this last episode which people are starting to come around to was written by Jeph Loeb, one of the writers axed. So could NBC have jumped the gun in causing such a shake-up? Could perhaps the show have eventually regained some of its ratings on their own?

Personally, I think the show hasn’t changed one bit. It is still marginally well acted with recurring storylines that, like in comic books, reoccur quite often. I think it’s good that TV land pays so close attention to what the fans want, but we are such a fickle lot that it’s hard to tell whether the viewers should have this kind of power. And was firing Leob and fellow Heroes writer Jesse Alexander really the correct reaction to the situation? When news of the firing broke last month, Leob said, “Someone had to take the fall.” They sure did.

A wise man named Joss Whedon once said in an interview that it is his job when writing any show to give fans not what they want, but rather what they need. I think if producers and writers follow this one mantra, things should go without a hitch.