Fans Largely Agree On The Exact Moment Heroes Began To Stray
The ever-rising popularity of comic book films in the modern era has definitely translated well into television too. Marvel has a whole host of television shows for Disney+, and DC is no slouch either in this department. However, that wasn't always the case. Before the Marvel Cinematic Universe really took off, there was "Heroes," which ran for four seasons on NBC before it was canceled and centers on individuals with incredible abilities as they try to stop horrific events from unfolding.
Season 1 of "Heroes" was very well received, garnering a solid 82% critic rating and 94% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes. However, things took a downward turn for "Heroes," and by the end, it wasn't exactly a show that was being warmly embraced by critics. This disappointing trend continued with its 2015 sequel series, "Heroes Reborn." But when it comes to the quality of "Heroes," fans of the series largely agree on the exact moment it began to stray.
Many Heroes fans think the show went downhill as early as Season 2
On a Reddit discussion thread asking which scene made viewers stop watching a show entirely, lots of "Heroes" fans cited Season 2 as the beginning of the end of the show. Interestingly enough, a lot of the blame is placed on the 2007–08 Writers Guild of America strike and mistakes by the writers because of it. "Season 2 started off slow, but before they could get any momentum, the strike happened and they just tacked on an abrupt ending rather than just leave it in the air," said u/PaintItPurple. Even showrunner Tim Kring admits that mistakes were made, and he went so far as to apologize to fans (via Entertainment Weekly).
Other users replied to the comment, with many agreeing that the show really started to go downhill as early as Season 2. In fact, u/Sasserman said that if one were to simply pretend that "Heroes" actually wrapped up after Season 1, it would have probably been all the better for it. Others agreed, with some saying that it would have been better for the show to end with Season 1 since none of the following seasons of the show were able to recapture that same magic ever again.
And based on the reviews for the show by both critics and audiences, this definitely seems to be the case. Compared to Season 1's 82% and 94%, respectively, Season 2 sits at 50% for critics on Rotten Tomatoes, and the audience score dropped to 66%. By Season 4, the show was at 29% on the Tomatometer and had an audience score of 53%.