NBC May Spice Up "Heroes" Reruns

NBC and Tim Kring, the creator of hit rookie series "Heroes" are pondering how to avoid the kind of ratings hit that has plagued the drama ever since it returned from its six-seek spring hiatus. One of the options? Spice up the reruns with new material.

In an interview with "Broadcasting & Cable" Kring says the question is a real conundrum. "You have to be off the air at some point. And this kind of show runs best when the episodes run continuously," he adds.

This season "Heroes" ran from late September to early December, then late January to early March and finally mid April to mid May. Although the show averaged 14-16 million viewers early on, now only about 11 million tune in.

NBC is not very likely to air the show 24-style January to May because, they need hit shows as a launching platform for new series in September and "Heroes" is the only freshman hit they had in the 2006-2007 season.

In addition to adding new material to reruns, Kring is also looking into creating smaller cycles. The next cycle called "Volume Two: Generations," for instance, may wrap up after only 6, 11 or 14 episodes and then another volume would start.

Kring says: "It’s just very hard to carry a story for 23 episodes. I’m sure the guys at '24' wish like hell they’d called it 9 or 12."

This is TELEVISIONISTA