12 TV Shows That Don't Live Up To Great Premises

The whole first season of Heroes was pretty terrific. The concept wasn’t enormously original – ordinary folks realise they have incredible powers – but the execution, characters, and ongoing murder mystery all added up to make the show must-watch TV.

Things went awry pretty quickly in Season 2, for all manner of reasons. Too many characters were added, many of which were not the least bit compelling (we’re looking at you, Adam Monroe, white English samurai guy). The existing cast were given powers upon powers, so there was little if any real peril. The whole thing moved at a glacial pace, even with a reduced run of episodes.

In fairness, there were mitigating factors at play here – the writers’ strike meant that production was a rushed affair – but the show never really recovered from this slip. Seasons 3 and 4, the latter especially, were marked improvements, but the disappointment of the second season was something Heroes couldn’t recover from.

Further efforts to revitalise the series fell flat, with reboot attempt Heroes Reborn quietly disappearing from screens after just 13 episodes. Coming before the superhero boom, perhaps the show was ahead of its time – or perhaps they just burned through their ideas too quickly.