If you are a fan of the superhero genre on television, you are amongst a dwindling audience.  For some as-yet unknown reason, viewers are turning their backs on superheroes – on television, at least.  Superheroes at the box office still seem able to lure viewers into theater seats.
 
With the Internet still buzzing about the David E. Kelley reincarnation of the classic television series WONDER WOMAN, one would think that superheroes are the biggest thing on television today.   Unfortunately, that is just not the case.  In fact, shows like THE CAPE, NO ORDINARY FAMILY and HEROES are evidence that viewers are not embracing superheroes – in fact, they are rejecting them.  Even the CW’s all-powerful SMALLVILLE has seen a steady erosion of viewership since its debut a decade ago.  For example, in 2001, SMALLVILLE debuted to 8.4 million viewers and now pulls an average of 2.9 million viewers.  Another attempt to launch a superhero series was Syfy attempt to draw in viewers with its television event THE PHANTOM as a back-door pilot, but the mini-series only managed to draw in a modest number of viewers.
 

Over the decades of television there have been a number of superhero shows ranging from the 1950’s ADVENTURES OF SUPERMAN, the 1960’s BATMAN, the 1970’s THE SIX MILLION DOLLAR MAN, THE BIONIC WOMAN and THE INCREDIBLE HULK, the 1980’s THE GREATEST AMERICAN HERO, and the 1990’s LOIS AND CLARK and BUFFY, THE VAMPIRE SLAYER.  But in the past decade, the allure of superheroes has faded.  SMALLVILLE appears to have been an anomaly, while shows like DARK ANGEL and BIRDS OF PREY scrambled to find an audience.  HEROES managed to retain an audience for four seasons, but also took a sizable hit in the ratings sliding from its debut high of nearly 13 million viewers to 4 million at the time it was canceled last year.
 
This past year, however, has been brutal.  In September 2010, NO ORDINARY FAMILY debuted to 10.7 million viewers and yet only pulls in an average of 4.2 million viewers.   Then in January 2011, THE CAPE debuted to 8.5 million viewers and when it ended last week, only 4.1 million tuned in. 
 
With such an obvious rejection of shows featuring superheroes, why do we continue to get our hopes up and think that viewers will actually tune-in and then stick around for the long haul with shows like David E. Kelley’s WONDER WOMAN and Ronald D. Moore’s 17th PRECINCT?  While neither series has been ordered to series, the buzz over the pilots has been electrifying.  Clearly, Internet fans are excited.  But will the mass television viewers (or better yet, the scant 20,000 Nielsen viewers) be as enthusiastic?  Other 2011-2012 television pilots awaiting series orders are the CW’s RAVEN, ABC’s AKA JESSICA JONES and THE INCREDIBLE HULK, ABC Family’s CLOAK & DAGGER, Syfy’s BALL & CHAIN and THREE INCHES, and FX’s POWERS.   That is not including more supernatural fare such as Fox’s LOCKE & KEY, and NBC’s GRIMM.
 
Looking over the current television pilot season, there are an astoundingly large number of shows being made that are intended to appeal to fans of the superhero genre.  But given the dismal success rate in the past 10 years of superhero television series, you have to wonder why the studios are continuing to hope against hope that television audiences will embrace a genre which they have shown such a strong tendency to reject. 
 
Just reading the description of the superhero pilots is enough to make one salivate at the thought of such cool series being aired on broadcast television. But then the feeling of dread hits – no matter how good the show, the deck is stacked against these shows.
 
In a world where the highest ranked scripted drama is NCIS, followed by such shows as NCIS: LOS ANGELES, THE GOOD WIFE, THE MENTALIST, MODERN FAMILY, THE BIG BANG THEORY and CASTLE, one wonders if today’s television viewer really will watch a superhero show.  Do you honestly believe that the same viewers that watch these shows will be watching WONDER WOMAN? 
 
Each new show always has the novelty-factor going for it.  People will be curious and tune in for one or two episodes.  But fairly quickly, viewers will figure out how jam-packed their viewing schedule already is and they will prioritize what they want to see.  In addition, superhero shows have a tendency to be serialized – meaning, a continuing storyline.  Whereas other shows tend to offer episodic or stand-alone episodes – which makes it easier for the average viewer to tune-in and tune-out easily depending on how hectic their personal lives are.
 
So with the tug-of-war raging for the precious 2-3 hours of each television viewers’ prime-time viewing on week nights, it is exceedingly hard – if not downright impossible  –  to convince viewers to stick around long-term for shows they do not find as compelling or easy to fit into their viewing schedule.
 
Thus, the one major hurdle is retention rate.   How can a well-scripted, fantastically cast and brilliantly executed superhero show retain a television audience?
 
Looking at what is succeeding on television today, the answer is obvious:  character development.  Shows that offer something more than simply the story-of-the-week (whether that be a crime mystery, medical anomaly, or legal case), shows that draw in viewers by peeling back yet another tantalizing layer of a character – those are the shows that keep viewers tuning in consistently week-after-week.   The secret to success is always about what we learn about the character – what new secret, relationship or foible do they reveal that makes the show un-missable.  With each new clue and/or juicy reveal, the audience is hooked.
 
It does not matter how many big name guest stars, beautiful costumes, or adrenaline-pumping action sequences there are, viewers are looking for something special – a reason to tune-in and to stick with a show.  Offer them something they crave — making the character or characters intoxicating.  Charm and charisma are a start, but what makes a character truly addictive is the surprise factor.
 
So if shows like WONDER WOMAN and the 17th PRECINCT are to truly endure (assuming they are ordered to series), they will have to work hard at offering characters that are the equivalent of crack-candy.  If you look at the shows that are succeeding, that is exactly what they provide.  They have figured out that one magic ingredient to keep their audience hooked.
 
Here is to hoping that all these new superhero shows can be more than the next flavor-of-the-month and will not only get us excited about their show – but they will also be addictive and mind-blowing too.

Tiffany Vogt is a contributing writer to The TV Addict. She has a great love for television and firmly believes that entertainment is a world of wondrous adventures that deserves to be shared and explored – she invites you to join her. Please feel free to contact Tiffany at Tiffany_Vogt_2000@yahoo.com or follow her at on Twitter (@TVWatchtower). Tiffany also writes as a columnist for NiceGirlsTV.

If you’ve spent your days and nights wishing for NBC to bring back Claire, Sylar, Peter and the rest of the HEROES for a fifth season, you may be waiting a very, very long wait. However, if all you miss is the premise that ordinary people can wield ultra-crazy super powers (along with Sprint cell phones), you may just get your fix in an upcoming video game from Phosphor Games called “Awakened.”

Judging by the trailer, it clearly draws its inspiration from NBC’s former hit (or the timing is ridiculously coincidental):

In fact, Awakened began as a project at Midway called Hero in 2006 (the same year HEROES hit the airwaves in case you were wondering), but was ultimately dropped when the studio declared bankruptcy and folded. Several employees found their way to Phosphor and began work on the title, but had to start from the ground up since Warner Bros took control of Midway’s assets, including Hero.

Given the incredible top-to-bottom fall of Tim Kring’s show, the team at Phosphor should be counting their lucky stars it didn’t get finished sooner. Had Midway never folded, that would have given Hero an approximate launch window between late 2008 and late 2009… right when the audience interested in HEROES started tuning out in droves. “Awakened” probably won’t be out for another year or two at best, which should give those interested in this concept ample time to get excited about exploring it once again.

Now that I think about it, I’d say a game where you get to be the super-powered hero sounds a lot better than watching the over-dramatic band of whiny super-freaks Kring dreamed up.

Satisfy your inner geek while fueling your TV addiction… TV Tech Fix is a column by Matt Whitlock, editor of the TechLore.com Consumer Electronics Community (plus several other gadget-focused community websites), and lover of both technology and TV. In this column, he’ll cover a wide variety of tech topics aimed squarely at the TV addicts of the world – from tips and tricks to help you better your TV experience, to gear recommendations, to the impact technology is having on the TV shows we love.

Want more TV Tech Fix? Click here to see past entries.

Good News: According to reports, NBC is thisclose to putting HEROES out of its misery. Bad News: But not before possibly committing to a two-or four-hour movie event to wrap things up. [Source]

Good News: ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT’s Mitch Hurwitz latest comedy starring Will Arnett and Keri Russel has been given the greenlight. Bad News: By FOX, whose recent track record with live action comedy is nothing to laugh about. [Source]

Good News: HEROES is making headlines for something other than its sinking ratings. Bad News: Adrian Pasdar busted for a DUI.

Good News: For SMALLVILLE fans, who thanks to today’s announcement by the CW that they’ve picked up a reboot of the 90′s action-thriller LA FEMME NIKITA may have found the ideal time slot companion for a possible 10th season of their favorite show. Bad News: For those of us who were hoping the success of LIFE UNEXPECTED might have paved the way for more original ideas on the network that has yet to meet a book, movie and/or 90′s franchise with name recognition that they haven’t wanted to turn into a hit. [Source]

Your Monday night just got a wee bit funnier thanks to the release of CBS’ midseason schedule that has the only moderately more entertaining RULES OF ENGAGEMENT replacing the highly unfunny Jenna Elfman ‘laugher’ ACCIDENTALLY ON PURPOSE. [Source: Orlando Sentinal]

Having just wrapped the season on what he calls a ‘cliffhanger-y and exciting’ note, HEROES star Greg Grunberg is confident the series will see what will likely be a fifth and final season.

Good News: America Ferrera doesn’t care about UGLY BETTY’s ratings. Bad News: We have a feeling ABC doesn’t feel the same way. [Source]

Good News: According to reports NBC has asked HEROES to think about the final chapter. Bad News: Only three seasons too late. [Source]

What’s more distressing: (a) That in a last ditch effort to attract viewers to the sinking-ship we like to call HEROES, NBC emailed this TV Addict a photo of Hayden Panettiere’s Claire making-out with roommate Gretchen (Madeline Zima). Or (b) that said roommate is played by none other than THE NANNY’s youngest daughter Grace Sheffield, thus making us feel really, really old.

While Robert Knepper’s ‘King of the Carnival’ certainly piqued our interest, and Claire giving it the ol’ college try had us intrigued, Hiro and Ando’s ‘Dial a Hero’ had us dialing another channel… RIP HEROES.

Neil Patrick Harris was robbed! Now that we’ve gotten that out of the way, there really isn’t that much else to say about last night’s HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER season premiere. After-all, it comes as little surprise that Barney has a ‘whip guy,’ or that we’re already in love with Robin and Barney together. Which is why, we’ll leave you with the following. A message if you will, to all those shows (*cough*cough*HOUSE*cough*BONES*cough*) who are terrified of putting their will-they-or-won’t-they couples together for fear that it will destroy their show and/or possibly cause a rift in some sort of time and space continuum… Allow us to present an argument for doing so: Marshall and Lilly, happily married remain one of television’s best twosomes. Oh yeah… you’ve been lawyered!

When it comes to THE BIG BANG THEORY we’re willing to accept a whole lotta crazy. Sheldon running off to his Mom upon discovering that his North Pole possé completely duped him into thinking he had discovered some sort of Nobel-winning-paradigm-shift makes total sense. Wolowitz donning a red cowboy hat to better fit into his southern Texas surrounding and to match his red turtleneck, ditto. But Penny and Leonard together, in the biblical sense? Sorry, not buying it. Seriously. Creators Chuck Lorre and Bill Prady can keep trying, but we will never buy into your bizarro version of Ross and Rachel because deep down inside, you know the truth: Penny is meant to be with Sheldon. (Exhibit A: Did you see how quickly she rushed to his bedside (again!) to console him?)