Keep the Lights On!

Ausiello ponders: will James Marsters join "Dollhouse"?

From Tvguide.com -

Ausiello ponders: will James Marsters join "Dollhouse"?

Question: I am beyond thrilled about the new Joss Whedon and Eliza Dushku project! You should get a bonus for that kind of scoop. — Beth

Ausiello: I couldn’t agree with you more. And I haven’t even told you yet what Joss told me about Eliza’s leading man. Yep, a male character will be involved with her Echo alter ego, but, Whedon noted, "not in a buddy way. Their relationship will take some time to come together and will be constantly evolving." If you’re thinking Buffy and Angel, Part Deux, think again. "Echo is not capable of having a true love," he insists, since she becomes someone new, body and soul, every week. On the other hand, he contradicts, because of that, in a way, "She’ll have a true love every week. It’s part of her plight that when she feels something strongly, it gets taken away from her. And the person she’s closest to in the show, her relationship with him will not in any way be simple. Nobody in this piece comes away clean." Man, I’m confused already — and I love it!

Question: Could I please have some Buffy scoop? A girl can dream, can’t she? — Jenni

Ausiello: Yes, a girl can dream. Hopefully, a girl can also push play on our video player, ’cause the latest episode of the Ausiello Report vodcast contains an answer to a question I know has been on the minds of Whedonverse disciples since last Wednesday: Might a Buffy alum, like, say, oh, James Marsters, be in contention to play Dollhouse’s male lead? What are you waiting for — push play

Ausiello has launched the rumor on video.

Click on the link :

http://tvg.a.mms.mavenapps.net

Julie Benz on "Dexter": Ifmagazine.com Interview

From Ifmagazine.com -

Julie Benz on "Dexter": Ifmagazine.com Interview

Actress Julie Benz is having a busy year. Besides co-starring as Rita, the innocent mother-of-two love interest of the serial killer hero of Showtime’s DEXTER, she’s appearing opposite Sylvester Stallone on the big screen in the new actioner JOHN RAMBO and is once again out on DVD as the memorable vampire Vampire Darla (the role she originated on BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER) in the complete ANGEL DVD set of all five seasons from 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment.

Benz recently took time out of her full schedule to give iF MAGAZINE this exclusive interview.

iF MAGAZINE: Did you think DEXTER would go into a second season?

JULIE BENZ: I thought so, because I’m a fan of the show. It’s the kind of programming I enjoy watching, the kind that challenges you to think and ask questions. So yeah, I definitely thought it would go into a second season. Plus, I think it’s great. I think Michael [C. Hall, who plays Dexter] is amazing in it and the writing’s amazing. Showtime’s a really great network, too – they’re very supportive of the shows that they produce and they really give their shows a chance.

iF: Is there irony in the fact that, now that Rita’s a little bit stronger this season, that strength is possibly endangering her relationship with Dexter?

BENZ: It could be. It could.

iF: How has it been working with JoBeth Williams, who plays Rita’s mother?

BENZ: We had done a series together a couple of years ago, so I was very excited when they came to me and said they were going to be hiring her to play my mom, because she’s just really phenomenal.

iF: Do you enjoy playing a daughter?

BENZ: Yes. I also enjoy playing a mother, so it’s nice to play both. I am a daughter in real life, so I have a lot to draw from [laughs].

iF: Between seasons of DEXTER, you made JOHN RAMBO in Sylvester Stallone’s latest sequel. Do you play the love interest, or …

BENZ: No, it’s not the love interest, it’s more or a spiritual kind of saving that goes on between my character and Rambo’s character. I play a woman named Sarah, who’s a missionary, and we hire Rambo to take us into Burma to bring supplies to the Karen tribes. I don’t know if you know this, but Burma is actually having the longest-running form of genocide in the world, and it’s the most under-reported war. It’s a very serious issue in Burma. So we go in there to bring supplies to the people who are being persecuted by the Burmese government, and we end up getting kidnapped by them. And these are horrible, horrible people who rape and torture and pillage and the horrors that go on there are. And there’s not a lot of reporting going on [about the situation]. So anyway, we go in there and we end up getting kidnapped by the Burmese and Rambo comes back in to save us. Here I am, playing a woman of faith, who believes in humanity, pure goodness, and here he is, a man who’s been let down by humanity, who’s pretty much a shell of a man, who has no faith, and while he’s saving my life, in a way, I help save him spiritually. But it’s not a love interest. It’s deeper than that.

iF: Had you played this sort of part before? Well, yes, you did – you played a woman of faith on SUPERNATURAL.

BENZ: But never to this extent.

iF: How was doing SUPERNATURAL?

BENZ: Oh, it was a lot of fun. Those boys are adorable [laughs]. It was great. It was the rainiest week I think, in Vancouver. We were out in the mud field. It was brutal shooting, but it was fun to work on.

iF: Is it tougher to play somebody who’s very sure of herself, as opposed to someone who’s more conflicted?

BENZ: I don’t know. Both have challenges. I think it’s challenging to make both characters full and believable. If you play somebody who’s too damaged – if you see a character like Rita and you play her too damaged, then the audience is going to be unsympathetic towards her. It’s finding that balance, really. And it’s the same if you play a character that’s very strong – you still have to find the humanity– what is their Achilles’ heel? What is their flaw?

iF: Did you have a favorite scene as Rita last year?

BENZ: I had a couple. I loved when she dressed up as Lara Croft and gave Dexter a blow job [laughs]. That was her first big sexual awakening, and it was such a fun scene to play and it’s the first time you really saw a little bit of her strength and her playfulness, and it was so nice to do after playing so much of this vulnerable, beaten-down woman, to have this fun moment with Dexter. I also love the scene towards the end where she confronts Paul [Rita’s abusive ex-husband] in prison and basically lays it on the line from a place of great strength, where she finally just tells him how it’s going to be and how he needs to explain to the kids why he’s in prison.

iF: Anything else you’d like to say?

BENZ: Just watch the show!

Joss Whedon interview with Tvweek.com about "Dollhouse"

From Tvweek.com

Joss Whedon interview with Tvweek.com about "Dollhouse"

Joss Whedon Returns to Fox With New Series ’Dollhouse’

Joss WhedonJoss Whedon, the creator of acclaimed cult favorites “Buffy the Vampire Slayer,” “Angel” and “Firefly,” is returning to Fox and reuniting with “Buffy” regular Eliza Dushku for a new action-drama called “Dollhouse.”

Fox has given a seven-episode commitment to the 20th Century Fox Television project for a planned debut next year.

“It deals with our darkest impulses and our best ones,” Whedon says. “It deals with all the things I like to deal with—strength, weakness, power and corruption.”

“Dollhouse” stars Dushku as Echo, one of a group of secret agents living in a futuristic dorm. Each has the ability to be imprinted with custom personalities and abilities for special assignments. When they return, their newly acquired memories are wiped. The show follows Echo as she takes on a variety of assignments—some romantic, some adventurous, some uplifting, some illegal—and gains awareness of her role and confinement.

The show represents a few reunions: Whedon with Fox, which aired the short-lived fan favorite “Firefly”; Whedon with Dushku, who starred in Fox’s “Nurses” pilot during the last development season as well as Fox’s 2003 series “Tru Calling”; and Whedon and Dushku with studio chairmen Gary Newman and Dana Walden, whose 20th Century Fox Television also produced his other shows.

Dushku will have a producer credit on the show. Sources say she was instrumental in helping bring Whedon back to television after his three-year absence as a prime-time showrunner. Dushku, who was keen to reunite with Whedon, met him for lunch and he came up with the “Dollhouse” concept. He sold the show to Fox one week later.

“The show was pretty much fully formed,” Whedon says. “I wrote a synopsis, treatment, pilot episode and six suggested future episodes. I made a poster in PhotoShop because I couldn’t sleep.”

Whedon discussed the show with TelevisionWeek Wednesday evening:

TVWeek: How did this idea come about?

Joss Whedon: Rather suddenly. It just sort of blurted forth. I was having lunch with Eliza and she was talking about wanting to do something and I made up the show. We went to Fox and they said, "Yeeeaeah!"

TVWeek: "Buffy" fans are sure to be excited, too.

Whedon: If they could only see what’s in my head right now.... They should be.

TVWeek: Every "Firefly" fan is going to wonder: Was there any reluctance to return to Fox?

Whedon: It’s a brand new day over there. It’s a completely new bunch of people and they seem really intelligent and supportive. Walking back into the building was a little strange. But no. It was absolutely the last thing I saw coming, but absolutely the right thing to do. It’s like one of those movies where you keep waiting for somebody to fall in love with the hot girl. It was sort of meant to be. ... I mean, a network is a network. They have an agenda and it is not yours. And that’s OK, as long as you work hard to make the agendas coincide.

TVWeek: So they’ll air the episodes in sequence this time?

Whedon [laughs]: One can almost guarantee.

TVWeek: The project sounds ambitious. Do you have the budget you’re going to need?

Whedon: That was part of the offer. The network said we want to do seven and it’s a grown-up show. It’s not going to be wasteful, but it has a certain production value. When they said yes, it rang out loud and clear.

TVWeek: Is there anything new with "Buffy" spinoff "Ripper"? [Whedon previously announced he’s trying to set up that show at the BBC.]

Whedon: There isn’t anything new. It might become too problematic. The rights issue with "Ripper" becomes complicated. There are other characters in the woods. We may have to do some fancy footwork. Obviously I’m committed to ["Dollhouse"], but that does not mean I’m not doing "Ripper."

TVWeek: Just recently you were disappointed that 20th shut down the "Buffy" sing-along screenings. Did that make things awkward while doing the "Dollhouse" deal?

Whedon: This is how it works. It’s a small town. The problem they ran up against was a genuine problem. It wasn’t the Disney lawyers telling preschoolers they couldn’t draw Mickey Mouse. They’re not trying to cheat anybody out of their fun. The fact of the matter is that I know they’re trying to make the musicals work.

TVWeek: "Heroes" recently added a character who’s sort of like Echo, in that she can instantly learn any ability. Did that give you an "uh-oh" moment?

Whedon: I didn’t actually know that. I was fine until now. Thanks a lot. One of the first rules of a pilot, you will see everything you are doing somewhere else the year before you do it. I saw "Bionic Woman" and I was like, "Oh, I better change my thing." I like to think that means you’re smack dab in the middle of the zeitgeist. The real thing that’s important is what do you have to say about that person. And what I have to say is never what somebody else has to say. On "Buffy," all the hoariest old tropes—the evil twin, the Monkey’s Paw—what’s important is what you have to say about it.

TVWeek: With "Firefly" star Nathan Fillion doing a lot of guest work right now, any chance of him being in the cast?

Whedon: My first instinct is to look in new places, especially since Eliza and I are already reuniting. It’s a series, not a party. That said, I do not rule anything out.

TVWeek: I was told the series would be for next spring or fall, depending on how fast you write.

Whedon: I can write for spring. There’s a hiccup in that process because of the [potential] writers strike. I will be good to go the moment we are in agreement with the studios. But I won’t pick up a pencil while we’re not.

TVWeek: Since it’s the topic of the hour, any thoughts on the possible strike?

Whedon: I don’t have any terribly original ones. I do know this: The studios are very entrenched and the issues are very crucial. I dislike the idea of the strike because it’s going to hurt a lot of people I love. But if it’s necessary, we’ll go all the way with it. Because we’re talking about the future of media that didn’t used to exist. And if we can’t get a fair deal on that, then it’s just not worth it. Next year, you’re going to see a lot of new novels.

Eliza Dushku in "Ugly Betty"

From Truefan-eliza.com

Eliza Dushku in "Ugly Betty"

Season 2, episode 9: “Giving Up the Ghost” or “Inherit the sin” (unconfirmed title)

A Wilhelmina-induced crisis at Mode finds everyone scrambling to re-create an issue on deadline. Desperate times call for desperate measures, as Daniel and Betty try to break wild child cover girl (Eliza Dushku as Cameron Ashlock) out of rehab for a re-shoot, and Alexis tries to charm the printer (guest star David J. Steinberg) into extending their time. Meanwhile, Betty struggles with an unwelcome (and persistent) visitor who hopes to goad her into making good on a promise, on “Ugly Betty,” THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 22 (8:00-9:00 p.m., ET) on the ABC Television Network.

The Young'uns Do Miss Them Some Buffy

From Mediaweek.com

The Young'uns Do Miss Them Some Buffy

In my earlier years I dreaded the thought of traveling for business. But with age comes wanderlust, and my wrinkles were tickled pink when I was asked by Kevin Sandler, the assistant professor of media arts at the University of Arizona, to speak to his students about television.

So, four months after giving a talk on the upcoming TV schedule to the Phoenix Advertising Club, I headed back to Arizona as a guest lecturer for two of Dr. Sandler’s classes and to give my earlier presentation at a separate event.

Five minutes before I was about to make my debut as a "teacher," a wave of panic suddenly washed over me: Would I be able to sustain the interest of the students for one full hour? Would they start throwing things? What would be my escape route? Could I jump out the window without hurting myself and sprint back to my hotel?

To make matters worse, Dr. Sandler actually warned me that some of these students don’t watch a lot of TV. Huh? Who are these kids? TV was my very lifeblood when I was their age. Would I clump into the class, the original neanderthal, and find myself in front of dozens of bright-eyed aliens?

In my days, rocking a groovy shirt, bell-bottoms and a gigantic dome of hair was the average student look. Most of these kids looked like they were headed to the beach. I didn’t see an inappropriately tight maroon turtleneck once. When I was in college, there were three broadcast networks, three independent stations and PBS in most big markets. The idea of a computer was a mammoth piece of machinery hidden in a "lab." These days, the average TV household has over 100 channels, and you can be online at every given moment via a laptop or Blackberry.

Needless to say, I felt somewhat out of my comfort zone as a "prof." But once I warmed the students up with some well-placed self-deprecation and a joke or two about the current and future crop of TV shows, I realized that TV still is the universal language.

I could have spent hours on end talking to these students because they were not the only ones there to learn. I, too, was getting an education listening to what they had to say about TV. While I pride myself for thinking I know exactly what every age group is watching on TV, guess what? I don’t.

And I was stunned to hear that most of these students do not like nonscripted programming—American Idol included. They don’t watch mainstays like Survivor, The Amazing Race, The Bachelor and Big Brother; they are bored with The Real World and would prefer to watch a good meaty drama. Remember, these are students studying media. I shudder to think what the pre-med and accounting departments would have said.

Interestingly, most of the programs they watch are on cable, not broadcast, because they consider the cable landscape more creative. They are fans of FX’s Nip/Tuck and Rescue Me; HBO’s Entourage and Flight of the Conchords; and Showtime’s Californication and Weeds. The only network show, in fact, that they seemed to universally agree is good is NBC’s The Office.

Prior to my classes (hey, Mom look, I’m a teacher!), they were given an assignment to watch the pilot episodes of ABC’s Cavemen and Pushing Daisies, and Fox’s Back to You. Of the three, I can promise you this: They will not be watching Cavemen. When one of the students asked me why ABC scheduled it, I was struck mute for a minute, which doesn’t happen often. What could I say?

They were more optimistic about Pushing Daisies, but felt the premise was limited (I agree), and were mixed about Back to You. The one show the majority said they loved, and still miss, is Buffy, the Vampire Slayer. But no one in the two classes said they would watch upcoming CBS vampire drama Moonlight because, according to one student, "It’s not on cable. So, I doubt it will be that good." Ouch.

While I tried to explain the obstacles the broadcast networks face trying to fill 22 hours every week, it more or less fell on deaf ears. "HBO or Showtime is better because there are no restrictions on the language and nudity," said another student.

Try explaining to a college student that adult language and human anatomy is secondary to good TV and you’ll get nowhere!

I capped off my second day at the University of Arizona with my annual fall prime-time presentation given in a room that housed about 150 students. As I walked around campus satisfied with what I personally accomplished, I came to the jarring realization that in just two years my older daughter Jackie will start college. I made a beeline to the nearest lottery machine.

TV Hero: Tim Kring Readies Season Two of NBC Hit Heroes

From mediaweek.com

TV Hero: Tim Kring Readies Season Two of NBC Hit Heroes

by A.J. Frutkin

Heroes creator Tim Kring shows off his new iPhone to a guest in his office. First, he conferences two separate callers onto his line. Next, he gets on the Web, and heads to a site offering guitar lessons (Kring is an avid strummer and guitar collector). Then he shifts to the iPod, noting he's already downloaded—what else?—Heroes' pilot episode.

But for all its super-powers, the iPhone still lacks one thing Kring craves. "I'd like to be in multiple places at once," he says. "That would be very helpful."

After last season's success with the series, Kring has observed he no longer manages a show. He manages a brand. Indeed, there are Heroes-related downloads, Webisodes, online games and a graphic novel. A line of high-end, Heroes-related merchandise will be available in the NBC Experience store this fall. The DVD release of season one hits shelves nationally on Aug. 28. The series itself has been licensed in approximately 150 foreign territories. In fact, Kring and the cast leave on a world tour Aug. 25 to promote both the DVD release and some of those overseas broadcasts.

Stateside, Kring goes into production on 24 more episodes of Heroes, plus six episodes of Heroes: Origins. And he knows next season has got to be as good as the last—if not better. Either way, he says, "A second season of this show can't look like the first season of the show." To that end, Heroes made a number of casting announcements earlier this summer, adding three new regulars and ten new recurring characters to the show. Kring acknowledges that with the entry of new roles comes the exit of old ones. As to whom he'll kill off, though, Kring is undecided.

"It's just that so many of these characters really popped," he says. "But one of the blessings—and curses—of the show is that it defies expectations on a weekly basis. It lives or dies by these moments where the audience says, 'Wow, I didn't see that coming.'"

Along with defying expectations, part of the impetus to up the ante on Heroes also is due to the surprising ratings drop it suffered last spring. On April 23, after seven weeks off the air, Heroes returned with the first of its final set of original episodes. But it drew only 12 million viewers—a 19 percent drop from its seasonal average of 14.8 million viewers. The broadcast scored a 5.3/13 among adults 18-49—marking a 20 percent decline in the demo from its 6.6/15 average.

Kring offers several reasons for that drop, including an earlier introduction of daylight savings time and the increased competition offered by ABC's spring cycle of Dancing With the Stars. He also says the show's scheduling may have contributed to its ratings drop.

Long before NBC knew whether Heroes would be a hit last year, the network had fanned out the show's 23 original episodes over the course of the 36-week season. Consequently, the series aired in what Kring refers to as pods, with cliffhangers carrying viewers from one pod to the next. And for much of the season, it worked. That is, until the final break in March and April, before the last run of original episodes.

"The biggest issue was the idea of breaking the habit of a habit-forming show," Kring says. "Like any addiction, if you break that addiction, it's hard to jump back on." Kring's previous series, NBC's crime procedural Crossing Jordan, offered close-ended stories, whereas Heroes' are serialized in nature. And, in a 36-week season, Kring sees a vast difference between the two formats. "I think a close-ended show has an easier time," he continues. "You can put in a rerun and it does okay. But on a show like [Heroes], where you can't really rerun the episode, you're just out of sight and out of mind."

Other contributing factors to the show's ratings decline, Kring says, were the numerous storylines that he and his writing staff found themselves having to wrap up by season's end. "This idea of having to pay off things in episode 23 that we'd set up in episode 1," he says. "It got very complicated to drag that much story behind us."

So much so that Kring has restructured season two to include several so-called volumes. The show's initial volume, Heroes: Genesis, ran from September through May last season. Volume 2—Heroes: Generations—will be shorter, ending in December, at which point Volume 3 will begin.

Kring believes the structural change will tighten the show's writing. "This idea of volumes allows us to tell stories in a slightly shorter arc than you would normally do in a season," he says. "This way, we can end a storyline when we determine if it's the end of a storyline."

Even as NBC saw ratings decline for Heroes at the end of last season, network execs knew they would need to rely on Heroes throughout the coming season, as they once again will try to pull themselves out of the ratings basement. So, rather than tighten up Heroes' schedule and air it in a contiguous fashion, as Fox does with 24, NBC announced last spring that it would bulk up Heroes' output by producing Heroes: Origins, an anthology series initially comprised of six episodes, each of which will introduce new characters. Based on fan feedback, some characters could live on either in the series or on other platforms.

"The show posits a world where these characters are popping up all over the place," Kring says. "So why not carve out a separate series-within-the-series that could focus on the origin stories of some of the characters whom we don't know." With the addition of Origins, the show expands from 24 to 30 episodes for the season. And even though buyers have supported NBC's move, some still question whether upping production might negatively impact the series as a whole.

"The show could gain in creativity or it could suffer," says John Rash, Campbell Mithun's chief broadcast negotiator. "To the degree that Heroes, or any program, is the unique vision of an individual, it can make an already taxing task even harder to keep up with."

Ben Silverman agrees. The recently appointed co-chairman of NBC Entertainment admits Heroes is carrying a lot of weight for the network. But he believes Kring is up to the task. "Tim is a great executive producer," says Silverman. "And he knows how to manage it."

Despite his role as Heroes' creator, Kring says the show is less the product of his vision than it is that of his entire creative staff. And so, to avoid adding to his staff's workload, Kring is looking to outside writers for help on Origins. At last month's Comic-Con, the annual convention of comic book and fantasy fans held in San Diego, Kring announced that indie filmmaker Kevin Smith (Clerks) will write and direct one of Origins' episodes.

"The real key is to try and not tax the production here," Kring says. "But to carve out an entirely separate production, with an entirely separate team of writers, directors, and crew—except for a couple of people at the top. Because I really believe that even though it does not necessarily connect that tightly to the world of Heroes, it still occupies that same world."

As Origins gets off the ground, Kring has begun formulating what this anthology series might look like. With only six episodes airing, Kring knows he's got to hook viewers quickly. "If we're going to dig in and tell one story [per episode], I'm a little wary of that. Maybe that character doesn't connect and doesn't land. So how do you get traction in only two weeks?" he asks, rhetorically.

The answer, he believes, may be in telling two stories per episode, perhaps with each crossing over to the other. And they don't have to be 30 minutes. "You could do one 38-minute story, and one 12-minute story," Kring says.

In hopes of avoiding the type of effects-driven look that Heroes demands, Kring also is hoping to scale back production on the anthology series. "Because it's all about character and all about what happens to these people at the first blush of discovery, you could very easily tell a story that takes place on a bus going down [Los Angeles'] Wilshire Boulevard."

A lingering question about Origins regards when it will air in the season. To get the biggest bang out of the original series, conventional wisdom might have assumed NBC would run Origins in that March/April bloc, and hold the Heroes season finale for May sweeps. But as it stands, the network is planning to run Heroes continuously, and follow it with Origins' six episodes. "We have gone back and forth on this," says Katherine Pope, president of Universal Media Studios, which produces the series. "But the plan is still the plan."

Kring has known Pope since Crossing Jordan. It was his first pilot—and hers, as an executive. Kring first took Heroes to Pope. For advertisers, Kevin Reilly, NBC's former entertainment chief, is widely perceived as having championed the series. But Kring says he has relied more on Pope, adding her continued presence on the show helped ease the news of Reilly's departure.

Now, Reilly's oversight on the series falls to Ben Silverman, who counts himself among Heroes' many fans. "This is a very strong and important franchise for the network," he says. "So I'm going to give it all the attention that is required, vis-à-vis marketing it, and making sure it gets everything it needs."

Despite last spring's ratings drop, Silverman also believes the show can grow. "You make sure you save some marketing dollars to use against it," he says. "And the fact that Heroes is an established series this season always helps. You hope to see more pop—that people who didn't see it last season, will want to see it this season," he continues.

"It's easier to grab those viewers when a show starts in the fall. Sometimes they don't want to join midway through the season. So I think there's a real opportunity to expand out from the show's group of loyal viewers."

It was Dennis Hammer who bought Kring the iPhone. "He likes toys," says Hammer, who has been Kring's business partner for about eight years. Hammer describes Kring's creative method as one of collaboration. "We have a saying," Hammer adds. "If you're ego-driven with lots of drama, you don't do well in Kringsville."

Kring's democratic approach to TV production may come from having spent years in the trenches as a writer. In fact, his leap from Crossing Jordan to Heroes seems less anomalous knowing that his first TV job was on the pseudo-sci-fi cop show Knight Rider, after which he wrote the TV horror movie Bay Coven and the feature comedy Teen Wolf Too.

Heroes' success has catapulted Kring to a short list of A-tier creators who wield enormous power in Hollywood. And the creative freedom that he's achieved still seems to come as a surprise. "For many years in my career, I never made a decision. I went wherever there was a job. I still remember the first time I had to choose between two jobs," he says, noting it was two TV movies. "And I realized after 12 years of writing, that I was completely ill-equipped to make these kinds of decisions."

With one of the most lucrative development deals in TV history, Kring, 50, seems more prepared to choose. Although he hasn't set upon an idea to follow Heroes, he says the show's success on multiple platforms has opened his eyes to emerging formats. "I think you would be very remiss to go in and pitch a show nowadays that does not have some thought placed on how it is going to tell stories in some of these alternate platforms," he says. "The old model of making a show and selling it into syndication and rerunning it just doesn't work anymore. And as people get their entertainment on iPods and cell phones and computers, the new model has to be able to tell stories on all these multiple platforms."

Heroes, he adds, was designed to do just that. And so will his next project—whatever it turns out to be. "We're approaching a time when the audience finds their entertainment in a very different way," he says. "I'm very interested in the idea of where it's all going next, and trying to be right there. I don't want to be the guy who missed the wave when it hit the shore."