Ratings Watch – Heroes Bleeding Slows, Will The Healing Begin?

Heroes "Acceptance" was probably the best episode of the series in sometime.  No, seriously – I mean it.  It was even moving at some points.  I even got into the silly Hiro-subplot of the week where the man-child time jumped in a fruitless attempt to prevent a suicidal guy from photocopying his butt and ruining his life – ultimately teaching the hapless jumper that living with his mistake and facing it head on was the answer.  An epiphany, and not one of the Jon Gosselin variety.  This one was real!  The motif was distributed evenly, with each character having a cathartic moment and resigning themselves to destiny.  The wowzer: Sylar/Nathan's new set of powers is helping him uncover repressed memories.  Result in a sense of ratings: none.

None-the-less, the episode was a sobering moment for anyone who sees Heroes as being in steady decline.  Another sobering fact, however, is that "Acceptance" was written by Bryan Fuller – the writer once heralded as Heroes' best chance for survival – who abandoned the show for unknown reasons.  Cynics will no doubt point this fact out when weighing the odds of any more corner-turning episodes.

While we are enjoying – or not – our moments of clarity,  what does the raw data say about Heroes "Acceptance."

The bottom line was around 5.4 million live viewers, and when you are one of the big three nets that number pretty much kills any chance of finding a demographic win significant enough to spin away the stink of death.  Heroes seems to be terminally locked in sub-par numbers.  Will the rest of Heroes staff lock on to the thoughtful metaphorical writing of Bryan Fuller, causing the mighty hard core of fans to lure back the absent masses of Heroes-doubters?  It seems unlikely.

If you are looking for an opinion on next week's episode, check out Craig Byrne's review of "Hysterical Blindness" at Heroesite.com