So, "Heroes" ends its season early so NBC can run the "Heroes" spinoff that was supposed to run this fall. Do I have it right? Seems a tad bit bass-ackward to me.

who/what is in this "Heroes" spin off? Fill us in, I haven't heard the buzz yet... I just thought they were ending early due to the writer's strike and were able to declare it a "finale" because it just happened that the episodes they have thus far were able to wrap up some story lines and leave us hanging on others...

I'm with the second poster. I figured that this has more to do with the strike than any kind of scheme hatched by the producers. Besides, from what I understand, the spin off was suppose to air next summer, not in the fall, and that it might already be dead as well because of the strike. I guess I could be wrong, but either way you cut it, next week is the last time we'll be seeing Heroes for a while.

From my understanding, this season was to be broken up into two story cycles, with the first cycle ending next week and the next cycle continuing until the end of the season. The spinoff was to run during the summer and one or two of the heroes introduced in the show (I think it's called "Heroes: Origins" or something like that) would be moving to the big show for the next season. They wanted to avoid the big breaks that occurred last year for Heroes and Lost which caused a lot of grief. Actually, sounds like a good plan to me, but the writer's strike put a hold on the second story cycle for this season.

I think Origins got spiked or maybe pushed to the "online show" format. What is happening with the show now is all about the writers' strike, and it sucks. I'd be happy if NBC added a crawl to the show saying "Don't like it? It's not our fault."

Oh yeah, and last night's show was pretty dry. I could see where Kring has decided to get the Wonder Twins story wrapped up and out of the way (did anyone else expect Sylar to get his powers back when the clock ticking sounds faded in?), and the New Orleans storyline is pretty flat, although the bits with Micah and his pain over the medal being lost gripped me a bit. But still, why set up a whole subplot with arsonists and whatshername getting caught with ONE SHOW LEFT?

I was really bored watching Claire and family be upset about HRG since I knew he was alive. They should have aired those emotional scenes before they showed him coming back to life. Then I would have been crying even harder than Claire.

Why didn't Monica leave the house the same way she got in? I guess it gives her character a longer, more action packed plotline. I wonder if Nikki is going to start fighting strong like Jessica in order to save Monica.

I wondered why Monica didn't leave via the roof, too. And I was cracking up when Elle was fumbling with the keys and the slurpee in the car... why didn't she just lock the door? It was the best part of an otherwise dull episode....

PS - Did Slyar kill Parkman? ("I convinced the babysitter to take the night off")... or did Mohinder really hire a babysitter?

Well, next week's promo stated two heroes won't survive past next week. I personally would like to nominate Mohinder as the one most deserving of a really messy death. As I've stated before, he's a naive idiot who ALWAYS seems tomake the wrong call and certainly deserves to have Syler rip the top of his head off and eat his brains with a spoon. And if we're lucky, they'll take Nikki out too and leave poor Micah with a reason for revenge. That would be a good plot driver for the next group of Heroes (Micah, Monica, Claire, etc.)...revenge against the manipulations of their parents' generation. Of course, all this should come after a good old-fashioned Highlander-style showdown between Adam and Peter! There can be only one after all! LOL

There seems to be a lot of confusion in NBC-land. That poor peacock is getting its neck wrung. I had heard last spring that "Heroes: Origins" would open the fall season. New heroes would be featured each episode and one would be chosen to join the original show when it came back in January. This idea was canned for whatever reason and the reverse was scheduled to happen: "Origins" would run while "Heroes" goes on hiatus. Now they're saying the writers strike has screwed this deal, but NBC is still advertising "Chose the Next Hero" which is a tie-in for "Origins" so who knows what's going to happen.

I actually thought last night's was a pretty good ep. It was nice to see Sylar back to his nasty old tricks and Mohindar finally showed some backbone by taking HRG out only to bring him back without the Company knowing it. The Peter/Adam/Hiro storyline is headed towards convergence. And no Molly.

I just talked with NBC - Chaz and Heron pretty much have it right. Way back in May, NBC announced that "Heroes: Origins" would debut in the spring of 2008 following the "Heroes" second season finale. "Origins" would introduce new characters with one lucky hero joining the third season based on online votes from viewers. BUT -- NBC scrapped "Origins" a month ago anticipating the strike.

It was always NBC's plans to wrap up the current storyline or "volume" on Dec. 3 and then start anew in January with a new "volume." Of course, with the writer's strike in full force, the new "volume" scheduled for January is totally up in the air.

Hope this helps.

Thanks, John! Nice to hear things directly from the source. At least we will have this "volume" completed next week. Can't blame NBC for not knowing what's going to happen with the writers' status in limbo. Personally, as an former union member (IATSE) and almost card-carrying member of both WGA and DGA, I find myself cheering for the writers on this one. They've been more than patient in trying to get fair compensation for their work that the studios have been recycling through online, mobile or DVD sales...even working without contracts in some cases. I can wait for new episodes of my favorite shows if it means the people who actually generate the ideas, words and thoughts that make it to the screen are given the compensation they deserve. After a few months of reality TV, reruns and repackaged shows, and the negative responses from the public and critics, it might convince the bean-counting network suits to man-up and stop treating the writers like the hired help instead of as partners in the creative process.

Discussing this with a coworker - since Hiro and Peter can time travel - instead of fighting, why doesn't Hiro say "hey this is Takezo Kensei from 400 years ago, let me show you." Then show him 1977 and how he wants to release the virus.