Tonight the glorious ‘Company Man’ episode hits terrestrial TV in the UK, but over in the States ‘Heroes’ is faring poorly in its second season. The NBC show came in third in its Monday night 9pm time slot, behind ABC’s double of ‘Dancing with the Stars’ and new sitcom ‘Samantha Who?’ and CBS’s ‘Two and a Half Men’ and ‘Rules of Engagement.’ The show has sunk to its lowest viewing figures among its core audience of adults aged 18-49 and has caused many critics in America to speculate on a ‘sophomore slump.’

While this TV Scooper can appreciate the criticisms (I too have felt underwhelmed and frustrated by certain creative directions in season two), creator Tim Kring remains confident that this slump is a product of people watching online, or recording to watch later, a theory substantiated by similar drop-offs for other top shows such as Grey’s Anatomy and Ugly Betty. “People tend to look at last season and see things in it that were not in it,” Kring told the LA Times. “We haven’t deviated that much.”

Perhaps such a lapse is inevitable with a show that strives to maintain a sense of mystery and suspense over such a long time frame. Similar shows such as 24 and Lost have also allowed their tension to sag at moments, and so rather than condemn this genre of programming for its shortcomings, maybe we simply need to accept that the highs come packaged with a few lows.

Let’s hope that things look up for ‘Heroes’, as with American TV’s nasty habit of abruptly cancelling shows, it would be a colossal shame to wave goodbye to the heroes just as we were getting to know them.

[via Zap2it and the LA Times]