PRESEASON SEASON 2

(CAUTION: SOME MINOR SPOILERS ARE CONTAINED WITHIN!)

Next week the 2nd season of HEROES begins!

To say that it’s been a busy off-season would be an understatement.

There have been world tours, DVD releases, Comic-Cons, Teen Choice Awards, Emmys, etc. etc.

Oh, and we’ve been shooting episodes since late June. As a matter of fact, as I write, episode 8 is shooting and episode 9 begins filming in just a few days.

But… I’m getting ahead of myself. Let’s rewind to the end of last season – the last time I wrote – and catch up with ourselves.

I’m Greg Beeman, an executive producer and director of the series. I began writing this blog last season as a way to give the fans updates and information about the series HEROES and to give them a behind-the-scenes look at how we do things, which they might not otherwise have a chance to get.

The last episode of season 1 (Episode 23 “HOW TO STOP AN EXPLODING MAN”) wrapped shooting on last April 25, and aired on May 21st. Before that one was even finished shooting, our executive producers, Tim Kring and Dennis Hammer and Allan Arkush, were clear that we needed to come back strong in the second season – that we needed to give the fans more episodes, more episodes in a row without breaks, and shorter time between breaks.

As a group, we all set upon the daunting task of producing 24 original episodes in season 2. We will come back on September 24 – run 11 episodes in a row, take only 4 weeks off, run 7 in a row, take only 3 weeks off and then finish the season with a final run of 6 episodes.

And, on top of all that, when HEROES ends, Tim is going to give the fans 6 episodes of a new original series HEROES ORIGINS.

And, of course, all of this has to stand up to the high HEROES standards of writing, acting and production that we have become famous for.

Now, this is more TV faster than I have ever experienced in my many years in the business. I kind of feel like Crazy Eddy when I describe it… “BUT THAT’S NOT ALL FOLKS – IF YOU BUY NOW WE’LL THROW IN 7 ADDITIONAL EPISODES OF AN ALL NEW SERIES TOO!!! WHY… BECAUSE WE’RE CRAAAAAZZZZY!!!!”

I’ll go into the behind-the-scenes stuff of the first episode (which I directed) next week. I thought I’d make this pre-season blog a photo-intensive with all the fun stuff that happened this summer.

And it was a lot of fun. On July 29th we all went to Comic-Con in San Diego – There was a packed room of 5,000 fans and another 2,000 or 3,000 outside who couldn’t get in. It was IN-SANE and an incredible lot of fun. (I also bought an excellent copy of Fantastic Four #8 for my collection!)

We won the Program of the Year Award from the Television Critics Association! That was fun!!!

And then, last week we went to the Emmys. We lost for everything, but that was OK… It was great good fun to be there with a cast and writing staff that really enjoy each other. Plus, now we’ve got ‘em softened up for next year!!!!

ANYWAY, ON TO THE PICTURES!!!!


THE WORLD TOUR PRESS CONFERENCE ATTRACTED SOME ATTENTION – LATER THE CAST WOULD TRAVEL ALL AROUND THE WORLD FOR A WEEK TO PROMOTE THE DVD


NEW CHARACTERS #1 – MAYA AND ALEJANDRO PLAYED BY DANIA RAMIREZ & SHALIM ORTIZ. THEY WILL HOOK UP WITH ONE OF LAST YEAR’S REGULARS IN A SUPRISING WAY!!!!


NEW CHARACTER #2 – TAKEZO KENSEI PLAYED BY DAVID ANDERS… WHY IS A WHITE GUY FORMALLY FROM “ALIAS” THE HERO OF JAPANESE LEGEND??? ALL WILL BE REVEALED (OR YOU COULD GO TO http://www.nbc.com/Heroes/ FOR SOME CLUES)


NEW CHARACTER #3 – MONICA DAWSON PLAYED BY DANA DAVIS. SHE IS THE RELATIVE OF A SEASON 1 SERIES REGULAR WITH A POWER OF HER OWN!


SAN DIEGO – COMIC-CON - WE DREW A SMALL CROWD


COMIC-CON – TIM KRING AND A FAN DRESSED AS CLAIRE


COMIC-CON – ALLAN ARKUSH AND I, IN FRONT OF THE HEROES BOOTH – ONLY A FEW OF YOU WERE LUCKY ENOUGH TO GET THE SEASON 2 COMIC BOOKS!


COMIC-CON – BACKSTAGE – THE BEAUTIES OF HEROES (YES, I INCLUDE SENDHIL IN THAT GROUP)


COMIC-CON – TIM SALE DREW THIS SHIRT FOR JACK COLEMAN MOMENTS BEFORE GOING ONSTAGE


COMIC-CON – BACKSTAGE – OUR CAST LIKES EACH OTHER


COMIC-CON – MILO AND I – CALMLY PREPARING TO GO ONSTAGE


COMIC-CON – MILO AND ZACH CALMLY PREPARE TO GO ONSTAGE


COMIC-CON – KEVIN SMITH WILL DIRECT THE FIRST “HEROES ORIGINS”


THE EMMY PARTY – ALI WORKS THE RUNWAY


THE EMMYS – ZACH GREG AND I


THE EMMYS – EMMY NOMINEE MASI AND I


THE EMMYS - MASI AND HIS DATE – NEW HERO KRISTEN BELL – SHE HAS A POWER – BUT IS SHE GOOD OR EEEEVVVVILLLL???


THE EMMYS – THE BIG THREE ALLAN ARKUSH, TIM KRING AND DENNIS HAMMER – OUR EXEC PRODUCERS – THERE’S ENOUGH BRAINPOWER HERE TO LIGHT UP A NETWORK


THE EMMYS – BRYAN FULLER AND I – LAST YEAR HE WROTE ON HEROES, THIS YEAR HE CREATED “PUSHING DAISIES” – WATCH IT!!!


THE EMMYS – MILO ALI AND I


THE EMMYS - MILO AND I


THE EMMY’S – JAMES, DAVID, DANIA, THE EYE OF A RANDOM WOMAN AND I


THE EMMYS – OUR CAST PARTIES IN THE FRONT ROW


THE EMMYS - ZACH OPINES ON LOSING