More good Smallville news to go with the Season 10 renewal news of earlier today…

KryptonSite has learned exclusively that Greg Beeman, the man responsible for developing the “look” of Smallville as well as directing many of the series’ best episodes, will be returning to direct the show’s ninth season finale.

Beeman departed Smallville after Season 5 and later worked on the Aquaman pilot before spending three years as one of the main directors of Heroes. Most recently he worked on Melrose Place.

A new interview with NBC Entertainment President Angela Bromstad has her talking about the network’s future – and where Heroes might fit in to it. Here’s the latest:

THR: Let’s run down some of the bubble shows. “Heroes”?

Bromstad: We met with (“Heroes” creator) Tim Kring (last week) and talked about a lot of things. It’s a wait-and-see for us.

THR: If “Heroes” does come back, is there a chance of it being announced as a final season?

Bromstad: We’re going to cross that bridge when we come to it.

Read the full interview at THR.com.

For more on Heroes, visit HeroSite.net.

The Cape, the new NBC pilot about a disgraced police officer who adopts a masked identity to bring criminals to justice and have contact with his family, now has a director who is familiar to these kinds of stories – Simon West, who directed this year’s Human Target pilot, will be sitting in the director’s chair.

Meanwhile, David Semel, who directed the pilot episode of Heroes four years ago, will again be mining the world of “ordinary people with extraordinary abilities” by directing the pilot for ABC’s No Ordinary Family, which stars Michael Chiklis.

Both pilots should be shooting shortly.

Column by Craig Byrne

Full disclosure here: I was there for the beginning of Heroes fandom, having helped NBC and the show’s producers to launch 9thWonders.com in July 2006. Since stepping down from there later that year, I launched HeroSite.net at the middle of the first season when the show was really doing well. I’ve seen every episode of the show, through good times and bad. However, what I have to say might not be popular with the entire Heroes fan base, so please, go easy on me.

With that in mind… despite international popularity and still being one of the best-selling series as far as TV show DVD’s go, it’s no secret that Heroes is in trouble. The show has lost a large percentage of its audience, apathy is growing among viewers, and for some, it’s no longer that show that everyone fell in love with during the first season. It’s easy to place the blame – people can point to creator Tim Kring, the loss of key creators, the writers’ strike, slashed budgets, repetitive story fake-outs and alliance shifts, Maya & Alejandro, the network, losing Adrian Pasdar, you name it, it’s been said before – but at the end of the day the important thing to look at is that the show could use some heroes of its own. If NBC wasn’t in such bad shape that they are in right now, a fifth season of Heroes would not even be a possibility, despite the benefits that are there.

The fourth season finale was viewed live by less than 5 million people. Now, downloads, DVR, and such will probably push the show over the edge – but it’s those live viewers that matter the most to advertisers. So, what’s a network to do?

One idea that has been proposed by critics and columnists is that Heroes should return for a protracted Season 5 to “wrap things up.” While again, there are benefits to that, there’s another factor: Whether it was intended to be one or not, the final episode of Season 4 worked very effectively as a series finale if it has to be one. Hiro’s journey is complete. Sylar is finding redemption. Claire’s final moments echo our first introduction to her. And Tracy… is a puddle. (Can’t win ‘em all) As a viewer of the show for four seasons, I could leave there and be satisfied. BUT…

….despite the falling ratings, there are still a lot of people who want more. They love the universe of Heroes and want to see it continue. So what do I propose? Keeping in mind that I am not a television executive and if I were one, I’d probably be laughed at for this idea…

…Heroes should return, during November sweeps or thereabouts, as a 2-hour TV-movie or even two 2-hour TV-movies.

Let some time pass into this “Brave New World,” and treat it like a “reunion movie” of a long lost series. What’s happened since then? Did the world react well to Claire’s coming out? How is that good guy thing working for Sylar? And please, oh please, is the carnival gone for good?

This could also serve as a good “jumping-back-on point” for those who gave up on the show years ago. It’d be a fresh start for all, about a re-gathering of Heroes, moving forward with the concept rather than going backward and, even worse, retconning past moments.

Time past would also mean if certain actors are (or aren’t) available, it can be written around depending on availability.

A TV-movie (or two) would surely sell well on DVD, bringing parent company NBC Universal a nice revenue stream. Sure, they’d get a revenue stream by picking up another season, but I’m sure the profit margin on a single DVD would be much higher than the profit margin on a full season of something that’s not a sure thing.

Then say a rejuvenated Heroes TV-movie is popular. That’s when a full-scale relaunch of the show, as a weekly series, would be a keen idea. And if it didn’t do well… then, hey, the loyal fans of the show get an extra movie or two, and NBC gets profits from that. Consider a TV-movie to be like a “new pilot.”

Comic books relaunch all the time after sales start to fall. A relaunch for Heroes might be just what the Company ordered, because if the show continues on the trajectory it was falling, and NBC picks the show up for Season 5, they could be seeing CW-level numbers by the end of December.

Now, NBC’s in such dire shape they could end up picking up Heroes regardless. I admit, though, that I’m a little skeptical that there’s much that can be done to get people to tune in for a Season 5 premiere without making some drastic changes, and so far it seems almost everything they’ve tried since Season 3 or so hasn’t brought anyone back. Some might write Heroes off as a dead franchise already; I don’t think so. With the right redirection, and an accessible enough reason to return, it’d still have plenty of life yet. (Just please, enough with the death fake-outs, gimmicky kisses, repetitive storylines – Hiro I’m looking at you, and changing sides. It’s getting old.)

What do you think? Sound off in the comments, and again, go easy on me. I’d definitely be curious what others would propose for NBC in continuing the franchise.

This morning, Production Weekly posted a very interesting tweet regarding two producers from Heroes, including its creator:

prodweek: Tim Kring & Aron Eli Coleite developing a drama titled “III” at NBC, revolving around a WWIII scenario in which the U.S. is invaded.

No further information is available, but if true, could Kring already be prepping his next project, and does this mean anything bad for Heroes? Stay tuned…

Visit HeroSite.net for more on Heroes…

Courtesy of NBC, here are three scenes from the Heroes fourth season finale, airing at 9PM on Monday, February 8.

For more on Heroes, visit HeroSite.net.

Even more images from next week’s Heroes season finale have now been released.

Find them at our Heroes website, HeroSite.net.

NBC has released 9 images from the fourth season finale of Heroes, “Brave New World,” which airs on February 8.

Check them out at HeroSite.net!

Tonight (February 1) marks the next-to-last episode of Heroes Season Four with the season finale airing next week, on February 8.

Ratings for the show have been declining and although some cast members have assured that a fifth season is highly likely, some wonder if next week’s episode could be the end.

Fortunately for fans of the show, NBC just had five timeslots opened with the cancellation of The Jay Leno Show, so they might want to hold on to as many hits (or semi-hits) as possible. The show is also still profitable in international markets, which may help Heroes’ case.

But ultimately, the final decision rests with NBC. What do you think? Will they renew? Or could “Brave New World” be the end?

Visit HeroSite.net for more on Heroes.

NBC aired this promo for Heroes on Monday night, and, if the episodes themselves are as good as the promo was, maybe this last batch will be pretty good.

Visit HeroSite.net for more on the show.