Producers, Fans, Power [This Does Not Contain Spoiers]
In general, it's a bad idea for producers to give fans storytelling power. Certainly, listen enough to realize when something is broken, and fix it (if everyone hates a character, it's not because we're jealous or incapable of appreciating the deep subtleties- I hate to break it to you, but the deep subtleties ain't making it to our living room.) But when it comes to our whimsies, especially our romantic whimsies, leave them to us.
Don't comment on what the fans are doing, don't comment on what the fans are thinking, and for god's sake don't comment on what the fans are tickling their fancies with and how you might feel about that. Don't confirm, deny, recoil, embrace, approve, reprove, explain, disclaim, nothing. Say nothing unless pressed, and if pressed say, "We're really glad people are getting personally involved in the show." Say, "It's really gratifying to see people embrace these characters as their own." That's it.
Why?
Because people will react to the sweet that's sweet to their tongue. That's why there are hundreds of programs to choose from, that's why we have hundreds of stations to choose from, hundreds of genres to choose from, hundreds of actors- if one thing worked for everybody, we could make one movie, one series, one album, one painting, one novel, one comic book and be done with it. It just doesn't work that way. That's why a show like Heroes has (at last count) eight different storylines in a single hour. One becoming story isn't enough for a single episodic, let alone a single person.
And sometimes, the sweet on somebody's tongue is an extracurricular activity- embroidering an already good story with a little something else. People who believe that Mohinder is deeply in love with Niki, they may be wrong factually- but they also have no power over the story they see unfold on the screen each week. Left alone, with no comment from production or cast, the Nikinders can amuse themselves by finding secret signs in the matching colors of Niki's straightjackets and Mohinder's ascots, figuring out whether his phD credentials could get him into her psychiatric institutions, and toying with the logistics of cross-country mirror sex without enraging DL and/or Jessica.
But when a producer comments on how ridiculous (or impossible or unfeasible or just plain not-going-to-happenable) the pairing is (Niki is very much in love with DL! And Jessica has a thing for Nathan besides! Mohinder's never even met the woman!) that producer achieves two things: he makes a segment of fandom feel small for enjoying their sweet, and he gives them an immense amount of power.
It's not real power, because chances are, Jessica was going to pursue Nathan anyway, but every time Jessica appears and wraps Nathan's tie around her finger, the Nikinders are now certain the producers have done it to quash the growing interest in people seeing Niki and Mohinder together. When Niki and DL suddenly renew their vows? Same thing. And don't think that fans of other pairings won't remember this when a storyline featuring their favorite characters doesn't quite go their way. "Oh yes," they'll say, "Remember how they did a 180 on the Nikinders? Same thing all over again."
It's not real power, no- but it's the worst kind of power. Any time a producer takes a position for or against the fans, a producer takes a position that undermines the show. He gives the fans the tools to dismantle the universe's suspension of disbelief. Instead of just watching and believing, fans start to watch with a colored eye- this story is happening because the producer is punishing X kind of fan, this story is happening because the producer is rewarding Y kind of fan.
And once the fans watch the show and the meta show, the producers become The Powers that Be, and anybody who's read Revelations knows that never ends well.
Don't comment on what the fans are doing, don't comment on what the fans are thinking, and for god's sake don't comment on what the fans are tickling their fancies with and how you might feel about that. Don't confirm, deny, recoil, embrace, approve, reprove, explain, disclaim, nothing. Say nothing unless pressed, and if pressed say, "We're really glad people are getting personally involved in the show." Say, "It's really gratifying to see people embrace these characters as their own." That's it.
Why?
Because people will react to the sweet that's sweet to their tongue. That's why there are hundreds of programs to choose from, that's why we have hundreds of stations to choose from, hundreds of genres to choose from, hundreds of actors- if one thing worked for everybody, we could make one movie, one series, one album, one painting, one novel, one comic book and be done with it. It just doesn't work that way. That's why a show like Heroes has (at last count) eight different storylines in a single hour. One becoming story isn't enough for a single episodic, let alone a single person.
And sometimes, the sweet on somebody's tongue is an extracurricular activity- embroidering an already good story with a little something else. People who believe that Mohinder is deeply in love with Niki, they may be wrong factually- but they also have no power over the story they see unfold on the screen each week. Left alone, with no comment from production or cast, the Nikinders can amuse themselves by finding secret signs in the matching colors of Niki's straightjackets and Mohinder's ascots, figuring out whether his phD credentials could get him into her psychiatric institutions, and toying with the logistics of cross-country mirror sex without enraging DL and/or Jessica.
But when a producer comments on how ridiculous (or impossible or unfeasible or just plain not-going-to-happenable) the pairing is (Niki is very much in love with DL! And Jessica has a thing for Nathan besides! Mohinder's never even met the woman!) that producer achieves two things: he makes a segment of fandom feel small for enjoying their sweet, and he gives them an immense amount of power.
It's not real power, because chances are, Jessica was going to pursue Nathan anyway, but every time Jessica appears and wraps Nathan's tie around her finger, the Nikinders are now certain the producers have done it to quash the growing interest in people seeing Niki and Mohinder together. When Niki and DL suddenly renew their vows? Same thing. And don't think that fans of other pairings won't remember this when a storyline featuring their favorite characters doesn't quite go their way. "Oh yes," they'll say, "Remember how they did a 180 on the Nikinders? Same thing all over again."
It's not real power, no- but it's the worst kind of power. Any time a producer takes a position for or against the fans, a producer takes a position that undermines the show. He gives the fans the tools to dismantle the universe's suspension of disbelief. Instead of just watching and believing, fans start to watch with a colored eye- this story is happening because the producer is punishing X kind of fan, this story is happening because the producer is rewarding Y kind of fan.
And once the fans watch the show and the meta show, the producers become The Powers that Be, and anybody who's read Revelations knows that never ends well.