The cast of "Heroes" (NBC Photo)

It almost seems cruel to gang up on “Heroes” these days. The erstwhile NBC hit — a Golden Globe nominee for best drama series after its first season — has since fallen into a creative tailspin, and it’s been shedding viewers with frightening speed.

On the one hand, the show is still a solid hit after four seasons, averaging about 5 million viewers every Monday night. Then again, it’s also seen a 35 percent ratings decline since December 2008. A source close to the series told E! Online last week that “everyone is expecting this to be the last season. The cast, the crew, everyone.”

So, the question remains: What happened to what was supposed to be NBC’s flagship series? Arturo García at Racialicious has a somewhat controversial theory. “Heroes” started out with a racially diverse cast, but the number of characters of color has plummeted. García opens his post, subtitled “You Are Who You Work With,” with a shocking graphic comparing the number of regularly featured characters of color to the number of white characters during each of the show’s four seasons. A cursory glance would show that — despite Kring’s claims that the cast had grown too large — the number of white regulars has nearly doubled since the first season, while the number of characters of color has been cut in half. In a scathing open letter to series creator Tim Kring, García lets the showrunner have it for the cast’s dwindling diversity — and for failing to respond to staffers’ tone-deaf reactions to viewer complaints. García writes, “These are not the only reasons viewers have left your show. And they’re not the only reasons several readers of this site are not coming back. Your staff isn’t helping.”

Indeed, some “Heroes” staffers have gone on the offensive. Writer Jim Martin dismissed one complaint by declaring, “I don’t think white privilege is an issue in Hollywood at this point. Anyone who thinks they can do better … I dare you. Go ahead.” Coordinating producer Foz McDermott elevated the skirmish in an epic (since deleted) Tumblr blog rant: “Being overly PC is the actual problem. Being a white male in the business of Hollywood is NOT easy. There are programs and incentives to help everyone except white males … where’s MY diversity program?”

I don’t think that the “business of Hollywood” is “easy” on anyone by design. As for McDermott’s claim that the system favors non-white people, I’ll echo García’s advice that he read Fade In magazine.

That said, it’s one thing to create interesting characters of color — “Heroes” did that pretty well. But it’s  another to fail to develop any kind of personality or storyline for them.  Example: Did we know anything about D.L. — besides his ability and criminal status — before he was killed off? His son Micah’s story arc could’ve been epic, as he went from a sweet yet resourceful kid to a rebel leader. Too bad no one knows where he is.  What’s worse, his entire family seems to have disappeared without a trace. Then again, one of the show’s most interesting characters of color barely speaks, seems to exist only to serve the Bennets and Petrellis, who are white, and was known only as “The Haitian” until the eighth episode this season. The show’s breakout character, Hiro, has gone from office drone to time traveler to samurai-sword-wielding future soldier to … filling out his bucket list? And the less said about Mohinder and the girl who cried motor oil, the better.

The most frustrating aspect of this (lack of) character development isn’t the fact that these characters had so much potential. It isn’t the fact that their storylines were trimmed in favor of some of the show’s sillier storylines. It isn’t even the fact that the show filled the role of a 1,000-year-old Japanese warrior with a youngish white actor. It’s that the concerns of millions of viewers — who may have been attracted to the rare sight of a network television show with a diverse cast — were dismissed by McDermott as “idiocy.” It’s almost as if McDermott and Martin are asking viewers: Who are you going to believe? Me or your eyes?

García knows the show well. He reviewed each episode and hosted a roundtable that discussed every episode after it aired. As a result, Racialicious readers got to know his frustrations with the series equally well. García finally stopped reviewing the series after the current season’s fourth episode and turned his attentions to freshman drama “FlashForward” — another new hit with a diverse cast — but his misgivings about the show’s direction haven’t changed.

“Mr. Kring, as you are the man in charge of “Heroes,” and these are the people who work for you, then you’re the one responsible for them,” Garcia writes. “You’re the one who has presumably signed off on their sentiments, if not their statements. And the character breakdown in the chart provided above has progressed under your watch.” Will this sticky situation improve on Kring’s watch before the show signs off for good? Maybe we can get Hiro to find out for us …

More at HowStuffWorks.com:
How do TV ratings work?
Who puts together a television schedule?
Inside ‘Heroes’
How Samurai Work