ZzzZzzzZeroes
This week’s episode of Heroes isn’t even halfway done and I’m bored out of my mind. I’ve never seen a show start off so promising in it’s first season and then degenerate so quickly and profoundly the way Heroes has. This show should take a cue from Lost and bring in some comic writers (Paul Dini & Brian K. Vaughn) to work full time on the show because whoever has creative control at this point has no clue how to tell a cohesive and poignent superhero story at all, at least not the way Jeff Loeb could.
I’m certain if Loeb was still involved with the show some of it’s current issues would either be non-existant or quickly worked out. Why spend a whole season building up a long and boring storyline (Hiro in feudal Japan) to have the big (and decent) payoff at the end resolve itself and be deemed moot at the start of the third season? Why would you waste your devoted viewers time like that? Why are there so many characters who simply have variations of the same powers? All it’s doing is making story difficult to follow and boring. And then to add insult to injury they ridiculously convult the plot even more with every jump into the future, or this furture-selves return to the present. If Lost is a “How-To” manage flashbacks & flash-forwards then Heroes is textbook example of “How-Not-To”.
I hope this season is the death knell for this show so I can stop watching it like it’s some morbid car accident I can’t seem to look away from. But sadly even with it’s dwindling viewership and critical bashing the show is still making enough cash for NBC not to give up on it just yet and warrant one more torturous season after this one.
Those of you who only discovered how awesome comic or sci-fi drama can be via Heroes who are now left with a bad taste in your mouth do this: Go to your video store or Netflix and start catching up with the past 4 seasons of the new Battlestar Galactica before it hits it’s end game come Jauary. Or fuck it start watching Lost or even Terminator, both of which are far superior geeky fixes than Heroes!
- My Pal the Crook
November 17th, 2008 at 11:49 pm
Been a huge fan of Heroes since the beginning but I do agree that things certainly fell apart last season. Season 3 has been better but I am getting a bit tired of it too.
Sorry to rain on your parade but Loeb has been involved in the entire downfall of the show. He was around all of season 2 and was still there for all of the production of the “Villians” chapters this season. Hopefully the production shakeup will be for the best and the 2nd half of this season will get things back on track.
Oh and Terminator has been just about as bad as Heroes. You do remember that chick from Garbage killing that guy in the john this season right? Lost and 24 are my only hopes left for some good television this season.
November 18th, 2008 at 12:13 am
I’m going to have to disagree with you as to Loeb being part of the downfall for these reasons. Loeb was fired for difference in the creative direction of the show. This is pure speculation and I’m basing this solely on his comic pedigree and that this is the show NBC is now showing. To me that stands to reason he was against the direction the show was going last season and spiraled into currently. If he lost the creative battle to the point that he got fired I have to assume he was actively criticizing the direction the show was going (and we’re seeing) and that his ideas were the ones NOT making it on-air last season and this season.
I’m also going to have to disagree with you about 24 and Terminator. the last season of 24 was probably worse than this current season of Heroes. Plus with the exception of 1 season I think it was an average show to begin with.
Terminator is fantastic, in my opinion. I don’t know why you think Shirley Manson being cast is somehow a flaw. And the scene in the bathroom that you’re describing was an awesome way to bring the T1000 into the story line. I don’t think the show is on par with Lost or Battlestar, and it’s too early to really see where it’s going. But to this point I don’t think the show has done anything wrong. I’m really not sure why it even gets the kind of vitriol it does (not just from you). I think it’s really well done and fits nicely into the Terminator film and even comic cannon.
November 18th, 2008 at 12:14 am
My pal doesn’t even have cable, so don’t listen to his rants on tv shows!
November 18th, 2008 at 12:17 am
I get cable on DVD the way it should be… in one lump viewing!
And you only defend Heroes because you’ve never watched Lost, Battlestar or any of the other shows that do this stuff way better than Heroes.
November 18th, 2008 at 12:54 am
I do agree with you that based on Loeb’s comic work you wouldn’t think he would be that responsible for the direction Heroes has been going in. However I do believe he was involved due to the fact the Heroe’s ratings have been falling and the executives want things to go in a new and better direction. If Loeb wanted the show to go in a different direction than it is now, it would seem to me that they would keep him around. Unless Loeb and the execs had different ideas on how to get the show back on track. This could also have led to his departure.
I’ve found the episodes of Terminator to range in fairly decent to pretty boring. I tend to find the episodes that have flashes to the future or and actual chase with a robot in them to be the better ones. The episodes that feature more character work or mythology of the series tend to bore me.
I have consistently enjoyed all the seasons of 24. While some are better than others and there are some absurd situations that arise (season 2′s cougar and last seasons nuclear bomb in LA) I find the spread out summer popcorn action movie feel to be entertaining. The political aspects of the show are also entertaining with the sneaky, double crossing backstabbing that goes on.
I am confident in Lost being quite good for its last two seasons. Since there are only 32 episodes left in the series they know the direction they are going in and everything should be leading to the finale. And Battlestar has been on my to watch list for awhile now. Just gotta get around to doing it.
November 18th, 2008 at 1:16 am
I’ll say that once it’s done Battlestar will (or at least should) go down as the greatest sci-fi/fantasy/comic related drama ever made. It’s that good!
The only flaw the show ever had was in the 2nd or was it 3rd season when Sci-Fi Network decided it would make the season 24 episodes and the writers were forced to clog the season with about 6-10 filler episodes. Sadly the ratings dipped, which on a positive note forced them to cut the episodes down thus making each season better!
As for Terminator, i like the character development. I especially love the new female Terminator, Cameron. Maybe the characters just mean more to me because I loved the Terminator as a kid and would constantly imagine sequels in my head. I was in absolute heaven when T2 finally came out and was on the verge of tears when Arnold kills himself at the end! The only other time I cried at a movie was when Optimus Prime died in the cartoon Transformers movie.
November 18th, 2008 at 1:29 am
Oh yeah. 24 is cool cause Jack Bauer does this.
November 18th, 2008 at 1:46 am
Bah my video didn’t embed. Here’s the link anyways
November 18th, 2008 at 10:21 am
I gotta say that I watched the first season of Heroes on DVD = I too prefer a lump-viewing of shows rather than bits here and there. As a fan of comic books since I started to read ‘em in the mid 70′s…I had hoped for more. As a fan of shows like LOST / Galactica I wanted to have more tense episodes / scene grinding or at least more “holy shit” moments. Save your precious viewing time for those mentioned shows. Hell, I’m even enjoying “Fringe” more than Heroes.
November 18th, 2008 at 11:00 am
Fuck man, no one likes my little frowny face in the O!?