Shake-Up Among The Heroes Writing Staff

Apparently, heads have started to roll in response to the negative reactions (including my own!) toward this year's season of Heroes. Despite having liked some of his early comic work (such as Superman For All Seasons), I've grown increasingly turned off by Jeph Loeb's output of late. Because of that, I can't help but applaud his removal from the TV show that once exhibited so much potential.

Some Reasons Why Heroes Still Ain't All That Good

Never mind that the Heroes Event Special last week, kicking off the third season of the show, made it sound like Heroes was the greatest thing since sliced bread (that, despite an almost-universally panned second season)... the two-hour premiere that followed it was enough to put the lie to that opinion, all by itself!

There were some good moments in it, but let's consider just a few of the aspects that made it somewhat sucky:

• Peter from the future should have not only all of the powers that we've seen him accumulate so far (in the present) and any that he'll encounter over the next few years, but also should have had lots of time to perfect the use of them (consider how far he's come already in that regard)... and yet he's still running away (rather than teleporting, freezing time, turning invisible or any of the many other uses that he could make of his abilities)?
  
• Are we to believe that Hiro is mentally, not to mention emotionally retarded? He receives a "message from the grave" from his father and all he can think to do is immediately disobey the old man by opening a safe that he's been told holds a secret that could destroy the world? What is this guy, 6 years old? He's certainly written that way...
• Speaking of whom, wasn't it just wonderful to watch him blame Ando for something that hasn't happened yet?
• And while I can appreciate the visual coolness of having Hiro able to touch the "speed lines" trailing behind the superspeedster, did no one on the writing staff understand that those things are simply visual tricks (the blurred after images of something moving very quickly) rather than physical matter?
• Will we ever find out how the speedy girl could possibly have known that Hiro opened the safe so quickly after it happened? Will they explain how she travels across water so quickly (is it, like the Flash, that she runs across the water like a skipping stone?) Is this a show where answers of that sort are likely to ever be given?
• Did anyone buy Nathan's sudden conversion to "messenger of God" or whatever that nonsense was? Are each of the main characters in this show slightly deranged to start with, or should we just assume bad writing?
• When Claire hid in the closet while Sylar stalked her, all that was missing was the theme from Halloween and a hanger that the teen could unwind and shove into Sylar's face! Horror movie homage, or shameless rip-off?
  
• The time travel "theory" in this show is starting to make my head spin, as it seems as if they subscribe to both the notion that trips to the past can change history (Peter coming back to stop Nathan's outing of himself), and can't change it (various attempts by Hiro across the first 2 seasons)! Pick a horse and ride it, for Pete's sake!

I could go on, but you get the gist...

Captain Sheridan And Other Heroes

I'm not sure how well it'll all work out, but one of TV's greatest space captains - John Sheridan, from Babylon 5, known by some in this century as plain old Bruce Boxleitner - is coming to Heroes next season. TV Guide has the story here.

So what do we think about Heroes? Will Season Three be good like Season One or uneven like Season Two? Lost certainly picked up its game after the supposed "sophomore jinx," and then cranked it up even more for the current season. But can Heroes follow suit, or has that shark already been jumped?

Heroes Returns But Origins Is D.O.A.

Big plans are underway for the third season kick-off of Heroes but those eagerly awaiting the promised Heroes: Origins mini-series may now begin crying in their beer.

Read all of the details here.

Heroes' Tim Kring Is Listening (And Apologizing)

Entertainment Weekly has a lovely little exchange with Heroes creator Tim Kring, on the topic of Season Two. In the sort of move that's becoming increasingly common in this audience-participation age, Kring acknowledges - and agrees with - some of the complaints he's been hearing directed toward his show. He then goes on to say he's sorry and assures us that it's going to get better.

We went through something similar with Lost and that turned out OK, so I guess it's a good thing. On the other hand, I can't help thinking that it's more like pandering and less like creativity. But am I being too harsh?

No Heroes Spinoff For You!

So much for the Heroes spinoff mini-series, Heroes: Origins, according to this Variety article.

This impending writers' strike is really threatening to interfere with my ability to find suitable levels of escapism!!

Heroes, Don't You Jump That Shark!

It's not the alleged 'slow pace' of Season Two of Heroes that has me worried. After all, when Lost suffered from that problem at times in the second and third seasons, I didn't mind at all since the character bits that were being introduced more than held my interest. No, what's troubled me over the first few episodes of Tim Kring's superhero series so far this season is just the sheer weight of the coincidences, starting to pile up beyond my ability to suspend disbelief!

You've got Sylar, lying on the road in the middle of nowhere just as Maya and her brother drive by, allowing for a potentially-tragic meeting without even a veneer of causality to explain it. How many people are on this planet, again? Six billion? Couldn't be! Six million? Still seems like long odds! Six thousand? Now you're talkin'!

Then there's the fact that Parkman somehow managed to adopt/become the guardian of Molly, despite him going through a divorce at the time, having been a recent suspect in a serial killer case (and being in trouble in general at work), and no prior connection to her?! I mean, sure, that works great for keeping those characters together and advancing the plot, but otherwise? Did that not seem a bit odd?

But wait, it gets weirder, because it just happens that the big new Boogie Man who Molly's terrified us? Parkman's dad! Oh yeah... that's some irony, eh? Or, that other thing... what's it called? Oh right, unbelievable coincidence!

I won't even go into how convenient it was that Ando noticed his name on the hilt of the sword at just the right moment to allow him to find out what Hiro's been up to in the past. (I'd love to have seen it written differently, where Hiro eventually gets back and asks, "Did you get all my messages?" to which Ando responds, "What the Hell are you talking about?")

I think amnesia's almost always a poor writing crutch, and here we have Peter suffering from it long enough to allow a side plot to continue so that he can't be around to flex his mighty morphin' muscles back in the main story. What next? Evil twins? A shower scene that undoes the previous season's events?

Now, don't me wrong... I'm still enjoying Heroes. But I can definitely see the sharks circling in the water, and Fonzie's unfortunately revving the crap out of his hog. Someone must stop the madness! While there's still time...

Rating (so far this season): ***

Speaking of Heroes

Want an episode-by-episode recap of Season 1 but no time to watch your DVD set before Season 2 begins?

Well here you go.

Which Hero Do You Prefer?

I know my preference! Not sure how many people are hiding under that peach thing. And now back to your regularly scheduled non-fashion blog.

(PS. Don't get too 'dirty old man' on me, please boys. )