So, we now know that the bomb explodes on 11/8. This gives the show a sense of urgency. What unfolds between now and then will make or break the show. We've had 2 very, very good episodes so far. If they can keep this momentum I think we will have a bona fide hit.
Sorry everyone, but I feel compelled to be the lone voice of dissent in this Heroes love-in I've been observing. I must not be seeing the same show called "Heroes" that airs 9pm Mondays on NBC that everyone else is getting. Maybe I'm seeing some alternate universe feed but the show I've seen so far is pretty bad. I decided to overlook all the problems I had with the pilot but things haven't improved any.
First, Heroes is badly written. Badly, badly written, with crappy, obvious, pandering dialogue. The show is full of holes, inconsistencies and bad characterizations. For instance, in episode one, the younger brother spends the whole episode trying to convince his older brother he can fly. But when his friend the black girl tells him her artist friend thinks he can paint the future and he responds "That's impossible!" Oh what, flying is perfectly credible because you dream it but prognostication isn't? This week, Hiro stumbles upon the artist killed by the serial killer by seeing his name in the comic book. Show me any comic book creator in real life who publishes his name, address, and a picture of himself in the back page of his comic book! Who the hell would do that? No comic book creator wants comic book nerds showing up at their doorway. But Hiro does, and when he finds the murder scene and a gun lying on the ground, he PICKS THE GUN UP?!?! Hiro may be Japanese but what kind of an idiot finds a murder and then immediately puts his prints on the potential murder weapon? Retarded! Most retarded of all is Niki Sanders: what's going on there makes no sense. So her murderous mirror self possess her and does stuff she can't remember? Fine, but why does Niki bring her son with her in the middle of the night to bury the bodies of the mobsters in the trunk. Sure, the kid is asleep but what if he wakes up and sees his mom digging a shallow grave? And doesn't anyone smell the corpses in the trunk or is the trunk of a Cadillac odor-proof? It's just stupid and lacking any logic. The whole Niki storyline is stupid. The only decent plotline so far was Claire Bennet and her evil stepfather -- until her friend with the camcorder suddenly tells her the tape he made disappeared. Then we find Evil Stepfather has it. So the Evil Stepfather somehow learned about and then took the time and effort to locate where the teenage boy hid the tape and procured it? That's the kind of nonsense logic we find in Smallville, where a billionaire like Lionel Luthor spends his days dropping by Smallville High School and threatening 17 year old Chloe Sullivan in the school newspaper room. Stuff like that doesn't make sense. And my god, the voice over narration by the son from India is horrible. Prattling on and on about "genetic evolution" and "God" and whatever else, asking all these rhetorical questions that have no direct correlation with the action in the episodes. Tim Kring, the creator and writer, has no idea how to write science fiction. He sucks at it.
Secondly, this one badly acted show. Just about all of the actors are terrible. Greg Grunberg, Adrien Pasdar, and Hayden Panettiere are not bad actors but they sure are being badly directed. Just last episode, Claire Bennet had a Southern accent: "Ah walked through fahr and didn't get burned." This week, no accent. Her father doesn't have one, neither do her friends. The Indian was probably the worst actor on the show until his title was stolen by the neighbor who showed up to hang out with him in his dead dad's apartment.
I could go on. This show is desperate to be Lost. They sure studied their Lost DVDs, took copious notes, and did as much as they could to monkey-see-monkey-do what makes Lost work. And they're crap at it. I'm really disappointed with Heroes so far. The basic concept has such potential but they're royally screwing it up.
As much as I actively dislike the first two episodes, I'm not yet ready to abandon the show. I like [looking at] Claire Bennet, I like Hiro when they don't write him to behave stupidly, and I like superheroes too much to walk away without seeing where this is going. Although they're making it hard for me to care so far. I blame Tim Kring's shitty writing and shitty producing as the show runner for why I think Heroes sucks on the outset. However, I know they have good writers on their staff. They have Jeph Loeb from Lost and Bryan Fuller, who created Wonderfalls and Dead Like Me, two excellent shows. Those guys can write sci-fi and I want to see the episodes they write. (Although Loeb also wrote for Smallville; I'm hoping the Lost Loeb shows up for Heroes work and not the Smallville Loeb.) But for now, I'm dumbfounded; I just don't see what people are praising about Heroes.
I said my piece, thanks. I expect I'll be told I'm wrong now. Have at it.
Originally posted by John OrquiolaI said my piece, thanks. I expect I'll be told I'm wrong now. Have at it.
Nope.
While not feeling quite as strongly as John, I was mightily disappointed by this week's episode. In reviewing it with my wife and some folks around the water cooler, we are in agreement. This show's premise has such possibilities, but it is ploddingly obvious and (as John said) very poorly acted.
I think he's pretty accurate in the Lost-wannabe-ness of the show and it needs to be less anvilicious about what's happening and a whole lot less stupid. The characters aren't particularly likable, either. There's nothing pulling me to like Mohinder. The flying brothers? Eh. Claire? Maybe. Hiro. For sure. But that's it.
I think I am willing to hang in for another week or two, but I might be heading back to RAW and Monday Night Football soon.
Well I certainly don't like Ali Larter's storyline either, it's stupid, she's stupid and she's a horrible actress. The other stuff, eh. If you don't like that Hiro picked up the gun at the crime scene then you must not like any movie or tv show where someone is mistakenly arrested for a crime they didn't commit because I've seen the same thing done in a movie or tv show about 100 times before. Maybe it's not something someone would do in real life, but it's a classic television/movie move.
As for the artist putting his address in the comic book? He knows the end of the world is coming, he knows the heroes are out there, he probably wants them to contact him and find him so they can stop it.
Hayden Panettiere may have lost the southern accent she had but she acted better in this episode than the last one, I'd say that's actually a GOOD directing move to change it this once rather than have her acting be crappy for the rest of the show just to keep her southern accent.
(edited by Quezzy on 3.10.06 0948) Lance's Response:
Originally posted by QuezzyHayden Panettiere may have lost the southern accent she had but she acted better in this episode than the last one, I'd say that's actually a GOOD directing move to change it this once rather than have her acting be crappy for the rest of the show just to keep her southern accent.
Agreed. Hell, on "The Cosby Show" they changed Cliff Huxtable's first name AND gave him an additional daughter between the pilot and the second episode. Sometimes changes must be made after a pilot for the sake of the rest of the series.
Originally posted by QuezzyHayden Panettiere may have lost the southern accent she had but she acted better in this episode than the last one, I'd say that's actually a GOOD directing move to change it this once rather than have her acting be crappy for the rest of the show just to keep her southern accent.
Agreed. Hell, on "The Cosby Show" they changed Cliff Huxtable's first name AND gave him an additional daughter between the pilot and the second episode. Sometimes changes must be made after a pilot for the sake of the rest of the series.
- StingArmy
The southern accent wasn't that evident last week. I didn't notice that much. And speaking of changes, it seems that Nikki's son hair change or maybe I just seeing things.
And I thought Ep. 2 was good but a step down from last week. I'll be happy when we get from introducing everyone and their powers to whatever happens next.
I guess I'm alone, but I enjoyed the hell out of the second episode. Peter finding out he could fly, Hiro finding out he'd travelled in time, it all hit me and left me desperately wanting more.
I don't think the acting or pacing is bad at all. I remember hearing it was like Unbreakable meets Lost and I think that's a pretty apt description.
I even like Mohinder.
Between this and Studio 60, Monday may be the new Tuesday,
I wanted to reserve judgement until both parts of the Series Premiere were complete. I was hoping that part 2 would answer all the questions from part 1, but instead, I am left with more questions. What are the origins of their super powers? How are all these characters connected? Who's planting the bomb? What is the evil guy with the glasses planning? When are they all going to get together and fight crime? Where will the Hall of Justice be located?
The two episodes have left me confused. I'm not sure I can hang around for deeper mysteries.
I'll agree that the show is aiming for an early Lost vibe and falling short, but I'm enjoying it nonetheless. That said, I wouldn't be surprised if the ratings decline each week and the show isn't allowed to survive to a second season.
Is it just me, or of all the powers that have been distributed thus far, is flight the lamest one? I can kinda see how everyone's powers might be needed to save the world, except flight. Its really just a better method of transportation, and Hiro's got that trumped.
As for all the fanboyishness about Isaac printing his contact info in the comic, now that Hiro is back in the current timeline with them and knows what is to happen, what's to stop him from getting ahold of Isaac and telling him about his fate, and while he's talking to him, what's to stop him from asking him to make his comic book story and to print his contact information so he can find him in the future? I'll agree that picking up the gun was stupid.
You believe me, don't you? Please believe what I just said...
LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - The first breakout new series of the season, NBC's drama "Heroes," has become the first freshman show to receive a full-season order.
NBC has ordered nine additional episodes of the supernatural saga, bringing its complement to 22. In its first two airings, "Heroes" has averaged 13.5 million viewers.
Reuters/Hollywood Reporter
Heroes is gonna be here for the whole season. No one on this board has complained more than me about the show so far, but I'm glad Heroes will go the distance. I'll be really happy if the show improves and fulfills its potential. Now at least Heroes has the chance to tell its story for the duration of the season rather than get cut off at the knees like other sci-fi shows like Firefly, Threshold or Surface.
Originally posted by Guru ZimNBC can always dump it off on Sci-Fi if it bombs too hard. It's sort of a built in safety net for this kind of show with them.
I personally hope it doesn't bomb. Sci-Fi is a very good safety net for NBC. Unlike Firefly, I know it's apples and oranges, which bit the dust in a first season "bomb" to the suits back three or four years ago.
I agree with some of the other posts with the duologue is seriously sucking eggs at the moment but I hope it picks up. I think it is going to be ok. Something that actually breaks my dedication to RAW which is something rare or at least in my case.
Never know who you'll find drunk, not me...I only have the goofy look, at an Irish Pub...Christie Ricci
Thread ahead: Lost, 3-1 "A Tale of Two Cities" Next thread: Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan Previous thread: House, M.D. #50 - "Lines in the Sand"
THIS WEEK IN TV * Romantically Challenged premieres on ABC after Dancing With The Stars on Monday night. The show was originally billed as a comedy about a man caught between his new girlfriend and his slacker best friend.