THUD: Is HEROES Gaining the Super Power of... Being Good?

Short answer: No.

Long answer: Nooo.

Clearly the mind-wiping Haitian is using his voodoo on Devin, given his near-about-face.

The first episode of Heroes was terrible. I wouldn't say there haven't been any "good" episodes (the two before this one for example, were quite good, IMHO), but the show definitely started horribly and has been getting steadily better.

The pacing is slow? It's been doing nothing but moving the story along, comparing it to Lost's incredibly slow pacing is absurd, once Heroes goes into 30min of an hour show filled with flashbacks then you got something with that argument.

Heroe's first season is comparable to Lost's first, I just hope it doesnt follow a pattern of getting shitty in the seasons to come, if the quality stays steady throughout the rest of the season and continues through next, it'll end up being one of the biggest shows on tv. This show has lived on wom, it started off as a semi-dissapointment for NBC and has now turned into their golden ticket.

You got it wrong about it being big because it's got a huge comic geek following that isnt enough to make a show a hit on basic cable, they're the ones nitpicking the most anyways, it got big because it sparked interest with casuals and at the sametime is able to maintain that comic book fanbase.

Thanks, but no thanks. The show was physically painful the few times I've watched it. There has to be better uses of ones time then digging through shit to find a few grains of fan wank.

Also, about your mention of people criticizing Lost because of its lack of plot, a lot of the bitching that went on in the Lost thread actually had to do with the lack of interesting characterization and its increasing use of overwrought plot development.

It's definitely true that shows can take a while to find their footing. We've been spoiled in recent years by shows like Lost and The Sopranos that hit the ground running. Most shows can't do that. 24 was wildly uneven in its first season. Genre shows seem to have it harder, since they're not just trying to flesh out characters and plot, but a unique world as well.

I think Heroes would be in good shape if Hiro DID step on a bug while visiting the Dinosaur era, and it caused the Indian guy and She-Hulk's whole family to poof out of existence. Especially the stripper's family - their storyline STILL has no ties to the main plot at all. They're ballast.

Heroes has been improving steadly, but the big test will be when it returns with new episodes that will connect where they are now to the big finale they probably wrote before most of the season. Bad shows tread water, stretching to make it to the end. Good shows have a hard time fitting in everything they want to show before they wrap it all up. I've liked Heroes enough to have no problem giving it a few more hours of my time to prove which type this is.

It's a bit of an anomaly, this show.

It doesn't have the best writing in the world ....... the pacing is off ............ the effects could be so much better ................... but still, I tune in every week and watch it. And I'm not a hardcore fanboy.

I think the reason is that it has so much potential to be bigger and better. It started out as an underdog show compared to the likes of Lost, etc, but it has gradually grown and secured a strong fanbase. Whilst character development is not top of the agenda for the show's writers, they have introducted a very likeable bunch of characters (with the obvious exceptions of the slimy Petrelli and crazy Nicki) and there is enough diversity in their situations and powers to keep us interested.

I hope the writers can progress the show in a way that it deserves.

Gaz

The problem is that much of the show is often flat out terrible (the Nikki/D.L./Micah storyline is possibly the worst thing I have ever seen on TV), with some frankly abhorrent character interaction, all the Greg Grunberg stuff especially, but the ideas and intrigue surrounding them do indeed make the show watchable.

On the pacing front I disagree slightly. Things do happen at quite a frantic pace, with people appearing, getting killed, discoveries being made and characters traveling from one place to another. The problem is that nothing seems to really develop or change, so it seems decompressed as you really have to wait for the meat of the story.

I love the hyperbole in this thread. If a TV show can cause you actual physical pain, then you must have the constitution of a South American revolutionary government.

This and your entire article mirror my thoughts on this show. Except for your use of the word bupkis. I can't condone that.

Woah, too-timely political reference!

I'll admit, I geeked out when I first saw the promos for the show; an ongoing series about a world with super people? I was sold. And then I watched the pilot and immediately regretted subjecting myself to one of the worst "event" TV premiere's in the history of ever (how's that for hyperbole?). I have not been able to tune in since then, and I'm glad for it.

What really breaks my heart are two things: The first is that HEROES is the first major TV outing for a serious super-hero concept and it's dreck. It's a huge hit, which can only mean more in the future (with the effectiveness of TV-budget CGI these days, I don't understand why there isn't an X-MEN or a BATMAN on the air)... It's just a shame that the first one is garbage.

The second heart-breaker is that every week, at least half of Heroes audience tunes to another station and skips Studio 60, a show that IS character driven, that contains plots with, y'know, EVENTS, and that has dialogue that's (a lot) more than just barely passable, which would be a compliment to Heroes writing staff. There wasn't a line of dialogue in the pilot that didn't make me want to cry. Poor Studio 60. You try so hard.

It's the ideal show to watch while you're doing something else, like reading, or bullshitting with friends, or even shudder cuddling. The only things that keep my interest are Hiro, the mythology, the flying, the twists and Jayma Mays. Who they'd better fucking bring back.

I want to read the second part of this THUD about how Studio 60 has declined.

The geeks may have latched onto Hiro, but but Greg Grunberg's psychic cop is the best character in the show by far.

I'm just curious to see where they're going with it. I watch Jericho for pretty much the same reason. I know they aren't great shows, but I'm a sucker for those central mysteries. See also Veronica Mars.

i just want to see the hiro vs t-rex battle.

Given that it conflicts with MNF, I hadn't watched the show until last week's Sci-Fi Channel marathon. Then, over the course of 2 days I caught myself up with the first six episodes. My verdict: it's not so good. As Dev said, the characters' mouths apparently exist for the sole purpose of spouting exposition. And for every cool moment (Profit taking off and breaking the sound barrier in his pajamas, Cheerleader finding herself on the autopsy table), there are moments that border on televised retardation (Cheerleader pulls a Regan after being hit by the rapist quarterback, Being able to see the eclipse at the same time all over the world).

And yet.

And yet.

I find myself intrigued nonetheless. Dev hit the nail right on the head when he wrote, "It never worked for this nerd, although I always found it oddly watchable." So, for the time being, I'll keep Tivo'ing the Sci-Fi Channel replays, but I'll ask myself, "why?" everytime I do.

Didn't you mean amazing fantasy 15?

Yeah, I'm the first person on the internet to use an exaggerated phrase to get a point across.

In other news, people when angry exhibit temperatures higher than the sun many times over and multiple shows have gone back in time to molest their viewers when they were children.

At first I couldn't stand this show but I watched it before Studio 60 a couple weeks ago and it sucked me back in. The sad thing was that I still knew exactly what was going on. The show really does drone on and on. Let's hope the season finale cuts down on some of the characters so next season gets more in depth.

This post of Devin's get me a little confused because he mentions how Lost is great because its so character driven and sometimes slows down plot development just for that. Yet when some chewers, along with myself, mentioned Carnivale a while back on another topic he stated that the show was too slow even though it did the same thing as Lost is doing now. Very confusing.

I do agree that I would like some character development from Heroes. I caught the last episode online a little while ago and while I found it cool, the thing I remember most (and seemingly representative of Devin's argument) is when Nikki/Jessica knocked back Micah onto the rocks and he screamed out while holding his arm/shoulder. The next thing you know though, Micah's hugging Nikki/Jessica after she comes running over to help him as if nothing ever happened. That little thing now bugs the shit out me every time I think about it.

On another note, Devin's also right about how the writers seem to lift a lot of their storylines/characters from Rising Stars. I'm just waiting to see how long it'll be before the show gets sued.

I caught most of the show's episodes on the Sci-Fi channel's marathon as well. I'm not a huge fan but I'll admit that the central premise is intriguing as are some of the characters. The Indian exposition guy and the Final Destination chick with her evil twin are worthless characters. I also agree that there is a huuuge amount of exposition spouted from characters on this show to the point that at moments it plays like those old radio shows from your grandfather's day. I had the show on with the volume turned up while doing stuff around my apartment and I was able to follow the story along. It seemed like each scene featured exactly two characters, one who told the other the latest plot development while the other said, 'what?' 'that's impossible!' and 'what can it mean?'.

That waitress should've been Hiro's Gwen Stacy, but he doesn't seem to give much of a shit - still walking around with a stupid grin on his face.

Interesting observations people. Not that I agree with most of you. I enjoy the show. There, I've said it. I enjoy it, know it can improve, see it growing week by week, and didn't care that it took 9 weeks to save the cheerleader. Besides, what makes you think that they have saved her...yet. Sure she wasn't killed at that moment but it doesn't mean she is out of danger. As for the Save the cheerleader, save the world line-it certainly branded the show and was catchy enough to get people using it.

I'm not a huge fan of what I've seen of Heroes, but I'd take it over Lost's pointlessness or 24's moronic plot twists.
My mind may well change, however.