'Heroes': a season's slide

So, let’s get right to it:  What was up with the second season of “Heroes,” and what might happen tonight?

A combination of factors -- including story lines dragged out too long, stars (and writers?) possibly stretched with movies and other opportunities and “Heroes” haters coming out in force -- helped topple the show from its ratings and critical perch.  The strength of “Dancing With the Stars” and “Samantha Who?” probably didn’t help, though it would seem that the audiences are vastly different.

Despite that, “Heroes” soldiered on.  Tim Kring, the show’s creator, acknowledged creative drawbacks and took responsibility.  You don’t hear that often, but it still didn’t make up for the first two-thirds of the season.  The pile-on notwithstanding, there were good and bad elements.

Good: Jack Coleman as HRG.  Whenever that guy is on the screen, you just know that SOMETHING is going to happen.  Smart, ruthless and mysterious, he and Zachary Quinto chew up scenes whenever they’re onscreen.

Bad: The Maya and Alejandro (pictured above) storyline.  Her powers? Great.  But you knew he was going to die, and their story line should’ve been summed up in two, maybe three episodes.

Good: Kristen Bell as Elle.  Like HRG and Sylar, Elle’s mystery and sociopathic qualities were a bit over the top, and much-needed.  Kristen Bell is a great addition, and along with Dana Davis’ Monica, should remain in some form.

Bad: Subtitles.  The international and multicultural hook of “Heroes” is nothing but a good thing, but many have decried the subtitles.  With Hiro speaking Japanese and Maya and Alejandro speaking Spanish, there was a lot more reading going on this season than there needed to be.

Good:  Adam Monroe.  David Anders as a bad guy who can’t be killed, is driven by a long lost love and is righteoues in his . . . wrongness.  How they will resolve his storyline is one of the most anticipated show points.

Bad: The disappearance of anticipation.  This was a problem with the audience and the show.  Storytelling is a delicate balance.  You can’t drag things out because folks will become disinterested, and on an ensemble show you have to find which stories are strongest . . . and stick with them (lesson learned from “Lost”).  On the flip side, TV pundits rushed to condemn the show pretty early into the season.  They fanned the flames before the show could work itself out of the doldrums.

So, what will happen tonight?  The promos say that some of the heroes will fall.  Message boards around the Web want Nikki (Ali Larter) to go.  That would be a blow to young Micah (Noah Gray-Cabey) since he just lost his dad, but maybe it’d be a good move creatively.  Making her evil could also be a great twist. Micah and Monica would be a great crime-fighting team.

Bob, the enigmatic leader of the Company, may meet his maker, and Maya’s naivete should get her killed (especially with Sylar pulling the strings).  She may also just be too dangerous to keep around.

It’ll be interesting to see what the writers come up with and how they’ll entice viewers to come back for a third season.  More to come later on . . .

Photos: NBC Universal

-- Jevon Phillips

Comments

[John Smart]

i gave up on Heroes weeks ago. this season is a mess. Not only are there too many story lines - half of them add nothing. The writers seem to have thrown in everything including the kitchen sink and most episodes feel like 50% filler.

Worse than that - I stopped caring about the people. Apparently having super powers means you whine about everything all the time.
Who knew super heros could be so annoying? 4 weeks of repetitive scenes full of bad soap opera acting and narratives that went nowhere - then went back to nowhere for no reason - and i dumped Heroes out of the DVR.

Thank God for House on Tuesdays.

[S. P.]

The Maya and Alejandro characters/story-line: a complete snooze. The long, boring, draggy Adam storyline (from feudal times to the present): OY! Micah's cousin and her power to remember and repeat things: ?!?

I keep tuning in, hoping for some of the old magic. Tonight is the last night I can be dazzled this season and I'm not optimistic.

[JJJ]

I hope they keep Bob -- Stephen Tobolowsky is great whatever he's in and an interesting foil to HRG. I'm betting Micah goes -- Noah Gray-Cabey is hitting that akward age of growth spurts. Anyone remember when Michael's kid got taken on Lost and a few weeks later in the story time (but a year later in real life) he'd hit puberty and was huge? That's the lesson to learn from Lost. And I must be the only one that thinks that Janet Jackson, sorry -- Monica, is a snooze. Get whoever survives out of New Orleans and fast.

[david]

This season HAS been a complete snooze.
Things I HATE:
-Hiro's flashback in time was way too long and was way boring...almost as boring as watching Ben Stein read a bedtime story to his daughter.
-Adam's character is not charismatic at all and he needs to go.
-The Wonder Twins were just random and a waste of time and was just really unnecessary.
-Too many soap opera plots--The police officer guy meeting his dad and then resolving his past issues.
-Suresh--he's lost himself and I'm annoyed.
-They need to kill off Michah's mom...what is her power? Schizo? She adds nothing and needs to die.

-I would love to see more villains. They need to spice this season up quickly or they'll taste like grits without butter and salt--dirt.

[DS9Sisko]

The real problem with "Heroes" is basically "the fans."

To be clear, I really like the show but I'm not enamored with it. For a series too many novices last season declared as "fresh" and "new," Heores has always been little more than a sprawling mishmash of characters and cocepts a bit too liberally borrowed included but far from limited to famous comics like "Rising Stars," "X-Men" and "Watchmen."

But "Heroes," for all of its missteps is little different from what it was when it started: a sprawling mishmash of characters and storylines. TIm Kring's (unnecessary) apology aside, "the fans" who have bitched and moaned this season have engaged in little more than what has become a depressing ritual called "SSBS" or Second Season Bitching Syndrome.

Next year, expect "Big Bang Theory," Chuck" and "Pushing Daisies" to become the new whipping boys and girls of their sophmore years.

[dinkman]

I have to disagree with most everyone who has commented here.

The writing and production quality of Heroes vastly improved from last season for the first 9 episodes of this season. That is what a blockbuster first season will do for a show.

The subplots were an excellent addition to the series, until episode 9 (Peter's flashback).

After episode 9, the rewritten episodes started airing and the quality of the show plummeted. I have not read anything official on this, but it was clear as day from where I was sitting (the pace of the show quickened dramatically, Monica's story was never weaved back into the main plotline... ).

Tim Kring is right to apologize, he knows what happened.

My fear is that the budget will be adjusted based on this year's ratings and the writers strike will go down as the undoing of Heroes.

They should have halted the show instead of rewriting. Stupid.