How to 'heal' Heroes

One person's take an what's wrong with Heroes. . .who agrees with just about everything I've ever heard complain about Heroes. Why does everyone else in the world get what the Heroes creators don't?

http://tv.msn.com/tv/how-to-heal-heroes/?GT1=28103

Who is HRG?

I think there are a lot of great points in that article. I'm sick of Nikki. It's time she was gone for good. The whole time arc is really starting to get old, as is the paintings of the future.

They better figure it out quick because I think the show is heading for a quick crash and it will take Chuck with it.....

Atomm wrote:Who is HRG?

I think there are a lot of great points in that article. I'm sick of Nikki. It's time she was gone for good. The whole time arc is really starting to get old, as is the paintings of the future.

They better figure it out quick because I think the show is heading for a quick crash and it will take Chuck with it.....

Yeah, Chuck is pinwheeling around madly. They need to go back to "Chuck and the hot agent are attracted to each other, but nothing at all is going to happen." They keep pulling the thing where they almost get together, then something stops it, that stops being interesting very quickly. The same thing with the "evil military figures are gonna kill Chuck when they don't need him, oops, they need him again." Hang the threat there, but don't go down that road too often. . .and isn't this the SECOND dick that got promoted over Chuck at the Buy More?

HRG is net-slang for Horn-Rim-Glasses guy. . .Noah Bennet, Claire's father. For a few episodes, he was around and sparking a lot of conversation about him in threads, but he had no name. The HRG nickname stuck around somewhat.

(looks to heavens, drops to knees, spreads arms and wails)
FOR THE LOVE OF ALL THAT'S HOLY, WHY WON'T NIKKI GO AWAAAAYY!?!??!!?

I think they need to nerf their powers, so that they don't have to get a case of the stupids every time something needs to happen.

Peter - can only have a few powers, and loses one after that if he learns a new one.

Syler - they already had a reset opportunity for Syler, but blew it. If they'd stop leaving a list of names and addresses of ppl with superpowers around, he'd have a lot harder time powering up. Removing the brain of someone with superpowers shouldn't be easy, and by now, they should have plenty of pictures of Syler to send to the super-powered ppl that they keep obsessive track of, and I don't know, WARN THEM that someone wants their BRAAAINNS!

Hiro - needs to lose the ability to go back and forward in time. He can teleport and greatly slow time, that's powerful enough. Everything that happens in this show can be undone if they leave the time-travel power in. Hiro didn't need to lose the formula at all this season: he could have gone back in time to 30 seconds before it's stolen, stopped time, located the speeding girl and conked her on the head, then appeared to Hiro and Ando and told them what the formula is, and NOT TO TAKE IT OUT because ppl are close by waiting for you to do it. Or he could've gone back in time to 2 minutes before they open the safe and totally skipped the conking part. He could do that NOW! He could do that 2 episodes from now! He could do this at any time.

They need to keep the characters from acting as if they have an 80 IQ, unless they want to make that the natural penalty of being super-powered. At least explain the stupidity.

I watched the newest episode last night. I think it has finally gotten interesting. It's even more interesting that they have done exactly what people were asking.

Peter has been stripped of his powers, although his dad now has them.

Hiro won't go back in time and when he finally breaks that rule, takes a few boots to the head to beat it into his brain.

Sylar is actually interesting to watch.

Mohindeer is not. And I actually liked him.

HRG actually gave Claire some credit. And I knew she was going to tell her mom to shoot her. That scene was awesome. Click. Click. Boom. YEA!

I'm finally excited to watch heroes again.

Spoilers for 10/20/08 episode

Peter, Sylar and Hiro are all overpowered. They're nerfing Hiro, repeatedly pointing out that going back in time "doesn't work out well." Peter's lost his powers, but unless he's lost his original power, they'll pump him back up again real fast. . .and if he HAS lost his original power, he'll get it back. Sylar. . .I wonder how they'll nerf him. Seems like they're doing it via making him a good guy and not prone to violence.

I loved what happened to Adam Monroe when he lost his powers - his age caught up with him REAL FAST. Mohinder is weird, and I look forward to seeing Not Nikki and Nathan deal with him.

The show still has some issues with consistency and such, but this episode was a lot better than other recent ones.

I'm finally caught up - except for last night's episode. Maybe if I had watched it, my question would be answered, but if Peter's original power is to essentially duplicate what others can do, how could he lose the powers at all? Wouldn't he just absorb his father's ability to steal them and take them right back? I'd think that one would be a trump power a la the Hatian (?) guy that can block powers from working.

I think the series is suffering from the same problem that every single other story driven show does. This is the problem of stretching it out to make it last as long as possible ('cause that = $$$) without losing your audience. It happens to all of them and it usually ends without finishing the story (like Pretender for instance) as the networks lose interest because it isn't drawing a huge audience and therefore less $$$$. The reality is that this type of show will rarely draw new viewers after the first couple of seasons because it is just too difficult for people to catch up. Imagine jumping into Lost last season, or the Pretender mid way through? As the show matures you have just the dedicated fans left and if that group isn't big enough, or in the right demographic, the show gets canceled.

I'd love to see more series that have a defined time line similar to what 24 does although it doesn't have to be a single season. The point is they have 24 episodes to tell the story and they do it. Heroes needs to say this is a 4 year or 5 year series and do what they need to do to tell the story as best as possible without having to include any shark jumping or resets or whatever. The fantastic thing about having a "new world" to play in like heroes does, is that they could switch from the big story, to single episode stories about heroes discovering their powers and doing good/bad stuff that does not involve the "story" at all and get at least one more season out of it.

I think about all of these amazing books that I've read that would make great television shows except for the fact that they have a defined time line and plot with a conclusion. No movie could do them justice in 2-3 hours, but say 3 seasons of hour TV or something would be just about right. I think that sort of approach would make them a lot more memorable.

Well, the question about Peter & his father is just another in a line of questions, hiccups, and WTFs that come up in the course of the show. I guess TAKING a power trumps COPYING a power. Peter didn't know his dad had a power at all, so his was taken before he could act. Once it was taken, he didn't have a copying power to retaliate with.

When people talk about the difference between British TV and American TV, the one thing that comes up constantly is that British TV shows often have just a relative handful of episodes. They'll commonly make a 6 or 12 episode series. American TV seldom does that, and when they do, they build it up to be a big deal, a MINI-SERIES EVENT. They don't seem to want to make short seasons or runs without throwing a big budget and big advertising at it. Each approach has it's pluses and minuses, but both of them could benefit by making use of the other's approach more often.

There's been some 13-episode seasons the last few years in the US, but that's more about not wanting to lay out a lot of money for a full run before they know if there's an audience than anything else.

How to heal heroes?

Fire the writers, duh!

http://www.variety.com/article/VR111799521...yId=14&cs=1

Looks like we may get our wish. Let's see if it's in time to bring the show back around.

Atomm wrote:How to heal heroes?

Fire the writers, duh!

http://www.variety.com/article/VR111799521...yId=14&cs=1

Looks like we may get our wish. Let's see if it's in time to bring the show back around.

I guess it kinda-sorta needed doing. Consider, though, that this IS Hollywood, and they're likely to get even worse people to replace them. Where are the guys like Keven Smith? Too bad Joss Whedon's busy with another sure-to-be-canceled-before-it's-broadcast FOX series.

Well, what did you think about Monday's episode?

It actually answered a lot of questions from season one. I think it was a good move.

Let's hope we can get back on track now.

I have fallen behind again. I think I need to see the last two episodes now 🙁

Atomm wrote:Well, what did you think about Monday's episode?

It actually answered a lot of questions from season one. I think it was a good move.

Let's hope we can get back on track now.

Not bad, and an involving episode that kept you glued to the screen.


So Noah Bennet and Elle assisted on putting Sylar further down his path of villainy. . .ahh, smacks of revisionist history to me. They realized what a hit Sylar (and the actor that portrays him) is, and want to bring him away from the dark side. They've been hammering that home all season - he's not a bad guy, he's driven by what amounts to an addiction, and now, "Oh look! He TRIED to overcome it, but The Company manipulated him." If they had planned to do this with the character, two lines of dialogue ONCE in the first season would have set it up.
Person about to lose their head: "You don't have to do this. PLEASE!"
Sylar: "I'm sorry - but I really do."

See? Ambiguous enough. Does he mean he feels he has to, or it's a necessary means to an end (getting the power)? No, two seasons later, you can say, "See, he was driven by a compulsion!" It's called foreshadowing. You can't add stuff two seasons later and call it foreshadowing. Hell, they could have made the scene quite obvious. They could have shown a moment of inner turmoil, and added a dimension of pathos to the character.

Oh well, I'll put aside my objections. I like Sylar and Zachary Quinto as much as anyone, and the storyline is at least interesting, if ham-handed. Suspension of disbelief - engaged! 😀

This episode did a great job of filling out Mama Petrelli's character. I liked it a lot from that perspective. More Malcolm McDowell is always welcome as well. Claire's mom and Eric Roberts were fun to watch, and it turns out the creepy dumb blue flame guy is her brother.

Everything with Hiro and Ando sucked. I thought they were an unusual and clunky way to shoehorn this backstory in - and I'm really tired of how stupid and incapable these 'heroes' are. Just fall backwards away from the creepy beheading guy, Hiro, it'll buy you a moment to stop time or teleport! I'll stay open-minded to see what comes of it, though.

A couple of entertaining, reasonably good episodes bookend the firing of the writers. I hope The Powers That Be know what they are doing.

Well, what do you think? Are they doing it?

They've nuked Hiro. They've nuked Peter. They've Gimped Sylar.

Yep, I think they are doing it!

I like the eclipse part so far. I can't wait to see how it ends.

And the scene at the comic book store was classic. Any excuse to put Seth Green in a Cameo is cool in my book.

Atomm wrote:Well, what do you think? Are they doing it?

They've nuked Hiro. They've nuked Peter. They've Gimped Sylar.

Yep, I think they are doing it!

I like the eclipse part so far. I can't wait to see how it ends.

And the scene at the comic book store was classic. Any excuse to put Seth Green in a Cameo is cool in my book.

OPEN SPOILERS


Seth was the perfect actor for that role, being Seth, and knowing how he's into comics. Kevin Smith might have been better, but no one else.

Parkman brought up how Hiro is a "human reset button". They're definitely addressing Hiro's being overpowered. I don't know how they'll work it out, but with Hiro's refusal to go back in time, the dreamwalking African guy thwarting Hiro's efforts a few episodes back, and with Parkman's reference, clearly they're aware of the problem and are heading towards fixing it. . .although, witht he firing of the writers, we'll see if they actually resolve it. They should've had Papa Patrelli take his time-travel, and when Papa dies, that will the be the end of that.

They actually powered up Sylar, they didn't nerf him. He has Peter's ability to take powers by proximity, and that's better than picking thru brains. He doesn't have to kill ppl to get powers now, just be near them. He doesn't have to kill, merely fighting a super will get him a power now. Fight for a minute, get the hell out of there, and he has what he wants. Even if he loses, he wins. Couple that with Clair's healing, he's even more powerful than before.

I don't really have an opinion yet on the eclipse. It's a stupid trigger for both getting and losing powers, given what we understand about eclipses now, and that being a hero is supposed to have a genetic basis. I'm still in 'suspension of disbelief' mode though. I'll see how it plays out.