“Heroes” definitely wasn’t worth the hype, and I say that as someone who invested a lot of time in the show. I loved it from minute one, and eventually dropped it like a bad habit mid-season two. I do that to most shows I watch on TV, but rarely with a show centered on people with super powers and mired in comic book mythos.
I sat through four seasons of “Smallville,” three seasons of “Lois & Clark,” I watched the whole of “Mantis,” “Night Man,” “Mutant X,” “My Secret Identity,” “Swamp Thing,” and most of “The Cape.” As for “Alphas”? It had a great concept and that’s about it. I’ve been very forgiving when it comes to series about super powered people and superheroes. So don’t lecture me on being loyal.
<!–more–>But even with its convoluted writing, badly serialized story arcs, and lack of ideas after season one, it’s STILL waves better than “Smallville” ever hoped to be. It had a better pedigree of actors, a much better cast, excellent production qualities, was much more ambitious, and garnered infinitely more epic potential.
“Oh Felix, you’re just hating on “Smallville” because it lasted ten seasons and Heroes was just a fad.”
The WB flat out admitted in their CW re-launch that they only left Smallville on the line up because they had nothing else to air. The first month of the new CW they barely had enough programs to fill up four days of programming! And it was on for a decade because by CW standards, it did well in the ratings!
Sorry, I’m going off topic, here. Where was I?
In either case, “Heroes” was the better of the pair, despite being just a lot of nothing. “Heroes” presented this idea that there was so much substance and dimensions, and it offered nothing in the end. “Save the Cheerleader, Save the World”? It meant nothing. The season finale? Nothing. Just fucking disappointing. I collected magazines, and read theories online for the series, I avoided spoilers like the flu, and I centered every Monday Night around it. And then on the season two premiere, I felt a deflated sense of enthusiasm, and I was so crushed at how they greeted fans who’d returned.
Granted, the show introduced me to gorgeous women like Brea Grant and Hayden Panetierre, so I can’t really fault it for that. And Sylar is still an amazing villain with great potential. He was just in the wrong series. These days with NBC seemingly having absolutely nothing on their plate, it’s not a surprise “Heroes” is coming back.
Marvel and DC are at war to churn out movies and TV shows from their properties, and NBC couldn’t even sell audiences on seeing shows from past sitcom icons like Michael J. Fox, so it only stands to reason they’d go back to “Heroes,” and try to give Marvel and DC a run for their money. The truth is “Heroes” still has potential, it just has to demonstrate a lot of back pedaling to be taken seriously once again.
You can pay tribute without being completely derivative, don’t crowd the screen with characters, don’t build up to something huge only to offer absolutely nothing, and every single season should have a new cast. Period. I don’t care how popular they are, completely wipe the slate clean and focus on new character affected by the eclipse that turned people in to beings of immense power. Hey, it works for “American Horror Story”! And the cast of “The Walking Dead” season one is almost completely different from the cast of season four.
Don’t be afraid to kill people off, don’t be afraid to really deliver on the ideas after a lot of build up, don’t build up to nothing. Catchphrases are neato, but how about offering a conclusion to said gimmick like “Save the Cheerleader, Save the World”? And don’t promise an epic battle only to show two guys punching one another and end it abruptly with our hero exploding in the sky. That was so fucking disappointing. Introduce one villain, one fluid story, dodge the stupid time travel nonsense, and run with it. NBC is insistent the new “Heroes” will be a mini-series, but I’m sure there’s an option in there somewhere to bring it back as a series once again.
You can make the argument the writer’s strike gave the show a disadvantage somewhat, but the series was doomed before the strike. That said, based on NBC’s latest fantasy series “Revolution” and their complete mishandling of that epic series, I’ll likely skip “Heroes: Reborn.” Unless there’s a really good argument for trying it out, or if the trailer for it is really good. Or if Brea Grant comes over and asks me to the premiere. Either way, I’ll consider it. Probably.