Why can’t we quit you, Heroes? By all accounts, NBC’s comic-book show, which returns tonight with it’s latest volume, “Fugitives”, ought to be our favorite show. It’s packed with hunky guys like Milo Ventimiglia, Zachary Quinto and Adrian Pasdar (who we’ve been fans of ever since we saw him sleeping naked in a cardboard box as the doomed sociopathic corporate-raider Profit) and as countless X-men plotlines have shown, the whole “I have a secret power as metaphor for being gay” thing never gets old. And admittedly, the show is just good enough that we keep coming back to it, time and time again, hoping that finally, it will get back on track, but how many time-traveling “we must atone for the sins of our parents” story arcs can one gay endure before turning the tube off forever? Because we really need something to fill our 9pm television watching slot, here’s some unsolicited advice on how to get Heroes back on track.
Kill off Sylar.
We love Zach Quinto’s adorable caterpillar eyebrows, but for the sake of the show, please get rid of him. First, he was a creepy and mysterious serial killer who ate super-powered brains, then, after realizing how goofy that conceit was, he became a tortured rogue on the road to redemption. He made googly eyes at an electric Kristen Bell and we thought, “Hey! Maybe he’ll be like Wolverine– designed to be a weapon by the shadowy Company, but fighting his true nature”, but in a move that screamed, “We’re out of ideas”, the show had Sylar turn super-evil again, for no particular reason at all, and had him go back to his old brain-eating ways. At this point, the character has been rewritten so many times that we no longer care what he does. With Quinto about to boldly go into J.J. Abrams Trek reboot, a quick mercy-killing would free-up the show to pursue new villains and move the show into unexplored territory.
Get back to the whole ‘ordinary people discover extraordinary abilities’ concept.
How about we take this to the next level?
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Every single volume of Heroes has come with announcements from the actors and creators that “This time, we’re going to get it right!” (this season’s mea culpa comes from Masi Oka, who play depowered time-traveler Hiro), but we have a sneaking suspicion that the show’s creators don’t know whey their show was a hit in the first place. The second season assumed what people wanted was more super powers and the third season has been all about stupid time travel stories and the Dynasty-esque machinations of the Petrelli clan. So, let’s make it clear why we like the show: It’s cool to see super-powered people trying to live ordinary lives. The conceit that you could have amazing powers and still have to make breakfast, try out for the cheerleading squad and take out the garbage is fun. Watching Mohinder mope about his spider-lesions while mixing up a secret sauce in a giant lab? Not so much.
Spare us your super-soldiers.
The thing that has us really down about the “Fugitives” storyline is that it’s about three years too late. “The government’s going to hunt down the heroes like they’re terrorists! We’re gonna send the to super-powered Gitmo!” would have been relevant before they shut the real Gitmo down, but now it just seems cliched and tired. If there’s one thing we’ve learned from the last eight years, it’s that our government is scary not because it’s run by a secret cabal of insiders, but that it’s run by incompetent ideologues who can’t get their act together and in this new era of hope and prosperity, the idea of a nefarious government organization hunting down Milo and company just sounds hokey. Why not use the Global Financial Crisis as a starting point. All the superheroes lose their jobs and have to move in together! Seriously, anything other than super-soldiers running around barking orders.
Actually, if the super-soldiers run around shirtless barking orders, we’ll be fine.
Do you still watch Heroes? What keeps you coming back? What other homo-friendly primetime shows have you started watching instead?
scott
“Spare us your super-soldiers.”
Talk about REHASHING old X-MEN story lines…..this whole fugitives volume is the classic DAYS OF FUTURE PAST and EXTINCTION AGENDA with the “super-soldiers” as THE SENTINELS. You’d think with Jeff Loeb being one of the writters he’d be the LAST one to want to re-do old Chris Clarmont stories, alas it was not to be.
The scary thing is the webasodes with that HOT south american guy are WORLDS better.
xo
Scott
tallskin
Oh Perleaze this series is really utter shite.
I sat through the first series, somehow.
But after that I completely lost interest.
Mike
I’m excited for the upcoming volume. I think that with the Fugitives title we will be introduced to some new powers. I’ve been keeping up with the online graphic novel chapters the show produces and in this break between the volumes they have started to have show characters start to meet new supers.
Also, I think we’ll get some interesting arrangements of characters both in how they respond to the government, and who they’ll need to work with to oppose it. Sure, it’s an X-Men type story, but how could a show about a group of people with super powers/genetic mutations come up with 100% new content if X-Men has been around for decades.
Finally, they need to bring back some of the kid characters again. The one thing that the show lost in volume three was hope. Everyone became dark and pessimistic, and any of the kids with the view of “we’re super heroes, we need to be good guys” randomly vanished. Micah, Molly and Monica need to come back to help make people good again.
Kevin
Japhy,
You totally hit the nail on the head with this one. I too have been a huge fan of Heroes – or at least the first season – and have been waiting for some of that brilliance that showed up in the first episodes.
It’s commonly agreed that the 2nd season wasn’t all that great and the third season was only mildly better. I agree…less superpower, lightening bolts flash and more storyline about ordinary folks dealing with extraordinary abilities.
And yes, I loved the interrelated stories, the kids, and the cheerleader dealing with high school, parents, and crazy, freakish abilities.
It’s clear from watching past Heroes episodes where they’re going to go this season and I’m in total agreement about the lameness of the Syler twists and the focus on the Petrellis.
If this season’s bad….I might just move on.
blake
@scott:
Loeb was fired months ago. This is the new writing crew bring us this cliched plot.
I miss Nikki and her family.
shaun
@scott:
Scott, you are my new best friend. Anyone who can accurately reference X-Men storylines and writers on a gay blog site is gold in my book!
hardmannyc
I never could figure out why someone would watch a TV show because of a “hunky cast.” Isn’t that why we invented porn?
Tim in SF
God I HATE this show.
My husband and I watch every episode in the vain hope that it gets better. Every week we are disappointed.
ugh.
They should fire every writer they have and kidnap some of the writers from LOST (or at least BSG) and not release them until they’ve delivered a four-season story arc with lots of details and ideas for individual episodes.
And yes, NO MORE SYLAR. He was interesting when he had a kid and showed more than one dimension. That lasted for what, four or five episodes? Then all that multi-dimensional character collapsed upon itself! WHY? No one I’ve asked can figure it out. WE’RE ALL PISSED. I can see him killing Veronica Mars because she’s annoying, but turning 100% evil again? WTF?
And Peter Petreli’s real super power is the power to be ALWAYS WRONG. If it comes out of Peter’s mouth, you can bet money it is wrong or dumb. Why is the man with the most super powers the guy with the least amount of brains? ARRRRRRGGGGGGHHH!!! KILL HIM OFF TOO!
AND MOHINDER! ARRGHH! His real super power is the power to be ALWAYS ANNOYING. He was NEVER a good character. His father was right to be ashamed of him! And now that he’s turned into the icky guy from X-Files episode “Squeeze” http://tinyurl.com/dx52vh he’s EVEN MORE ANNOYING.
“Hey, honey, it’s a Mohinder scene, can you go get some ice cream? I am gonna go pee.”
And what in the HELL is up with Ali Larter? First they give her a character who’s super power is that she’s schizophrenic? And now her super power is that she can make ice cubes? LAME! I see the need for a hot blonde with big boobs in the show. I really do, but please make her more interesting. She’s a decent actress and deserves better lines!
I could go on. And on and on and on. Really. For days. This show sucks so hard it hurts. And yes, I’ll be watching tonight because I’m an idiot.
The Gay
I was done with this mess half way through season 2 and I’m never going back.
Mohinder should die a slow, violent death for being so useless and annoying.
Tim Kring, where do I start to express my hatred for this guy? Maybe when he eliminated the gay out of Claire’s BFF in the first season or maybe when he said that season 2 sucked because fans were “watching the show wrong.” … Nevermind the possibility that the show could have actually sucked. And he said something douche-y recently that I can’t even remember, but I hate that guy.
The NBC promos also became really grating, how many more times could I hear that smoky sounding voiceover, “The most important show in television history is back …” bla, bla, bla. I might have sort of believed it during the first season, but by season two not so much.
Just put this mess out of its misery already.
Rob Moore
I’ve been reading sci fi since I was 9 years old starting with Robert Heinlein. I watched all of the Star Trek television series even Enterprise. I even paid to see some really, really bad sci fi movies (my spouse reminds me of that everytime I have metnion how awful was The Hours). I have never, ever been able to watch a complete episode of this series and haven’t tried since season 1 ended; Milo Ventimiglia notwithstanding.
Qjersey
@Rob Moore:
Heinlein rocks! I started on his books when I was 13 and I’ve read EVERYTHING he has ever written.
Too bad Hollywood doesnt have the balls to film “Stranger in a Strange Land” with all its religious and sexual themes.
rick
the thing about comic book stories is that they always look better on paper, in color, and for a dime. or the 15 cents they cost when i started reading them.
DeWillis Washington
I remember reading about this last year and thinking it was one of the most horrific crimes I’ve ever heard. the death penalty is simply too good for these animals. Google the names Channon Christian and Christopher Newsome to get more details about the case. This case received absolutely NO media attention outside of Tennessee. Can you imagine, I mean CAN YOU FU*KING IMAGINE if it had been a group of “good ‘ole boys” with a confederate flag on their pickup truck committed this crime against a young, attractive african-american couple that were college students and had their whole lives in front of them? It would be regarded as the biggest civil rights crime in American history. Where was Rev. Al on this case? Oh yeah, he was too busy defending the “Jena 6”. I hope this animal and his fellow savages (I take that back. Animals don’t do what this creature and his group did to their own kind) rots in hell for eternity. Truly one of the worst crimes I’ve ever heard about.
Want to read about another case that also received almost no media attention outside of the immediate area (oh if the races had been reversed it would have led to riots and civil rights marches that would still be going on). Google “The Carr Murders”. How a human being could be capable of such evil to people that not only did nothing wrong to them, but never even met baffles me. Makes me wonder how God could allow such creatures to exist.
koalaboy
I watched last night and loved it. I’m a writer with a comic collection of over 5000 comics. I have trouble with most shows and movies being able to see what is going to happen next. Heroes always surprises me with new twists, foreshadowing, and shirtless Milo! I absolutely love the show. Heroes is the only show I make plans to watch.
I started collecting comics with Amazing Spider-man and Uncanny X-men in 1992. I too see all the similarities, but feel the writers on Heroes add more to the plots we’ve read over and over in book form. The whole fugitives story is like Days of Future Present. I’m still looking forward to seeing what happens next. Don’t kill Sylar.. I think last night showed what makes him a badass hahaha
koalaboy
Yeah I meant Days of Future Past lol
kat
You asked why do I still watch and the answer is simple. There are still characters that I care about on the show. I agree with mostly everyone who has commented: when they sucked they gayness out of the gay character, that was f-ed up, and Sylar & Mohinder should probably die in a Thelma-&-Louise-type car crash together, and I do miss a bunch of the stuff that made it great (like reliving my childhood/adolescence through the storylines of the young people, as a young person who is secretly queer & super), but i am interested because i like Hiro & Ando, I like Matt Parkman, I hope they bring back some of the young folks, and if Claire Could die and did die for real for real, that would be awesome, but, I have hope still – and I’m not deterred by anyone who says “give up on the show” or “give up on hope” – ‘cuz where would any of us be if Harvey Milk did that?
(ok, that was a little extreme/dramatic, but, i’m gay)
So, not all gays hate Heroes, but clearly, many, many of them do.
kat
wow #13 seems a little misplaced…i mean, it’s been bad, but not that bad (jk)
kevin
It’s pretty clear from last season that Syler is going to revert to being a good guy. Remember that scene when Peter P. goes into the future and finds Daddy Syler with his kid, who then gets killed and Syler goes nuclear? Didn’t they give away the fourth season already?
I saw the show last night and to tell you the truth, it’s hard to feel the flow of it when it’s interrupted every 5 or 10 minutes by commercials – half of which are Heroes promos.
Jock
Heroes flat-out SUCKS!
I watched the season 3 premiere. It was an overblown, incoherent, depressing mess.
Haven’t watched it since.
NBC, cancel this atrocity NOW!
John
Heroes is obviously designed for 13-year-olds. Adults still watching it…I don’t want to judge, but maybe read a book or something. Same goes for Lost, 24 Hours, the list goes on.
Me
Cut the cast in half, for one. It’s been no problem in the past. They don’t even bother to explain where these people went to half-the-time. What annoys me is never seeing a plotline (even a bad one) come to fruition before they’re off on another tangent, introducing still more people with ludicrous powers. SCALE BACK and FOCUS is my advice.
Francisque
Sylar does not eat brains. His ability allows him to understand how things work, so in order to steal people’s powers he cuts open their heads and studies the brain. Sylar also said he didn’t eat brains. Anyone recall?
Claire: Are you gonne eat it?
Sylar: Eat your brain? Claire thats disgusting.
Chicofolight
Am I the only one who likes Mohinder’s character(though I admit his character’s story line had gone down hill, but I think it will improve a ton this season)? I admit I do think he is super hot. Anyway, I am really excited about the new episode and hope that it will go back to the same quality as the first season.
Scott D
There’s a new British show called “Being Human” with a great premise: a vampire, a werewolf and a ghost sharing a flat in Bristol, trying to live normal lives.
It’s funny, charming and spooky, while out gay actor Russell Tovey is adorable and spends much of the show naked.
Two weeks in and I’ve forgotten all about this “Heroes” show you speak of. 😉
Cam
I’ve pretty much given up. I made the mistake of watching the entire second season and part of the third of Desperate housewives, and LOST waiting for those series to get back to their great first seasons. Unfortunatly Heroes has gone down the same path. Great first season, stupid second and third. And Frankly, the guy who plays “Hiro” should be locked up for stereotyping Japanese man as borderline retarded with ADD. I mean seriously, if anybody acted in real life the way HIRO acts, their parents would have sent them to a psychiatric hospital years ago to find out why, at the age of 35 they were still acting like a 7th grade girl who just got her first kiss.
Mad Professsah
I stopped watching Heroes midway through Season 2, then watched the Season 2 finale and have been done every since.
Sadly, it’s still in my DVR. I think I began watching one episode of the latest season and was horrified and didn’t finish it.
The writing has ALWAYS been bad, the acting has OFTEN been bad.
The guys being hunky is about the only thing that saved it. But eventually it’s not enough.
Another show I am over and done with? Nip/Tuck! Can I get a witness?
Jock
Nip/Tuck has gone from great to garbage.
Enough with the sex already!
aManOnaJourney
As frustrating as HEROS can be it is still more creative and enyoyable than all the crap so called ‘reality’ shows.
I will take another 2 seasons of HEROS over a single episode of crap like Hills, Bachelor, American Idol
Steve
I would love to know what the haters think are good shows…
I don’t think heros is the greatest, but it still entertains me each week.
Mad Professsah
Lost and
Damages I am pretty sure are great.
I’m hoping 24 is going well; it’s in my DVR but I haven’t seen any of this season yet. In fact, the only show I have been watching live is Lost .
My guilty pleasure is E.R. Love me some Angela Bassett!
I also tape Grey’s Anatomy but it’s sorta of interial–I do think its a well-done show but I’m pissed they kicked off the lesbian doctor Hahn character so abruptly.
cruiser
@Scott D: The only problem is a show like that would never survive in the vast wasteland that is American television, ESPECIALLY if one of the characters is naked, it would never make it past the American censors.