What's Wrong With Heroes?

What's wrong with Heroes? No, I don’t mean the kind of heroes that inspire you to be better than you are—we need more of those. No, I mean Heroes, the NBC series that’s due to start it’s next season on Monday with a three hour event which includes a one hour recap show and two new episodes.

So, what do I think is wrong with Heroes? Simply put, there’s no danger anymore! They’ve already shown us in recent commercials that the Nicki/Jessica character, who supposedly perished in a fiery explosion at the end of last season, is alive and well. They’ve shown us that Nathan Petrelli, who was gunned down at the end of last season is also very much sporting a pulse.


So why is this a problem? There’s no danger to the show anymore. If you take away the possibility that a character can actually die, then you take away what makes a show suspenseful and thrilling.

Take ABC’s Lost, for example. How many characters who were set up to be series regulars have we seen get killed and actually stay dead? There was Boone and his sister Shannon who seemed to be almost as well rooted into the story as the three main characters and they died. We sadly saw my personal favorite character Charlie Pace drown at the end of the third season. With all of these deaths, I have no doubt that Michael actually did die in the boat explosion at the end of the last season. Additionally, whenever any of the characters is facing danger, there’s an added edge to the fact that it could really be the end for them.

So, back to Heroes: the first time this non-dying problem bothered me was at the end of season one where Sylar should have died. It would have been appropriate for that to be the end and for a new and badder villain to be introduced at the beginning of season two, but instead, they just had him lay low for a while only to come back stronger than ever in this upcoming season. For me, that’s when they lost it. They could have made it into a high-stakes show where nobody is safe, but instead the left it an episodic romp where everybody is literally invincible. Where’s the excitement in that?


What can the do to fix it? Well, I’m don’t mean to sound bloodthirsty or anything, but they need to kill off a major character and really mean it! Any angst the Peter experiences would mean so much more if it were because he was dealing with the hole left in his life by Nathan’s death. How much more would we root for Micah and his cousin and their fight against evil if we knew that they really had seen his mother die in that explosion (which, by the way, I’m convinced that we’ll see the once-believed-dead DL pull her out just before the big boom).

Anyway, I’ll still watch the show because I’m hoping that they can improve it, but if they don’t change something soon and make it a lot more engaging, it’ll quickly change from a “Gotta See It” show to a “I’ll Catch It If I Can” one.

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DVD Review: The Office, Season 4

I've been a fan of NBC's The Office since season one, and I have all of them on DVD. I'm also a compulsive collector, so when Season Four was recently released, my completist tendencies compelled me to buy it immediately.

I'll admit that this wasn't my favorite season of all, probably because of it's abbreviated length due to the angst caused by the writer's strike. But I was hoping that the relatively high price of $29.99 at Target (on sale) was a sign that there were some great bonus features included on the set.

I have to say that I am quite disappointed. Out of the 14 episodes that make up this season (many of which were double-length) only 5 have commentaries. I haven't gotten into the deleted scenes, but I know there are quite a few of those. There are a couple of other bonuses, but all in all, not enough to justify the high price.

I don't regret buying it, but I think if I had known I might have waited for the inevitable after Thanksgiving doorbuster sales to buy a copy at a really great price.

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