Heroes (SPOILERS)

[Nerf]

I'm actually hoping this strike turns out some shows with horrible writing of epic proportions.

Think fry's holophone play from Futurama.

"I'm stupid, I'm stupid, I'm stupider than you!"

GOLD.

[Evil Elvis]

I'm actually hoping this strike turns out some shows with horrible writing of epic proportions.

Think fry's holophone play from Futurama.

"I'm stupid, I'm stupid, I'm stupider than you!"

GOLD.

Or - God help us - it'll lead to more reality tv shows.

[Nerf]

That just means I'll have more things to watch while drunk on the Fox Reality Network, this "Search for the next Elvira" marathon is RIVETING.

[Velorath]

Now that's what I'm talking about, that was a fucking awesome episode of heroes.  No filler there, all good stuff.

I hope they leave out all the minor characters until the end so they can tie the story together without boring us all to tears.  This might actually happen sooner than we think because of that pesky writer's guild strike.  I heard on the Heroes podcast that if they strike persists for too long they will take the episode before the hiatus and just turn it into the season finale.  It would definitely suck for them to end the season half way, but it looks like that'll happen the way things are going.

That would indeed suck, although at least they've always planned this season to contain two "chapters", so we likely just wouldn't get whatever was planned to be the chapter after Generations.

[Ookii]

I'm actually hoping this strike turns out some shows with horrible writing of epic proportions.

Think fry's holophone play from Futurama.

"I'm stupid, I'm stupid, I'm stupider than you!"

GOLD.

Or - God help us - it'll lead to more reality tv shows.

People are predicting that most of tv will turn into reality tv shows and game shows if this happens.  Apparently this is the third time it's happened in 30 years, so I guess that's what happened in the past (probably game shows of course though back then).

[Merusk]

Listening to NPR yesterday on the way home from work, it seems like the studios are taking the position that this is more of a protest than an actual strike.  They don't expect it to last long, because "the higher-paid writers stand more to lose in 2 days than they'd ever gain from their demands."   Of course, this relies on trusting that the revenues from DVD sales and web casts are as low as the studios are saying.  Surely they couldn't be playing 'clever accounting tricks' to show how poor they are there.

[Trippy]

Listening to NPR yesterday on the way home from work, it seems like the studios are taking the position that this is more of a protest than an actual strike.  They don't expect it to last long, because "the higher-paid writers stand more to lose in 2 days than they'd ever gain from their demands."   Of course, this relies on trusting that the revenues from DVD sales and web casts are as low as the studios are saying.  Surely they couldn't be playing 'clever accounting tricks' to show how poor they are there.

The studios stand to lose a lot more than the writers though of course the studio execs' personal paychecks aren't being withheld. The 1988 strike cost the industry an estimated $500 million. Today that would be like $1 billion. Not sure how that was estimated but clearly losing viewing audience means losing ad revenues which directly affects the studios bottom line and their stock prices and so on.

On the other hand the residual payouts to writers isn't chump change. The residual payout to writers this year through the Summer was $264 million. So the studios do have a big incentive for not letting that increase by any significant amount even if it costs them in the short term.

[UD_Delt]

In real but semi-related news I now work for "the company".

http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/books/article2799532.ece

Developed at the university I work for. I'm signing up tomorrow to let them test on me so I can be the first Hero. =)

[MrHat]

That's some awesome stuff.  Let us know.   

[Mazakiel]

Kring's apparently come clean and admitted that they made several mis-steps in how they've handled the season thus far.  The twins, Peter, Hiro, West, etc.  Pretty much what everyone's been saying anyway.  Supposedly, they've taken all of it to heart and moved to correct it.  Just in time for the strike, alas.  Anyway, link:  http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20158840,00.html

[MrHat]

Well, it seemed to show some in the last episode.  The abrupt return of Peter's memories.  Lack of the twins in any capacity.  Hiro in Feudal Japan finally ending.  West finally figuring out who HRG guy is so we can get the fuck on.

Really liked this last episode actually.  I'll probably rewatch it @ home this weekend on my HDTV since I watched it in laggy-tiny format through abc.com

[HaemishM]

In real but semi-related news I now work for "the company".

http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/books/article2799532.ece

Developed at the university I work for. I'm signing up tomorrow to let them test on me so I can be the first Hero. =)

I welcome our new Supermice overlords.

[Mazakiel]

The last two episodes or so have been really good overall, as opposed to most of the season where it was good moments sandwiched in not so good moments.  I just hope Sylar or someone kills off the twins, because I'm tired of them. 

[Rasix]

We assumed the audience wanted season 1 — a buildup of intrigue about these characters and the discovery of their powers.

Heh, would have been nice if someone had told him the first part of season 1's success was largely due to it being shiny and new, not the languid and disjointed storytelling.   

[HaemishM]

I actually don't mind the slow buildup if the characters are interesting or are doing interesting things along the way. The Maya story was not interesting at all, the Monica story was ok, the Claire high school angst thing was OK except it felt too much like her arc last season and the Hiro stuff didn't seem to be going anywhere for a few episodes despite having one of my favorite characters. Viewers don't want to spin their wheels rehashing or watching boring stories.

I'm hoping his comments about some of the new ones not making it into volume 3 includes Maya and her brother.

[Rasix]

They should just have the car they're all in careen off a cliff and explode.  Do it as next weeks intro.  I'll cheer very loudly.  If they want, Jar Jar Binks can be in the back seat with Alejandro.

[Lakov_Sanite]

Well, I liked kaitlin a bit, then again I'm a sucker for accents but if that's how she's leaving the show? Stuck in an alternate future which is more than likely not going to exist?  Ouch, talk about fucking harsh.

[Nerf]

When will hollywood learn that we're all suckers for european accents?  Hell, that new victoria's secret commercial with the english chick actually motivates me to go out and hook up with a girl I despise, just to buy her overpriced underwear she'll wear while fucking some other guy   

[Velorath]

Kring's apparently come clean and admitted that they made several mis-steps in how they've handled the season thus far.  The twins, Peter, Hiro, West, etc.  Pretty much what everyone's been saying anyway.  Supposedly, they've taken all of it to heart and moved to correct it.  Just in time for the strike, alas.  Anyway, link:  http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20158840,00.html

That's good as long as they don't start listening to the fans too much.  Also I disagree with the part where he says that romance isn't a natural fit for Heroes.  The episode where Hiro tries to save the waitress was pretty well done I thought.  The only problem with the romance in this season is that West is a creepy douche.  How were we ever supposed to give this character the benefit of the doubt when he's hovering outside Claire's window like a stalker shortly after he meets her?

[Reg]

Why on earth did they bother to hire Nichelle Nichols just to use her as the clueless grandma in the background who gets two or three lines? Is she a really horrible actor or something? Sulu was treated much better even if they did kill him off.

[Samprimary]

I'm very glad that the creator of Heroes is willing to admit that Season II is failing, because it really has been failing.

I stopped watching it after episode 2 and decided I'd read the synopses and jump back in once we were out of the doldrums. "doldrums" in this case being disjointed, unappealing, color-by-numbers side plots and romances in a format that goes nowhere even faster than Lost.

[Mazakiel]

The biggest problem with the romance plots this season is they're all so...forced.  Last season we had Charlie, which was handled pretty well.  Simone was okay, but nowhere near as bad as the ones this season.  Before the season started, Kring talked about how they had lots of 'hot single people' or something and so they were going to pretty much all find someone.  So we have a bunch of tacked on, lame, forced romances that make little sense.  West has quickly grown annoying as hell.  Hiro's Princess is rather flimsy, and Hiro seemed pretty quick on the rebound, it's only been, what, a few weeks since he failed to save Charlie, who he'd fallen for pretty hard?  Peter'd just watched Simone die not so long ago, as well, though I can excuse that since he had amnesia.  That, and the stupid 'We're bring real life events into Heroes!', is where the season's suffered.  Pretty much anything outside of that, has been good.  Anything in that circle of suck, not so good.  As they've moved away from it, the season overall's gotten better. 

[HaemishM]

Finally got to watch this week's episode. MUCH better than the last few, but it suffered from feeling too rushed in comparison to the rest of the season. It wrapped things up with Matt's Dad too quick, and dropping Caitlyn in the future is real harsh. I assume that that might be some motivation for Peter to follow Adam/Kensei. Anyone think maybe Adam is Peter's grandad or something like that?

Had they not spent 2 or 3 episodes spinning wheels, they could have stretched the super bits out more. Next week's looks teh awesome though.

[MrHat]

So, Adam was hinted @ having weather controlling abilities by Bob.  But we know Adam has the regen stat.

What does it all mean??

[Reg]

I think the weather thing was just intended to be an example of the kind of disaster the Company was in business to avert.

[Venkman]

I'd say Adam/Kensei is more likely related to Claire than to Peter, mostly because he seems to only have one power (cell regen) rather than the ability to leach everyone else's. The weather thing could be a reference to Dr. Evil lair of weaponry and whatnot.

This week's episode was darned good, but I admit I skipped past all the Claire/West stuff, until the end when HRG confronted Claire ("do you think anyone believes you were actually at a copy conference!?". Good stuff). I also like the we're-not-sure-anymore view of The Company and that Bennet/HRG is being set up to be convincely knocked off by Suresh as a desciple of Adam Monroe (though we don't have proof that Suresh was the one to shoot Bennet in that painting).

So I think I missed something here based on what someone said above: is it established that West knows the guy who stabbed/marked his shoulder is Claire's dad? Or is the impression that he always knew it and is using Claire to get to her dad, maybe turn her and his wife on Bennet to get revenge?

And yes on the romance. Or rather, no. They handle it just about as effectively as Sam Raimi in the Spiderman movies, which is to say even when I watched them in the theater the first time I was looking for the "move this crap along" button.

And yes on Caitlyn. Dropped into a dead timeline has got to be the worst way to go. And I say "dead timeline" because I don't think they'll actually wipe out 93% of humanity in the show... for the same reason they didn't actually nuke NYC. They are not edgy enough and are certainly on the wrong network to be.

Hiro finally coming home, great! Him not going back in time to stop Adam (presumably) from killing his father... disappointing, but he might anyway unless he decides to stick to the Doc Brown "I should never have tried to adjust history in the first place" thing.

[Abagadro]

I'd say Adam/Kensei is more likely related to Claire than to Peter

Considering that Peter is Claire's uncle, he would/could be related to both. 

If the posited scenario is correct, he would be Peter's grandfather and Claire's great-grandfather.  Maybe Hiro can teleport back and become his own grandpa.

[Venkman]

Hehe. Good point on the Peter/Claire thing. I'd forgotten that part. That also brings up another point. The Parkman/Dad thing established that powers are inherited as is. But Claire can't flly like Nathan nor create fire like her real mother. So what's up with that?!

Also, I just read the interview and gotta say: Jeezus I love that guy (Kring). I've never read anything more candid from Hollywood... well, pretty much ever. I hope he makes this series so freakin' successful he doesn't get pistol-whipped into jackboot compliance with conformity.

[MrHat]

Hehe. Good point on the Peter/Claire thing. I'd forgotten that part. That also brings up another point. The Parkman/Dad thing established that powers are inherited as is. But Claire can't flly like Nathan nor create fire like her real mother. So what's up with that?!

Hrm. I was pretty sure that when Parkman first meets his dad, the dad says something along the lines of: "Mind reading? That's a good one to have".

Although, I'd have to go back and see.

Did we ever figure out what Mama Petrelli's ability was?

[Venkman]

Mom Petrelli seems to be able to block mind reading.

As to Parkman, the whole inherited-abilities thing comes more from Bob's comments in this week's episodes about how Parkman can do everything his dad can, even if he doesn't know how yet.

[Obo]

And yes on Caitlyn. Dropped into a dead timeline has got to be the worst way to go.

A fitting punishment for that accent.

[Nevermore]

Mom Petrelli seems to be able to block mind reading.

She also seemed to somehow restore Peter's memories.

[tazelbain]

> The Parkman/Dad thing established that powers are inherited as is.
Claire and Micah have a power that neither of their parents do.

I think Bob was pointing out that Parkman and his dad can do the same thing because powers have distinct sets.  So everyone in the same set is capable of the same thing, issues of talent, experience, and desire aside.  Claire and Adam.  Nathan and West.  Peter and Sylar(?!?).

[Rasix]

They kidnapped Parkman. That's possibly where their assessment of his powers, along with knowledge of his lineage, comes from.

[Velorath]

Hehe. Good point on the Peter/Claire thing. I'd forgotten that part. That also brings up another point. The Parkman/Dad thing established that powers are inherited as is. But Claire can't flly like Nathan nor create fire like her real mother. So what's up with that?!

It established that they can be inherited as is.  It's not always the case though, hence why Micah and Claire don't have the same powers as their parents.