I’m not watching TV tonight.
Partly because I’m down in deep13, sitting in front of the computer. I’m tinkering with a short story, jotting down ideas for strips and tooling on the site. I decided long ago (months ago) that I would no longer have the TV in the same room that I work, since one is always a constant distraction to the other. I either find myself not writing, or not watching something I really wanted to see, and then rewinding it ad infinitum until I finally get the fucking hint and stop doing one or the other.
But also partly because season 2 of Heroes starts tonight and the finale of season 1 was so horribly fucking lame that I’m not sure of I want to invest another TV season (roughly one whole day of my life, not counting re-watches) in something that fails to pay-off at the end.
Because Heroes was fucking brilliant, overall. The first couple of season 1 episodes really captured me, and then the next bunch really had me thinking ‘why the fuck am I wasting my time?’ because nothing was fucking happening for a while there. Then the second half of the season absolutely blew me away. It was one of the few shows that I was watching in real-time (as opposed to the DVR) because I couldn’t wait to see what they were up to.
Then that season finale. That aching piece of shit that failed me miserably in all aspects. Especially since it was followed by the abso-fucking-lutely brilliant LOST season ender a couple of nights later.
The Heroes season finale consisted of (allow me to test new plugin at the same time):
[spoiler] Everybody comes together, finally. Peter and Hiro kinda fight Syler while everybody just fucking watches. Syler is kinda defeated, at which point Peter is going to blow up in accordance to the prophecy. Everybody watches some more as Nathan shows up in time to fly Peter up up and away where he can blow up peaceable like. [/spoiler]
Wow. That sucked.
I’ll watch season 2. I know I will. I can’t help myself at the moment, since most of season 1 really was kick ass. But I hope that for me this season, the destination at least worth the fucking journey.
AB
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Dont forget to watch Reaper. Wednesday or thursday night (i cant remember) Directed by Kevin Smith on the WB. About a kid whose parents sold his soul to the devil.
Heroes premier was good. Dont miss it.
Gonna watch Bionic Woman? Im at least gonna check out the first one.
I saw the first K-Ville. It wasnt bad. Gonna give it another chance. It was on last night. DVR’d it. So was Chuck, something about a geek turned spy. DVR’d that one too. I didnt watch Journeyman (also on last night) about a time traveller, fixing things in the past. Sounded too much like quantum leap to me.
Enjoy your writing and the new TV season. See you soon.
BTW, Farrah had her baby, a boy named Brenden Reed Simon (might be Brendon).
Hey Joe,
I did watch the Heroes opener last night before I went to bed. It was good, and I can only hope that it stays that way. I’m not usually so cynical about TV, but that finale just left such a bad taste in my mouth, I still wake up wanting to hurl.
I will write more about the Heroes opener later, after I’ve had a chance to watch Chuck & Journeyman and then, yes, watch the Bionic Woman so I can see Starbuck again before January.
I get that Quantum Leap feel from Journeyman too, but I guess this guy gets to go home after he fixes/solves the mysteries of the past.
I’d like to see Monk travel through time.
And I will watch the Reaper show, at least once to see if it’s worth checking out again.
Thanks, and yes… we must get together soon!
Congrats to Farrah and her new boy, however he spells his name.
Heroes was a mixed bag. The Japan Kensei stuff was horrible and I couldn’t wait for it to end. The hooded figure at the end (seemed clearly to be a female to me) was just stupid. Nathan being alive is not only a ripoff but his attempt at being post island Jack Shepherd was cliched in the aftermath of Matthew Fox doing it so much better though both their beards were equally bad looking props.
The writing across the board remains as mediocre as ever. Parkman and the kid saved it for me. I’m still not sure why I watch this show. It rips off everything in site but it does it on network tv with a network budget so I guess that’s something. Sometimes I feel like I’m eating cotton candy watching it. Sweet and superficial with no nutritional value. Makes me feel kind of guilty.
Yet I watch.
Dude, er… Messiah… Mr. Atriedes?
I actually liked the Kensei stuff. And I’ve always said that at least Nathan and possibly Peter survived the shit storm finale, though I do agree that the drunken bearded aftermath state that Nathan is in, is pretty much ripped off. But I thought Jack’s beard looked pretty good. But then again, I watched LOST on my 32″ ND (no definition) screen that had smeary kid sized hand and face prints.
I think the writing was no more or less mediocre than any other network TV show, with the exception of a small handful of shows. And even those shows can get mediocre themselves. Everything on TV is pretty much ripped off of something else. But the question is whether or not they can do it well enough? Good episode overall, IMHO. Scads better than the finale.
And 98% of scripted TV has no nutritional value. It’s eye-candy, junk-food for your head-meat. If you’re looking for TV to feed more than a sweet tooth, you need to stay away from the networks (with few exceptions). It’s a rare show that does more than that, and while those shows should be cherished, we shouldn’t expect more from that giant glowing tit in the living room.
Disagree about the 98% number. More good writing has gone into the TV field as opposed to movies the past generation. It’s a bigger lure to those reared on the boob tube. Yeah the majority isn’t anything special but there’s alot of good stuff some of which I’ve never seen but reportedly are well written shows.
Heroes has much more acclaim than most of them. I think the visually arresting and comic book style contributes to it’s success glossing over how shallow the show is. And the fact that it is on NBC assures that a good proportion of its audience wont be the fanboy-sci fi-comic book afficianado crowd who realize how much this show rips off of previous works in those genres. Tim Kring repeatedly says he has never read comics but he has a staff that has and he still lives in America. The myths and stories even in that realm filter through the pop culture. OR maybe they are just basic archetypes that inevitably had to be told and he’s too clueless to realize they’ve been so already and that there is nothing original about his ideas.
Oh and Bionic Woman wasn’t horrible but they need to kill Jamie Sommers off and make Katee Sachoffs bad bionic woman the star of the show because she really saved the pilot. Supposedly she will be recurring but I’m not sure this show can handle the times without her. She owned it.
And Sommers and the whining about being saved is just annoying. It was that or death. Be thankful and learn how to make metal creaking noises when you do super powered stuff.
Chuck was ok. Seems like a thin premise though that will get boring as he moves from new government plot to another drawing on a new piece of downloaded information in his brain. The blonde relationship isn’t as interesting and promising as Chuck and his best friend.
Journeyman was ok too. Like the rest there needs to be some greater hook to keep me viewing long term though. I like McKidd alot though based on Rome. It needs to really step up and distinguish itself from Quantum Leap more. Like Chuck the idea of going from saving some new schlub in the past week to week with a mix of his dead ex girlfriend thrown in and question of whether he’ll have an affair with her while his wife and everyone in 2007 think he’s got a drug issue will wear very thin if not supplemented with some kind of larger mythos.
And yes indeed Fox’s beard was the better of the two fake beards.