Closet Sci-Fi Geek

I have to say I am a bit surprised at some of the rave reviews I’ve seen about NBC’s new superhero show Heroes.

I can tell from the previews of upcoming episodes that Heroes will probably be fun and maybe even quite good. The premiere, alas, was not that great. It was a hodge podge of awkward character development coupled with unbelievable coincidences, all geared at connecting our “heroes” together. Right. Like I’m going to believe that the guy who believes he is going to fly would just accidentally ride in the cab of the Indian professor who is studying these genetic “anomalies.”

We have enough of unexplained coincidences on Lost – but at least there, they are a part of a greater mystery. Here, on Heroes, the coincidences were just obvious ploys by the writers to bring the disparate characters together.

The characters themselves were a bit unbelievable as well. We have the male nurse who thinks he can fly (and thus decides to test this out for the first time on top of a small skyscraper – as if jumping out the first floor might not be a better test to start). We have the sexcam operator who stupidly borrowed $30,000 from the mob to put her kid into private school (I mean, duh). We have a Japanese guy who can bend space and time. (This guy was a bit stereotypical in his portrayal, but the actor made him endearing anyway.) Oh, and let’s not forget the cheerleader (the second blonde bimbo on the show) who can’t be hurt.

All told, way too much time was spend on the various ludicrous backstories of these characters and not enough on some serious superhero action.

I’m hoping the show will improve once the awkward set-up is done; certainly, Eureka did. So I will provide a review of episode number two, which I’m betting will be a little less painful. One can only hope.

September 27th, 2006 | Category: Television | Subscribe to comments | Leave a comment | Trackback URL