On Heroes

No, this isn't one of my rants on heroism (you can find those here and here if you particularly want to see them)...rather, it's my impressions of the new NBC TV show. I heard a preview of this show's basic tenet when Bill Boyd mentioned it in a sermon at All Saints around May or June. I don't remember the point he was making anymore. I've heard a couple people mention it since; I decided I wanted to watch it after a discussion on Thursday with Elli followed by a comment from Phil about an hour later.

16 episodes later, I have thoughts and opinions! :) I've watched every episode up to tonight's (which isn't available on iTunes yet). There are some things that are excellent about the show, and some things that I find to be less than excellent.

On the good side, the show has some very gripping characters and plot points. Some of the characters (Peter, Hiro, Claire) I absolutely love. It's interesting watching them go on their quests and seeing the characters develop. Their stories so far are, in general, very compelling. I want to like them and to see what will happen to them, and how they will react.

On the bad side, the show has some characters that I think I'm supposed to like, but I don't. The entire Sanders family just seems superfluous, and the child, Micah, is incredibly annoying. I think he's supposed to be "cute", but he's annoying. Similarly, some of the characters are starting to become...dubious; I'm starting to wonder if Tim Kring has a tendency to write characters and then ruin them (Joss Whedon, anyone?)

Also, some of the plot points are beginning to seem stalled or forced. Elli, ever the observant one, pointed out to me that the bomb that was supposed to go off on November 8, 2006 originally seemed like it was planned to coincide with that actual air date, or at least a time around then (2006-11-08 was a Wednesday); the show on which this date was given was itself dated on the day it aired (October 2). There have been several other internal inconsistencies that I find annoying. Niki supposedly did not recall Jessica's existence originally; a few episodes later, she's reminiscing about several very, very specific details. The entire show feels very fly-by-the-seat as far as the writing is concerned; I get a very distinct feeling that an insufficient level of planning on the storyline was done.

One other complaint. Heroes was a bad name for this show. So far, very few of these heroes have struck me as being particularly heroic...the show itself even says that it's not super abilities that make someone a hero. Perhaps these people are going to become heroes before all is said and done?

All this said, it's likely one of the better shows on television, and has certainly caught my interest. I'm a little concerned that it's going to go downhill from here (in fact, I'm completely convinced of that), but I want to keep watching it and will remain optimistic. It's worth watching, and it makes you think enough to be very worth talking about in your spare time.