Do We Really Need Heroes?

As I mentioned yesterday, I watched an unhealthy amount of television last week. I sat through three hours of The Wire, two hours of Heroes, Dexter, Lost, The Nine, The Office, two hours of Battlestar Galactica--oh, and The Venture Bros. As you might expect, George Pelecanos' The Night Gardener is still unfinished on my nightstand.

I am on the fence about Heroes. I had hoped this would be Unbreakable: The Series, and it succeeds with the vibe. However, with so many characters spread across the planet, the pacing was frustrating. (I'm aware that the first two episodes were intended to be a two-hour pilot and that the flow probably suffered when it was recut. We'll see if this improves tomorrow.) Unlike Lost, where you know from the first flashback that, crap, it's a Boone episode, Heroes jumped back and forth between its protagonists throughout the hour. This would be fine if all the characters were interesting, but I spent most of the show waiting for the white people to go away.

Heroes also tried my patience with some of its plot developments. Two characters were improbably arrested for crimes they did not commit in the second episode. The Japanese guy had only been at the scene for a minute when several dozen police officers flooded in and accused him of murder. Where did they all come from, and how could they suspect Hiro of freezing the victim to death and taking his brain out in 60 seconds? It's a good thing none of that has happened yet.

Dexter was an improvement over the novels, though I hope the voice-over will be toned down as the season progresses. The gay guy from Six Feet Under makes a good serial killer, and rather than being complete idiots like they were in the books, the supporting characters are camped up to tolerable levels. They help to round out the over-the-top nature of the premise. I already know the identity of the mysterious serial murderer, but assuming my source continues to tape it for me, I'll stick around for the filler killings along the way.

The Nine was enjoyable despite the presence of several actors I can barely stand. In execution and heart, it reminded me of Boomtown. It was nice knowing you, The Nine.

Rambling aside, Battlestar Galactica, kicked every other show's ass last week. Far from being the ho-hum "reboot" many fanboys fretted over, the premiere was like watching a nightmare. It's the ballsiest political commentary I've seen on TV since Joe Dante showed us zombies eating Ann Coulter. In a time when irony is used ad nauseam to reflect dissatisfaction with the political climate, I guess it takes a drama to deliver a real kick to the viewing public.