'Sha na na na, sha na na na...'

If true, then there is a 0.000 percent chance of me watching ever again:

http://www.aintitcool.com/node/41490

When you're right, you're Tim

So, "Heroes" was last night.

And I was totally right!

The "Heroes" people ripped off "Exiles" and had Matt make Sylar believe that he is Nathan, after killing Nathan in a really anti-climatic way.

LAME.

I, personally, will not be watching the show again. Unless they fire Tim Kring and replace him with Bryan Fuller.

New episode up... and a 'Heroes' thought

So, this morning I told Stephanie that I had figured out a few ways that "Heroes" might end tonight.

1. Sylar kills Nathan. Sylar morphs into Nathan, Matt then mindscrews Sylar into thinking he's really Nathan. I only say this because it's been done to death in comics before, so it's perfect for "Heroes" to steal and try to pass off as original.

2. Matt gets zapped by Ando, increasing his powers 100 fold and makes the entire world forget there are such things as people with abilities.

Stephanie laughed at me saying those were the worst ideas ever.

That means they'll probably be used.

Editor's note

Friday's are usually "Viewpoints On..." days.

Well, I am very sick. Won't get into it, but me being on camera wouldn't be a good thing. So we are postponing filming until Monday.

We'll have a lot to talk about, including reviews of "Obeserve and Report" and, hopefully, "The Soloist."

One news item we probably won't get around to is that NBC has scaled back "Heroes" season next season from 25 to 18 or 20. This is either a move to get another show to air, because of the Leno crap, or that they are sick of "Heroes," like most of us are.

Also, check back Monday for my prediction of how this season will end. Hint: I am thinking of the worst way possible. Mostly because I know that's how they think.

How to fix NBC part 2

With the end of "ER," "Heroes" and "The Office" are undoubtedly NBC's franchise shows. They are the glue that is holding the network together.

They are extremely popular shows that inspire catchphrases, merchandise and lots of next day watercooler talk. They can be at once brilliant and ground-breaking.

Unfortunately, they are not at the top of their game right now, so I've come up with a few ways to fix each show and get them back on track.

"Heroes"

• Get rid of Tim Kring. While he may be the man that created this world, he is not a sci-fi writer and the show suffers from his lack of expertise in the genre. Make Bryan Fuller the official show runner and let Kring cash his giant paycheck.
• Kill Sylar. As spectacular as Zachary Quinto is, it's time for a new villain to shake things up. Since it's "Heroes" I'm sure they could find a way to bring back David Anders or perhaps bring on someone completely new to shake things up. Besides, once "Star Trek" comes out Quinto will be headed for bigger and better things anyway, so why not send him off with a bang.
• Kill a few people and keep them dead. The show has no suspense value at all, because no one ever stays dead.
• More HRG and Angela, less Claire, Nathan and Peter. I know they want to appeal to a younger demographic but HRG and Angela could be the catalyst to tell the compelling story of the beginning of the company.
• While I'm fans of the actors, Matt and Mohinder have become useless so they should get rid of them.
• Finally, keep the light-hearted fun of Hiro and Ando, because they provide a glimmer of light in an otherwise dark show.

"The Office"

• Drop the Michael Scott Paper Company storyline and bring everyone back to Dunder-Mifflin where they belong. There's no shame in admitting that a story didn't work and then correcting the mistake.
• Idris Elba is a fantastic dramatic actor but his character doesn't fit well within the confines of this goofy group. Even worse he makes Jim look bad and Jim is the regular world's connection to this wacky office.
• More Jim and Pam romance. Their sweet courtship provides a nice balance to the rest of the office's craziness.
• Finally, turn the focus away from corporate politics and back to office shenanigans, it's what made us start watching to begin with and why we love the show.

Next time: Why Jay Leno will be NBC's downfall?

"Lost" and "Heroes" should take notes from "24"

"24" is so good I can't sleep for hours after it goes off. Last night's episode was no exception. At first it seemed like another great episode where this time it would be Tony who saves the world, but then in the last minute everything changed and it went from great to brilliant.

We started the hour with Tony inside Starkwood trying to destroy the toxic missiles. With the president's unofficial blessing Tony embarked on his mission. By the way, how great was it when Jack explained presidential politics to Renee, because he's done a lot of secret missions for a lot of presidents.

While Tony was sneaking around Starkwood, Jon Voight was delivering a spectacularly creepy performance as the evil Jonas Hodges.

Hodges and his minion met with the president at the white house and basically blackmailed her into giving him unparalleled access to military secrets. At one point he was so pleased with himself I thought he was going to strut around the oval office like a peacock.

However, in the very next scene the president walked in and arrested him because Tony had succeeded and his plan had failed.

Tony was the hero of the night and he even joined Larry Moss and the FBI in chasing the Starkwood bad guy who had escaped with the last canister of the bio-weapon. I had a bad feeling about Larry's chances all night, so when they cornered the bad guy and he shot Larry I wasn't that surprised.

But, when it turned out the guy was in cahoots with Tony, and Tony killed Larry in cold blood to cover his tracks, I was left speechless.

Now I'm just overloaded with questions. Has Tony been planning this all along? Is he a part of Starkwood? Is this some backward way of saving Jack? What will Jack do when he finds out?

I swear just when I think I have "24" figured out, they pull a bait and switch so fantastic it puts shows like "Heroes" and "Lost" to shame.

I can't wait til next week's episode and the sleepless night that will inevitably follow.

'Heroes' falls from grace... again

After last week's super episode by Bryan Fuller hopes were high that this new episode would carry on and be great.

Boy, were we wrong!

This might be the only show on television where the characters get dumber as the weeks progress. Just a bunch of idiots.

Here are some other observations I had (yes, I took notes):

• Nathan and Claire in Mexico, where according to Nathan Delko's reach can't go that far south. Oh, but he can reach into freaking Tokyo to kidnap Hiro?!
• Since when can Sylar teleport/super speed? He sure got out of that car fast? I hate that they can just give him a power without showing us to suit their crappy writing needs.
• Speaking of which, this new shapeshifter kills three agents and the Hunter goes nutso saying he must be caught and mourns over the dead agents. What about freaking Sylar?! He killed like 10 plus agents!

See? It's like a bunch of monkeys or preschoolers who write this show.

'Heroes' makes my brain hurt!

Finally got around to watching this week's "Heroes."

And now I know why I watched "24" instead.

Two MAJOR problems:

First, the Hunter tells everyone that Peter and Matt are the top priorities because they assaulted and kidnapped a federal agent.

Uh... didn't Sylar like kill 10 or so federal agents? Doesn't he have dozens of powers, most of which are far more dangerous than Peter and Matt? I know "Heroes" is based in a weird world, but a world where assault and kidnapping are far more pressing then a psycho serial killer on the loose? Come on! ARGH!

And second, near the end when Nathan and his mother are all alone she says she has seen the future and then promptly whispers in Nathan's ear! What the crap?! Who whispers to someone when they are ALL ALONE!?!? GRRR! ARGH!

Bryan Fuller can't start writing episodes soon enough.

'Heroes!'

"Heroes" is back tonight and many are considering this as a last chance for the show. It has burned a lot of people and they are giving it one more episode before they stop watching.

Me? Well, since the news that Bryan Fuller is coming back to the show came out I decided to stick around until his influence is felt. This new episode is No. 14 and Fuller starts with No. 19, so I might be stuck with five crappy episodes.

At least "24" is on at the same time so I have an alternative to sitting around picking my nose.

In some web surfing today I came across an interesting tidbit. The comics site Comic Book Resources does a regular thing where they host a Q&A with some writers/producers of the show. http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=19804

I found this bit a little strange...

“When Hiro goes back and takes the catalyst upon himself, Arthur shows up shortly after and takes the catalyst from him, as well as his powers. My question is this: how on earth did Arthur know that Hiro and Claire had gone back in time, and that they were where and when they were? Is Arthur omniscient?”

This is actually something that we can tell you is going to be on the DVD. There was a scene where Arthur found Molly and stole her ability, using it to find Hiro and Claire in the past. However, the scene just seemed overwhelmingly, what’s the word? Disturbing.

So that's really an excuse to not make any sense and have a giant, glaring plot hole in the show? This just further proves my point that these people have no clue what they are doing. At all.

Not even the "Heroes" apologists can argue with that.

Go ahead, try.

'Heroes!'

This week on "Heroes" we saw...

Wait, really, I am just going to bash it again.

Is there a point of continuing to kick someone while they are down? Beating a dead horse?

Heroes (OR Why I Am Amazing)

I’m usually not the kind to gloat, but after the untimely demise of Simone this episode, I must say...

I am the infallible genius of Heroes. I’ve been calling the death of Simone for a few weeks now and, much to the dismay of my girlfriend when the love interest of Peter and Isaac took two to the gut, I declared myself ultimate overlord of the future.

When she started talking to me again, I explained that this is what will make the show one thousand better. We needed a good death to bring the show down to the nitty-gritty of comic book storylines. After last episode (the “Claire’s dad” scandal and the absence of Peter), it was necessary to kill off someone that was lending to love-triangle drama. Therefore, Simone had to leave... in a bad, bloody way.

So, hoorah! She’s dead. At least I hope so. There’s always the possibility that she saves herself at the last minute like Peter and Hiro now have. (Prediction 1) Not only did I win five bucks off of Tim Guy, but I’m still the man at predicting this show. I have several bold predictions, but I’ll leave those for the end...

Peter’s back and he's better than ever. If you missed it, allow me to clue you in on the coolest thing to happen in at least five episodes:

Claude has been training Peter to control his powers, and it’s finally paying off. After throwing him off a roof two episodes ago, Peter is slowly throwing out some new powers that he’s picked up, most unusually Sylar’s ability to break stuff and toss people around.

But the crazy part is that, as Peter’s powers grow, he is becoming more and more dark. This led to a crazy-cool revelation by online bloggers concerning Peter's intense 30-story fall two episodes ago, where he lands on a cab car with a picture of a samurai on the ad display and is impaled on a piece of metal.


It’s pretty clear that images like this on Heroes always allude to some future event. In this case, I’m saying that Hiro will eventually become the “samurai”, and Peter will become a sort super-villain. Here’s why:

1. Future-Hiro said that Peter had a scar on his face in the future, and never said that they were on the same side. It’s possible that Hiro gives Peter this scar in the future.
2. The piece of metal that Peter is impaled on looks a lot like the sword Hiro is searching for. If the first prediction is right, then Peter may eventually be taken out by Hiro. (Much to my dismay; if Peter turns evil, I’m rooting for the destruction of the world.)(Predictions 2 and 3)
And one more: Ando will be saying farewell for good very soon. Some members of the show have alluded to a major character death on March 5. How will Hiro learn to be a part of the future team? Well, Ando will have to die as a result of Hiro’s shot at independence. (Prediction 4)

All in all, this episode not only delivered after the crappy one last week, but it’s set us up for all kinds of cool storylines in future episodes.

Heroes!

For those of you who don’t know the wonderful world of Heroes, here’s a quick idea: First, imagine The X-Files meets X-Men. Then, throw in a slew of twists and amazing production and you’ve got one of the biggest hit shows on television.
The overall plot is quite simple. People all over the world are starting to realize they have superhuman abilities. One of which is Peter Petrelli, a professional nurse and New York native who feels a like a bit of an outcast as his brother, Nathan, is weeks away from possibly becoming a U.S. Senator.
Episode 15, “Run!”, was kind of a let-down. Don’t get me wrong; there was an awesome shoot-out between two superheroes: Matt Parker, an L.A.-cop-turned-bodyguard who can read minds and Jessica Sanders, the super-strong split personality of Nikki Sanders, an ex-stripper trying to raise her son.
This whole ordeal was the main focus of the episode. Matt tried to save a crooked lawyer from Jessica, who was hired by the mysterious Mr. Linderman to off the same guy. While the plot sounds very strained, this hit me like a great action movie.
Some other sub-plots were equally exciting: the murderous lunatic Sylar accidentally found Mohinder Suresh, the man who has devoted himself to discovering the source of the alleged “evolutionary” anomaly that created the heroes. It was two ends of the hero/villain spectrum meeting up for the first time, and Suresh had no clue who he was speaking too!
But, as I said, there were some big disappointments.
First of all, I’m really worried about the soap opera-like story developing for Claire (the indestructible cheerleader... it’s really fun to describe it that way). So... her mom is some random woman who starts fires... but her dad... is Nathan?! As in, Peter’s brother? Do we have to have a political scandal involved in this? This is not Days of Our Lives! It’s really hard to try to get my friends to watch if I have to say the following:
“Dude, it’s awesome... so Peter is this loner who is learning to use his really powerful gifts from a bitter asshole that’s invisible... and his brother just found out that he had a daughter out of wedlock fourteen years ago, and it could really hurt his chances come Election Day.”
Yeah, doesn’t really come off as exciting, does it?
Speaking of Peter... where the hell was he?! I realize that he’s disappeared, literally, thanks to Claude the invisible man, played by Christopher Eccleston, but we need Peter’s story... I need Peter’s story.
Peter is definitely my favorite character simply because, in a bit of witty irony, Peter discovers that he can mimic other super powers, such as his brother’s ability to fly, and bohemian painter (and heroin addict) Isaac Mendez’s (played surprisingly well by Santiago Cabrera) ability to paint the future. It’s probably the most powerful ability anyone could ever want, and also extremely volatile.
And that’s where Claude comes in to teach Peter to control his power to the point where he can use ANY power just by remembering the people he meets. Oh, and by the way, if Peter doesn’t learn, he goes nuclear and destroys New York... which would suck.
But Peter wasn’t even in this episode! Last we saw, in Episode 14, he fell thirty stories and was impaled on a piece of metal. Then he got up, ripped himself free, and healed himself, renewing my love for the show.
And now he’s gone, and I’m sad.
Episode 16, “Unexpected” is expected to give us the long-awaited death of one of the main heroes. I’m calling it right now... it’s Simone. So let’s all hope that next time, they remember that Hiro may be powerful, but Peter has the best story. And if I don’t see Peter and Claude next episode, I will officially challenge Tim Kring to a cage match.