3 posts tagged “nbc”
Okay, I admit it -- I watched all 23 episodes of freshman NBC show Heroes this year, despite it being a pretty damn stupid show. How stupid?
"Hi. I'm evil. How can you tell? I wear horn-rimmed glasses!"
"Hi. I'm a hot woman who's also a serial killer. Because dudes love hot women who are also serial killers!"
"Hi! I am non-threatening Asian stereotype! My voice high and squeaky to not upset American rednecks!"
Yeah, pretty fucking stupid a lot of the time, is what I'm trying to get at. That said, though, the show does have some things going for it, which is why I ended up watching the entire season...
--The pacing of the plot is amazing -- easily one of the fastest-moving action shows in the history of television.
--Not to mention, they were able to create enough plot to keep the show moving that fast in the first place, something that would probably give the producers of "Lost" an apoplectic attack.
--They hired actual well-known comic-book artists to create all the cartoony visuals associated with the show. Even better, they worked an interesting element into the plot that explains why several different artists were all painting the same scenes over the course of the season. (See, the cartoons are actually visual interpretations of futurist visions; and over the course of the season, three different characters ended up with the ability to foresee the future, each of whom made their own paintings of upcoming events that were slightly different than the others'.)
--They actually finished season 1's storyline by the end of the final episode, something else it wouldn't hurt the producers of "Lost" to pay attention to. And man, it's hard to beat that teaser for season 2 they added to the end of the finale, too.
So anyway, my congratulations to the cast and crew of "Heroes," for actually making it to the end of the season without getting canceled; if I've got my numbers correct, in fact, this makes the show the very first one to last an entire season, out of the 12 or so "We want a weirdo nerdy hit like 'Lost' too" shows that the American networks have put on the air over the last couple of years. Now, will you please hire some better fucking writers over the summer?!
I'm hanging out at home tonight, getting high and watching the latest three episodes of "Heroes," which NBC is re-running tonight in anticipation of new episodes starting again on Monday. (I'm recovering from oral surgery right now, which is why I'm doing something so pathetic with my Saturday night; that's my official story, and I'm sticking with it.) Anyway, thought I'd throw up smartass remarks about each episode as they happen in real time; if anyone else is following along and would like to add some smartass remarks themselves, just send them via ilikejason [at] gmail.com.
:10 -- See, now here's one of the things about this show that I like so much, that redeems it from the writing mistakes it's often making; how the pace of the plot is just out of control, yet they keep coming up with enough compelling story to let it continue to be that fast. A lot of other shows, I think, would've waited until the very last episode of the season before having Sylar (the big villain) and Suresh (the main hero) confront each other, and to tease that coming confrontation to within an inch of its life; the "Heroes" people, though, decided to buddy them up seven episodes before the end, by Sylar pretending to be another hero and Suresh not being any the wiser. That way, not only is the kill ratio sped up exponentially, but we have the delicious irony in the audience of knowing that Sylar is the bad guy, and that the good guy is palling around with him without knowing any better.
:21 -- By the way, nice to see that dude from Coach still getting work, even if it's an entirely pointless subplot regarding Hiro and Ando stumbling ass-backwards into a con job in Las Vegas.
:35 -- "You know what I'd do with us? I'd stick us in a lab on a deserted island in the middle of the ocean." Nice Lost reference!
:54 -- Well, okay, this wasn't as fun as I thought it would be. I think I'll put an end here to my Lost marathon experiment. Not a very fun show to live-blog to, it turns out.
Okay, okay! I freakin' watch that ridiculous NBC supernatural show Heroes every goddamn week, okay?! I am so fucking ashamed of myself for doing so, because I know the show contains just so many damn rookie artistic mistakes; I mean, seriously, giving your supposed villain horn-rimmed glasses? In 2007? Seriously? But there's just something about it, you know? Fans know what I'm talking about; something about the breakneck pacing, the deliberate hiring of cool underground graphic artists to create the show's backgrounds, and all the rest, that make it a thoroughly addictive and entertaining show from week to week. It's certainly a lot more reliable entertainment-wise than Lost, something that by all rights should get me branded as a bloody heretic (brutha).
Anyway, I'm still recovering here in Chicago from the first half of my oral surgery, and am just spending a lot of time at home these days, and have been smoking dope recently as well to help stave off all the pain and nausea and everything else. And NBC happens to be showing the last three episodes in a row of "Heroes" tonight, starting at 8pm Eastern / 7pm Central (or two hours from when I'm posting this), as promotion for the first new episode in something like a month and a half, which is finally airing the day after tomorrow. So I thought I'd just sit at home tonight and get good and baked, and watch these episodes again and live-blog my thoughts as the episodes air, as I've done at my blog before (most famously for my first-ever viewing of The Sound of Music, about six years ago, and then again for "Lost" last month that a lot of people seemed to get a kick out of).
I decided to do this so early, though, that I have time to invite people to live-blog with me if they're interested; either via online means (mutual blogs, IM/chat, etc), or if you're in Chicago, by just coming by and smoking some of my dope with me too. Anyway, if you're planning on watching the Heroes marathon yourself tonight, and feel like making real-time smartass comments along the way with me, just drop me a line at ilikejason [at] gmail.com and let me know. Like I said, IM might be the easiest way to do this, barring being in Chicago yourself and just stopping by.
