Dec 01 2008
Reality TV Glory at an End, and Heroes Still Drives Us Crazy
Media Life Magazine is reporting that the trend of All Reality, All the Time on broadcast TV may be at an end. Most returning reality shows from last season have experienced a substantial ratings slide, and some newer shows have been axed or put on hiatus. One can only hope. I think there are some enjoyable reality shows out there, like Dancing with the Stars, American Idol, and Amazing Race. The problem is the overabundance of trash that focuses on stupid people doing stupid things. That can end any day now, please. The bad news is that Media Life feels the genre, warts and all, is still alive and well, just more appropriate for cable. Perhaps that’s not such bad news–often after watching The Soup on E!, I marvel at the sheer number of purely insane reality shows I’ve never even heard of. Let them parade their Crazy on smaller stations where the viewers who are interested can find them, and we can just enjoy those particularly moronic bits that Joel McHale decides to show us on Friday nights.
Perhaps a slow fading out of reality will lead to more sitcoms–wait, quality sitcoms. Quality writing of some sort would be really appreciated. CBS seems to be the only one these days who can churn out a few clever and funny shows, like Big Bang Theory and Rules of Engagement.
In other slightly spoilery news, Heroes plays the shell game once again with tonight’s episode. Claire’s father once again see-saws back and forth between evil villian and loving father. Sylar takes his 12th 180 degree turn this season–it was nice to give him some complexity, but now they’re just making it up as they go along. Suresh still isn’t terribly likable, but at least there’s something of a chacter arc and his motivations have been fairly clear. Nathan Petrelli once again becomes the bonehead character, planning to join up with his manipulative and terrifying father because well, the old guy’s got “good ideas”. Verrry irritating, but in a way I guess it’s consistent with his character. He’s never been as deep as Peter, and is more easily manipulated.
This all points up a consistent problem with the second and third seasons of Heroes. The whole point of having a show called Heroes is to have characters to cheer for, and who you want to triumph against evil. As it stands, most of the characters have turned dark, or irritating, or stubbornly boneheaded. The relief came in this episode with delightfully amusing guest star turns from Seth Green and Breckin Meyer, and a return of Optimist Hiro and Supportive Ando. Finally a cheer-worthy scene when Hiro zaps himself in to a crucial moment to once again: Save the Cheerleader. Even Parkman’s been back to his lovable everyman-ness, which is an improvement. So some of the show is working, like the intriguing powers-zapped-by-eclipse event, but I would prefer some more of the story moving forward–rather than continual machinations that seem to get us nowhere. It’s all getting as lost as Lost.
Watch Heroes on Monday at 9pm Eastern/8pm Central, on NBC.
