NBC announced their new, year-round schedule yesterday. It was a case of great news, bad news for two shows I enjoy.

The good news–Friday Night Lights (the best show on TV outside of Battlestar Galactica) will be back next year officially.

The bad news–Journeyman is officially gone. Sorry, but I can’t see how people can get so caught up in the poorly-executed Heroes and overlook how wonderfully complex, compelling and rewarding Journeyman was. Of course, I also don’t get why people watch American Idol either…

Heroes: The Line
As I watched “The Line” I kept shaking my head in stark disbelief at all the bad choices this show is making. It’s amost as if you said, “How can they make this show any worse?” and the producers decided to show us.

Basically, we’ve reverted back to season one’s plotlines. Peter doesn’t understand his powers, Sylar is evil and if we don’t stop what’s going on, the world will end. Or at least New York City

I could almost accept the re-treads if the characters didn’t all do incredibly bone-headed things that made me want to throw things at the television. Let’s start with Mohinder, whose intelligence and common-sense is on a sliding scale based on what the current scene needs. One second he’s defying the Company and throwing a chair into the refrigerator that contains the virus (a bone-headed move if I’ve seen one since doesn’t that release the virus?!?) and saying he’s leaving, only to see him still there a scene or two later, talking about working for the greater good. It’s a real headscratcher, that’s for sure. Then, you’ve got Sylar who has a monologue on his evil nature to the non-English speaking half of the Wonder Twins. Which brings up the whole question of why does one half of the Wonder Twins speak English so well and the other doesn’t. Oh wait..I forgot. It’s called lazy writing. And then we’ve got Peter, who is re-treading his whole arc from last year and not very well.

It’s enough to make you scream. Were it not for the hope of seeing Kristen Bell in the next epsiode, I’d honestly give up on this one. Though another part of me is curious to see how Hiro’s story plays out. But I’m sure no matter what kind of big twist the producers thing they have in mind, it will be totally predictable, something we’ve seen before and ultimately disappointing.

Bionic Woman: The Education of Jamie Sommers
I keep wanting to love this show. It teased me with the third episode, almost as if it were saying, “Ha, ha…look at how good we could be, if we wanted to.” The thing is, the show does just enough to keep my interest up until we get to the big change at producer and bringing in the writers from Friday Night Lights. I believe that changeover happens soon, though I am discouraged that Glen Morgan’s leaving might take Darren Morgan with him. Darren Morgan’s X-Files episodes were all brilliant. I’d love to see him write an episode or two here.

But back to Bionic. One thing that bugs me is how easily the sister angle is shoved aside for the sake of the plot. The past four episodes, every time Jamie is given an assignment, she brings up her responsiblity to care for her sister. Here she’s given the chance to go undercover and it’s not mentioned ever. Instead, Jamie heads to campus and meets the hot T.A. who may or may not be the bad-guy. He turns out not to be, but we suspect him for a long time.

But in between those rather pedestrian moments, we have some better stuff to tease us. The show seems to be trying to embrace the whole Jamie struggles to reconcile her want for a normal life with the new-found powers and responsiblity she has. I could say this was all better done on Buffy, but I promised myself I wouldn’t do that…oh wait. Anyway, the whole plot of Jamie going to college, having a normal life and proving she could succeed in the tract she wanted to pursue was a nice touch. Yes, it didn’t till a lot of new ground but I still liked it and it was these scenes where the show worked best.

Friday Night Lights: Backfire, Let’s Get It On
Meanwhile, I continue to love just about every last second of Friday Night Lights. Well, every last second that isn’t somehow directly about Landry killing the man attacking Trya and the two covering it up. Those scenes just seem to bring the whole thing to screeching halt every week. And I find it interesting that this overly melodramatic plotline is the one that is highlighted in the previews every week. NBC, this may be the reason new fans aren’t tuning in. I’m not sure how you highlight the other plots, but there’s got to be some guy making a lot more money than I will in the promo department who could do it.

That said, I still like where the storyline has taken the characters (again when we’re not obsessing about it and the details like the watch). Anything that gives Landry more screen time is good in my book and man, have they been making good use of it. This week’s episode where Landry becomes the unlikely hero was nicely done. Seeing him soak in the adoration of the fans and his name being chanted by the crowd was nice. And in the midst of that, Trya dumps him so he can’t even really savor the moment. (I loved how Landry’s father goes to Trya and warns her away from his son. The statement of “Landry has never lied to me, but he did now” was great).

Meanwhile, Eric Taylor is trying to get things back in order in Dillon. I’m hoping the show doesn’t go the same route as Voo-Doo last year with the terminated coach. When he shows up and points out he has a family too and that he’ll see Eric again, I have to admit I liked the moment. And I also said, “Please let’s not have them meet in the playoffs.” Maybe if they met in a pivotal game that might work better. But I have a bad feeling we could repeat what we saw last year.

That said, seeing Eric try to get back in the swing of things was nicely done–both at home and as the head coach. The scene in the office talking about getting back in the saddle was hysterical and I love how both parties played it. It’s scenes like that that make me love this show.

And we’re seeing a different side to Matt Scarcen. He’s growing up, becoming more assertive and a leader. I believe that is why he’s clashed with Smash and I loved seeing him tell Julie he wouldn’t go with her to the concert because he was too mad at her. I’m intrigued to see where all of this goes.

The Simpsons: Treehouse of Horror XVIII
Anyone remember when the segments on the annual Halloween episodes, oh I don’t know, had something to do with Halloween?!? Of the three here, only one of them had anything remotely to do with Halloween. I’d love to hear why a Mr. and Mrs. Smith parody is thrown in as part of the Halloween episode. I guess whenever season 19 comes out on DVD, we’ll hear that on the commentary. Other than that, I have to say this was a disappointing Treehouse of Horror.

Heroes: Fight or Flight
Heroes is trying hard to break out of this slump they’re in.

They’re not succeeding.

This week, we completely waste the talents of Kristen Bell, who shows up as Elle. Or as I call her, let’s rip off Angel’s Gwen Raiden.

Part of my issue with this show is that characters do stupid things. Elle is making it so obvious she’s hunting Peter and then is easily called off. Who’s the mysterious father on the other end of the phone? At this point, it’s hard to muster much interest.

Meanwhile, Parkman and Nathan head out to find Parkman’s dad. Now, we’ve got evidence that he’s done something to Molly and he ran out on Parkman years ago. But when we find him, we suddenly are in a trusting mood….so much so that the guy pulls the wool over our eyes and traps us in some kind of vision, where we face our great fears. Genius move there guys…genius.

Then, you’ve got Mohinder, who for a genius is not exactly long on common sense. At this point, the Company has to be incredibly stupid to NOT know he’s working against them. He brings in Molly, which seems the dumbest idea ever. Then, Nikki goes all crazy and not ten seconds later he’s trying to help her escape. Yes because a group as secretive as the Company wouldn’t have monitoring systems.

Oh, it just makes me head hurt sometimes the bone-headed moves this show expects us to swallow.

I know, I know it’s a comic book for TV. But I’ve read comic books and while characters do make mistakes and are fallible, they’re not ever this clueless.

I keep hoping for one positive, one storyline that compels me. The Hiro storyline is almost that and I find myself wanting to fast-forward through the other stuff to see it. I should’ve done that this week, watching those five minute and missing the other parts that proving pointless.

I guess in the good news category I can say we didn’t see the Wonder Twins.

When that’s the most positive thing I can say about an episode, you know something is wrong.

Friday Night Lights: Thank Goodness It’s Friday Night
In one scene, we see exactly why Buddy Garrity is a success as a salesman. The meeting with Eric Taylor isn’t going well. So far, Eric isn’t biting on any of the reasons Buddy has thrown out to sell Eric that Dillon needs him to come back. And just as Eric is looking to head out, Buddy plays hardball. He plays the family card and suddenly, Eric is looking for where to sign to come back to Dillon.

And the thing is–Buddy needed to play that card. Yes, it’s ironic that Buddy would play the card of “Hey, your family is falling apart without you” on Eric since we saw Buddy’s entire family crash around him last year and we’re still seeing it. But if there’s a person who knows the telltale signs of a family in trouble, it’d be Buddy. It’s sort of like when people ask me for relationship wisdom knowing I’m divorced…I know the signs that you’re headed to a danger zone having lived through them.

Because the Taylor household is falling apart. Tammy is losing it, Julie is rebelling and baby Gracie…well, baby Gracie may be the most stable one under the Taylor roof. If anything, Eric needs to come back or at least insist his family come to Austin. But if he doesn’t come back to Dillon, then the show wouldn’t be nearly as interesting.

So, Eric buys what Buddy is selling…and we’ll see where it goes.

It left me very excited for next week. This episode as a whole left me eager for more. The team is falling apart, imploding from within. The new coach is hyping Smash, though from what I’ve seen here, it’s just Smash being Smash. I’m not sure where all the resentment from Matt is stemming from since we haven’t seen Smash be any worse than he was last year. But to see Matt go after him and punch him on the field was interesting. One of the moments where you keep wanting to look away, but somehow you just can’t.

Meanwhile, the decision to have more Landry is continuing to pay dividends. This week, he and Tyra enter into a relationship of sorts. I am loving the family focus of the plotline this week, with his dad wondering what Tyra is doing with his son. The scene at Applebees was one of those great ones that this show is so good at. On one level, Dad’s there to look out for his son, but on another level, he’s trying to figure out the attraction. I wondered if Dad figures Landry pawned his watch to afford dating Tyra or to buy her presents. That said, I’m still not liking how obvious they’re making the whole “Landry’s watch is missing” angle.

There are so many great subplots on this show, it’s hard to address them all. I did like the way the Riggins storyline has played out, with him seeking some kind of meaning for his life. And Jason’s decision to go to Mexico. Best line of the show was Herc’s line about Jason becoming a cliche.

I love this show.

Heroes: The Kindness of Strangers
Did the writers for House infilitrate the writers’ room over at Heroes? If you watch House, you know his mantra is “Everybody lies” and that sure seemed to be what everyone was doing this week on Heroes.

HRG is lying to the family, Claire is lying to HRG about the new guy in her life and Mama Patrelli is lying, claiming she committed the murder of Hiro’s dad in the season-premiere. And I’ll bet you dollars to doughnuts that Claire’s new boyfriend isn’t all he seems. He’s pushing too hard to get her to trust him and it seems fairly obvious he’s got some other agenda.

I could jump on the band-wagon and say this show is in a sophomore slump. But really, it’s been limping since the big episode focusing on HRG last year.

At this point, I could care less if we ever see the Wonder Twins ever again. Are they travelling across the entire South and Central American contintent to come to America. And why is nothing new happening with them? In case you missed it the first three weeks, Maya goes all Andromeda Strain and her brother is some kind of cure. And they’re coming to America to find the deceased Dr. Soresh. And now they’ve picked up Sylar, who is probably licking his chops to absord that power to go Andromeda Strain. The sheer level of coincidence to this storyline just strained my already stretched thin willing suspension of disbelief. A couple of questions here. I’m guessing Sylar figured that one or both of the Wonder Twins have some ability based on their interest in Dr. Soresh. I’ll buy that. But did Sylar kill everyone at the road side gas station? I clearly saw an older woman sitting in a chair in an establishing shot. But we only saw Sylar take out the American car owner. I’m guessing Sylar had to go on a killing rampage otherwise the police would soon be on their trail.

Meanwhile, we meet Nikki’s cousin who also has a power. Apparently anything she sees done on TV she can imitate. If I were the government, I’d have her watching repeats of Star Trek right now to get on that transporter thing. We saw Scotty, Geordi and a host of other engineers repair it…maybe she can figure it out and build us one. I will give this storyline a bit of credit. When the manager asked the girl to lock up early, I figured she’d be using her cool new wrestling moves to fight him off. Thankfully, the show didn’t go there.

The problem with this season of Heroes continues to be–too many characters, not enough focus. I’m guessing the writers think we all love Claire and can’t get enough of her. She’s an interesting enough character, I suppose, but it feels like she and HRG are getting more than their fair share of screen time. They’re the only two characters who have been in all four episodes this year apart from the Wonder Twins. And it feels like this storyline is just going back over ground we covered last year. Claire doesn’t trust HRG and he is hiding things from the family. Been there, done that, go the t-shirt.

I read somewhere that the big problem with Heroes this year is coming up with something to top the save the world plot of last year. And looking at it, I kind of have to agree. After you save the world, what’s next? OK, sure Buffy did it a lot, but that show was also more grounded in compelling characters and crisp writing. Heroes is entirely plot driven and about building toward a goal…though what the goal is this year, I’m not sure. The mystery of who is behind the murders of the original Heroes isn’t really seizing my interest. Up until now, Mama Patrelli has been a witch and the only intriguing figure in the original crew that held my interest was killed off in the season premiere. There may be some interest in the fact that Parkman’s dad ay be the big bad, this this plotline needs to get moving if you’re going to sell me on the fact that it’s anywhere nearly as good a driving force as the whole “save the cheerleader, save the world” thing from last year.

Reaper: All Mine, Magic
Four episodes in and my biggest concern about Reaper is coming to fruition–it’s become formulaic.

So far, here’s what we can count on. Sam get an assignment from the Devil, including a vessel. Sam has to figure out how to use the vessel, who the soul is and then capture the soul and send it back to hell. Along the way, something will go wonky with the vessel and Sam’s initial encounter with the soul won’t go well. He’ll figure it all out in the nick of time, but his whole life as the personal assistant for Satan will ruin his life–both social and otherwise.

Now, the good news is that at least Reaper is trying to cover this by having the character interaction be fun and entertaining. You could bump up the interaction between Sam and the Devil to half the show and I wouldn’t mind.

And it’s interesting to see the tensions between Andi and Sam. The last two weeks, Andi has basically thrown herself at Sam and he’s pretty much spurned her advances. Not because he’s not interested but because his life as the Reaper is getting in the way. And since he won’t confess his secret identity to Andy, that’s getting in the way. For those of you keeping score at home, that’s just about every season of Smallville rolled into one. Which it’s OK now but this could get old very fast. Either Reaper has to have Sam confess who he is to Andi or watch her move on to someone else and see Sam suffer for it.

Wait, we sort of got that last week..but it was all easily resolved by episode’s end.

And we’ve seen just how far the Devil will go to help or hurt Sam. Last week he shut down the college Andi wanted to attend to keep her close to Sam. This week, he lured her to the magic show to trap Sam into going after the soul. Andi as a pawn in the game between Sam and the Devil could be interesting. That said, if the Devil keeps showing up in Andi’s life and she doesn’t get a clue that he’s more than he seems, I could be annoyed.

So, while I’m frustrated by the formula nature of the monster of the week stories, I still like the characters. Watching Sam try to find a loophole in the contract was nicely done and the scene where the Devil sent the semi to keep Sam in line was also a treat.

Reaper has a lot of potential to it. I just hope it can break the mold and start breaking some new ground.

Lizard, Kindred
It’s not a good sign when three episodes into it second season, Heroes is treading the same ground it did in season one. This week’s episode felt like a lot re-treaded plotlines were coming to light. In one episode, we see Claire go from trusting her father to not trusting him again. Wait, didn’t we spend a couple of episodes with this last year? Yes, I think we did….when he first wiped everyone’s memories using the Haitian Sensation.

Meanwhile, Heroes is borrowing liberally from other genre shows and mediums. Of course, this show owes a huge debt to X-Men, both the comics and movies. And while it’s inevitable there will be some similar elements between the two universes, the obvious borrowing is beginning to show. The biggest example is the borrowing of the “potential cure” for those with powers plotline that has been set in motion. Is the Company’s real agenda to find a way to kill or cure those with powers? It seems that way and I find it hard to believe that Mohinder is such an unwitting pawn in those plans.

Then, we’ve got the Peter’s lost his memory storyline. For one thing, this one seems to be following the standard “amnesia” storyline. Hero wakes up, with no memory of his past but still able to use his abilities or whatever makes him “different” at various points. The show is hoping to show us that Peter is essentially the same guy, memories or not. Sort of like what Superman II by stripping Superman of his powers or what Doctor Who did last season with the “Human Nature” storyline. We keep seeing elements of what makes the characters special in how they react and interact with the world, despite lacking their “powers.” But the thing that makes these plotlines work in these universes is that we care about the characters. And if I suspect that what’s in the box isn’t just Peter’s ID but somehow his memories, it’s a blatant borrowing from the much-superior Doctor Who storyline. (And since that was an adaptation of a novel written a decade ago, you can’t tell me it’s just a coincidence…)

I think the show should have had the courage to kill off Peter and leave him dead.

Because the biggest issue this show has right now is that it has far too many characters and storylines competing for attention. So many that it can’t get to them all each week. Well, unless it’s Peter running around shirtless. Seriously, that guy loses his shirt more than Captain Kirk did.

We’ve got the Wonder Twins in Mexico, who every time they come on screen, my eyes glaze over. I keep muttering, “Just get to America, already.” I get it Heroes…..the girls powers are bad and she needs her brother to counteract it. I got it the first time, I got it last week and I sure got it this week. We’re not going anywhere with this and it feels like its treading water, waiting for something. I’m not quite sure what that is, but hopefully they’ll get across the border soon and we can start having this plot go somewhere.

Then we’ve got Peter, whose storyline is derivative. Plus I don’t quite buy that he’s so quickly earned the trust of the Irish family so quickly. One second they’re beating the stuffing out of him over the lost iPods (and is there really that big a black market for them?!?) and the next he’s welcomed in the family for helping out during the robbery. Huh?!? Sure, he read the thoughts of Malcolm Reed (the actor’s character on Enterprise) and warned them….but is that really enough to allowed to roam freely now? And the whole “But what if I was a bad person before?” thing….ugh! How bad soap opera can you really get?

And then there’s the promised and much hyped return of Sylar. But it’s Sylar without his powers and without the ability to take others. At least for now. I will give the show some credit that having him seriously wounded and having to spend a good bit of time recovering was nicely done. But I don’t get the logic of whoever saved him, sending someone with powers to help his recover. Gee, did anyone else see Sylar eating her brain coming? Maybe this is why your conspiracy is failing, guys. You’re just not putting in the thought you need to this.

If you can sense I’m frustrated with the show, you’re right. It is going no where quickly.

The only plotline that even holds my interest right now is Hiro’s. And that probably has more to do with the unbridled enthusiasm that Masi Oka brings to playing Hiro than anything else. He just seems to be having fun with the role and it shows on screen. Though, that said, I hope we don’t see Ando getting notes from past-Hiro every week. It was nice this week, though a bit contrived. And his decision to stay in the past….well, we’ll see where this goes.

The thing is, last year when this show was doing well, it was because it narrowed the focus. And it seems to be forgetting that. I feel like we need a scorecard to keep up with all the plots. I’m hoping this will all lead to something and soon since I’ve heard the show is being written in blocks this year. Either that or bring back Christopher Eccleston because his character rocked. Or call in Joss Whedon to help make sense of this mess…

Right now this show is horribly off-track…and it needs to figure out what it is, where it’s going and what it wants to be. Soon.

At last, the first TV Round-Up of the fall season…..

Chuck: Pilot
Saw this one early thank to the wonder of the Internet and I have to admit, I liked it. Yes, the first half was a bit slow as we set up Chuck’s world and the situation, but the last half of it was a lot of fun. Of course, being the Firefly fan that I am, any time you employ a former Firefly actor, I’m contractually obligated to tune in (well, except for Desparate Housewives…cause even my fandom for Nathan Fillion doesn’t go THAT far). Adam Baldwin was great in this episode and I hope the poor guy gets a series that runs a full season or more. Meanwhile, I will admit the solution on how to difuse the bomb was a bit obvious based on the first few minutes of the episode (anyone else not shocked that Chuck downloaded the virus to kill the computer?), but overall it was a fun show and one I’m willing to give a chance.

Heroes: Four Months Later
Can we say “product placement” boys and girls? Nissan sponsors the limited commerical interruption of the first hour of the second season only to have the obligatory, “Here, have a cool Nissan” scene dropped in as Claire gets her new-car from HRG. Which when that’s the most memorable and exciting part of the first half of the show, you know something is seriously wrong.

Maybe I’m not you average Heroes fan, but I find it a bit absurd that the first ten or so minutes of last year’s season finale and this year’s season premiere are nothing more than “summing up what we’ve already seen.” I’m guessing most people on the planet have heard of this show by now and know the basic premise–what with the unrelented promotion of the show all summer long. So, to have this re-cap….kind of a waste of valuable screen time in my book.

And then, the rest of the first half is kind of a “let’s catch up on where we’ve all been for four months.” Only done in the least interesting way possible….seriously, could someone send over a copy of every Buffy season premiere ever done to show how you interestingly and quickly cover a time-gap without boring the audience to tears? Or maybe Heroes should beg Joss Whedon to come write for the show….cause damn that would be awesome.

Anyway, after the plodding first half, things pick up a bit–and you can pretty much identify that point as “When George Takai shows up.” Things start to get interesting and we see what the threat for this year will be–the past is catching on the original members of the Company. Interesting to see that someone inside is intent on taking out original members while HRG, Parkman and Mohinder seem to want to expose and bring down the company. (On a related note, how does HRG afford a nice house in LA and a new car for Claire working at the equivalent of Kinko’s?!?) I]m going to call it right now that the evil person skulking about is a Patrelli–either Momma or the much-referenced-but-never-seen Papa Patrelli. And it’s a shame they had to kill of George Takai’s character since he was one of my (few) favorites on the show. But with Hiro in the past and able to jump around in time, maybe we’ll see him again.

Oh and one last thing–I think the effect of coming with a killer cliffhanger every week are showing. Last year that was the show’s big strength…this year they’re 0 for 1…that first one was not exactly compelling, jaw dropping or edge of your seat.

Reaper: Pilot
Get over the fact that it’s on CW and just watch this show. I believe the pilot re-airs tonight and tomorrow. So you really need to do yourself a favor and watch or tape it in one of the showings. Well, maybe not watch tonight becuase you really need to check out the series-premiere of Bionic Woman, which is awesome…

But back to Reaper.

Basic premise: Slacker-guy works at this show’s equivalent of Home Depot with his best friend and the cute-girl he’s got a crush on (and she may like him as well). On his 21st b’day, weird stuff starts happening and he finds out his parents sold his soul to the devil, whose come to collect. Only he’s not on the one-way ticket to hell….seems hell is overcrowded and souls are escaping. Our hero is tasked with being Satan’s bounty-hunter and, well, it goes from there.

I have this odd feeling this show will suffer the same fate Buffy did in terms of trying to recruit fans–people scoffing at the premise. But that said, once you accept the premise, this show is a huge amount of fun. The scene where our two slacker buddies sit and wait for the Dust Buster given to them by Satan to recapture the first lost soul to recharge was a riot. And this show is full of funny moments like that. And Ray Wise as Satan….hysterical.

A great cast, good writing and the first episode is directed byKevin Smith. Definitely worth a look and I think I’ll be keeping up with this one for the few first weeks of the season.

Heroes: How to Stop an Exploding Man
Note to the producers of Heroes–if you’re going to go out and promise a memorable season finale, then maybe you ought to do something silly like, oh I don’t know, deliver a memorable season finale.

Sorry, but this one wasn’t worth the hype, at all.

The first half hour was too slow. We spent the first ten minutes recapping what had gone on all season on the off-chance a new fan wandered by, I guess. I hate to tell you guys this, but I don’t think the show was going to pick up any new fans for the finale. And the bits and pieces you included here weren’t going to be inclusive enough to bring these new fans and really up to speed. Instead, it just wasted precious screen-time and left this season-long viewer feeling a bit put off by the Cliff Notes of everything we’ve seen until now.

Then, the second half-hour, when all the pieces began to fall into place. All the heroes cross paths at Kirby Plaza for the ultimate battle with Sylar–and it lasts under a minute. For some reason, I just expected something more epic based on what the show had promised all season up to now, not just a few fisticuffs and Sylar being stabbed in the gut by Hiro’s sword. And then, as if to add insult to injury, he appears to die only to slink off down a sewer–and none of the assembled gang seems to notice this. So, he’s still alive and can come back next year.

I think what happened is the stories made Sylar so powerful that it really limited the writers in how he could be defeated. I am reminded of the dilemma TNG faced with the Borg back in the early days when the Borg were terrifying, scary and virtually unstoppable. Same thing here–Sylar is so powerful that any way of defeating him would feel hollow. And it did here. And I can’t honestly say I’m too hopeful for next year with him still skulking about.

Meanwhile, it turns out Peter is the exploding man and the future is not set in stone. Nathan shows up and both fly off before Peter explodes. Or releases his power. Does this mean both of them are dead? And could that resolution have been any more anti-climatic? And predictable? And filled with REALLY bad dialogue? I kept rolling my eyes during the entire exchage that was supposed to touch our hearts but instead was just stomach churningly bad.

And then, the cliffhanger. It’s interesting to see that the second volume is called “Generations” and I hope it will explore people with powers throughout history and how it’s all lead to what we’re seeing today. But I wonder if next year will waste all of its build-up and potential like this year’s season finale did.

This has to be one of the more disappointing season finales I’ve seen in a long time…all build-up and hype and no pay-off. Bad job, Heroes. You’re not leaving me any anticipation or excitement for next season.

Well, at least George Takai was still cool…but that’s really about it.

Bring back Christopher Eccleston! The show hasn’t been the same without him.

Lost: Through the Looking Glass
If you want to see a season finale that pretty much does everything right, look no further than Lost’s mind-bending season-finale that could, possibly, change the entire game. Not since Battlestar Galactica jumped forward a year have I been this eager to see where a show goes next….

I know a few months ago I stated I’d be happy to never see a Jack-related flashback again. I could eat my words, but instead I’ll take the loophole–it wasn’t a flashback, but a flashforward of a potential future we saw unfolding. I had guessed it was either looking into the future or an alternate reality we were seeing, but I liked where it took us. From the beginning, we’ve seen that Jack has had some kind of Superman-complex–he wants to save people. He tries to save his father, he tries to save Sarah and he’s interested in saving Kate. I’d even say that on some level the attraction to Juliet is that he feels he can save her–possibly from Ben and the island. The interesting thing is, the harder Jack tries to save everyone around him, the more he loses them. He also loses himself, sinking into a depression and despair when separated from the island.

In a lot of ways, Jack away from the island becomes House–acerbic and popping pain pills. When we first see him, he’s suicidal, only pulled back from the edge by a twist of fate. I found it interesting how reminiscent of Sarah’s accident the whole scene on the bridge was–as was Jack’s apparent obsession with saving the woman injured in the accident.

Just as I’m curious about how long in the past the flashbacks take place, I’m now curious how far into the future we flash-forwarded. And was it real or just a potential future? And how did Kate manage to avoid jail time? And is she now married to Sawyer? And could she have looked any less attractive in the make-up they gave her? (Or was that part of the point?)

Meanwhile, back on the island, things continue to unfold and we’re left with a lot more questions. It appears Penny is not behind this latest rescue effort, despite what the parachute girl claims. So, who is behind the effort? Is it the Dharma Initiative? Did Ben and the Others somehow mask the island so they couldn’t find it? (Doesn’t seem likely since it’d be hard to move an entire island, but then again the real world rules don’t always apply to this show.) Is Dharma seeking to get some kind of revenge for Ben and the Others murdering all their people on the island? Or is this some other group that is following up on Dharma’s work here with their own sinister motive?

It also appears Ben has lost control of the Others. He’s a prisoner now (again) of the Losties. Has he been playing the two sides against each other for whatever purpose he has? And will that come to light now that the two sides can and might talk without his interference?

All that and we haven’t even addressed how wonderfully realized the sacrifice Charlie made was. A nicely done moment for the show and it shows how you can kill off a favorite character in a way that is moving and services the on-going plot.

And Locke–he talked to Walt! Walt appeared for some reason…though that surprise was ruined by the opening credits crawl.

Which Locke’s healing brings up an interesting question–since it appears the island has some healing powers, how injured is too injured? We’ve seen Shannon, Boone, Charlie and Eko die–but are they really dead? Or are they buried alive because no one realized the island could and was healing them? Maybe it takes longer for them to heal based on the extent of their injuries. It’s a possiblity….

And somehow in two hours, just about every character gets a moment or two. Oh and they need to make Rose and Bernard regulars immediately.

All that and the whole silly van plotline from early this year comes into play. Loved Hurley driving it and running down the Others. It also added to the Hurley storyline where he wants to feel like he’s part of the group and contributing.

This is how you do a season finale. It entertained me, it introduced some great new elements to the show and it left me wanting more. Congratulations Lost–you have me again, fully and completely.

January 2008 is going to be awesome–Battlestar and Lost return. I cannot wait….

Heroes: “The Hard Part” & “Landslide”
It’s a two-for-one deal here since I got a bit behind on Heroes.

As the deadline to stop whoever destroys New York looms (at this point it has to be either Peter or Sylar), the dramatic intensity picks up a good deal. The ticking clock is there in the background, though it’s not quite as evident as on, say, 24. Threads from the entire season are coming together and it’s been fairly entertaining the past two weeks, though I’ll have to admit the best parts have been surrounding Hiro, esp. in “Landslide.”

What I’ve really enjoyed about the past two episodes is how it’s thrown our character expectations for a loop. We expect Hiro’s dad to be some kind of bad-guy, but here he helps Hiro train for his quest to destroy Sylar. And when Hiro finds out Ando has gone after Sylar alone and this will lead to his death, Dad looks upset by this. But I wonder if the bed-time story we heard in a flashback will have to come to fruition–will Hiro have to sacrifice his “heart” (aka Ando) in order to stop Sylar? And knowing how he turns to out in the future, will Hiro be able to avoid the same mistakes? I have to wonder if the future Hiro is trying to change is too big to change…he can change a few small details, but overall the big picture may not change that much. And as much as I hate to say it, I have to wonder if the destruction of New York might not bring about something good–yes, it’s a great evil, but what if instead of rallying around to destroy the heroes, the country rallied around for the greater good?

And then we have Bennett, who started out the bad guy, has become an anti-hero of sorts and then this week we see him willing to kill Molly to protect Claire. And the guy did kill Eric Roberts character in cold blood…so the ends to justify the means for him. It should be interesting to see where and how this all plays out.

Because it certainly feels as though everyone here has some kind of destiny and we’re running toward it–whether they can avoid it or not.

Of course, looking at the episodes, it was fairly easy to figure out how Linderman could assure Nathan of the landslide win. But what did catch my attention was that Michah seemed drained by the experience. I wonder if there is a limit to how much he influencing of computer systems he can do. Have we seen others needs to “recharge” after an extensive use of their powers? Could they be drained to the point of exhaustion and possibly beyond?

And poor ol’ DL, we hardly knew him. He sacrifices himself but still gets to kill Linderman. Of course, with the healing power Linderman has, I do wonder if he’s really going to stay dead for long.

That said, I do have some criticisms. I enjoy disliking Sylar and I didn’t really think the attempt to have us understand him was all that effective. Can’t we just have a villian these days that we enjoy disliking because they’re evil? I’m think Darth Vader before the latest trilogy….it was just fun to not like the guy becuase he was such a powerful bad-ass.

Also, could Hiro freeze time and train with his father? If so, why not do that? If there’s a clock ticking of two days in which he has to take out Sylar, why not take advantage of all your advantages? Or would the use of his power somehow draw Sylar to him faster? Is part of the power Sylar has absorbed the ability to find other Heroes? It is obviously not quite the same as Molly’s power, but can you imagine how dangerous and lethal Sylar becomes if he gets that power? If I were the powers that be, I’d be just as worried about him finding that power as absorbing Claire’s.

Which all leads to multiple cliffhangers that I assume will all be resolved in the next hour. One thing this show does well–it leaves you wanting more.

24: Day Six, 3 -4 a.m.
At least when they kidnapped Kim Bauer and she got all whiny about it, we got to watch Elisha Cuthbert be whiny and pouty. (In my book, all good). This time on the season of greatest hits, we get Josh kidnapped and acting all whiny and pouty. Not nearly as entertaining and a whole lot more annoying.

Call me cruel, but why didn’t Jack keep pursuing Chang or at least shoot in the leg to prevent escape? I mean, Josh could hold on a few more seconds and not plummet to his death (please don’t let him die…I can’t handle seeing Rena Sofer try to do grief!) while Jack makes sure that he keeps our country from going to war.

Which is what this all comes down to–we have to stop World War III from occurring….even if we have to lie, cheat and steal to do it. Alas, the Russians have good counter intelligence and figure out we’re faking them out. Man, who didn’t see that one coming?

So now Phillip Buaer has all the power. And we’re left wondering what his overall agenda is. He wants to go to China…he sells nukes to terrorists. Surely this guy is some kind of enemy of the state, but he’s got the White House on speed dial? Ummmmmmmmmmmm, yeah…ohkay then.

I’m trying to apply rules of logic to this show that just won’t work…I’ve got to stop doing that.

That said, the few minutes Jack is taking on the Chinese were pretty cool. As for the rest…well, at this point, we’re playing out the string and I’m hoping season seven is good.

Other than that, I got nothing.

Lost: The Brig
An interetsing thought occurred to me during the close moments of this week’s Lost. Is Locke now to our group of castaways what Ben is to the Others?

It’s not that Locke necessarily has the authority Ben does with the group, but with Locke’s pulling of strings and manipulation of Sawyer to do his dirty work, Locke took some very Ben-like tactics to get what he wanted. Locke read a file, figured out how Sawyer could help him and then manipulated events in order to get Sawyer and his dad together.

Also, Locke seems to playing his own game with the castaways. He warns Sawyer that the Others are coming in three days to take the women who are pregnant and reveals that Juliet is betraying them all. He even goes so far as to give Sawyer proof of Juliet’s duplicitious ways, which brings up the interesting question–just how did Locke get hold of the tape recorder. I can’t see Ben letting it out of his sight for very long, esp. in packing up for whatever trip they’re on. Is the end of the journey for the Others the beach to take Sun, Kate and whoever else may or may not be pregnant.

And should Locke come back to the beach after he finishes his personal walkabout, will what he’s done be understood? Or will he now become like Jack, who is viewed with skepticism and doubt about where his true loyalties are.

That, of course, leads to another question–is Jack in on it. It seems he and Juliet have some kind of plan or scheme going…at least that much was hinted to Kate when Kate ran to tell him about the new girl who had shown up in camp. I wonder why everyone took Kate into their confidence….did they hope she’d run to Jack and tell him? And it seems as if Jack and Juliet know about the rescue attempt or aren’t suprised by it…so what do they know? Is the ship somehow there for them? Are they being selfish in hoping that only they can leave the island, thus leaving everyone else to their fates?

And is everyone really dead and we’re just in purgratory or hell? Somehow that seems a bit too easy, but if it is perguatory, it would tie into my theory of how everyone gets what they want, gets peace and then leaves the island.

Of course, we have to wonder if this peace has come for Locke through the death of his father, what else is there in Locke’s past that is holding him back from nirvana.

What I liked about this episode best was that it took the basic story structure–flashbacks that affect the current chapter–and it tweaked it enough to keep the formula interesting. Seeing a specific time-frame for the flashbacks was nice, as well as being given details to what had happened to Locke over the time we were away . Hitting the high points without a lot of other filler in there was nice (gee, if only they’d done this in the fall set of episodes). And I can see how this storytelling structure could work if they decided to use it for other castaways….

And I will give the writers credit–they didn’t make us wait two seasons for answers to questions about what Locke would do next. I was worried that this would be teased to us like the why was Locke in a wheelchair question was.

It feels like we’re moving and building toward something big….or maybe that’s just me catching the promos.

Heroes: Five Years Gone
“What if” episodes are nothing new in the sci-fi genre. Every show worth its salt has done one of those someone wakes up and the world is different kind of things.

One of the classic Doctor Who stories from the 70s created a situation where if not stopped, a scientific project will go awry and destory the world. And then, the show took us to a parallel universe where that happened before taking us back home. In doing so, the show upped the ante and the tension in the final few minutes as the Doctor raced against time to save the world.

Same thing here with Heroes. All season, we’ve known that our heroes have to stop the explosion from taking out New York. But here we see why that has to happen and I think that will lend a lot more dramatic tension to the end of the season as the group works to do this.

I did have some big questions left from it though–the biggest being how did Sylar manage to surive all those years without someone catching on that he wasn’t Nathan. I wondered how Parkman didn’t somehow read his mind and catch this, but maybe Sylar gained the power to block Parkman’s mind reading attempts. It was an interesting twist to see Nathan transform into Sylar, but like I said–lots of questions in my mind.

What did work is seeing how Hiro goes from wide-eyed, enthusiastic Hiro to the Hiro from the future who is battle weary and battle hardened. Having Ando around helped and you can’t help but think the guilt of losing two people he cared about in such a short span of time (Ando, the girl from the diner) might have been what sent him down the path. Also, we’ve seen Hiro needs Ando as a counterpoint, a way to keep him on the path toward his true destiny–whatever that is.

We also get to see how the other heroes have turned out–from where Bennett is. What was conspiciously absent (at least to me) was the Eric Roberts character…what was his role in the future that we saw?

I will give Heroes credit that this episode was a lot more entertaining than last week’s. Like I said, promising to blow up the world and then showing us what happens becuase of it is a nice trick. It should be interesting to see where the final three episodes of the season take us and just how much or little the heroes change this possible vision of what is to come…

Lost: D.O.C.
I know there are some fans out there who just love flashbacks to Sun and Jin, but if I never see another one again, it will be too soon. Wait, let me clarify that–if we never see a flashback of their relationship and/or marriage before they came to the island, I will be happy. Honestly, I think we’ve gone to this well one too many times now and its really starting to show.

So, Sun was being blackmailed by Jin’s prostitute mother who wasn’t even really certain if Jin’s father was really the father. Sun goes to her dad, asks for money to keep from embrarrassing her husband and gets Jin on the path toward being a bigger part of the family business. This path is what leads to the estrangement of their marraige and Sun sleeping with another guy who Jin later pursuades to throw himself off a hotel balcony. I get what the producers are trying to do here but at this point, I’m not sure we can go back to this same series of events again and mine any more significance or details out of it.

And I get that part of it was to show how much like his father Jin would be had the baby turned out not to be his. I don’t think it would count one bit in Jin’s loving and raising the child, just as the question of who his father was didn’t make a different to his father in the long-run. The fathers would still love their children.

I did like that the show confirmed that Jin is the father, though that isn’t what I’d call definitive. For all we know, it’s another way Juliet is playing the group in order to gain some trust. Finding out she’s a double-agent has put anything she does or says into serious doubt. And why did Sun let her go back inside alone so she could send the secret message to Ben.

Apparently, Juliet’s mission is find out if any of the group from the plane can bear children, which fits into the whole theory I’ve had for a while that the Others are obsessed with the children.

Meanwhile in the headscratcher department, the Russian shows back up, feeling no ill effects from being, well, dead. So, at this point, my mind got to thinking–does the island have some kind of regenerative powers that it can give to people? Apparently if your injuries aren’t too severe, it can heal you, though it looked like Russian guy was pretty messed up last time we saw him. Following this trail of logic, is this the explanation for why the women can’t conceive and bear children. Does whatever is “healing” people see the babies as some kind of virus or something to be cured, and is thus healing the mothers by killing the babies? If that’s what it turns out to be, you can credit me with the theory, though I doubt I am the first person to consider it or postulate it.

Also lucky for us, the Russian has had medical training and speaks all the languages the new girl speaks. Again, if he translated everything correctly, I’ll eat my hat. He does have good reason to lie and cover things up. I don’t think she was as thankful as he made it out to be.

But the big news is that the plane crashed with no survivors….though that could be some kind of lie as well.

I really have no idea what or who to believe anymore on this show. Maybe the show will start providing some definitive answer to some of these puzzles soon…or at least gives us clues from very reliable sources.

24: Day Six, 12 – 1 a.m.
Hey, remember when there used to be this guy on 24 named Jack Bauer, who was, oh I don’t know, the star of the show.

If you’d just tuned in this season, you’d wonder if this was some kind of ensemble show instead of the Jack Bauer kicks terrorist booty and takes name hour. Has there ever been a day of 24 that had less Jack per average episode than this one?

This week, Jack runs off, makes a deal with the Chinese and then waits around for them to show up. Oh please, don’t make me get up to get a drink for fear of missing something.

Seriously, what the heck has happened this year?

Oh and let me do my happy dance that I called that the Chinese would somehow get hold of the triggering device and run off with it, thus leaving Jack to pursue them. I am thankful they will only chase it now for the next five or so hours and not all of next season. I can’t wait to see Jack go mano-a-mano with the guy who has held him prisoner and tortured him for the past 18 months. That could be a great epiosde…

Assuming we can cut away from the White House drama long enough to show it. So, Daniels and the woman from Invasion are hooking up. And they dance around like this is some great secret, when I think Secret Service is fully aware of it. I guess maybe it being secret makes it more exciting for them. I hope it’s exciting for someone, because watching these two kiss and paw each other in the Oval Office is almost as creepy as Milo putting the move on Nadia a few weeks ago. Seriously, has there been less romantic chemistry between two characters ever?

The most interesting plot thread in all of this is Karen has to fire Bill. Man, that was well done. Seems that Bill is low man on the “we have to blame someone” totem pole and gets the axe. And Karen has to axe him. Bill’s slow burn and anger at this news was perfectly done and I bet we have not seen the last of him. I still contend he’s the real CTU mole this year, but that is only because I refuse to let that theory go, no matter what evidence to the contrary the show gives me. It does set things up now for Bill to head out, help Jack out in the field and kick some serious Chinese booty.

Of course, the thing with Jack is that no matter what happens he always seems to pay some price…this time it appears that Audrey has been brainwashed. (Yeah, like that took much). I found myself recalling other shows that included the ability to copy people and wondering if this was a model whipped up to look like Audrey, programmed with a few key phrases and sent to draw Jack out into the open….all while the real Audrey is somewhere else. Yeah, I’m not even sure 24 would go that absurd…

Or would they?

Heroes: .07%
So, we waited five weeks for…..that? The big fight between Sylar and Peter lasts all of ten seconds. I was pretty stoked for it, what with Tim Kring and everyone talking about how great it was in all the publicity leading up to the return of the show. Color me officially disappointed on that count.

And pretty much disappointed overall with the episode as a whole. I think a lot of it is that we got our characters to certain places to end the last run of episodes and now this episode is burdened with getting things moving again.

We got a lot of hints of things to come, though it’s interesting to see that Linderman doesn’t want to stop the coming explosion, but embrace it as creating the future. It opens up the debate of if we can change the future at all or is it set in how some big things will play out? It should be interesting to see next week if Hiro and Ando can find Issac, since the last time Hiro jumped forward Issac had just been killed. And now with Issac being dead now, how has that changed things in the future? And I do wonder–seeing future Hiro come out and talk to his past self–is future Hiro necessarily on our side? Could his idealism have been corrupted somehow?

The future and how it plays out played a big role this week–from Nathan’s refusal to accept that Peter could be dead because that’s not what the paintings showed to the way Linderman has embraced what is to come. I wonder if Linderman as a threat will be dealt with this season or if he’s more a long-term villain to the show. (I guess it all depends on the availability of Malcolm McDowell in the role….)

I wanted to like the episode and there were some parts I did. Mama Patrellis’ revelation that she was once part of some kind of team with powers was intriguing and leaves some doors open to future exploration. Also, Nathan’s contemplation about the inevitable nature of his destiny was nice.

But overall, the epiosde was just OK and not the strong return from hiatus I was hoping for…