This Redeems The Past Two Seasons of Heroes… Kinda

So, the past two seasons of Heroes, have, with the minor exception here and there, basically sucked. They had too many characters, focused too narrowly on the three or four they thought most appealed to audiences (Newsflash: They didn’t. Peter Petrelli will always be a whiny tool to me), and just lost the idea that a show has to have a distinct narrative thread. But, this video, to me, almost makes the past two seasons of Heroes worth all of that. Comedic (And somewhat NSFW) glory embedded below:



So, yeah, that’s all kinds of awesome. There’s apparently one for Supernatural out there too, but seeing as I’m still stuck in the middle of the first season of Supernatural (It’s the new show that I’m trying to work my way through multiple back seasons of. Worth it, readers?), I can’t judge whether or not it’s better. Credit to the awesome io9 (Gawker’s Sci-Fi blog) for posting this video. I’m not sure it fully redeems the past two seasons of Heroes, but it sure makes the failed potential somewhat more palatable.

Bryan Fuller Is My Idol

So, my love of Pushing Daisies is well documented on this blog. I think it was the most unique and wonderful show to come on TV in a while, and this is coming from someone who watches a lot of TV. In a heartbeat, I would put it on my top 10 shows of all time list. The only other shows I can think of that are similar and similarly fantastic are Wonderfalls, which also cracks that top 10, and Dead Like Me, which probably misses it by a scant amount. What do these three shows all have in common besides being fantastic and different and unfortunately cancelled? They have a genius in common: Bryan Fuller.

This post, however, is not about these three shows. It is about Bryan Fuller’s genius, which was most recently manifested in a recent episode of Heroes, “Cold Snap”. Heroes has been, at best, wildly uneven this season. There have been distinct improvements from last season, but all the Arthur Petrelli stuff earlier this year fell flat. The newest arc, Fugitives, has been getting better, but it was not until Bryan Fuller’s triumphant return to the show with that episode that Heroes finally got good again. From the opening moments, with Danko finding Eric Doyle strung up in his apartment, I was hooked. This episode had so much good going for it (which is not to say there wasn’t a little bad to it to, but it’s not worth focusing on) that I just wanted to come out and say it: Bryan Fuller is a genius.

What has been wrong with Heroes for the past two seasons was the huge focus on a few characters, under-utilizing tons of others. The two biggest problems have been Claire, who is not terrible but so overused at this point it’s not even funny, and Peter, who I have never liked. And the best part is Fuller seems to realize this. He crafted an episode around Tracy, the character who has been used the absolute worst this season, and also heavily featured Daphne, who they’ve never used to her potential, and gave Hiro and Ando something useful to do again. Basically, in one episode, Fuller dealt with all of my problems with Heroes and focused on the elements that I like and that we haven’t been given enough of. I haven’t watched the show since that episode, simply because I know Fuller hasn’t written these next ones, so there is no way they will be as good. So I just want to say: Thank you Bryan Fuller, for being the genius that you are. There is no writer I look up to more (as may or may not have been mentioned somewhere in this blog, writing for TV is what I want to do after school). If you are somehow reading this, please have idea babies with me Bryan Fuller. I promise, I’ll help raise them right.

Monday Premieres

Tonight brings new episodes of two comedies on the CW:

Everybody Hates Chris: I’m still a fan of this show, even if it can be a tad repetitive in its general premise and stuff. But tonight brings Chris Rock finally guesting on the show, so that should be a good time.

Aliens In America: I started to watch the pilot of this a while ago but stopped at about the 10-minute mark because I just really wasn’t feeling it. They’ve done a bunch of recasting and its getting really good reviews.

If you’re still boycotting the CW for canceling Veronica Mars, you could watch Weeds, Prison Break, How I Met Your Mother, Heroes, Chuck, or Journeyman instead. Really, what is TV but a provider of a wide variety of entertainments? Enjoy your experience…

Monday Premieres

Hey, so I know this is kind of late for today, but I thought I'd run down to you readers, however few you may be, the shows premiering tonight that are maybe worth watching.

How I Met Your Mother: Tonight's premiere of the show that I thought produced the single best episode of last year (Slap Bet, there's a whole post about it), features the resolution of the comedic cliffhanger from Barney, Ted getting back out into the dating world, and Mandy Moore. Three pluses in my book. Also, for anyone who cares, Enrique Iglesias will be there too.

Chuck: My second favorite pilot so far (Pushing Daisies is number one) premieres tonight. It's pretty good, and features draws for all, both nerd and not nerd. Read the original review here

Heroes: Last season's biggest hit returns tonight with the cheerleader, the emo nurse, the chick with multiple personalities (Since when is Schizophrenia a superpower?), the guy who eats peoples brains, and the time-traveling Hiro all doing heroic things. While you may not be able to tell, I actually do dig the show alot. Yeah, Hiro's trapped in medieval Japan and Peter may or may not have killed his brother. We'll find out tonight, and look for my beloved Kristen Bell popping up later in the season.

Journeyman: Finally, if you're not already tired out by TV for the night, I'd recommend checking out, or at least DVRing Journeyman. It's not spectacular, but it's worth a watch. Read the original review Here

So yeah, that's what starts tonight. Also on are good standbys Prison Break and Weeds, if this TV doesn't float your boat. I promise to try to get this done earlier for tomorrows premieres. Happy viewing on this most awesome week.

And my favorite is....

With the first real season premiere coming with Monday’s premiere of Prison Break (Sorry The Biggest Loser, you don’t really count), I find myself thinking about last season. It was, arguably, a decent season of television. Sure, you had some definite stinkers, like The Class, Vanished, Runaway, Help Me Help You, Standoff, 20 Good Years, Six Degrees, and Happy Hour, but last season brought some pretty darn good new shows, like Heroes, Ugly Betty, 30 Rock, Friday Night Lights, Brothers and Sisters, and the dearly departed Studio 60. But this post is not about what shows I thought were good and bad last season. No, the real post is because I was trying to figure out what I thought the single best episode of television was last season. And I think I’ve figured it out.

There were a bunch of strong contenders. In the drama category, “Company Man” from Heroes is a standout, as well as the magnificent 3 parter “K & R" from Studio 60. There was the marvelous “Pilot” to Friday Night Lights, and, even though they only recently aired here in the states, the ridiculously good “Human Nature/Family of Blood” two-parter from Doctor Who. But, while all amazing episodes, none of them are my pick. Yes, my pick, comes from a comedy. Nope, it’s neither the absolutely hilarious “The Rural Juror” nor the equally hilarious “Black Tie” from 30 Rock. Nor is it the amazing season opener of The Office, “Gay Witch Hunt”. As much as I loved the Scrubs musical, it’s not “My Musical” either. Nope, my single favorite episode of last season comes from, of all places, a traditional four-camera sitcom. That’s right, How I Met Your Mother’s “Slap Bet”, you’re my favorite.

Wanna know why? Because you not only showed me that a traditional sitcom can still make me laugh, but because you actually had me laughing for the entire episode. That’s right, there is not a single moment in this episode that lags. The episode deals with something completely innocuous, one character not wanting to go to a mall, and builds it into this comedic gold. So Robin, the female lead, refuses to go to a mall, which makes everyone question why she’s keeping it such a secret. And thus, the slap bet ensues. One side believes that she was married in a mall in Canada; the other thinks she did porn in Canada. But the secret is so much better than that. I’m not even considering these spoilers, because it’s still just as funny if you know what’s going on. See, Robin used to be Robin Sparkles, a teenage one hit wonder who’s single “Let’s Go To The Mall” became a hit in Canada, forcing her to tour across the malls of Canada, making her live for a year on “Orange Julius and Wetzel’s Pretzels”. But not only do we get the ridiculous title for the song, we get the music video. And it’s oh so glorious.



How can you find a song with lines like “He’s got hair like Gretzky and he does jumps on his skateboard.”, “It’ll be just him and me but don’t forget the robot”, and, my personal favorite “I’m gonna rock your body till Canada day.” not funny? But not only is the video hilarious, the rest of the episode is. Even the throwaway lines are great, plus, it’s spawned a great running joke on the show as to when the slap bet will be collected.

So yeah, call me an idiot if you like, but I think this was the single best episode of primetime television last year. Do you agree, or do you have your own favorites? Feel free to comment.