Heroes premiere (spoilers for very stupid plot developments)

My off-the-cuff reaction to the first episode: This show sucks balls. I think I’m gonna quit watching it this season. The writing is just abysmal, so bad I can hardly believe it.

Off the top of my head, how about Matt Parkman’s little police “exam”? Where the job is apparently to storm into the building and shoot everybody he sees. And how, when there are two (apparently) unarmed people and it’s not clear who the bad guy is, there is a “correct” answer about which one to shoot?

These things are very “comic-booky”, in the most derogatory sense of that term. Excellent comics artist Eddie Campbell famously remarked about X-Men artist Jim Lee, “the artist is drawing people in suits but he doesn’t appear to have ever actually seen a suit.” These people are writing this stuff based on the most ridiculous, cartoony, make-believe versions of them. With Heroes being on NBC, you’d think they could skip over to the Law & Order writers’ room and get some feedback on whether this police stuff bears ANY relation to the real world.

And the “teenage” stuff is the same way. That little “robots & aliens” thing was definitely meant to be charming in an offbeat way, but it just sounded dull.

Also–if Mr. Bennett’s boss does NOT immediately fire him, call the cops and have him arrested, then this show might as well call itself “La La Make Believe Fantasy Land In Which People Behave Nothing Like Any People You Have Ever Met”.

And, for the dramatic conclusion to this week’s Very Special Heroes–AMNESIA!

The most reviled, ridiculous, cliched plot development in the history of serialized drama. 24 didn’t even really get away with doing the amnesia bit, but that was the first season so it’s somewhat forgiveable.

Maybe next we’ll get Claire in the woods menaced by a cougar!

Good lord this show is dumb :)