Somebody Save Me From HEROES

Sometimes shows just go wrong. Everything starts out great, too good to be true almost. You're sucked into the plot and the characters are easy to relate to.

Or maybe just hot.

Whatever the case may be you're hooked. You've got a weekly appointment that you will keep at the expense of family, friends, health and sex. 

Well, maybe not sex. But all the other things definitely. 

It's happened to me several times before, with The X-Files, LOST, Friends, How I Met Your Mother and so many others. But this particular show had a more insidious method of getting me addicted. HEROES did not start off particularly well. None of the characters were immediately interesting and the plot was predictable and familiar to anyone who'd 

ever glanced at comic book. Especially a Marvel one. So why watch?

It began as a desire to support a fellow geek show and rooting for it to succeed after so many years of being looked down upon as a comic book nerd. It felt validating to have millions of people watching a show that was just a live-action comic book and loving it. But at the same time I recognized this show for what it was; the TV equivalent of a bad Philip K. Dick adaptation. The basic elements are there but they're not quite right. And far dumber. 

But you have to look after your own so I tuned in, week after week, and hardly paid it any attention. Used it as background noise while I did work or surfed the internet. And then something happened. All of a sudden I started watching and paying attention. And then I started to care what happened. Suddenly it was important that I watch every episode. So it was with great excitement that I tuned into season 2. 

What a disappointment. Season 2 started off even more slowly than the first season and introduced even more characters to an already bloated cast. And to make matters worse the new characters sucked. They sidelined the series' major villain (and breakout star) as well as other major characters. In short the second season did everything a sophomore show shouldn't do. But then it got better. And with the final 4 episodes I was once again hooked and ready for more. 

And now we're at season 3. And I don't know why I still watch. Maybe I hold out hope that this season, like the ones preceding it, will redeem itself towards the end. But is that enough? Maybe because it's the only fix the comic book nerd in me gets anymore and it's a habit I just can't kick. Maybe because there still isn't anything else to watch on Mondays at 9pm. Or maybe it's because they've still got Hayden Panettiere.