Featuring Matt Anderson and Ben De Bono
Standard Podcast
April 17, 2024
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Matt is right about “event viewing” being part of the reason for Heroes’ popularity in the first season. I don’t know how widespread DVRs were by 2006, but “Heroes” was the last show I set a VCR to tape, and also the first show I watched any episode of online. It came right at that transition point, it seems.
I have to say, as much as I have fond memories of “Heroes” first year (I tuned out in the second, and tried again in the third but knew it wasn’t very good then), Ben raises lots of good points and notes many inconsistencies I either hadn’t noted or gave the show a “pass” for at the time. I haven’t tried rewatching the thing since it first aired, and now I likely won’t!
I do have to differ with Ben about the character of Kat on BSG, though. I thought she was fantastic! Starbuck needed a foil like that, to give her some grief and cause some conflict. I also remember Kat had a very satisfying character arc. Not long after Kat was no longer on the show, the series really started to go downhill, in my opinion.
Fun episode. Finally got around to listening!
All this almost made me want to begin watching Heroes JUST to have a greater appreciation and connection to Ben’s hilarious criticisms. However, from what I’ve heard, the show makes that idea seem not even worth it.
I enjoyed Ben’s theological disapproval of Heroes, as well. I love Ben’s unfaltering brilliance with how he expresses his thoughts so profusely and passionately. Preach it!
I agree that Heroes never recovered after the writer’s strike, and that season one was the best. Overall though it remains one of my favorite shows, primarily because of the big-picture concepts it explores, and what I think they were trying to do with the show. Ben made a lot of good, valid criticisms in terms of plot holes and character development, but personally I put more stock in the concepts a show explores than those kinds of nuts and bolts. That doesn’t mean though any show is cool to me as long the concept is good; it’s just that in the case of Heroes, I don’t think it’s a bad show overall (and I’ve watched the entire series twice so far, and have recently been considering watching it again because “I miss it,” lol).