There are heroes, and then there are HEROES, and then there are f**king HEROES

Dwight David Honeycutt is a hero, check out this real video:




Still don't think he's a hero, read this. My god, there are so many great one-liners in this, you could start your own t-shirt line.

Shark Jumping

I've blogged in the past about the lazy writing on many tv shows; when they can't think of anything else to do they kill of a major character. Then I blogged how many shows have brought back characters they either wrote off the show (CSI) or killed off and were somehow alive (24). Now there is a new trend on television, shape shifters. A shape shifter is one character on the show who transforms into another character and pretends they are this new character and no one knows it. It basically is like "jumping the shark" times 10.

Beware spoilers for the following shows will follow: Fringe, Lost, Heroes, and Desperate Housewives.

Last season with about 4 episodes remaining in the season for Heroes they gave the main bad guy the ability to shape shift and turn into any character he touches. They then had the creative freedom to do anything on the show. You never knew what was occuring on the show because you never knew if it was the real character, or this main bad guy. They decided that this would get out of hand so in the last episode of the season they made another character get into his head and stop this transforming. It ended with the main bad guy killing one of the main good guys and then transforming into him, but now his brain and memories of that old good guy. Basically the main bad guy now looks and acts like the main good guy. This is the plot they are going to follow this season.

Then on Lost you found out in the season finale that one of the main characters died a while ago and who you were actually watching was this presence on the island that transformed themself into this main character. (WTF?) So here you didn't even have any real clues to it, they explained it many episodes later what happened awhile ago off camera.

Then in the season premiere of Fringe they had one of the main FBI characters killed by this alien type creature and the alien turned into him but no one knows. They think the FBI guy killed the alien type thing, when it was the other way around. When showing previews of the season, they showed that most of the plot this season is going to revovle around this fact.

I am guess that this season on Desperate Housewives will we will find out that one of the lonely housewives is actually the pool boy who shape shifted into a 40 year old soccer mom to get closer to the other women.

It's as if all these Hollywood writers went to the same seminar on how to write for television. This year's topic: "Shape shifters: how to use a simple plot twist to confuse the audience and be able to write whatever you want."

Why can't tv stick to basic writing and character development. On the other hand I watched the season premiere of House and it was outstanding. It didn't even take place in the hospital and House was the only main character in it. It was still outstanding. It had character development, comedy, suspense, drama, sex, and you actually became engaged in the plot and could understand what was going on.

Satisfied, not angry for a change....

I have a few hidden joys in life I do not like to share much. One of those is the television show Heroes. It does a very good job of telling the story of ordinary people who learn they have one or more special abilities and then they are being pushed into saving the world or join the other side and help to bring down the world. The show works because it has a great group of characters that you can actually see the growth in. Their is a mix of people with powers and some without powers. There is also a mix of "bad guys." Twice during the season you thought someone or a group was the enemy, only to find out they were being manipulated and were not the bad guys.

The reason for today's blog is that last night was their season finale, and was the only truly satisfying finale I have seen in years. They didn't feel the need to kill off any of the main characters, the good guys won, it included every character, and it had an ending, there was not this crazy cliffhanger that we have to wait 4 months for. They went out there with an objective and told there story and now as viewers we can enjoy our summer and tune in again this fall.

The producers came out awhile back saying that this show is ultimately a show about the characters and how they grow, and they do not feel the need to kill of characters for plot points. (Bravo, I've been saying that for years.) Now Lost on the other hand.......

Lost had a clip show last Thursday to gear up for the Finale. The producers were hosting the show and at one point literally said, "This is a show about the characters, how they grow and rise up to these circumstances." These are the same producers who have already killed off 3 original cast members and about 5-6 new cast members. For the finale they have already promised that 5 people will die and one will be a MAJOR original member. If this is a story about the characters, why are they killing off these characters that the story is about??? There is going to be no one left that we as viewers are invested in. They are going to go three more seasons and have only 9 original plane survivors left. AT this rate the show will end with 3 or 4 left, now thats riveting entertainment.

Lost should take a lesson from Heroes and watch their characters grow on the screen and find other ways to tell their story without killing everyone. Also, it is okay to end a season at one place, their need not be a crazy cliffhanger.