Heroes Versus The Sopranos
Comments(1) I read an article once talking about how The Sopranos kind of started the complex-storyline-type shows like Lost and a few others. It was sort of the grandfather of them all. Not sure how accurate that is, but The Sopranos is easily my favorite television show. It took me a good long while to get over the fact that they were off the air for good - never to return.
Now Heroes has come along and it is in its third season. Initially, I was kind of floored by the concept. I love super hero movies and shows. I love the idea of an alternate reality. Lastly, time travel is just plain cool - what’s not to love about that!? I feel like as of late, the constant “Huh? Wha?” the viewer is left with is working against the show. Part of me wants to watch, part of me just wants to abandon the show.
So here we are - taking one of my favorite shows on television right now and my favorite show of all time and seeing what I like about both.
The Sopranos
The formula of The Sopranos was simple. It worked very well. There was no feeling like you didn’t know what was behind the plot twist (at least for me). You simply knew that some guy messed up and he was going to get taken care of. Some stuff you didn’t see coming and it came fast and furious. Who knew Tony would kill Christopher? It was easy to watch The Sopranos. The show was very fun to watch as well. You were given a character that you hated and cheered for at the same time. You wanted his therapy sessions to go well.
Heroes
When Heroes first came on the air, I didn’t watch it. It took me until the 12th episode in season one for me to take notice. It was only then that I watched the prior eleven episodes in about three days. I was hooked. The breaks they took were agonizing (but way shorter than the breaks The Sopranos took!). The plot and concept grabbed me very easily and I was hooked.
The problem with Heroes is there are a handful of characters I feel the show could do without. It would be better to trim the excess and focus on the more important (read: well developed) characters. The Patrelli’s, Hiro & Ando, Clare, etc. It almost feels like Tim Kring threw in some characters just to fill out the show - but those characters are in the way almost.
Every week it seems you get very limited time with each sub-plot. It was alright at first but now there are more characters and they are putting too much in the show. I almost want a thirty second recap of what happened as I am finding it hard to keep up and stay focused.
Perhaps Heroes has lost its appeal. Perhaps it should have been a mini-series as opposed to a series. You can’t help but think about where the show will be in two seasons - where else can they take the show and how much more downhill will it go?
