Heroes continues an ugly trend

You know what pisses me off? I'd like to say when a show starts strong in the first year and then the quality plummets like eagles fucking. That would normally be enough. But Heroes, season 2, seems to be raising the suck bar to new heights. The show has regressed considerably, and I'm seriously considering dumping this ostensible piece of shit. Let's look at a few examples.

By the way, I wasn't going to write this piece at all. I had watched Monday's episode last night, and although it wasn't too bad (excluding the Mexicans and Claire at this point can only help), it was better than the any of the previous episodes. So I go to bed and happen during the night to dream about Heroes, where I'm actually in it. Normally, this would be a pretty cool thing, but my unconscious starts to get irritated to the point where I wake up from the dream and I can't go back to sleep BECAUSE THE SHOW HAS BECOME A 42-MINUTE WEEKLY LAUGHABLE, POORLY WRITTEN, PAINFUL EXPERIENCE. At 4:30 in the morning, I am just plain ANGRY about it, and I'm going to talk about why. (Because if I tried to explain this in person rather than writing it down, you would easily confuse me with a ranting loon.)

Felix at Film Threat thinks a large part could be saved if they just kill off a lot of the characters. Basically Claire, wolfman (the flying boy), Niki, her son Micah, the new black sibling (don't know her name, don't care, if that tells you anything), the mexicans (maya and whomever) and Ando. I don't really have a problem with any of that, but it's probably not going to happen. Were it Heroes of last season, I would fear for all of their lives because the show was refreshingly merciless in killing off interesting characters, making you wonder if anyone was safe. This season seems to be coddling mediocrity as a virtue. Here's some of my peeves:

Guest Stars. I'm really thrilled the you could have Uhura come on and play the grandmother to Micah and have a few sassy lines. Very critical. Also, way to use Kristen Bell in this week's episode. She showed off her acting chops to say a very boring, canned lines (more on that later) and zap the Irish chick's brother (completely unprovoked) and then get 'called off' the case. Ms. Bell must have done a spit-take on the script when she compared the quality to that of her former Veronica Mars show. My point here is that the guest stars can't save the weak-ass writing. It's as if the producers go: "Look! It's Veronica Mars! Please don't pay attention to the fact that our writing sucks!!!" And this is BEFORE the dreaded writers strike. Are you telling me it's going to get WORSE?

Plot Device. Speaking of hacked scripts, it's pretty clear that Kristen Bell was only there to give Peter a reason to leave Ireland and go to Montreal with his new chick. Still it's better than having Nathan go with Parkman to visit his Dad. Why again? Oh because he can fly. On the other hand, once he's there, they can beat each other up! Oh, and what's Micah's cousin's name? You know the one who was there expressly to showcase Micah's ability to get Pay-Per-View? Who cares! Plot device, exit stage right. I'd say the sword in Ando's possession that has the scrolls is a plot device to keep him in touch with Hiro's "adventure", but then that would accuse Ando of being involved in something resembling a plot.

New characters. D.L.'s sibling, who is struggggling in New Orrrrleans to make her way and do some high kicks and... urrrrrgh. I forgot to care. Just like I am hoping and praying that Sylar rips the heads off the two Mexicans before they become any more retarded. They are great TV if you want to portray your latinos as super-stereotypes (God-following, gullible, over-emotional), but in the end I end up laughing.

Conversation. Speaking of laughter, I can't count the number of times I have said "oh my god", rolled my eyes and laughed aloud to the drivel coming out of some of the characters' mouths. At LEAST three times a show, someone will say something so phenomenally melodramatically unbelievable I will be tempted to chuck my shoe at the screen. Daytime soaps aren't this bad. To me, this is the death of a serious drama, when your characters say and act so cheesy that you no longer stifle your laughter.

Overall quality. I grow weary of even thinking about this show, so I'll conclude with this: Every episode this season feels like a short, slammed together creation of people who ran out of ideas. Every single episode from last season, even the worst -- the finale -- is head-and-shoulders above every episode this season. It's almost ridiculous how far this series has fallen in such a short stretch of time. I'm angry because I'm bitterly disappointed, and I'm really not sure if I have the patience to go back for more.