I don't want to deny that the show has gotten worse, but the general hatred I see around on the net towards this series is clearly out of control, exaggerated. Mainly because American audiences are spoiled, they are ignorant, impatient and generally they have bad taste also. Look, I rarely am into following a whole series. Heroes is still good enough for me to keep watching. Plus, firing two of the main producers/writers on the show to get back the old Heroes vibe has been a  terrible decision. One thing I would applaud though is to make it end soon enough before it gets really out of hand and unmanagable. They should do no more than another season. Or at least they should set an ending date, like the stAff on Lost did. Any thoughts?

Note to self: Send Mr. Silencio a copy of "How to Win Friends and Influence People"; also send copy of "Miracle of Tact".

Why? Does liking Heroes not make you a 'social success' or win you friends.

Anyway, I'm a bit behind as I'm watching it in the UK, and the series does seems to be at a real low, which it won't be able to ever fully get out of IMO. I still watch it because it is enjoyable just to see how crazy the writers have got this week. It just makes absolutely no sense any more! Why is everyone so frantic to save the world when they could just turn back time anyway? And characters are making insanely out-of-character choices. Such as Hiro killing Ando!! I'm sure there's more to it than that, but still! And future-Daddy Sylar almost seemed like a self-parody.

Last week's episode got somewhat better. At the beginning, I was thinking, "I'm bored" and a few minutes later, Kelly said, "Are you bored with this now?" "Yes," I replied. But we kept watching....sigh.....

Luckily last week's episode with Sylar meeting his father, etc was pretty good.

But I agree - it just doesn't have the magic of season 1. however, I think we're close to not watching it anymore. They sat the bar so high in Season 1 that you could only go downhill from there.

Why? Does liking Heroes not make you a 'social success' or win you friends.

I hate having to explain my jokes.

It was in reference to the fact that Mr. Silencio basically bashed Americans on an American-run, American-based message board. It was my way of saying "Wow, way to exhibit tact and make nice with others."

Anyway, I'm a bit behind as I'm watching it in the UK, and the series does seems to be at a real low, which it won't be able to ever fully get out of IMO. I still watch it because it is enjoyable just to see how crazy the writers have got this week. It just makes absolutely no sense any more! Why is everyone so frantic to save the world when they could just turn back time anyway? And characters are making insanely out-of-character choices. Such as Hiro killing Ando!! I'm sure there's more to it than that, but still! And future-Daddy Sylar almost seemed like a self-parody.

Anyway, fully agree with what you've written here. Sometimes I wonder if the writers are just sitting around a massive hookah all day long. They set very firm precedents in Season 1 that they turned around and set fire to throughout Season 2, and now they're just sifting through the ashes to see what still works in Season 3. It has gotten frustrating and sad. I'm not asking to be spoon-fed anything. I may be American, but I'm not impatient nor ignorant (sorry to disappoint, Mr Silencio). I don't think it's indecent of me to demand that a show at least remain CONSISTENT. They can throw whatever kinks they want into the series, but for Pete's sake at least keep it coherent and consistent. And BTW, I'm seeing far more than just American audiences lodging these complaints.

I think LOST helps show that if done right, and done fairly consistently, Americans are more than willing to hang on to a show. There were moments when LOST seemed lost but after determining an end date, I think they are focused now.

Why? Does liking Heroes not make you a 'social success' or win you friends.

I hate having to explain my jokes.

It was in reference to the fact that Mr. Silencio basically bashed Americans on an American-run, American-based message board. It was my way of saying "Wow, way to exhibit tact and make nice with others."

Oh, I missed Silencio's American rant. I'm not sure really what American audiences are like, all I know is without American TV, I would not be able to see any good drama. English comedies are great, but I can't really think of one good English drama.
 

Aahahah, I'm sorry if I have offended you. I was generally speaking and I also wrote 'they' instead of 'you americans' to avoid getting bashed!

Now...

 First of all, I'd like to know something. How do the ratings in the U.S. get their count? I mean, what is the system? I'd really like to know, thank you, because it's bugged me for quite an eternity.

Second thing: I was so harsh to the point of insulting you poor guys because I love this series, no matter how it gets worse, and I wanted to show my disgust. I mean... Why does this overall good series risk to be cancelled when there are at least another dozen american shows produced today that didn't even need to see the light of day? Because everyone watches it for some reason. And that's not right. It's not everyone's cup of coffee. Plus, you guys have too many shows in America. They are sort of handed to people, who don't even say 'Thank you for the entertainment'. They also have to make an infinite list of idiotic things they don't approve because they think that one only logic exists and, in some ways, maybe they are better writers than the ones who created and wrote, thus love the show.

For example, why air an episode per week? I know, it's the system. But with a series like "Heroes", people need to be teased and a way of doing that is making them wait longer, so that they can watch an episode one more time with re-runs or downloads to find new things, maybe start appreciating the show instead of just 'digesting' it because it's shoved down your throats.

I make my apologies again to those who were offended, but my anger was talking

1. Rating system - its' called Nielsen. A select few of Americans have a box that keep track of their watching behaviors. This select few is a large number of people from all aspects of the American makeup so it's statistically sound, I believe.

2. too many shows? We have 4 major networks - ABC, CBS, NBC, and FOX (and that doesnt' include cable). You have around 3 hours of prime time that you have to fill up - that's 12 hours of potential TV showing (FOX does 2 hours of primetime so it's actually 11 hours). Time 7 days of week, you have 77 hours of TV that have to be filled up. Throw in cable and it really changes. FX has 3 hours a night of prime time it needs to fill up. As does a few other cable networks. They often air reruns and old movies but you still have new TV shows especially on HBO and Showtime.

3. Why once a week? One of the reasons why ratings for Heroes went down was because of the time we had to wait due to the writer's strike last year. The series 24 (wonderful, IMO) didn't even get a chance to air last year. If you don't air shows each week, I think you'd find a higher number of showing getting cancelled because people don't want to wait more than a week. A lot of people hate waiting an entire summer for new shows! :)

2. too many shows? We have 4 major networks - ABC, CBS, NBC, and FOX

Yeah, I've got to agree with that, and yes this is a highly subjective opinion, but the big four have at most 10 hours worth of good programming per week.

Oh, I missed Silencio's American rant. I'm not sure really what American audiences are like, all I know is without American TV, I would not be able to see any good drama. English comedies are great, but I can't really think of one good English drama.
 

I watch more English programming than anything else. :) You have some fantastic shows that I just can't get enough of, though the only way we really get these things is via BBC America, which in the last year or two has really screwed up its programming basically catering to the mindless daytime TV-watching masses. You can go to their website (www.bbcamerica.com) and see what the daily viewing schedule is like. It's frustrating...there used to be so much more variety, to the point where I wouldn't watch anything but that channel because it was just one great show after the other. Now it's dismal at best. I miss the old days...

I'm trying to think of good recent English dramas. Hm. I know your crime dramas are superb...I was a fan of Cracker back in the day...MI:5 (earlier series' of it)...um...Jonathan Creek...that sort of thing. Really liked Ballykissangel and when I was super-bored, watching the Eastenders Omnibus on Saturdays was a hoot, though I'd be hard-pressed to call that "good drama". LOL There's loads more that I used to watch back in the day. I'm going to need to sift through my imdb My Movies list to see what I can recall.

Okay, so the problem is of Europe I guess. We buy your stuff and they cram our television timeslots with almost exclusively american series. That's what led me to make the assertion "You guys have too many shows".

Oh, I missed Silencio's American rant. I'm not sure really what American audiences are like, all I know is without American TV, I would not be able to see any good drama. English comedies are great, but I can't really think of one good English drama.
 

I watch more English programming than anything else. :) You have some fantastic shows that I just can't get enough of, though the only way we really get these things is via BBC America, which in the last year or two has really screwed up its programming basically catering to the mindless daytime TV-watching masses. You can go to their website (www.bbcamerica.com) and see what the daily viewing schedule is like. It's frustrating...there used to be so much more variety, to the point where I wouldn't watch anything but that channel because it was just one great show after the other. Now it's dismal at best. I miss the old days...

I'm trying to think of good recent English dramas. Hm. I know your crime dramas are superb...I was a fan of Cracker back in the day...MI:5 (earlier series' of it)...um...Jonathan Creek...that sort of thing. Really liked Ballykissangel and when I was super-bored, watching the Eastenders Omnibus on Saturdays was a hoot, though I'd be hard-pressed to call that "good drama". LOL There's loads more that I used to watch back in the day. I'm going to need to sift through my imdb My Movies list to see what I can recall.

 Never watched any of those programmes. I did think of a couple great English dramas though: The Prisoner and Life on Mars.

3. Why once a week? One of the reasons why ratings for Heroes went down was because of the time we had to wait due to the writer's strike last year. The series 24 (wonderful, IMO) didn't even get a chance to air last year. If you don't air shows each week, I think you'd find a higher number of showing getting cancelled because people don't want to wait more than a week. A lot of people hate waiting an entire summer for new shows! :)

 Yeah, it's not just impatience either. It is hard to follow the more complex shows if there is longer than a week gap. It just loses the flow, and for a lot of people, they may think, for example, Wednesday evening is Heroes but when they start showing reruns you just forget about it. I actually think that even a week can be too long, as something like Lost is always better when you watch like an episode every day (on DVD).

 
 Never watched any of those programmes. I did think of a couple great English dramas though: The Prisoner and Life on Mars.

Life on Mars is fantastic. I wish we hadn't remade it though. The American version just pales so badly in comparison, IMO. Kind of like almost all shows of yours that we remake (The Office being a notable exception...I think idiot bosses and the bizarre nature of corporate workplaces makes something like that extremely universal and easy to adapt to the different style of humor that American sit-coms tend to have).

Life on Mars did right what The Prisoner did wrong; having two short seasons with 8 episodes each, whereas The Prisoner had one bloated 17 episode season. If the Prisoner had been trimmed to a classic British 7-8 episode season(series) I would have liked it much more than I did.

HBO usually does this too, having seasons around the 10 episode mark while the big four gorge on 20+ episodes. Know when to stop, leave audiences wanting more, avoid clipshows.

HBO usually does this too, having seasons around the 10 episode mark while the big four gorge on 20+ episodes. Know when to stop, leave audiences wanting more, avoid clipshows.

AMEN.

Life on Mars did right what The Prisoner did wrong; having two short seasons with 8 episodes each, whereas The Prisoner had one bloated 17 episode season. If the Prisoner had been trimmed to a classic British 7-8 episode season(series) I would have liked it much more than I did.

HBO usually does this too, having seasons around the 10 episode mark while the big four gorge on 20+ episodes. Know when to stop, leave audiences wanting more, avoid clipshows.

 You can watch The Prisoner as a 7-episode season perfectly well. Arrival, then some kind of combination of Dance of the Dead, Checkmate, Chimes of Big Ben, Free for All, and then Once Upon A Time, and then Fall Out were what McGoohan originally intended to have. I think it's great to have the choice in this case. Obviously normally, shows are so plot-driven that you can't skip episodes like you can with The Prisoner.

I didn't know they'd begun airing the American Life on Mars. Are they following the same story exactly? I suppose 1973 American would be quite different to England. I thought that a remake of The Office would be a terrible idea, and I didn't like the first series, as it just seemed like they were doing the same scripts but with worse actors (except Steve Carell of course). But now, I admit I was completely wrong, it's turned into one of my favourite shows, and all the actors are great, much more faceted than the British version.

You can watch The Prisoner as a 7-episode season perfectly well. Arrival, then some kind of combination of Dance of the Dead, Checkmate, Chimes of Big Ben, Free for All, and then Once Upon A Time, and then Fall Out were what McGoohan originally intended to have.

Yes, I do know that. The problem is that you don't really do something like that when you watch a show for the first time.
The other problem is that the original episodes do not include The Schizoid Man, which was one of my favorites while Once upon a time was awful. Fall Out only got good towards the end, because trial scenes are (almost) never interesting.

You can watch The Prisoner as a 7-episode season perfectly well. Arrival, then some kind of combination of Dance of the Dead, Checkmate, Chimes of Big Ben, Free for All, and then Once Upon A Time, and then Fall Out were what McGoohan originally intended to have.

Yes, I do know that. The problem is that you don't really do something like that when you watch a show for the first time.
The other problem is that the original episodes do not include The Schizoid Man, which was one of my favorites while Once upon a time was awful. Fall Out only got good towards the end, because trial scenes are (almost) never interesting.
Well, I didn't have a problem with watching all of them the first time. On rewatching, why not just watch The Schizoid Man aswell? You're right about the last two though, all of Once Upon A Time and most of Fall Out is hard viewing.