With all of the back and forth of fickle fan opinions in regards to Heroes, we have come up with (what we think) is needed to get more people back on board; like they were at the end of season one. Not bothering to dredge up all of the creative changes that the show has had in its relatively short time on the air, these are meant to be considerations that any writing team, original or new, can work with and return the show to the fan base that loves it. 
The name of the show is Heroes. It's not called "People Who Are Riding the Fence as to Whether They Have What it Takes." That's a lousy title for a television show and we're guessing that not as many people would've been interested in it had they launched it under that way. The first season may have had a shadowy bad guy, but the viewer was clearly shown that there was a force that was going to require some heroics to save everybody from. Now, in the course of three seasons, has anyone really stepped up to the plate? Instead of a true figurehead or two to rally behind, everybody seems to have been dragged through character development time wasting techniques. Peter struggles with his abilities and has serious trust issues. Claire doesn't know which side she should be on even though she's already rebelled against her father. Nobody seems to have embraced their abilities and chosen a true course. It's a large cast and it's way past due for one of them to be the show's namesake!
4. Body Counts Are Cheap
Grabbing a viewer's attention by offing someone is nothing new, but it only has dramatic effect when used sparingly. Showing how powerful someone is by having them kill someone else gets old real fast. Actually, at this point, it would have much more of an impact to show someone's strength by having them go in the opposite direction for a change. If you're going to thin the herd then just pull the trigger and get down to who's going to be left standing to have the good vs. evil showdown. Sure, the threat of death can create some tension, but we think the joy of rooting for a champion is long overdue.
Blah, blah, blah and waaahhhh! Everybody has issues, we get it already! This criticism would have normally been worked into our first point about being heroic, but these people have become so whiny that the subject deserves its own slap in the face. "I'm so confused... I dunno who to trust... why is this happening... you're not who I thought you were..." They're called balls and we're hoping someone on the show seriously looks into getting a pair permanently.
Oh poor Heroes. You went and threw your hat into the time travel game and found out what so many creators before you have found out: You really better have everything paced out and meticulously executed or else you're just muddying the waters and drowning the viewers with it. Best to get a grip on it now and wrap it up so you can get back to getting a story that's not so convoluted. We're not saying that you didn't give it your best shot but it just isn't working out the way you were probably hoping for. Ask anybody that's written an X-Men comic about that one, I'm sure they'll tell you it sucks if you don't nail it right out of the gate. You're handling the time travel aspect as if you've got five more seasons to deal with it; at this rate, you probably don't so someone should probably clean it up.
All of this adds up to storylines that wanted to have depth and excitement but have become a mash up of too many things trying to be too much. Take it back to its core: People given strange and powerful abilities that will let them rise up in the face of evil. Let the viewer's cheer simply for the good beating down the bad for a change. It doesn't get any simpler than good vs. evil and right now there is just way too much gray area and confusion. Every character doesn't need more emotional baggage in their life under the semblance of giving them depth. Heroes has taken a chance at trying to tell a story that's very large in scale but (arguably) has fallen short. The only thing left to do is just back off from it and get down to brass tacks. Good guys, Bad guys... the fans want to cheer, they want to yell... give them something to do it for.
Here's how to fix heros: Season four opens with a new comic book artist taking over the "7 Wonders" book or whatever it was called. He brings in the new issue to his publisher which tells the entire story of season 3 and is promptly fired. Back to real life, we're 2 years after the events of season 2 and nothing in season 3 ever actually happened. Except Adam is really dead for some reason, that guy sucks.
Hawkgirl: "Do you ever get chafed, straddling the fence all the time?"
It's real simple, too many characters. Too many characters leads to too many storylines. Too many storylines leads to the mess that is Heroes. Here are the characters you keep...
Peter Petrelli = Hero
Hiro Nakamura = Peter's trusty sidekick
Noah Bennet = Morally ambiguous a truly grey character.
Sylar = THE F-U-C-K-I-N-G BAD GUY
Everyone eles is either cut from the show or serves a supporting role for your core group of characters listed above. Keeping characters like The Haitian as a henchmen type is fine. The reason Heroes has failed to measure up to it's potential is that it's far too convoluted. Point #1. is the key. Simplify Simplify Simplify...
I straight out told my loved ones last night I'd rather watch NFL (Indy vs. Miami) than Heroes tonight. And this is from someone who's been hanging onto the series since the mid-point of season two. I love genre television on the primetime networks and I try to give them all shots (multiple shots even)...and I remember the foul taste in my mouth when ABC and Fox took out Invasion and Firefly, respectively.
And by this point of the series (going on 4 seasons), I'm usually addicted enough to keep watching. But the writing for last year was absolutely appalling. Especially with what happened to Nathan at the end and how saving Sylar became more important for writers than keeping Peter's brother around..storywise.
Anyway, we were all thinking the same thing last night. We're all going to give Heroes another shot here even if we're more interested in NFL and Castle tomorrow night.
Oh another list...been what 2 -3 days without one? I was wondering where they went...
Agree with pretty much all of the above ...
Early on, the show was about (mostly) ordinary people, leading (mostly) normal lives, who suddenly manifest powers. Their world was a lot like ours - well, as much like ours as most TV universes get! - and part of the fun was asking how this one (big) change would impact their lives. A beat cop, with marital tensions, who gets the ability to read minds. A (happily) geeky office worker who discovers he can bend time and space. A flying Congressman (!). A cheerleader who would seem to "have it all", but who doesn't quite fit in... who discovers she can heal from nearly any injury... and so forth. The basic scale was smaller, more intimate, a LOT more character-driven.
Now, the show is ABOUT the powers, not the people, for the most part. I kinda lost track - do most of the characters even HAVE jobs, lives, any more? They spend ALL their time, globe and time hopping, battling this or that conspiracy or govt agency, etc.
I realize some of this is near inevitable, not suggesting there is an easy fix. And yes, I recognize that Season One's overarching storyline - would Sylar end up causing the "big boom" in NYC - was larger scaled. Just saying... if I was asked to find a fix, I would suggest the creative team work on making the show more about people WITH powers, than about the powers themselves...
(2)
I gave up on Heroes last year for all the reasons mentioned above. But, if the buzz is good, I might be tempted to rent the DVD's and catch up.
i do plan to watch the beginning of the season, however it will be taped. Between Indy playing tonight, and the premiere of House...I have better things to watch. Even with tapping, Heroes better wow me out of the box this season because i'm close to looking elsewhere, especially since most of the shows i want to watch are on mondays and thursdays. This means I could use some cuts...
I will start by saying that this is the first time I have ever posted on Mania. I have been a regular fan of this site for multiple years now, but have just decided to finally start getting into the posting scene. 4 seasons ago I was more excited to start watching Heroes than any other genre show I have ever come across. I remember the anticipation I felt in the months and weeks leading up to the show, and when I finally got to sit down and watch the pilot I was blown away by the show and the possibilities of what was to come. I remember each episode ending and being so incredibly frustrated that I had to wait a whole week to find out what was going to happen next. For me this show filled me with the wonderment of feeling like I was a kid again. That entire first season was outstanding. Then came the second season. I remember talking with other fans at work leading up to it and we were all stoked when it was coming back (though shocked it was renewed based on the shelf life of most genre shows on prime time). I agree with the general sentiment that the show never was the same as it progressed through Season 2 and Season 3. I still love the show and will be sitting infront of my TV tonight just as most of you probably will because it is the kind of show I love to watch. The problem in my eyes isn't as technical as this article states or that people have posted about over the past few years. The problem is that us true fans were introduced to an amazing concept we had never before seen and wanted to see. That first season was something completely new and every episode ended (sometimes out of nowhere) with a cliffhanger that left us foaming at the mouth for more. We got used to that feeling of wanting and needing to see what was going to come next. I think just like some great movie franchises out there we had based out opinions of the show on the shock value of how different and amazing that first season was. Just like many movie sequels that don't live up to the standard that was set with the original movie, we pay the money and go out and see what we all pretty much know is going to be less of a movie than the first (except for Dark Knight of course), but we do it anyways because we loved the first movie and want to see if we can love what is to come after it. As far as Heroes goes, it is hard to believe that if you really loved that first season, you aren't still turning in to each episode (or at least trying to catch up on them eventually), to see if there is any way that magic could possibly be recreated again. No matter how many seasons Heroes winds up milking out of NBC the truth is it will never hit that lofty goal of matching that feeling we had watching the first few episodes. Never. I agree that some of the more mundane characters should be removed from the show, and clear up a little bit of the clutter. I think that unlike the comic book idea that this show is based on when a character dies he/she should remain dead. I also believe most importantly that the new writers should go back to the roots and remember how to end each episode with the shock value we came to expect during that first season. Those cliffhanger endings each week disappeared for the most part somewhere through Season 2 and though there occasionally is one here and there, they do not leave me begging for more. If the new writers can somehow find a way to do that again, it might go a long way towards bringing back some of the fan base that has tapered off. I am a fan though, because honestly, even though this show isn't what it used to be, there is nothing like it on TV anywhere else, and this fanboy will be right there in front of the TV tonight.
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Yeah, I'm really trying to find a reason to care about Heroes anymore. I'm going to check out the season premier, but can't say that for the rest of the season. Last season had me wondering if the writers they got to replace the ones they fired even WATCHED season 1. They dealt with Issac's first comic book waaaaay back in season 1, yet somehow still managed to use it as a plot device in season 3.
For the sake of argument, let's say that the comic book issue was somehow resolved with some of the very convoluted time travel storylines (although I certainly don't see how that would have changed the comic books)...even if time travel had affected the last issue...are you going to have me believe that a tweeked out heroine addict is going to have his next issues prepared that far in advance? Sure, successful film makers like Kevin Smith can't deliver an issue on time, but this tweeked out lil kid had a bunch of issues prepared, so many that they were able to put them out for 2 years after the creator's death? SURE.