Is it harder to start a good thing, or to end somewhere that people can agree was the best option? As we continue to venture forth through the 2024 TV schedule there’s bound to be even more opportunities to do both, as new shows will begin and departing series will start their final laps.
But when it comes to the subject of great TV shows that really lost their way by the end, there seems to be a clear winner in which program soared higher and plunged faster than even Game of Thrones and The Walking Dead. Yes friends, we’re talking about NBC’s once promising hit drama Heroes.
The people of Reddit have been feeding the beast by dogpiling on creator Tim Kring’s superhero saga in droves. The criticisms are numerous, and they span some varied ground; so please enjoy this small, but nowhere near comprehensive, sampling of the fun:
- "I loved the first season of Heroes but it declined drastically to the point I stopped watching pretty abruptly." - @lurkbutdonttouch19
- “Heroes was going to end in the trash no matter what they did, and anybody with experience running super hero campaigns could have told you that. ‘My main character scales infinitely and the side character controls time.’ That's a recipe for failure. One season is all you get out of that formula.” - @shaidyn
- “Heroes was the first show where I ever noticed super blatant product placement. Fucking Nissan Versa.” - @apple_atchin
- “Season 1 was amazing. Season 2 was...ok. Season 3 was getting bad, but season 4 was....garbage.” - @Banluil
- “I heard this so much about Heroes so I decided to watch the first season and then I just stopped. Now I always remember it as a great show.” - @yay-its-colin
To be totally honest, this is the kind of thinking that’s kept me away from starting Lost, which was recently added to Netflix, as the grousing on that shows' arc still rings in my head after all these years after it ended. So it shouldn't be a surprise that I haven’t even touched Heroes because of similar criticisms, for the very same reasons.
Though if one is to look at the numbers, the ratio of disappointment over time makes sense, as this once promising drama only ran for four seasons. For comparison, Game of Thrones ran for eight and ended on one of HBO's most divisive finales. Meanwhile The Walking Dead's emotional series finale ended the core series' 11 season run at a point where many felt the AMC original was starting to live up to its name in all the wrong ways.
In the name of fairness, I also recall people seeming to think that the 2008 writer’s strike killed the momentum of the series. With the original plans for Season 2 needing to be altered quite drastically in its wake, there's some grace given here and there by more understanding parties. At the same time, when you read those comments, that sentiment isn’t exactly the majority.
Of course, there’s plenty of other series mentioned in this internet compilation of series that sank like a stone, despite fantastic starting points. ABC’s Once Upon A Time was put into play as well, and I definitely remember tuning out of that one at some point during Season 2. If you ask me, that show was on borrowed time once the spell was lifted off of Storybrooke. Not to mention after reading about that shocking character death in Once’s finale, I’m really not interested in watching a favorite of mine bit the big one.
Running through some of the other targets of scorn that TV fans took out their frustrations on That ‘70s Show, Grey’s Anatomy, and even Dexter all took their lumps in the chat as well. As expected, some long standing grudges were cited for each of those once promising enterprises. But somehow, the hierarchy of feedback has seen Heroes climb pretty high in the ranking of responses.
Reading through the various beefs people have with Heroes, I’m actually even more curious to start the series and see how I react to it. Knowing that it’s going to be a bumpy ride could actually effect. I mean, I do recall seeing trailers like the one below and thinking that a TV series centered on metahumans could be fun:
Like any experience in life, its up to us to decide how much we want to invest, and how much heartbreak we can take before we tap out. If you want to have your heart freshly broken, or just want to feel the pain that is Heroes, the entire series can be streamed through the power of a Peacock subscription.
But to leave you all on a happier note, I’d like to suggest that you take a look at the examples of TV shows that actually ended well, because what sort of closing would it be if I just left you feeling down about how not even the cheerleader could save this fictional world?
