Tuesday, May 18, 2010

Today’s Question: Until the Bitter End

So, they finally cancelled “Heroes,” after one good season and three seasons that were, to critics and fans alike, something of a disappointment.

Strangely, I remember how I got into the show surprisingly well. I missed the premiere due to VCR problems, and was going to give the show a pass until the DVD came out.

Thursday of that week, I picked up an installed my very first DVR box. On Friday, they showed the first episode again on the Sci-Fi channel. I recorded that episode. Then I recorded the second episode.

I watched the first episode, and was thinking I might give up on the show, and then arrived at the last shot: The brother who doesn’t believe in super-powers flies.

I was in. Despite the late hour, I had to watch the second episode. Had to know what came next.

Of course, at the end of the second episode, they blew up New York.

I don’t know that the show ever got quite that awesome again, but there were a few great episodes in that first season: “Company Man” springs to mind, and the episode where they jumped five years in the future.

And even as the show lost viewers, and went downhill in quality, I stuck with it to the very last episode, and I even felt that old sense of “I wonder what comes next…” as the final episode unspooled.

(As an aside, if you were ever a fan of the show, I highly recommend the collected comics. There were some great stories in there.)

In many ways, I’m glad the show is over and I don’t have to tune in each week and feel underwhelmed yet again. But I still sort of want to know what would have happened next…

So how about you? What show did you stick with long after it stopped being all that enjoyable?

2 comments:

  1. I watched Heroes until the end too and agree with your sentiments. I watched the Sopranos all the way through which declined in quality and left a bitter taste in the mouth with the finale. Jericho started out great, finished lame. Friday Night Lights started out great, had a couple mediocre seasons, and now is back and it seems a little more interested. I'll be watching the rest of it. Out of all the shows that start out great and remain great, Antiques Roadshow is the winner. Great TV!

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  2. I stopped watching The Sopranos somewhere around season 4 - not because of the quality, but because of overall lack of time.

    It's the very rare show that doesn't deteriorate at all over the course of its run. That might be a good question for another day...

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