But is Parks and Recreation essentially splitting the talent and jokes with The Office, resulting in two bland shows? Neither the characters nor comedy are identical so one show isn’t right out stealing from the other, and yet one wonders if the creative talent doesn’t have enough time to focus on both shows to the degree they need.

So far, Parks and Recreation has been mildly funny, and that’s about it. It has a lot of intentionally awkward moments, but few have been outright hilarious. Poehler’s character is fun but not nearly as funny or painful as Steve Carrell’s Michael Scott. The supporting cast is fine but unremarkable; none of the characters have stood out as particularly memorable. All in all, it’s a show that seems like a cheap rip-off of The Office, and it only has one or two more episodes to grab my attention before I remove its series recording from my DVR.

Unfortunately, The Office has also taken a downturn the last few episodes. Ever since Michael quit, taking Pam with him, the show has completely lost its edge. The episode that preceded the pilot episode of Parks and Recreation was terrible, and the one that followed wasn’t much better. Last night’s was OK but nothing special; I can’t recall the last classic episode I’ve seen. Having Pam and Jim separated doesn’t help; having Michael running his own company isn’t particularly interesting; many of the other characters have been all but dropped due to the fact that the focus now has to split its time among two locations. We know that Michael is eventually going to return to DM, so why prolong the inevitable?

Unfortunately, NBC’s strategy has so far backfired. Its intention was to create a similarly funny copy of The Office to boost ratings; instead, it has taken away the charm of its hit show while introducing another that isn’t nearly as good as they think it is. You’re treading in dangerous waters, Peacock. Be careful.

Two-and-a-half months after that announcement, the show was worse than ever, leading me to make many suggestions on how to improve Heroes. Season 3 was a complete cluster, full of characters who were shells of their former selves. And then, five episodes ago, something happened. Things started happening for the better. The characters began to settle down. Plot lines began to cement. Story arcs were reduced or finished. Episode 19 and 20 marked some major transitions in the show. You may not have realized it at the time, but look at what happened: Sylar finally finds his dad and loses his annoying sidekick; Ali Larter’s character is killed off in stupendous fashion; Micah is brought back to the show in a very satisfying way; Hiro regains at least some of his powers; and Nathan and Danko finally break it off.

The last couple of episodes have further worked in the show’s favor as well, as it has focused on just a couple characters in a row. In the last episode, the show finally came full circle, as we get a glimpse at the formation of the original company, hence tying all of the “fugitive” arc into past events. It almost appears as though they quietly wrote the much-hated Mohinder off the show, at least temporarily, as he chooses to “stay behind” for all the dumb things he’s done.

Bottom line: the last four or five episodes of Heroes have been much better than the first 18 of the season. Why? Episode 19 marked the return of Bryan Fuller, and I can’t imagine it’s a coincidence that the show suddenly improved that same episode. If you’ve abandoned Heroes, you may want to give it another chance… it looks like things are finally back on track.

Heroes, as everyone who is actually reading this post knows, had an incredible first season that gave NBC a much-needed hit, made “Save the cheerleader” a household phrase and became internationally known. Then came season two. For a little while, it went fine – while not as good as the first season, it still developed its characters further and progressed the story at a reasonable pace.

Then… the writer’s strike. Facing a chapter without an ending, the Heroes writing staff made the massive mistake of accelerating their storyline – about a virus that ravages the world – toward a clumsy conclusion far earlier than was ever meant to happen. The result? Subplots were dropped, stories were accelerated to the point where nuts and bolts were flying off at the seams and fans were left with a bitter taste in their mouth.

As awkward as season two was, it did have some strong storylines:

• The introduction of the Nightmare Man – a man who, at the end of season one, was described as “worse than Sylar,” added another great villain to the mix.
• New “heroes” Maya and Alejandro had some of the most interesting and disturbing powers ever imagined.
• Hiro gets stuck in 17th century Japan, a seemingly goofy (but entertaining) storyline that ends up revealing yet another sinister villain, an immortal who is fine with killing everyone in the world off for good.
• Claire starts dating a flying boy – who is scared to death of “the man with horn-rimmed glasses,” i.e. her father.
• Peter discovers that the world will be destroyed by a horrible virus.
• Nathan is apparently assassinated on the verge of revealing to the media that some people have special powers.

It wasn’t perfect, though. There were some issues:

• The show continued to introduce new characters, not all of whom were good. The New Orleans girl who can learn how to do anything was not particularly interesting and added little to the overall plot.
• They leave Caitlin (Peter’s Irish girlfriend) stuck in the future and just drop her story.
• They kill off Ali Larter’s intriguing character… to save the stupid New Orleans girl.
• The last several episodes move way too quickly, forcing characters to do unexplained things that don’t fit their nature. The season finale is particularly painful as it is clear that the writers decided to cut the story short rather than just leave us hanging until the show’s return half a year later. Sometimes less is more.

Season3 has had its moments, but has suffered since the first episode and doesn’t show any signs of improving. In fact, there are a lot of things wrong with this season:

• Nathan has a “religious” experience and his character completely switches gears again. He becomes the most unbelievable flip-flopper in the history of fiction and non-fiction.
• Ali Larter is introduced as an entirely new character, whose power is that she can turn things to ice. She goes from having one of the most interesting powers to the dullest, and as such gets very little screen time. The writers cop-out big time by explaining that she and Nikki were a result of a medical experiment.
• Sylar temporarily becomes a good guy with mommy and daddy issues. One of the most cunning and creepy villains is manipulated beyond belief.
• Noah Bennett continues to switch sides and loyalties, but his argument that he’s just trying to protect Claire is starting to sound really old. The writers believe it, however.
• Peter becomes trapped inside a villain, while the villain gets his body. Oh, Jesus, are you serious?
• Noah Bennett runs around calling “bad guys” “villains” because that’s the name of the chapter and what bad guys are called in comic books.
• Matt develops the same painting-the-future bit that other characters have had, which was interesting the first time around but isn’t anymore. He and many other characters also have to deal with a stupid African prophet who is more annoying than anything else.
• Another horribly annoying character is introduced: Daphne. She’s killed, which is good… but wait, she isn’t actually dead, convincing us that the writers have no interest in permanently killing any character for good.
• The writers take us into the future, but this go-around the episode isn’t nearly as good as the excellent one from the first season. Penis envy persists.
• Matt becomes an increasingly annoying character.
• The writers give sidekick Ando special powers. Do not ever give regular people powers. It ruins the balance of the show. His powers also suck.
• The writers give Mohinder special powers, as if he wasn’t already annoying enough.
• Mohinder’s special powers turn him into a villain (did he murder Maya? I can’t remember. If not, what happened to her?). Unfortunately, the writers decide that he would annoy us better if he switched sides once again and became a good guy with super-strength but no barnacles. Cop-out.
• An eclipse takes away everyone’s powers. The eclipse lasts for multiple episodes, raising the question as to why no one is disturbed that the earth has stopped rotating and the moon has stopped orbiting. The earth would also be destroyed if this happen, and we would all die.
• One also wonders how an eclipse can take away powers. This is stupid.
• Peter goes from being a bad-ass who absorbs powers at will to only being able to use one power at a time. Suddenly, he is not the awesome anti-thesis to Sylar but just another boring hero.
• Sylar learns how to take people’s powers without cutting open their heads. What’s the fun in that.
• Hiro still doesn’t have his powers back. Hiro and Ando split up.
• Sylar gets a sidekick who has to be one of the most annoying people on the planet. Viewers wonder why Sylar doesn’t kill him immediately. If Sylar doesn’t do it soon, I will.
• The characters continue to return to the Mendez suite, as if everybody looking for heroes wouldn’t keep a constant eye on that place.
• Nathan commits his biggest flip-flop yet and, for no particular reason decides that it be best if he pit the government against all heroes – except for himself, his brother and his daughter, of course. Nathan is confused when this plan backfires on him, and we wonder how even a politician on a television show can be so stupid.

The Heroes writers can still turn this ship around, and they’ll have to if they want a season five. It’s going to be hard, but not impossible. They’re going to need to be disciplined and create some rules for themselves that cannot be broken. My suggested solution is at the bottom of the post, but here are some general ideas/rules that the writers should implement to improve Heroes:

• Bring back Molly, the little girl that could find anyone, anywhere. She was an interesting character that has been crucial at times.
• Kill off Mohinder. Make fans happy. Destroy him.
• Give Matt some Zanax. He has way too much anxiety and becomes annoying as a result.
• Make it a rule that no character’s power can change for the sake of changing. They can evolve, but not completely change.
• That being said, give Peter back his kick-ass powers.
• Keep Sylar a bad guy, and if you want to make him temporarily good, offer a common villain. Don’t allow him to be so easily manipulated.
• Make it a rule that no character can lose their powers unless another character (like Mr. Petrelli) has the ability to do so. Silly things like the moon moving in front of the sun should have no effect on what is a genetic trait.
• Keep the stories grounded in reality… only with superheroes. This stems from the eclipse thing. Do all the crazy stuff that comes along with people having powers, but otherwise don’t give in to cheesy comic book gimmicks.
• Slow things down. Stuff is happening way too quickly. Progress the stories slowly, add some mystery to things that span entire seasons, and allow time for your characters to progress and develop. If you want to make Nathan a bad guy who starts hunting down all heroes, develop this transition over 20 episodes – not one.
• Don’t allow characters to switch sides multiple times in a season. If a good guy becomes bad or a bad guy becomes good, make their transition a series-long one.
• Plan your show out more than five episodes at a time. Don’t switch gears on a minute’s notice, unless it’s an intentional twist that makes sense.
• Bring back Ali Larter’s original character.

I’m sure there are more, but those could start moving Heroes back in the right direction. But, the writers shouldn’t waste several episodes trying to do this. All of this could be accomplished in one or two episodes, and I strongly believe that, if done right, this could solve the problems of the show:

Hiro is not the only time traveler. There is another time traveler, a bad one, who goes back in time to do some really bad things. Everything changes in the future, but Hiro, who partially exists outside of the time-space continuum, is the only one who isn’t affected. He goes back in time, back to either the end of season one or even the end of season two. He fights with the evil time traveler, and past Hiro is killed. Future Hiro takes his place amongst a group of characters that haven’t been affected by the Villains or Fugitives storylines. Peter still has all his powers, Nikki is still alive somehow, and all of the horrible character development that we’ve witnessed areerased. And things continue on as if nothing happened.

Typically, I’m not a fan of doing something like this, but considering that Heroes does involve a lot of time travel, wouldn’t the easiest solution be to just return to a part of the story where fans generally agree that the ship was still on course. If the writers could work the virus storyline back into the fold, that’d be awesome, but if not, just go back to the end of season one and go from there.

What do you think?

And only a few months later, A&E’s The Beast has risen from the ashes to take The Shield’s place. Or at least try.

The Beast plays out like a down-and-dirty version of the Chris Cooper movie Breach mixed with a less captivating Training Day; Travis Fimmel stars as Jake, a young, eager cop who has been recruited to partner with Charles Barker (Patrick Swayze). Just as in Training Day, Jake is green around the edges and has a lot to learn when pitted against Charles, who will cross the line to accomplish the mission. SPOILER ALERT: It isn’t long, though, before Jake is confronted with a team of officials who inform him that he has been selected to spy on Charles, given the suspicion that the man is dirty.

Surprisingly, it isn’t Swayze who has the lead but Fimmel; the narrative stays focused on Jake much more than Charles. Nevertheless, Fimmel holds his own and quickly proves that he can carry the show, and one has to wonder, given Swayze’s dire circumstances, that this isn’t completely coincidental. On the flip side, it’s Swayze who will draw audiences in and keep them there, as he delivers his best performance in years – though that isn’t hard, since no one has seen him in years. That fact aside, Swayze growls his way through scene to scene with satisfying brutality, though those expecting Denzel Washington-esque screen chewing should look elsewhere. As good as Trimmel is, this show will live and die with Swayze – and I sincerely hope that doesn’t turn into a literal statement.

Neither the pilot episode or Episode 2, titled Two Choices, blew me away; as intense as Swayze is, that intensity doesn’t always resonate through the show itself. Again, one can’t help but compare The Beast to The Shield, and having grown to love that show over seven seasons, it’s hard to see the same quality here. Nevertheless, only two episodes have passed and both are good enough to give it a few more chances.

In other words, it has potential.

Interestingly, one of the most intriguing aspects of the show is the relationship between Jake and his neighbor Rose, played by the beautiful Lindsay Pulsipher. The relationship serves as a good antithesis to the rest of the show, and I liked the prospect of the issues the couple is going to face in the future. Still, I think the writers jumped the gun by removing much of their conflict by the second episode.

The Beast, which premieres Thursday, January 15th at 10pm ET/PT on A&E hasn’t won me over, but it’s intriguing enough to give it a little time. It’s sad to think that this may be Patrick Swayze’s final hurrah, but if it is, it is a commendable way to go out. The show maybe similar to bigger and better things, but Swayze’s performance is top notch.

In the world of Fringe, brains can be hacked into using the electricity of brain waves, death does not mean that people are completely dead (can we really believe that the woman’s boyfriend, who was revealed to be a bad guy in the first episode, won’t return from the dead?) and women can give birth to a full-grown man who dies of old age an hour after being born. Behind it all: a company of great respect, or a government, or something else entirely. We know that Fox wants several seasons of this show, and clearly what we’re seeing here is only the beginning. It’s intriguing stuff.

Still, I’m on the fringe about Fringe. It’s entertaining and works, but it isn’t a great show. It’s no X-Files, that’s for sure, no matter how hard it wants to be. For starters, the characters aren’t particularly interesting or likable, save for John Noble, who plays the senile scientist who holds many of the answers the other protagonists are seeking. Anna Torv, who plays Agent Dunham, is attractive but a bit too mannish for her own good; in this day and age, they want to make her beautiful, sensitive and tough all at the same time, but she can only switch from one mode to the next, rather than embrace all of her character’s attributes and take true advantage of them. I expect this to be fleshed out in time, but Scully she is not. And if she’s not Scully, Joshua Jackson is surely not Mulder, as he seems to be around to add a “name” to the cast, throw in some pretty bad sarcastic one-liners and prove he can have a sustainable career beyond “Dawson’s Creek.” The dynamic between the two is stale and hardly captivating.

The show has a nice, glossy feel to it, but it’s almost too glossy at times. The direction and editing is also a little sloppy, as if the crew got 95% complete and then let their kids do the rest. It’s hard to be specific, but so far the show has failed to build tension or mystery despite the story arc that makes such a thing so easily attainable. Compared to Lost, for example, it fails to keep you curious commercial break to commercial break, and that’s a bit of a disappointment.

All in all, Fringe is decent enough that I’m going to continue watching for a while, but right now I don’t know if I’ll make it a season. I have high hopes that as I write this Fox is conducting focus groups to see what they need to do to improve over future episodes, but let’s just hope their tinkering isn’t too late.

At least it’s already better than this year’s X-Files movie.