The TV Addict 

With our one day strike in support of the WGA finally behind us [Seriously, who’d have guessed that not blabbering on endlessly about television for a day would be so difficult!] this TV Addict can finally get a few things off his chest.

First on the list — HEROES. It’s not so much that I hated Monday’s episode. I simply watched the entire hour thinking, “If only they started the season off this way!” Just imagine. How much more exciting would “Generations” have been if we knew that Adam and Peter were on the run from The Company. That the ‘Wonder Twin’s’ crime was essentially a wedding massacre and that Niki suddenly found herself with a lot more than just Jessica to contend with.

While it comes as no surprise —considering the brilliance of season one — this TV Addict is officially proclaiming DEXTER as this fall’s Must Watch Show. And not just Must Watch. It’s Must Watch with no interruptions. No phone, internet or food. Simply me, mesmerized and on the edge of my seat as Lundy and Co. creep closer and closer to realizing that the Bay Harbour Butcher is one of their own. Gulp!

Is anyone else struggling to figure out where Robin fits in when it comes to this season of HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER? While the show’s done a marvelous job of highlighting the ups and downs of Marshall and Lilly’s post-nuptial life, Ted’s quest for coupledom and Barney being well, Barney. Robin seems to have gotten lost in the shuffle. Here’s hoping that post-strike, MOTHER masterminds Carter Bays and Craig Thomas give the deserving Cobie Smulders a far more substantial role to play in the show. A fellow Canadian and former Pop Star deserves a far better fate then TV sidekick.

And finally. I have a feeling NIP/TUCK’s Julian McMahon left his acting skills in Miami when McNamara/Troy moved to LA. Don’t get me wrong, I’m absolutely loving NIP/TUCK: 90210 edition, but simply can’t believe how poor a job McMahon is doing of hiding his Australian accent. Hey McMahon — Get’cha Head in the Game!

Today’s good news — HEROES showrunner Tim Kring finally acknowledged to EW.com what this TV Addict has been saying for months — HEROES is broken. Revealing among other things that the pace of the season has been too slow, the new heroes weren’t introduced properly and Hiro was in Japan for far too long [well duh!]. The bad news — with the writer’s strike in full swing it’s looking like Kring and Co. will have quite a few months to ensure season three gets off on the right foot [translation: Wes, Monica and the Wonder Twins are killed swiftly by Kristen Bell’s Elle]

As much as I’m loving the new season of HOUSE, is anyone else starting to feel a little bad for Cameron, Chase and Cuddy? To make way for the new interns, they’ve all pretty much pulled a “Robert Sean Leonard” this season. Don’t get me wrong, the new interns have been loads of fun [especially the bitchy one]. But isn’t it time for HOUSE to show the series regulars we’ve come to know and love a little more respect?

We’re only 3 days into the WGA strike, and this TV Addict is already jonsin’ for my nightly fix of THE DAILY SHOW and THE COLBERT REPORT. Who’d have thought the one network I’d miss the most would be Comedy Central — the home of such celebrated shows like KENNY VS. SPENNY and Crank Yankers? Should not American heroes like Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert be except from the strike? There shows are [sadly] my only source for news!

Today, NBC announced that as a result of the looming writer’s strike, the peacock network is pulling the plug on the much-hyped HEROES spin-off ORIGINS. ORIGINS, set to fill the void between April and May Sweeps was going to introduce one new hero a week with the help of a few Hollywood heavyweights such as Kevin Smith, Eli Roth and Michael Dougherty.

Naturally, the surprise and sudden cancellation of one pretty exciting idea begs the question. Is the writer’s strike really responsible for the cancellation of ORIGINS. Or simply a convenient excuse to hide the fact that HEROES has seriously underperformed both creatively and more importantly in the ratings this season.

It should come as no surprise that leading up to November Sweeps, television is finally starting to kick it up a notch.

Last night’s installment of HEROES was a return to form. Bringing back a surprisingly dangerous HRG, a predictably evil Sylar and an ending so jaw-dropping this TV Addict thought he had teleported back to last season. What lead to 93% of the world being wiped out? Are the remaining 7% all super-powered? Whatever the answer, of one thing we’re sure. HEROES finally managed to do something its failed to do all season long. Get us psyched for next Monday at 9PM.

Next up, the always dependable HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER. This week, television’s heir apparent go-to-office-bad-guy, also known as special guest star John Cho successfully wooed Marshall to forgo his dream of environmental law in order to work for an evil corporate law firm. Even funnier than Marshall’s morning walk of shame [after a night of drunken debauchery with Cho] was Ted’s realization that he shares the same name with a porn star. His accidental interview over the phone for an adult magazine… hilarious. Even funnier, was the fact that the adult video Ted Mosby only named himself ‘Ted Mosby’ as an homage to Ted after Ted saved him from a bunch of bullies in high school. All of which naturally begs the question. Have you ever ‘googled’ your name only to discover that you share the same name with an Adult Video Star. If so, let us know!

And finally, the funniest line of the night goes to [brace yourself] a Chuck Lorre sitcom [honestly, I never thought I’d utter those words]. THE BIG BANG THEORY continues to delight. Mostly thanks to the unintentional hilarity of Sheldon. His Halloween costume — brilliant. Funnier still his line delivery commenting on the reactions to his costume which is actually a visual representation of the Doppler Effect, “Given the reaction to my costume this party is a scathing indictment of the American education system.” When Penny’s ex-boyfriend asks Sheldon if he’s a Zebra, Sheldon replies, “Yet another child left behind.” Trust us, hilarious. Tune in next week, Monday at 8:30PM on CBS.

By Special Guest Contributor Seth C.

A lot has been written about how lousy Heroes has been this season. I for one have been greatly disappointed, but I was always taught don’t criticize unless you offer a solution. So here is my solution.

Get back to the basics. Give our Heroes a goal that is easily recognizable. Think “Save the Cheerleader, Save the World” or “How do you stop an Exploding Man”. Right now everyone is out in their own private universe with no goal that is easy for the audience to understand. Suresh and HRG on one mission, Peter on his own, Nathan looking for a good barber now that he has shaved. Give them a purpose. Parkman seems to have a mission everyone can work on. What is the meaning of the picture, who is trying to kill everyone and why?

Sylar — Am I the only one that realizes that he is still alive. Do none of our Heroes wonder where his body has gone? Put Sylar back to the forefront and start answering some of the questions surrounding him. There are some great back-stories that should be told. How did he get to the middle of nowhere? How did he get to the highway? Why has he lost his powers? After he killed Eden he thought he had her powers why didn’t he? Sylar can be the common bond that unites our Heroes. We all love to hate villains, so lets have him in the forefront.

Claire/Supermanlite — We know that powers are passed down from the parents and that Matt and his Daddy have the same power. Who else can fly-Nathan a.k.a. Claire’s daddy, is he also Superman lite’s father? Do we have a Star Wars moment with a brother and sister making out? Easy to fix, get rid of Superman lite and let Claire be Claire have her out using her powers trying to help people. Lets not worry about the “Firm” finding her and let her do what she can. Other then growing back a toe all she has done is replay Superman Returns, which wasn’t that great (that is another article).

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After last night’s fifth chapter of HEROES, two things are clear. One, this TV Addict misses VERONICA MARS more than ever. And two, the writers of HEROES have absolutely no idea what they’re doing. Sound harsh? Let me rephrase. The writers clearly have a plan, it’s simply not a very good one.

Think back to last night’s episode. What exactly happened? I think you’ll find at the end of my rant, the answer is nothing.

Through perhaps the least interesting story device in the history of television [Ando staring at parchment], we learned that Hiro is still stuck in Feudal Japan and about to face his final task. Defeating a character that nobody cares about — White Beard, with the help of two characters we’ve learned to loathe — Kensei and Yaeko.

Peter, still suffering from amnesia makes the idiotic decision to avoid his past [ie. the box] only to change his mind by the end of the episode [big surprise!].

Elle appeared in search of Peter and didn’t do much except to kill Ricky [another thug who I’m not sure if we’re supposed to like or not]. All of which happened off screen due to budgetary constrains the fact that we’re no doubt still supposed to be shocked [pun intended] by Elle’s new power.

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One of the more interesting things HEROES star Zachary Quinto revealed to the TV Addict during our recent interview was the fact that you can thank him for the hiring of Kristen Bell. Says Quinto, only half-jokingly, “I take full responsibility for her inclusion in the show.”

“Kristen and I have been friends for years. We actually decided to take the train back from July’s Comic Con. And as we were waiting in line for the train, we ran into HEROES writers Joe Pokaski, Aron Eli Coleite and Michael Green.” Elaborates the watchmaker, “Turns out they were actually writing scenes for the character that would become Kristen’s. So it was really interesting to get a text message from her a week later saying — Hey, some really great news. Call me when you get this, or I can just tell you when I see you on the set of OUR show.”

Continues executive producer Jeph Loeb. “Kristen was one of those happy surprises where we were trying to find someone to play the part who could just walk into the role immediately and get the audience excited.”

Well, Mr. Loeb consider your mission accomplished. This TV Addict could not be more excited for tonight’s fifth chapter of HEROES. Don’t miss the first appearance by Kristen Bell’s mysterious Elle tonight at 9PM on NBC [GLOBAL in Canada]

Can’t wait until Monday for your Kristen Bell/HEROES fix? theTVaddict.com understands. That’s why we’ve uploaded a scene from Monday’s episode online. Simply click play on the video above and be sure to stay tuned following the clip for an interview with Kristen Bell herself.

This afternoon, the TV Addict listened in as reporters from around the world peppered Kristen Bell and Tim Kring with questions for over an hour. Not surprisingly, Kristen Bell was absolutely awesome, answering every question — no matter how lame (yes, I’m talking to you US WEEKLY) — with patience, honesty and enthusiasm. Clearly, Bell loves and respects her fans, misses VERONICA MARS, yet can’t wait for viewers to see her in a new light.

The following are the most important tidbits from the call. Enjoy and don’t miss Kristen’s much anticipated first appearance on HEREOS this Monday October 22 on NBC (GLOBAL in Canada).

Kristen Bell: I start in episode five, and I’m not in six or seven. (TV Addict note: That blows!) Episodes 8 and 9 have a lot of Elle. A few of the story-lines revolve around her. I have a lot of stuff and I can’t wait to see how it plays on screen.

Kristen Bell: The character I’d like to most interact with on and off screen is Zachary Quinto. We’ve been friendsfor 10 years and he’s such an amazing person. I would love to see Sylar and Elle face off one day. As per my power, I’d love the power of multiplicity. I’d love to be in two places at once.

Tim Kring: We will be seeing more of the final five people in the photo (the older generation). The photo actually had a life of its own. It was very difficult to get all the actors lined up. And yes, the photo is as accurate as we could make it. For instance, the woman in the photo who looked an awful lot like Joanna Cassidy was indeed Joanna Cassidy.

Kristen Bell: I was a huge fan of HEROES. I watched it from its premiere episode. I joked with the writers that HEROES was always the water-cooler conversation on the set of VERONICA MARS. They joked that VERONICA MARS was always the water-cooler talk around the HEROES set.

Tim Kring: One of the hallmarks of our show is that nobody is who they seem to be. West may not be good for Claire. With Mohinder and Matt’s story, we wanted to do our little version of MY TWO DADS. One of the interesting things that’s happening this season is the joining of characters we didn’t see last year. Mohinder and Matt is one, Matt and Nathan last night. Suresh and H.R.G. We’re always looking to shake things up.

Tim Kring: Kristen’s character was created before we cast Kristen. But when you did an actor, especially one who’s work is familiar to us you try and tailor the character to her.

Kristen Bell: There was definitely anxiety about joining the cast, but nothing about joining the cast has been hard. They are some of the nicest people I’ve ever worked with. They’re an ensemble that really supports each-other.

Tim Kring: Yes, on a show like HEROES you have to be able to fold people in and out so the audience should fully expect to see characters leaving the show in the future.

Kristen Bell: It’s been so much fun playing the role of Elle. I’ve always wanted to play someone who didn’t have the brightest and shiniest of intentions.

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Surely it’s not a good sign when the most exciting scene from tonight’s installment of HEROES revolved around the previews for next week.

The return of Kristen Bell to the small screen will not only be a welcome fix for VERONICA MARS fans still suffering through withdrawal. It will hopefully inject some much needed excitement, energy and fun into what’s turning into one helluva sophmore slump.

On a related note, if you have a question for future hero [or possible villainess] Mrs. Bell, please post away in the comments below. As tomorrow at 2PM eastern, the TV Addict will be talking to both Kristen Bell herself as well as HEROES mastermind Tim Kring.

First on my list of questions for Mr. Kring… What the frak is happening with last season’s best new show? And for Ms. Bell… Will you marry me Ummm… I mean, VERONICA MARS the movie, is there a glimmer of hope for those MARS fans still in denial?