Ask Matt: Is Sylar Bad for Heroes? Will Viewers Crash into Starz's Show ? And More!

• Oct 13, 2008 03:00 AM ET
• by Matt Roush

Zachary Quinto, Heroes

p>TV Guide's Senior Critic Matt Roush takes your TV questions. Have a rant, rave or burning question about your favorite show you'd like addressed? E-mail him here.

Question: What shall we do with Heroes? NBC must be asking itself the same question. Its first season, the show was a breakthrough hit, and then its season finale disappointed many. The abbreviated second season disappointed many more. Its producer publicly apologized for mistakes in that season. Then it comes back, supposedly rejuvenated and better than ever. NBC promotes the hell out of it and, almost unbelievably, viewership is down. The episodes that have aired so far have certainly been pretty good and even promising. I have to wonder if NBC made a blunder by airing the premiere against the Dancing with the Stars premiere. Maybe they should have come back a week earlier. Regardless, we need some explanation as to why the show can't get back on track to where it was in its best first season moments. My conclusion is that there was one colossal blunder made by the show's producers that has caused most of the problems, and that decision was to keep Sylar around after the first season. — Kelly H.

See Matt's response and questions on The Mentalist, Crash, Flashpoint and more after the jump. read more

Ask Matt: Analyzing Daisies' Wilting Ratings, Defending Grey's Creator and More!

• Oct 10, 2008 03:00 AM ET
• by Matt Roush

Anna Friel and Lee Pace, Pushing Daisies

TV Guide's Senior Critic Matt Roush takes your TV questions. Have a rant, rave or burning question about your favorite show you'd like addressed? E-mail him here.

Question: I'm devastated, but not necessarily surprised, by the early ratings for Pushing Daisies. I thought it was risky of ABC to leave a show this fragile and unique off the air for so long and expect viewers to flock to its return. It's sad that something this unique, this creative and this original just can't "click" with a general public, but my hope is that the demos are decent enough that it will make it through at least 12 episodes and give us fans a proper, affectionate sign-off. — Andrew M.

Matt Roush: Let's not suggest the show be pushing up daisies just yet, though the opening numbers were dismaying. I can only hope ABC won't let this delightful show go down without a fight (the same argument I've been adopting lately for Fox's struggling Terminator series). But I agree the out-of-sight, out-of-mind argument has been devastating for this show in particular.

More on Daisies, the great Grey's debate and a look at the 24 prequel movie after the jump. read more

Roush Dispatch: Thursday's Highs and Lows

• Oct 9, 2008 10:54 AM ET
• by Matt Roush

William Petersen in CSI

What a night of extremes is this first official (as in mostly complete) Thursday night of the new season. An absolutely terrific CSI opener, with William Petersen hitting a wrenching career high as he and his team deal with the aftermath of last season's dastardly shooting of Warrick (also memorably played in his swan song by Gary Dourdan, who has a heartbreaking scene midway through the episode that cements his relationship with mentor Grissom for all time).

More of the night's best and a look at some of its terrible comedy after the jump. read more

The Enemy Here Is Logic

• Oct 8, 2008 04:00 AM ET
• by Matt Roush

The question, and it’s a fair one, nags at many of this season’s new series: How long can they keep it going? It applies mostly to shows adapted from limited-run overseas hits (Life on Mars, Worst Week, The Ex List, Eleventh Hour, Kath & Kim), but is especially pertinent to NBC’s nonsensical spy thriller My Own Worst Enemy.

Reminiscent at times of “The Bourne Identity” or “Face/Off,” to name a few movie influences it does not improve upon, the beyond-high-concept Enemy asks us to believe Christian Slater as a cold-blooded assassin named Edward who doubles, when a switch in his brain is flipped, as a milquetoast family man named Henry. For the record, he’s more credible as Edward.

But credibility has little to do with Enemy, which calls upon Edward’s boss lady, Alfre Woodard, to spout this exposition: “We manifested a divergent identity, dormant in a sealed-off portion of the medial tem read more

I'm a huge fan of Dancing ...

• Oct 6, 2008 04:00 AM ET
• by Matt Roush

Question: I'm a huge fan of Dancing with the Stars. However, I need to vent. I have no problem with an 82-year-old woman being a participant of DWTS. I like old people — I am one myself. However, can you please get a message to Cloris Leachman for me? Tell her that I am embarrassed for her.  Not because of her age, not because of her dancing skill, but because of her sophomoric actions that are not funny. People are not laughing with her, Matt, they are laughing at her. A funny person can also act smart and inspiring.  An 82-year-old person can still have fun, dance, sing, laugh, entertain and be an active part of the world. A funny person doesn't have to try too hard, and Ms. Leachman is trying too hard. I believe that she is extremely desperate for as much attention as possible. I imagine that ABC is doing anything they can to keep her on the air in an effort to get more seniors to watch. We're watching, and ABC and DWTS both are actively embarrassing an actress who at one time was a ... read more

I heard a rumor over the ...

• Oct 6, 2008 04:00 AM ET
• by Matt Roush

Question: I heard a rumor over the summer that NBC will be showing shorter versions of Friday Night Lights than what DirecTV viewers will see. Do you know if there's any truth to that?
Answer: It's not a rumor, it's a fact. DirecTV has even been promoting that it's airing extended, commercial-free episodes — the season premiere roughly clocked 50 minutes, considerably longer than a regular network episode — that will be trimmed for NBC broadcast. I would assume the full-length versions will be made available either online or certainly on the third-season DVDs, whenever they're released. But I'd also assume that the edited versions will not be missing any of the major moments.

Another FNL question, from Dan: "As a fan of Friday Night Lights, I have always been trying to figure out NBC's decision to place Friday Night Lights on Friday nights. It seems that during the first season of FNL, NBC was trying hard to promote FNL and they seemed to be doing well. The second season rolls around

A lot has been mentioned by ...

• Oct 6, 2008 04:00 AM ET
• by Matt Roush

Question: A lot has been mentioned by you and others about the overcrowding on Monday nights, especially in the 8 o'clock hour. Chuck and the CBS comedies are must-DVR's for me, but I also love Sarah Connor. My situation is further complicated by the fact that I work nights and thus don't have the option to watch one and record two. I would hate to see any of these shows canceled (either mid-season or before next year) because they were simply in the wrong time slot. With that foundation, I have a couple of related questions. First off, do networks take the level of competition into account when looking at a show's ratings and deciding whether to keep it or axe it? Also, how are the number of people who DVR a show counted? How about those who stream them online? Is there enough evidence out there to support streaming a show online later versus DVR-ing it when it comes to the effect on how a network views its survival chances?
Answer: It's all very complicated and still a work in
... read more

One of the nicer surprises ...

• Oct 6, 2008 04:00 AM ET
• by Matt Roush

Question: One of the nicer surprises over the summer was Swingtown on CBS. I know you weren't a huge fan of the show, and I agree with you that the series wasn't Emmy-caliber, but as a distraction from all of the Wipeouts, Japanese Games Shows and Greatest American Dogs, Swingtown did succeed in providing me with some kitschy, retro drama moments that fulfilled what TV sometimes means to do: entertain. I just got (prematurely) excited when I saw that Bravo had picked up Swingtown. Unfortunately, it was for the rebroadcasting of the original 13 episodes already shown on CBS. My questions are these: Has CBS officially canceled Swingtown? Will Bravo be producing any new episodes? And if the answers to the first two questions are a "yes" and a "no," are the actors/crew still under contract to return to the series should Showtime pick it up?
Answer: The answer, to my knowledge, is a "no" and a "no." At the moment, the fate of Swingtown has not yet been determined, either on CBS or Showtime
... read more

Care to weigh in on Heroes? ...

• Oct 6, 2008 04:00 AM ET
• by Matt Roush

Question: Care to weigh in on Heroes? Do you find it quite mediocre in comparison to former times? With an arc entitled "Villains," one would expect a juxtaposition of good versus bad with the introduction of a series of antagonists. But I think the writers would rather have us care about Peter being trapped in Weevil's body (forgetting that Peter has spent the last year being an annoying amnesiac) than working on the themes of heroism the show has been so sorely lacking for a while now. In its defense, I'm enjoying what they're doing with Hiro and his speedster nemesis Daphne. And speaking of bad blood, Cristine Rose was the single best thing about the premiere! But there are still many holes. Doesn't Sylar's acquiring Claire's ability not undermine the "save the cheerleader, save The World" principle we were working with in season one? Wasn't the whole point of saving the cheerleader so that Sylar wouldn't become unkillable? I guess they can pin it on the so-called "Butterfly Effect" ... read more

As the ninth season of CSI ...

• Oct 6, 2008 04:00 AM ET
• by Matt Roush

Question: As the ninth season of CSI approaches, I can't help but fear a new year of Marg Helgenberger's ridiculous wardrobe. In a recent interview, I heard her bemoan the fact that she didn't have Julia Roberts' career. Well, that would be because Julia, 9 years her junior, has only dressed like Catherine Willows in two roles: a hooker in Pretty Woman and a woman constantly ridiculed for her cleavage in Erin Brockovich. Why are we supposed to believe that a forensic scientist would be able to walk around a garbage dump looking for clues with perfectly coiffed and styled hair, the make-up of a showgirl, cleavage-squeezing tops, high-heeled boots and jeans so tight that walking looks difficult? I can't help but feel disappointed that the message Marg seems to be sending is that you can be a post-40s actress and land a great, professional role, but only if you still dress like you're 25 and heading to a club. Why can't we all take a page from Helen Mirren who was wild and sexual in her ... read more