Heroes vs. Lost, An Interview
2 years, 10 months ago by WillRead more: ABC, Carlton Cuse, Damon Lindelof
Wizard posted an exclusive interview with Damon Lindelof and “Heroes” creator Tim Kring yesterday that is a good, quick read. The topics range from their time working together on Crossing Jordan to the ways the two shows now influence each other to tidbits about their season finales (nothing really that can be considered a spoiler for either show). Thanks to our friend Sean Collins at Wizard Magazine:
A group of strangers, connected by odd turns of fate and coincidence, find themselves thrust head first into an unknown world where the laws of reality seem easily broken. Sound familiar? To anyone in America who owns a television, the idea of a genre-driven drama featuring an expansive, multicultural cast and deep-seeded mysteries became a smash with the debut of ABC’s Lost in 2004. When NBC’s Heroes became the breakout hit of the 2006 season, a format once thought would never succeed once again proved to be the hottest thing on network TV.
Comment 1, posted 2 years, 10 months ago - Quote and reply
Tim Kring has an interesting line about storytelling on television, he says, “… any new show, …, has to be able to teach the audience how to watch their show. There is a vocabulary that the audience needs to learn in order to watch the show in an educated way.”
I found that really cool and was curious how might it apply to Lost? What is our vocabulary?
Lost bloggers like Jeff Jensen and J. Wood do incredibly in depth analysis of episodes and deconstructing characters, philosophical themes, and literary influences. But what they and others discuss is not necessary to understand or enjoy an episode.
Perhaps it regards the use of flashbacks or the divulging of Island secrets. If so, those that clamor for secrets each week may be in the 2nd grade when it comes to the vocabulary of Lost.
Comment 2, posted 2 years, 10 months ago - Quote and reply
Ben J – Great comment and I could not have said it better myself. Focusing on revelations and spoilers can easily cause one to lose focus on the great journey that is Lost. We are actually working on a post related to just that, which we will put up after this season.
Comment 3, posted 2 years, 10 months ago - Quote and reply
I wouldn’t put any stock in the words of Tim Kring. Heroes never reached the break out success that Lost did. And seeing as how the number of people that now tune into Heroes is less than the size of the audience viewing Lost, I wouldn’t put stock on it happening either. I watch Heroes but the story and the writing has very little substance. Great CGI and special effects though. But if you don’t have a good story people are going to lose interest, and it looks like they already have. I’ve lasted the first season, I doubt I’ll tune in for the second “volume” next year. I can’t be bothered trying to learn the language of a show that changes every time Kring spins it on to a new idea because he can’t find decent directions.
Comment 4, posted 2 years, 10 months ago - Quote and reply
I personally think that Heroes is one of the better shows on TV. I’m so sick of shows that don’t let the viewers get involved in the story and think about what could happen. Idol, CSI and all the other shows like those are what turns good television shows like Lost and Heroes into trash on the floors of their respective networks. Keep up the good work Lidelof and Kring.
Comment 5, posted 2 years, 9 months ago - Quote and reply
I dunno which Heroes show Peter is watching, but it sure isn’t the same one I am.
LOST has been pushing the journey theme since day one, and it’s great it has a wonder twin in Heroes.
Comment 6, posted 2 years, 4 months ago - Quote and reply
I can’t really agree with what Ben J is saying. I think Heroes has puts the viewer in a position of it being way too predicatble. I can tell you from watching a couple of episodes now starting with the first season, I get the feeling everytime something new is revealed it seems as though I already know what is going to happen next.
Lost has been the show created with the mastery of twists and its exciting storytelling has made it won many awards. The reason people connect to Heroes, of course in my opinion, is because they never have the chance to watch Lost.
I will be honest I started watching Lost Season 2, by councidence I watched the first episode and found it ok, then contiuned on to the next episode and completely loved the tie it had to the previous. I continued to watch Lost everynight as it was on. It was great, I felt like there a true story to be told on TELEVISION. Yes television is different then film.
I think Heroes would make a great film, but not a great television show. The reason is because, you are not set as to what has happend in the show, you just continue as to where you left off, and besides, there seems a great lack in suspense. You never feel like the next move the character takes could be a tragic one, a mistake, or something than my turn the story. I feel as though I already know what Heroes character will see next, the show seems too predictable and there is now thrill, and I am all about thriller television.
Not to drag other television shows in depth, but House M.D. is a medical drama, and it serves its perpouse correctly as a medical drama. It builds suspense, while it shows the true emotion of its characters and how each of their moves are incorrectiable. CSI, great show, why? The show starts with a great beginning motivational story and concludes a solved mistery.
Lets be real, we can’t compare House M.D. and CSI with Lost and Heroes. Why? Well because Lost and Heroes were intended to be written for a different genre. Although I will say, Heroes steals what Lost doesn’t have, at it steals in a bad way, not the good way you would think. You can’t build from a televsions shows flaws. The show has flaws to prevent it from being flawless, like Heroes takes those flaws and puts in their show to make the show completely bad.
The high intense vocabulary I see coming from Hereos hurts my brain. Seriously, I think you were joking. Both Heroes and Lost were made for the average audience, not for college professors. If you think high intense vocabulary is going to make a show big, maybe you should think again. People don’t sit behind the television to listen to the dictionary, they want to be entertained. My friend, you can’t even possibly think of the idea of putting intense vocabulary for a television show, unless you are talking about House, and even that show uses basic medical terms, and even if they use anything serious, they define what it is, and they do a very good at it too.
I can’t agree with what you are saying, everthing you have said, can be simply proven wrong by just watching Heroes and comparing it Lost.
Of course there is no compareson if you haven’t watched any of the shows, so maybe it wouldn’t be wise to be commenting.
Thanks for reading!(It was long I know)
Comment 7, posted 2 years ago - Quote and reply
VERY GOOD WEBSITE!I LIKE IT.
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