'Heroes': Five Ways to Fix a Series In Crisis

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PROBLEM 4: STALE STORYTELLING

SOLUTION: GET A NEW BAG OF TRICKS

Heroes used to be the most surprising show on TV. Now it's become painfully predictable. Among the storytelling devices that the show uses far too much: time travel, prophetic paintings, apocalyptic scenarios that must be averted, secret formulas that give or take away powers, wrestling with new/out-of-control powers, be-careful-what-you-wish-for thematics, and absolute-power-corrupts-absolutely moralism. The elimination priority is time travel: The constant commuting of characters between past, present, and (alternate) futures has become confusing and is turning continuity into hole-ridden Swiss cheese. Also: Refresh the settings. The overreliance on Isaac's loft (now Suresh's lab), the Company's basement, and Claire's house has only accentuated the pervading dullness of the series.

NEXT PAGE: Problem 5 — Heroes is too disposable