Endings - Heroes, Spooks, Tolkien's The Hobbit

Although Heroes has ended for most people, I’m still two episodes behind. To be honest, I’m not convinced I’ll be following the second series when it airs next year. I’ve noticed a series of US dramas have been moving my viewing acceptance criteria along a journey.

• West Wing was fast and furious, more words that you could pick up, talking about subjects you knew nothing about. But gripping relationships keeping the viewers’ loyalty. (And it was one of my loose 2007 resolutions I managed to complete – getting through all seven seasons before the end of the year.)
  
  
• 24 was high octane drama, action packed, strong cliff hangers at the end of each episode, multiple storylines running in parallel in and across episodes.
  
  
• Lost added a surreal dimension to US drama. Lots of unexplained, and never-explained details, keeping the audience guessing which parts of the story would turn out to be important, and when the next bolt out the blue would appear from stage left to upset any modicum of sense viewers had managed to make of the spaghetti storyline. Just about made it through all the terrestrial TV episodes, and abandoned at the point it went to Sky.

Then came Heroes.

A strong first episode introducing a cast of disconnected characters with special powers. As the series progressed, the beginnings of interactions between heroes, darker sides to their friends and families, and a sense of purpose – though not quite like the Fellowship of the Ring! Heroes has less surreal unexplained stuff than Lost, less cliff hangers than 24, and not so well crafted relationships as West Wing.

So I’ll bear with it to the end of this series, but unless the next one gets great reviews – not sure the screenwriter’s apology makes that likely – it’ll be deleted from the Tivo as soon as I notice it’s been recorded.

Two other endings to cover in this post.

The latest series of Spooks reached its dramatic conclusion last night. Bet there’s a resuscitation – rather than a resurrection – at the start of the next series. I was surprised there was no mention of next year’s Rogue Spooks Spooks: Liberty spinoff at the end.

And news that Peter Jackson will be involved with the cinematic revisioning of what remains of the accessible books in JRR Tolkien’s Middle Earth narrative. Having kissed and made up with the studio which owns the film rights to The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings, Jackson has been confirmed as producer (not director – as yet unnamed) for New Line Cinema’s forthcoming Hobbit films. Yes plural. Two films. Got to milk it for all it’s worth – and make it worth the trip down to New Zealand.