My Interview With Newsviner Vacelts About Heroes

From time to time I like to interview other Newsviners, asking them questions I figure are on the minds of other Newsviners besides just me. I did so with Walt D, Rob and Dennis.

Normally I interview authors and musicians. I recently decided to interview a doctor who writes recaps of House. That reminded me we have a Newsviner who writes popular recaps of Heroes, a show I've just started getting into in recent months. (Yes, I'm about one year beyond most people.)

I'd interview Steve Watts but I've yet to get into that show and try to at least be somewhat knowledgeable about the topics on which I write.

So here then is my interview with Vacelts followed by her picks of some of her favorite musings about Heroes and other topics

Do you consider yourself a fan of Heroes?

Yes, I consider myself a fan of Heroes. I know I sometimes come across as critical in my recaps, but mostly that's to stir up discussion.

Did you start watching it from the beginning?

Yes, I've been watching Heroes from the beginning. It is one of the shows I normally watch as it airs, but there has been the rare occassion where I've had to DVR it and watch it at a later date.

At that point what were your expectations from it?

When I first started watching Heroes, I wasn't yet blogging. (I didn't start blogging until last March.) In the beginning, my only expectation was to be entertained. I had no idea that it would become this serialized drama that I would spend time theorizing and analyzing on the web.

The series Lost was my first experience with a television show that, after watching, I would spend time discussing on the web. Sure, I'd discussed shows with friends and coworkers in the past, but nothing as in depth as the discussion on Lost and, now, Heroes.

At what point did you start writing episode recaps and analysis?

I wrote about Heroes for the first time in an article on the Top 10 Season Finales that I was looking forward to last spring. Then I
followed it up with a recap on the season finale.

Before that I was simply seeding other recaps of the series. I was inspired to start writing regular recaps of Heroes for Season 2 by Steve Watts. I really enjoyed the discussions that his recaps initiated about Lost and wanted to do something similar for Heroes.

Chandra W does a nice job of previews of upcoming episodes of Heroes, but there was no one regularly writing recaps for Heroes. And one of the fun things about a series like Heroes is hearing everyone's theories on what's going to happen next.

My goal with the recaps wasn't to become an authority on Heroes, but to initiate this dialogue.

The only down point of writing about the series is that I find myself being much more critical that if I just watch the show.

What do you consider the high points and low points so far?

For me, the high point of the series was the section of Volume 1 with the slogan "Save the Cheerleader, Save the World." The series was still new, we were still learning about the characters and we had all these theories about what was going to happen next.

The entire Volume 2 has been a low point for me. I'm not saying that there haven't been some outstanding episodes in this volume, but overall it just hasn't had held the same magic for me. It seems that they are still trying to spoon feed us at the same pace as the first season and I'm ready to move past that stage.

And in my opinion, the stories either aren't as well developed as in Season 1 or the commentors in my recaps are getting very good with their theories, because the big reveals have seemed anticlimatic this season.

What's it like having some of your recent articles - this one - featured at MSNBC?

I actually didn't get to see my article on MSNBC and only found out about it being posted there because of you, Scott.

It's an honor to have my recap picked up by MSNBC. I just hope that I'm representing the Newsvine community well. I actually think that the recap was of interest to MSNBC because of the discussion the commentors bring to it and not just my recap.

Do you plan to continue writing the recaps?

Yes, I plan to continue writing the recaps for Heroes when the series returns. In fact, it felt very weird not writing a recap this week. I'm going to have to come up with a way to fill the Heroes void in the meantime.

Do you read the recaps written by Television Without Pity or other sites?

I don't read any other recaps until I've written and posted my own. I don't want to be influenced by others until I've gotten my thoughts down. However, once my recap is posted I do read other recaps.

Everyone sees things differently and those recaps might reveal something I missed and can then add to the discussion.

I've not read Television Without Pity recaps before, but I am looking to checking them out. I regularly read TV Squad, Buddy TV, TV Addict and Heroes Revealed.

What other television series do you like?

I never really thought of myself as a Sci Fi kind of girl. But as I sit here and think about the other shows I watch, I think I'm going to have to reconsider that analysis.

My must watch show each week is Supernatural. I also watch Bones, Smallville, Chuck, Reaper, Friday Night Lights, Doctor Who, Torchwood, Numbers, Grey's Anatomy, Las Vegas, Pushing Daisies, Monk and Psych.

Over the summer, I got sucked into Mad Men, Burn Notice and Army Wives. And with twin toddlers in the house I watch more children's programs that you can image. In all, I watch far too much TV to be healthy. But it's cheap entertainment for a couple with little ones.

Thanks again for doing this interview.

I've been watching Buffy, Heroes and The Office via dvds from my library and always read TWOP recaps.

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