Helix: new SyFy Channel show (2014)

We rarely see them use them doesn't mean that within the context of the series they don't. Either way, tht doesn't make it a silly show for me any more than some of the unrealistic things that occur in Die Hard (where the radio is a major plot device) ain't going to be a deal breaker for me. Suspension of disbelief and all.

Perhaps some of the base is shielded preventing the, from using anything other than the telecoms the bottom line is that dramatically radios are far less interesting than having someone feel isolated.

I don't feel that a show has to spell out all of its rules. If they used radios all the time they could also be monitored by the vectors clouding them in as to what they are doing. Also, would a research facile like that which has an intercom system need a million radios? Like the the amount of guns they have, they are limited to security.

They have used them in the show but not all episodes. For me it's a minor plot contrivance compared to some other shows.

 

I watched all the episodes so far and it is cheesy and cheap, sometimes dumber than dumb ( In the night being outdoors and having nice long conversations or rides on snow buggie with only a few white plastic bits flying around and no visible breath coming from their mouths ?) or plain cringeworthy (Call me Mixa !) and now immortals that throw tantrums like 5 year olds ....... but I will keep watching !

 

It's not perfect, but I like it.

 

Never said that it made it a better show by the way. Since you gave up after four episodes there are things you haven't seen in the show. Why bother posting on a show you hate?

 

I thought this past weeks episode was very weak. Major disappointment especially at the end when they showed the faces of the assassins. Shouldn't all those vectors be able to take out the assassins?

I thought the week before was great. The guy chained to the column for 29 years was interesting.

Whenever I see someone get shot on this show I see blood splurt out the front when they were shot in the back, or vice versa. Does every bullet go straight through? It just seems like that effect is something we take for granted after years of watching dramatic TV and looks a little cheesier on this series.

I see a different writer in the credits almost every week. I wonder how much of this was hashed out by the guy who wrote the first episode and created the series.

 

Reportedly the whole series was hashed out with a specific outline prior to production. Ron Moore who co-produces the series does like to have the happy accident that occurs during the writing but, on the whole, he's planned out his shows at least year-by-year.

 

As it gets to the end of this first season, the show is kind of simultaneously getting better and worse. I have to admit as much as I made fun of the “Call me Miksa” stuff and the kind of awful way they wrote the guy’s dialogue, I was a little sad to see his head explode. Maybe the actor will still get to keep his gig though, as he plays the even-less-interesting twin brother as well.

 

Or--cheesy plot twist--they really switched places!

I agree that as it reaches its conclusion the writing as become cheesier than usual. The bit with the finger was pretty predictable. My guess is because of her genetics, she grows it back.

 

Has been renewed for a second season.

 

Isn't it amazing, when it's -100 below zero outside, and the people are just casually talking with their face and eyes exposed, like it's no big deal? Why, it's as if it's a cheesy studio in Vancouver, and there's nothing but chips of styrofoam blowing around...

I'd like to take that "head exploding necklace" dealio and put that on certain Hollywood writers' necks. That way, if too many fans believe the show is doing badly, and enough buttons are pushed, the writers have to pay the ultimate price...

 

+1000 - like Rutger Hauer in "Wedlock" I think it was ? That last episode of Helix I have seen, Episode 12, was just an incredible stinker in any way imaginable .......

Of course, if it stinks that much, it has to be renewed for another season .......................

 

Although... I have to grudgingly admit, that was clever that they'd jump ahead 9 months and do a segment set in Paris! This is a very, very hard show to figure out. I'm impressed that this show takes such a circuitous path, and goes off in very bizarre, unexpected directions. That last shot was a pretty shocking reveal (for cable).

 

You must be talking about the last episode, which I haven't seen yet ?

 

Interesting season ender, with lots of surprise twists & turns throughout the episode, right up to the end. Lots of directions next season can go.

Hiroyuki Sanada has been compelling all season, as usual. Kyra Zagorsky has been a surprise success, imo.

 

It was on last night. I gave no reveals.

 

Enjoyed it overall , finale
was pretty wild , looking
fwd to S02

 

Kyra Zagorsky is hot and probably the reason I tune in each week.

I don't want to give anything away but there were things that weren't explained that definitely wanted to be resolved before moving on the season 2. And some of the surprises weren't very surprising.

The season finale was better than week 12... but not by much.

 

I think quite a few viewers' heads have exploded during the series thus far.

 

I still feel the show has been hit-and-miss, but I'm glad for a second season.

But, I have a tough time with the format some of these cable shows follow. Short seasons (10, 12, 13, or 16 episodes usually), and then gone until next season. How much will people remember Helix when it comes back for the second season in 2015? We're talking a 10-month gap at least. Couldn't they at least do the "Walking Dead" format of 16 episodes split into two "mini seasons" and get "Helix" back on this fall?

Other shows manage the near-year gap ("Falling Skies"), but that's a huge gap for either fans or "casual viewers" to handle.

 

The 10-month gap is a problem, I don't think it's a workable model for casual viewers.

 

Breaking Bad and tons of British shows have done 12-episode seasons for a long time. I believe the reasons are a) they have no money, b) the producers don't have to deal with the pressure of coming up with as many good scripts, but mostly c) did I mention they have no money? The actors also like it because the shows only need four months of their time instead of the usually grueling 8-9 month schedule, which doesn't leave them a lot of time left to do a movie, a play, go on vacation, etc.

I think with all of the "alternate viewing" methods available today -- online streaming, Netflix, iTunes, broadcast, cable, satellite, etc. -- there's still ways of catching up and doing "binge viewing" sessions to figure out where you are. And a lot of the cable series do some kind of a 30-40-minute special prior to each season premiere to provide short flashbacks and synopses of what the previous plots were and where the characters are now. I don't have a problem with it.

I have a bigger problem with a show like (say) Sherlock, where we only get three 90-minute shows per season. That seems downright stingy... but I concede that we might not be able to get actors of this caliber if they had to commit to four or five months a year to a show at this budget.

 

Those are the reasons I’ve always figured. I do understand the budgetary constraints. I guess I’m just actually surprised that networks still go the trouble of measuring how popular a show is with viewers, presumably because they’re trying to gauge whether it’s popular enough to continue airing, when they plan to bring the show back nearly a full year later, in such a “short attention span” era where shows are forgotten before they even air.

It’s almost as if, when Syfy finally brings “Helix” back, they’re going to end up marketing it essentially as a new show. They’re probably going to end up marketing it very similarly to how they marketed the first season. That seems just a bit less plausible for a show where they are clearly trying to build a “Lost/Fringe/X-Files” sort of mythos. There are and will be outlets (marathon re-airings on TV, Netflix perhaps, or Hulu, DVD/Blu, etc.) to go back and catch up, but they are airing some of these shows like “Helix” now in the same pattern they do with stuff like Gordon Ramsay’s reality shows and the like. “Helix” requires a bit more background I think.

The scheduling for the actors is an interesting aspect. I’d be curious to know how many actors doing a 10-episode-per-year schedule like the short work schedule, and how many would prefer the steady work of 16 or 24 episodes. I’m guessing the more wealthy, in-demand actors, who can pick and choose, like the short schedule, while the struggling actors might want more work.

I specifically remember Noah Wylie on “Falling Skies” mentioning he does the show in large part because it’s a short work schedule. Interestingly, they finally expanded “Falling Skies” to 12 episodes. It’s an interesting comparison, as “Falling Skies” to me is similar to “Helix” in terms of production quality, presumably done on the relative cheap but with an underlying mythos/backstory going on.

 

SyFy hopes the show catches an audience after the initial broadcasts, usually through venues like Netflix and Blu-ray. Many of these niche properties have extended lives now on the aftermarket and build an audience well after broadcast. That is how The Walking Dead became the most popular cable show.

 

I think full 22 episode shows are going to start vanishing, even the networks are moving into successful short-season shows - the 13 episode hit Sleepy Hollow from this season is a good example of that working out well (or Under The Dome from last summer). The networks have all stated they want to move toward year-round programming and I think we'll start seeing more and more of these 13 episode series becoming the norm.

I also think the 13 episode series are able to get away with more arc material and aren't held to the "episodic" nature of most 22 episode series. You end up with tighter, punchier episodes with much less filler.

 

This show started with such promise and then that dwindled as the season wore on. I'm not giving up on it before season 2, because there are some really intriguing ideas here, but it started to feel like they were throwing everything in that they could without thinking through where it all would lead. If they tighten up the writing next season, it could be fantastic. But with a wider stage next season, they also have to ignore the temptation of going too many directions with the plot. They certainly can't have any more issues like "episode 12" which was just so bad (really, the conversation about the benefits of being Silver Eyed Ladies was hilariously awful - "It's a lot to think about" said in such a casual manner was so bizarrely off-tone.)