At one time, not so long ago, America had a lot of hope for a show promising to save the cheerleader, and thus (then?) save the world. But in the past 2 seasons, NBC's superhero melodrama has become more of a convoluted snore than a relevant look at growing up different. Or something.

Was Heroes ever an analogy, or just a conglomeration of recycled X-Men plot-lines and bad accents? First season was awesome, second season was confusing, and this season is the special abilities version of the Saw films. What crazy/nonsensical combination of powers can we string together with an overly-complicated narrative structure?

And now Heroes has fired two of its producers/writers, ratings are way, way down, and even the show's creator Tim Kring has no idea how to fix the problems that make Lost look cohesive and well-planned.

And while Jeff Bercovici has some pretty good suggestions of what's wrong with the series, there is really a simple solution to the Heroes dilemma:

Hire Joss Whedon. Look: the man knows how to write fantastical superhero stories that have elements of everyday pathos. Look at Buffy, the original world-saving cheerleader. Look at what he's done with the Astonishing X-men comic series. Kring shoud lure Whedon away from his new pet project Dollhouse with a couple bags full of money, and install him as the head writer of the show. Voila! Problem. Solved.