My wife and I have been Heroes fans since the beginning. We were disappointed in last season's shows but thought they would fix it this season. However, we thought the two-hour season opener was terrible. Two major problems for us are continuity and confusion. The characters alternate being bad/good. It makes it hard to be "for" a character. Also, they routinely kill characters, then bring them back to life. There is no threat in dying because you know they will come back. The plots are way too confusing. We backed up several times to try to figure out various meanings. We finally just gave up. The show was so much fun in the first season. If it doesn't improve a lot, we will stop watching. — Dan, e-mail

There has been a steep drop in audience for Heroes, so there must be many who share your feelings. However, the approximately 10 million viewers still tuning in indicates there are still plenty of loyalists. The floor is open to viewpoints, pro and con.



Rules of Engagement is missing from the CBS schedule. Is it on hiatus, dead and buried, or scheduled for some other time or station? — R.A.W., e-mail

CBS likes to use the hammock between Two and a Half Men and CSI: Miami as a launching pad for new sitcoms. The network did it with Rules of Engagement, TheNew Adventures of Old Christine and tried to do it with The Captain. This season, Worst Week is being given the favored new comedy treatment. Rules of Engagement is being kept in production as a midseason replacement. The way Worst Week is underperforming, "midseason" could come early.



I'm looking for the name of one of those late-night movies starring Emmett Kelly and about early Miami. Also, is it available on DVD or VCR? — Donna, e-mail

Kelly, perhaps the most famous clown ever, made few movies and most of those he did had something to do with the circus. One exception, which sounds like what you are looking for, is the 1958 flick Wind Across the Everglades. I can't find a recognized DVD or VHS release but there are copies for sale on the Web. Google the title, but be wary of the seller with whom you might be dealing.



On Turner Classic Movies they mention the word "letterbox" in the rating area. What does letterbox mean? — A.S., Coconut Creek

When your screen — assuming it isn't a high-definition TV — has big black bars across the top and bottom of the picture, that's letterbox. This is the alternative to squeezing widescreen movies into a basically square screen on older TV sets.



When I was a little girl, I remember going to see Exodus with my mother. I fell in love with the late Paul Newman. Oddly, whenever there is something written about him, that film is never mentioned. Can you explain? — L.L., e-mail

I can only speculate on what other writers are thinking as they compose their stories. I suspect it's a bit of "What have you done for me lately?" When I pick credits to mention when writing about a star, I generally use two criteria: titles most people would recognize and maybe a film or two that impressed me. Exodus, shot in 1960, was one of Newman's earliest. I don't recall it being on TV often. So any writer younger than 60 isn't as likely to be aware of it. Combine that with Newman films that have become cultural touchstones — The Sting, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid and Cool Hand Luke — and the slighting of Exodus is probably nothing more than an unintentional oversight.

Write to Tom ...

Send your questions to Tom Jicha, TV/Radio Writer, Sun Sentinel, 200 E. Las Olas Blvd., Fort Lauderdale, FL 33301-2293 or tjicha@SunSentinel.com. Personal replies are not possible. Please do not send self-addressed stamped envelopes.

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