Presto, no George W. There. Problem solved.

Now if I made that the plot device for a television show, the whole series would last five minutes. And if I failed at my mission, then all I have to do is keep going back until I get it right.

The third season of "Heroes" is trying to make time travel a central element in its new, so far disappointing, season, and it's stopping the series cold.

That's just one of several problems plaguing my once-favorite science fiction series. After I watched the first three episodes of this season's "Heroes," it has become a scatter-brained, unfocused mess that doesn't know what to do with all of its confusing subplots.

In the second season, the cracks began to show in "Heroes." A subplot involving fan favorite Hiro (Masi Oka) traveling to feudal Japan turned out to be a wasted opportunity that didn't advance the overall story much. The first two thirds of the truncated last season (it was a victim of the writers' strike) offered muddled storylines with no uniformity. Only toward the end did things begin to gel.

This year, it's gotten worse again. Hiro encounters a chemical formula on a piece of paper left by his father that ultimately is stolen. He and friend Ando end up chasing a girl - who has the power to run fast - who swiped it.

Meanwhile, Peter Petrelli (Milo Ventimiglia), the good guy with all the superhero powers, has been using time travel to hurt his politician brother - for the greater good, only to find out it messes up the future more.

Again, why doesn't he just go back until he gets it right?

Another one of the good guys, the scientist Mohinder (Sendhil Ramamurthy), has a sudden and unrealistic change of character. At first, he wanted to save the world by coming up with a serum that can take away heroes' power. But now that he's discovered how to GIVE someone powers, he tries it on himself because he suddenly wants to be like them. It's completely out of character.

One of the worst storylines emerged last Monday when Noah Bennett (Jack Coleman), and his bitter rival, Sylar (Zachary Quinto), became partners while investigating a bank robbery involving a gang of bad guys with superpowers.

Sylar was once known as one of the most vile, evil and smartest villains on television. Now he's working with his arch enemy. It doesn't make sense.

"Heroes" once was an original, awe-inspiring series that created one of the great conflicts of modern television - a battle between good and evil that was a white-knuckle thrill.

But it's all dissipating before our eyes. The magic is waning.

If time travel were really possible, we could just go back in time and fix everything with the writers.

Sigh.