- April 17, 2007
- Heroes
A Review
With the initial slogan of Save the Cheerleader, Save the World, it was hard to gauge the success of the show. The slogan, catchy and honestly irritating at times, is still what I think of when I think of Heroes.
Ali Larter
Ali Larter takes you behind the scenes of the hit show Heroes.
Masi Oka
Masi Oka takes you behind the scenes of the hit show Heroes.
Milo Ventimiglia
Milo Ventimiglia takes you behind the scenes of the hit show Heroes.
Sendhil Ramamurthy
Sendhil Ramamurthy takes you behind the scenes of the hit show Heroes.
Tim Kring
Tim Kring takes you behind the scenes of the hit show Heroes.
Times in Need of Heroes
NBC's Heroes was dubbed a surprise success, but should it have been? In times like this, when we are assaulted with fears of sudden danger everywhere, aren't Heroes exactly.
Heroes and the Comic Book Revolution
The comic book revolution in today's modern pop culture has been more or less unheralded. Although a major coup in the world of geekdom, the mainstream press has regarded the increase.
Behind the Scenes Set Tour
Go behind the scenes and take a tour of the set with Santiago Cabrera who plays Isaac on Heroes.
Real Screenings and People
The cast of Heroes tours the U.S. meeting fans and screening their show.
Exclusive Scene
Catch a sneak peak of an exclusive scene from Heroes.
When the Nielsen ratings dust finally settled at the end of the 2006-2007 television season, only one of the major networks' primetime serial dramas was left standing: NBC's Heroes. The most talked-about series to hit the airwaves (and the blogosphere) since ABC's Lost, Tim Kring's engrossing and smartly crafted pulp blend of comic book action and character-driven narrative is so imaginatively realized and tautly plotted, that for once, you can believe the hype. That comparative rarity—a superhero-themed TV series that appeals equally to comic book fanatics and the highly coveted 18-49 viewer demographic—Heroes: Season One arrives on DVD in a first-rate, seven-disc set with a truckload of nifty special features, including the original, never-aired series premiere.
Unlike either The Fantastic Four or the X-Men trilogy, the Marvel Comics-inspired feature films that Heroes most pointedly evokes, there are no capes, masks, or any of the other standard superhero accoutrements in Kring's series about ordinary people discovering their "special abilities." In fact, only two of the series' heroes actually wear uniforms per se: telepathic Los Angeles cop Matt Parkman (Greg Grunberg) and spontaneously healing Texas high school cheerleader Claire Bennet (Hayden Panetierre). Yet while Kring takes great pains to ground the series in the trappings of messy, everyday reality and family dynamics to broaden its appeal, Heroes nevertheless unfolds in a world of sinister, top-secret organizations, Byzantine conspiracies, and perhaps the most unlikely group of saviors ever assembled to prevent nuclear Armageddon.
Take pudgy, Japanese office drone/comic book geek Hiro Nakamura (Masi Oka), who discovers that he can alter the space-time continuum. Or Vegas internet stripper/single mom Nikki Sanders (Ali Larter), whose lethal alter ego, Jessica, can rip people in half. Tortured artist Isaac Mendez (Santiago Cabrera) can foresee the future, albeit only when he's high on heroin. And then there's the brothers Petrelli of Manhattan. Whereas Peter (Milo Ventigmilia), a hospice nurse who absorbs others' powers, is struggling to find his destiny, his older brother Nathan (Adrian Pasdar) is the archetypal Alpha Dog, an ambitious, ruthless politician with his eye on the White House who can literally fly. Over the course of Heroes' 27 episodes, these strangers will gradually come together, due to the tireless efforts of geneticist Mohinder Suresh (Sendhil Ramamurthy), whose late father first identified them—and their chief nemesis Sylar (Zachary Quinto), a mutant serial killer they must stop to prevent New York's destruction.
For a series built on such an intricately detailed narrative foundation, Heroes never gets bogged down in minutiae. Kring and his top-notch team of writers and directors succeed at the daunting task of keeping the story moving like gangbusters without sacrificing character development or tone. In the time-honored tradition of serial dramas, they slyly reveal just enough pieces of the overall narrative/thematic puzzle in each episode to keep us watching. And while there's not one iota of camp to Heroes, the series has a playful sense of humor, especially with regard to the time-traveling exploits of Hiro, and his fellow office drone, Ando (James Kyson Lee), who persuades Hiro to use his gifts at the roulette table in Vegas.
A commercial and critical smash—recently nominated for eight Emmys, including Best Drama Series and Best Supporting Actor (Oka) —Heroes may not achieve the profound artistry of The Sopranos, but it's a juicily entertaining and ingenious series that's head and shoulders above almost all of the networks' other primetime series.