The concept of NBC's Heroes—"ordinary" people discover they have extraordinary superpowers, but don't know why or what for—sounds like it could be a perfect TV show, or an incredibly ridiculous one. The first episode of the show falls somewhere in the middle, but it's more on the positive side and there's enough that's intriguing to make me optimistic about where this one is going.
Superheroes aren't very common on TV and when they do turn up it's often cartoony. The most important thing to know about Heroes is that it's not like that at all. It's closer to the first two X-Men films' or Batman Begins' approach to superhero mythology, or Lost's "realistic" take on fantasy/sci-fi story elements. This is a show rooted in characters, necessitated by smaller budgets in TV no doubt but also a clear creative intent to make its world relatable and recognizable first, fantastic second.
The best superhero show I've ever seen was Buffy the Vampire Slayer, one of the best superhero stories in any medium of storytelling. After one episode Heroes can only aspire to that show's masterful blend of comedy, drama, horror, romance and action, but the aspiration is clearly there.
Not every storyline in the premiere works—I found one a little too melodramatic (Ali Larter's single mom stripper) and one a little too self-consciously "funny" (Masi Oka's bored Japanese worker)—but I'm very curious to see where this is all heading. And, unless the episode that airs is different from the one I saw, we won't even meet a key player (a police officer played by Alias vet Greg Grunberg) until the second episode.
Also Airing Tonight:
Runaway is officially the first new show of The CW. It's basically The Fugitive if Richard Kimble had a family. A whole family—dad, mom and three kids—goes on the run when the patriarch (Donnie Wahlberg) is falsely accused of murder. It's not bad but the big question is why get wrapped up in another show with an overarching mystery when there are so many—new and returning—on television right now. And also when this show's timeslot competition is Heroes for the immediate future and the return of 24 come January, if Runaway lasts that long. Still, since this one is on CW it may wind up the beneficiary of lowered network expectations.
After watching the second episode of Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip I've decided the thing I hate most about the show is that it's not bad. It would be so much easier to simply ignore. It's still way too much like The West Wing to feel fresh, and I still don't really like any of the characters. But tonight's episode goes by pretty fast anyway. And I give them credit for doing something I really didn't expect they would: actually showing us part of the show, within the show.
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