‘Heroes’ Premieres Tonight on NBC

Just a reminder, the series premiere of Heroes is tonite at 9 PM on NBC (in the United States).

The show features a Rising Stars-esque take on people with super powers in the real world. Jeph Loeb is one of the producers of the show and is very excited about it (he left his gig at Lost for this show). We saw the pilot (a longer version of what is airing tonite) in San Diego and it was really good.

There is an interesting review and round up of critics over at Ain’t It Cool. Interesting explanation of the premise from the Ain’t It Cool post, comparing the characters to the X-Men:

For those unfamiliar with “Heroes”? It’s a scifi hourlong, from “Crossing Jordan” creator Tim Kring, about people from all over the United States (and one guy from Tokyo) who suddenly learn they have superpowers. The guy from Toyko discovers he can teleport himself, just like Nightcrawler. A cheerleader discovers she can heal herself, just like Wolverine. A cop discovers he can read minds, just like Professor X. A nurse thinks he might be able to fly, just like Storm. An artist thinks he can see the future, just like Destiny. A stripper thinks she can kill people with her brain, just like Phoenix. There’s even a professor with device that can, a Cerebro-like, find the superpowered people. But nobody demonstrates powerful optic blasts.

Comments

  1. Yeah i downloaded the pilot a few weeks ago, it was pretty good stuff, although i cant see it being a big hit.

  2. Loved the pilot, will be downloading episode one tonight (2 minutes of footage not seen in the pilot! egad!). this download will take the place of my regular prison break download, so it is a step not taken lightly.

  3. The screening we saw in San Diego was 74 minutes (I think), so I am very, very curious to see what gets cut out.

  4. I’m watching it now… but both my roommates are making fun of me for it.

  5. I am worried that I will not remember what is cut out.

    But – I am watching anyway.

  6. Liked most of it. Nice ending with the brothers. Monday is gonna’ be a good TV night. I read more characters are to be introduced. I’m looking forward to more!

  7. So it just ended and I’ve gotten a snack to think things over.

    I find the most interesting character to be the professor from India who doesn’t seem to possess any powers.

    And I’m not sure how I feel about the whole conspiracy angle, I guess they need some way to distance themselves from X-Men.

  8. So – that is what they “cut.”

    There are a few more characters that we saw in the pilot in San Diego. It seems they just re-edited so that they will be introduced next week.

    So – all you Felicity fans – stay tuned ’til next week.

  9. Not to be anal, but the scene with the Japanese guys in the bar where they talk about time travel. The one guy says he learned about it from Kitty Pride in Uncanny X-Men 143. He actually means 141(Days of Future Past).

  10. I would have felt better about myself if they hadn’t started with “Volume One” of the characters’ “epic story,” (we like ourselves, don’t we, Heroes?) but they won me over in the end.

  11. 143 was that dumb Kitty Pride solo one-shot where the dinosaurs attacked het on Christmas

  12. Just finished watching Heroes and it is must see TV for me.
    It did get of to a slow start but by mid episode I was anxious to see what happened next.
    I hope this show catches on so we can see more than one season.
    It looks like NBC is really promoting the heck out of this show.

  13. that one shot was greatness!!!

  14. That is from my favorite run of my favorite book and I can’t even defend it.

  15. but.. but.. she passed!!!

  16. Excellant Show

    Hiro is the bomb.

  17. Yatta!

  18. Haha, this is pretty good so far.

    I’m only…41 minutes into the hour long premire.

    The asian dude’s the best story. He drops an X-men comic into a convo!

  19. I liked it. I’m going to watch it a couple more times and if I can keep the schedule, I’ll watch it. If not, DVD watching for me.

    But it was pretty cool

  20. That was a great show. I’ve already got the Season Pass set on TiVo.

    Did anybody else catch those two idiots in the karaoke bar? The guys singing the Backstreet Boys song are the guys from the YouTube video. Classic!

  21. In the next episode, a bald man in a wheelchair invites them all to his special school for these people with special powers and genetic anomalies, or “mutants” you could call them.

    They can reuse every clever thing you’ve ever seen in a comic now, since the general public will have no idea.

    That said, while feeling like I’d sorta been there before, this was pretty well done and I’m definitely in for some more episodes. If for no other reason than I’ve got to watch something before Studio 60 is on, right?

  22. how good is studio 60 by the way? The show I wanted to hate is really awesome.

  23. That is so true. Studio 60 is awesome. There is no down time on that show at all – it feels like every second is important and exciting. It’s a little early to predict this, but what the hell – it’ll be up for best drama next year, and Matthew Perry will be up for best actor in a drama.

    Haven’t seen Heroes yet but its on the DVR. I will be checking it out when I get home later this week…

  24. I just think I found my new Monday Night shows. For the longest time I have not had anything on mondays to watch. FInally, network TV is “possibly” getting good again. THe only other show I had on network was “The office”. So Heros gets my thumbs up as does Studio 60.

  25. As I learned with Arrested Development, even when the show is really good, that doesn’t mean that people will watch it. Especially on the networks. Ratings for Earl and the Office were down. Office down more than Earl, even though it was a fantastic episode.

    We’ll see if Studio 60 finds an audience. I’m not sure Heroes will. Anyone see the ratings on these yet.

    Also, both are AWESOME in HD.

  26. For any interested, there is a webcomic on the official NBC site, nbc.com/heroes. Looks like it will be updated each week to give more backstory. Also several good interviews with Jeph Loeb and the creator Tim Kring.

  27. It’s true, sometimes good TV does not equal out to audiance size. Arested Development is a great example of that.

    I believe Studio 60 did well it’s first week. 16 million I believe. Not sure about Heros.

    And that’s disappointing to hear about “The Office”. I love the office, and, for me, is the only reason I tune into network TV. Most of the best shows are on eith HBO, FX, or Adult Swim (come on, Venture brothers is great!). So I can only hope that networks don’t decide to get rid of the few good shows they have.

    Sorry to go on about this, I’m just very passionate about quality on TV.

  28. The Futon Critic asks that I not copy their info on other sites, so I’ll just say that NBC led Monday night and let them say the rest:

    http://www.thefutoncritic.com/ratings.aspx?id=monday

    After being Foxed so many times (“Fox” being the verb meaning “1- to produce a brilliant show only to cancel it with great brutality; 2- to be tricked into watching such a show”) I’m hesitant to get too excited by anything new. I’ve… I’ve just been hurt so many times before. But the pilot for Studio 60 had me standing on my couch all Tom Cruise-style.

    Man, I wish my HD antenna were not so fickle. The sooner DirecTV just sucks it up and adds the network/local channels in HD, the happier life will be.

  29. I watched “Heroes” last night and I thought it was very cool. They seem to have woven a far-reaching and rich story around a number of seemingly unrelated people developing honest to goodness superhero powers like flight, teleportation, invulnerability, etc. So far, the characters seem cool and well-developed (and all the powered up people who will be on the show haven’t even been introduced in the pilot if you go by what’s to come in coming weeks.
    Not only that, but there is a cool mystical aspect to the story and a conceit that the new “heroes” must band together eventually to stop some big threat.
    I’ll stop rambling, go watch the show. ALso, the NBC website has an 8 page comic that they will put up after each episode that expands upon the portion of the story youve just watched. The first one was drawn by Michael Turner, and was a decent little extra.

  30. Studio 60::
    So Matthew Perry will get an Emmy for playing a guy high on pills? He’s really stretching there.

  31. Finally was able to watch Heroes on my tivo. Awesome show.

    For those interested in such things, Heroes won its timeslot with 14.29 million viewers. A very good start.

  32. Ive been looking forward to Heroes for the longest time. I loved it!
    Also… Arrested Development… one of the best shows ever.

  33. If you click through on that link from Jimski up there a few posts, you’ll see that there’s Heroes absolutely kicked ass. Best drama debut in 5 years. And think of all the great dramas that have come out since 2001….

  34. I dunno…

    I mean, I like the concept. I love seeing the Tim Sale art. I like the Japanese dude. I like the cheerleader.

    But man, the acting…oh man, it’s so wooden. I don’t get it at all. I feel like the script was just full of Important Lines…I mean, I am going to keep watching–I really want this to be good–but I was pretty stunned by the writing and the acting. I thought a lot of it was pretty stiff. Most the cast just seemed kind of TENSE….

    I dunno. I thought it was a good start, but I think it kinda faltered out of the gate. I hope it picks itself up and finds its stride. Perhaps they just had too many characters for a first episode? It would have been better, I think, if they worked it as a two hour premiere…that would have helped the pacing a bit..

    But I loved some of the scenes. When she pushes her ribs back in? so good.

    Anyway, maybe I am just taking it too seriously. I basically cannot wait for Battlestar Galactica to come back on, which I think has both great writing and stellar acting…

    really not trying to be a snob……..
    m

  35. I thought the shwo was awesome and I second Hiro and the Cheerleader/Molly Hayes/Wolverine as being the tow best characters. They say 18 million people watched it, so it is off to a good start.

    Does anyone know where I can find the pilot for Studio 60–the NBC site took it down and replaced it with the new episode. Is it on youtube?

  36. I’m sure you could, were you so inclined, find it as a bit torrent.

  37. Perhaps on a site like isohunt.com or maybe even torrentspy.com, not that I would know or anything

  38. I wanted to come back and relate that little X-men reference…

    He quoted X-men #143, right? Where Kitty fought the Brood on Christmas?

    Maybe he was trying to say 141/142, whichever the one is where Kitty traveled into the ‘Days of Future Past’. That seems waaaay more fitting if you think about it like that.

  39. The Studio 60 pilot is also available legally at the itunes music store (for $1.99 of course).

    And Matthew Perry’s character was only high on pills the first week. I actually liked him better the second week.

  40. I thought the first episode was OK, and I was almost take it or leave it. Then the second episode sealed it for me.

    But yeah, iTunes. That’s a good idea.

  41. I was pleasantly surprised by Heroes–I was bracing for it to a cheesy suckfest, but I was pretty enthralled by it. The vibe was grittier than I expected, and I thought it looked great. And not just Ali Larter.

    Studio 60 is definitely a great watch–though there is a good amount of TV-self-aggrandizement going on. I mean, they treat the production of a TV show as if it were the most important thing ever. A bit overdramatic–but then again, the acting and writing are good enough to pull it off.

    From the Dept of I Know You’re Happy For Me: My brother-in-law was in Episode 2; he was the writer who gave the puppet idea in the writers’ meeting and was quickly shushed. Like you care, I know.

  42. I would say that self-aggrandizement is the result of the fact that that is what people in TV think of themselves. I’ve worked on some terrible TV shows (Battle Dome) and everything that happened there was considered to be of the utmost importance, no matter how stupid. In that sense, it’s authentic. I’m sure it’s way heightened on a show that actually might matter, such as the fictional show in this show.

    Congrats to your brother.

  43. Is anyone else watching Jericho?

  44. wow, that’s cool about your brother. I am super jealous–that show looks like it would be a lot of fun to work on.

    I thought Studio 60 #2 was quite good, and am pretty pleased with the show overall. I thought the big musical number was good–could have been even better–but I was stoked they actually showed it….but wanted to see the “Crazy Christians” sketch even more.

    Heroes could pull it off. I guess I was just looking forward to it SO much that I was bound to letdown. the guy’s son (starts off as a teacher, ends up as a cab driver)–his accent, I dunno, it was driving me and whitney absolutely bonkers.

    It’s odd, I don’t usually watch the shows the night they are on but now that you guys are talking about it is making me a TV slave again…all hail..

    off to buy many comics.

    m

  45. I’ve watched three new shows this month. Heroes is my least favorite. Studio 60 rules, and so does Six Degrees, even though the music on that show SUCKS.
    I’m gonna check out The Nine and Kidnapped.
    I can’t handle this many shows though, so who knows what’ll happen.

  46. Vanished is also relatively good for what it is

  47. don’t forget about the office

  48. I gave Vanished a chance. I honestly did. I watched the first 5 episodes and each week I became more and more bored with it. The story/conspiracy was kind of cool but the acting turned me off and it was just so slow. Anyway, it wasn’t horrible but I am done with it. The Office on the other hand, is gold.

  49. Belatedly watching this show last night, I noticed something sort of cool I haven’t seen mentioned anywhere else: when Hiro and his friend are talking to one another in Japanese, the subtitles are not sub-. They’re all over the screen, depending on who’s talking and where they’re standing and the composition of the shot. I realized this last night and thought, “I’ve never seen that before.” Then I realized that I see it all the time; it’s just that usually the story is on paper and the text is in a word balloon. The Hiro scenes are almost literally living comic panels.

  50. That’s one of my favorite things about the show.

  51. That is true.
    You are right.

  52. What’s everyone thinking so far story wise? Any theories as to whats gonna happen?

  53. I think that the show is on the right track. Each show has some meat to it and then the cliffhanger at the end of each episode. It is written like a comic book. The story is good and kinda keeps you guessing.
    No good theories at this time.

  54. I wish more things would happen during the show. The times it has been most engaging is always right at the end. And that’s good, but I think they save up all their good stuff for the last couple minutes, which makes the rest of the show boring by comparison. I also have no patience for mystery.

  55. Three episodes in, my wife loves this show so much that if it’d come out two years earlier she might be married to it instead. She has about a dozen theories, most of them involving the cheerleader’s dad. My only theory so far is that if the show doesn’t cheer up soon, I’m going to jump off a tall building. You wouldn’t think being an unkillable hot cheerleader would be so depressing, but it totally is. Hiro is a godsend in that he has superpowers, and that makes him smile.

    Speaking of which, how about those time-stopping special effects when he saved the schoolgirl last week? I think that looked about as good as anything I’ve seen in a movie this year. (That’s right, better than any snake on that plane.)

  56. I think you’ve nailed it why Hiro is the most likable person on the show. Because honestly, it would be frickin’ awesome.

  57. Re: not much happening in an episode, I’ve noticed they do spend some time recapping where we are in the story–kind of like that Marvel recap page, except it takes a few minutes. Whether this was just for new viewers jumping on– the most time was spent at the beginning of Episode 2 – we’ll see. Not a bad idea, it’s just they’ve gone a bit overboard.

    But overall, I am liking this way more than I expected, each successive episode has been better. I think I literally gasped out loud at the latest cliffhanger (which was written by Loeb), which like never happens for me, especially with tv. So I’ve gotta give ’em that.

  58. It’s certainly better each week. I find myself looking forward to the next episode as soon as the last ends. I really like it.

  59. And we’re updated with a new thread: http://www.ifanboy.com/archives/001100.html