Heroes - Spoilers

[Spoo Junky]

My friend just told me about a show that started last night called Heroes. I didn't watch it myself, but she told me it had some people who seem to have powers (one guy can fly, another cannot be harmed by fire, etc.). To me it kind of sounds like Rising Stars by JMS. Anyone heard about this show?

[Radhil]

I did watch it. There isn't really a parallel to Rising Stars here, more to X-Men, and even that's kinda loose (and if I were more up on superheroes, I could probably draw a dozen more names - Rising Stars ain't even close to the baseline for this sorta thing).

It has a few likeable characters (uber-geeky Japanese Trek fan dude makes for amusing conversations, even in subtitle), a few unlikeables (I'm really hoping the cheerleader finds a way to kill herself properly), but seems off to an OK start. A hair overdramatic, but still OK. Shows like this don't seem to last though, so I'm not holding my breath.

[Joe Nazzaro]

I thought it was pretty entertaining as far as a first episode, which is always bogged down with back-story and introductions, plus creator Tim Kring is already weaving in a couple of mythology elements as well.

I was also thinking about the Rising Star/X-Men connections, but neither of those comparisons actually hold up in the end. Rising Stars did deal with a group of characters with super powers, but they all got their powers in utero and were then raised together throughout their childhood. And to an extent, the same is true in X-Men, where most of the mutants exhibited their powers from puberty. In Heroes, the main characters run the gamut from childhood to adult, although there may well turn out to be a single event that precipitates the emergence of their powers, since the pilot takes place as most of the characters are just discovering their new abilities, and in some cases, don't even know what's happening to them yet.

Still, a potentially very interesting piece and I'll definitely stay with it.

[Spoo Junky]

I was just wondering what everyone thought. The same friend said Lost was good but I just laughed it off, "Yeah right, like that show will go on." I don't have a good track record with that kind of thing. Back in the early '80's after I watched Madonna's video Lucky Star, I thought she was just another one hit wonder.

[AaronB]

If you are so inclined and for those like me who didn't see it last night, you can download the pilot directly from NBC. NBC is also showing the pilot again tonight at 8pm.

[AmyG]

I caught "Heroes" last night. Like Joe N., I thought it was a very promising start, and plan to keep on watching it. It felt hopeful, which you don't often get from television.

[Joe Nazzaro]

I may sit down and watch it again tonight, as I suspect there were a few bits and pieces I might have missed during initial viewing. Incidentally, did anybody see the final twist (the rooftop scene) at the end coming? Nice to know that a writer can throw you a curve ball every once in a while.

[Radhil]

Wished I had seen it coming, but nope. Spent most of the scene thinking of splat patterns.

[Karachi Vyce]

To me it kind of sounds like Rising Stars by JMS. Anyone heard about this show?

Cause the concept is so unique that it had never been done before.

I usually watch other things on Monday nights at that time, so I'll probably be watching this via the magic of torrents. I did download the pilot, and so far it's easily my favorite new show of the season. Solid first episode. Many of the characters seem interesting or even downright fun (Hiro is, at this point, definitely the most entertaining), and I can see them doing some cool stuff with the plot, so I'm eager to see where they go with this. Best acted new show this season is CBS' "Shark" (by the absolute force of James Woods' will), but this show might very well be the one that I wind up really digging.

[Dr Maturin]

I don't like network TV much due to the censoring.

[Joseph DeMartino]

I recorded this on the HD-DVR and sat down to watch it last night. That's when I found out that the trained gerbils in charge of HDTV down at my local NBC affliliate had completely bolixed up the Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound. I got all of the sound effects and most of the music with startling clarity, but not one word of the dialogue. The same thing happened with our CBS affiliate early in last season but (a) I was watching live so I could switch to the standard def feed and at least hear what I was watching and (b) they had people who knew what they were doing. (I called the station while the show was in progress and talked to one of the engineers who diagnose the problem as a bad amp while we were on the phone.)

I should note that with my set-up using component video cables and digital audio cables from the DVD players and DVR to the receiver, then another set of component cables to the TV, the closed-captioning information is not passed to the TV.

No such luck with WPTV when I called them this afternoon to find out what had happened and if NBC were planning an encore of the episode. (When I asked the receptionist about the encore broadcast she seemed never to have heard of the concept. Then she suggested I call Bravo, as they would probably have the rights to that kind of rerun.)

Next she transferred me to an engineer. This was the approximate conversation:

Me: Hey guys. I just wanted to find out if you had figured out what went wrong with Heroes and if the problem was fixed.

1st Engineer: Well, we're still working on it. What did you hear at home?

Me: Just music and sound effects. Didn't get any of the dialogue, the center channel was mute.

1st Engineer: The show had some pretty good music, didn't it?

Me: Yeah. But I really couldn't follow the plot without the dialogue.

1st Engineer: Right. Well, it was really strange. It was almost like the music and the dialogue were on separate channels.

Me: Er, they are on separate channels. That's how Dolby Digital works. There are five completely isolated channels, and the .1 for low frequency stuff. Usually the music and FX tracks play on the left and right front speakers and the surround speakers, while the dialogue comes through the center channel unless someone moves across the sound field from left to right or a voice is supposed to come from "behind" the viewer.

1st Engineer: Really? You should talk to Dave. He's working on the problem, hold on.

I swear I'm not making any of this up. Dave proved to have a little more of a clue, he still couldn't figure out any way to test and adjust the 5.1 equipment except by working with a live feed that was in 5.1 coming in from the network and going out live over the air while he was tinkering. I think he's going to take another shot at it tonight during Conan O'Brien on the theory he'll piss fewer people off than in prime time.

Dave's quote of the year:

"That was a pilot? I didn't know. I don't watch much TV and I never watch this station."



It was sort of amusing to see Luke's nephew Jess from Gilmore Girls as one of the heroes. One more reason to root for this show. It will keep the actor too busy to make too many visits to Star's Hollow. I never thought Jess was good enough for Rory.

Regards,

Joe

[Joe Nazzaro]

BTW, has anybody spotted the Babylon 5 connection yet? Skip Beaudine, who's one of the producers on Heroes, was the production manager on B5 and a very nice guy indeed. Glad to see he's on another quality project.

[Joe Nazzaro]

And I'm glad I'm watching the episode again for the second time tonight (Tuesday). I've already picked up several things I didn't notice the first time, including the fact that when flying guy has his second dream, it ends with his brother looking up at him. I think that's the sign of a good show: when you actually see new and different things the second time around.

[OmahaStar]

It'll be on again Friday night before Doctor Who on skiffy, then again on Monday on USA.

[Joseph DeMartino]

It'll be on again Friday night before Doctor Who on skiffy, then again on Monday on USA.

Thanks. I keep forgetting they're all corporate siblings now and sharing shows. I've got the DVR set to record both the Sci-Fi Friday and USA Monday night broadcasts, so I should get one of them.

Regards,

Joe