The anticipation of watching this show is like waiting to come home to a chocolate brownie and two scoops of vanilla ice cream. Served by (on?) a stripper from Spearmint Rhino.
I enjoy it with such pleasure that I can't believe it has an audience and NBC gave it a full season. They'd already announced large layoffs and a future direction away from dramas because of increasing budgets and decreasing ad revenue. CBS canceled "Smith" after only three episodes, and each of those episodes was as smart as any heist flick. It's too bad NBC is choosing to go toward game shows and reality shows -- the only things that seem to hold the interest of the American public.
Or maybe the downsizing is to pay for shows like this and "Studio 60" (which I also like).
Which makes me savor "Heroes" even more, because it'll be awhile before we see anything of this quality again on network TV. Every bit of the budget is displayed in each episode.
The show is entirely born from comic books. Characters are seen reading and quoting and discussing comics. Ultimately we're headed toward arranging the artist's paintings into large-scale comic book panels. And the ordinary becoming the extraordinary all began from a solar eclipse shared 'round the world.
It's even entertaining and rewarding to rewatch episodes. I pick up little things I missed earlier, such as the recurring "S" symbol (possibly signifying a single strand of DNA) all over the place (like the spine of Claire's Geometry book), the ring that Niki finds is a
half-skull (the serial killer is cutting skulls in half and removing brains), the Asian karaoke guys in the Japanese bar (either a tribute to or the actual
YouTube Asian guys lip-synching to the Backstreet Boys). And little in-joke references such as the casino that Hiro visits is The Montecito, after NBC's "Las Vegas," which creator Tim Kring crossed over a couple times with his series "Crossing Jordan."
The show is full of cliches, stolen plotlines, and portentuous dialogue, but it's handled surprisingly well and fits together. Everything about it works like a comic book come to life and each episode has unexpected surprises, with each ending in true cliffhanger fashion that leaves you wanting more.
I can't say enough good things about it.
For being offline most of this month, I'll try posting every day this week. Right now, I'm off to find a "Heroes"-friendly bar or watch it streamed online afterwards.
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