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This week in TV
By Alex Navissi

***Spoiler Alert!***

"Heroes" is back! Everyone's favorite superhero series return-ed two weeks after Peter saved the cheerleader. Peter wakes up from his coma with the realization that he will be the bomb that destroys New York City. So what does he do? He buys a ticket to Nevada where Sprague, the guy with nuclear powers, lives. Along the way, Peter and the rest of us meet an invisible man, played by Christopher Eccleston. Meanwhile, Niki/Jessica is rotting away in the psych ward of a prison cell, Hiro and Ando steal Hiro's "destiny sword," and Claire re-shares her secret with Zach. For those convergent media aficionados, calling 1-800-PRIMA16 may yield some more clues about Claire's father and the yet-to-be-seen Linderman.

Following "Heroes," was the return of "Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip." Monday's episode was solid, but unremarkable. The mutli-stranded series isn't always going to craft a great storyline, and they have a clunker with the Bradley Whitford-Amanda Peet subplot. Peet says she isn't interested. Whitford says he won't take "no" for an answer. Peet retreats. Whitford pursues. This may appear to be a standard romance plot, but it comes off as creepy and a bit obsessive. Thankfully, the budding relationship between Nathan Corddry and Lucy Davis serves as a pleasant counterbalance to Whitford's dysfunctionality.
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http://superherohype.com/news/heroesnews.php?id=5134

Who Will Die on NBC's Heroes?

Source: TV Guide January 24, 2007

WARNING: This article contains spoilers about upcoming episodes of "Heroes."

Claire finds her birth parents. Peter vanishes. Hiro's father shows up and so does a startling new Israeli hero with high tech capabilities. But that's not the biggest news in store for fans of Heroes as it continues its first season. Featuring four collectible "Heroes" covers (see below), the January 29 issue of TV Guide magazine (on newsstands January 25) reveals that one series' regular is headed for hero heaven.

"Some people will be upset (when they learn who dies), sure," says "Heroes" creator and executive producer Tim Kring. "During February sweeps we are going to kill off one of our regulars, someone who has been with the show from the very beginning." Asked if that "regular" is one of the actual heroes, Kring responds, "You know what? I personally never use the term 'hero' because I happen to know that, ultimately, some of the seemingly heroic characters will not be heroic."

Still he hints that we may not be seeing the last of whomever it is that is being knocked off. "But with the ability to bend time and change things, not all of those who are killed are making their last appearance on the show--and we actually do have plans for the character who's dying."

Kring also confirms that Claire will find her biological mom - played by "Nip/Tuck's" Jessalyn Gilsig - in the January 29 episode. "Claire sets out to locate her birth mother and finds her living in a trailer park in an old Airstream. That'll be a shock but the identity of Claire's father will be a bigger shock," he says. He goes on to hint that the revelation of Claire's biological father just might be someone fans are already familiar with. "I'll say no more about that except that the reveal will be a lot of fun for the audience...Claire has to go on the road to find him. Once she meets her true parents, it will become even more important for her to find other people like her."

Continuing with the Meet the Parents theme, Kring says that Hiro's father - played by George Takei - will also pop up on January 29. "It's going to be blow-your-mind cool," he says. "The character will provide a gateway into a whole world back in Japan that we will explore in Season 2--a story about Hiro's family and his past."

As for Hiro regaining control of his powers, Kring says, "He'll be a little handicapped for a while. Hiro can't be so powerful that he becomes a crutch for bad writing. That's why we had him fail to save the waitress. We can't have him go back in time and fix everything."

What about the two series regulars - Simone and Mohinder - who don't seem to possess a secret power? Kring says of both, "(There are) none yet and none planned...except (in the case of Simone) maybe the power of love. We want the audience to feel that the spark between Simone and Isaac might reignite. It was always intended to be a complicated triangle between those tow and Peter."

As for Peter, Kring says, "He's with our new invisible man, Claude, and no one will be able to find him for several episodes. Claude who has had his powers longer than anyone we've seen thus far, is a window into the truth about what's really going on."

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http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/entertainment/view/255313/1/.html

"Heroes" makes heroes of humans

Coming to a goggle box near you: A series based on — hold your breath — superheroes.

But before all you couch potatoes let out a collective groan, this new generation of superheroes looks set to kick the butts of classics like The Six Million Dollar Man, kiddy favourites such as the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, and even more contemporary hits like Smallville.

Viewers might wince at the all-too-predictable title Heroes, but the series, which debuts on Star World (StarHub Channel 1 Cool

on Wednesday, is unique in the pantheon of superhero-centric TV shows because it isn't based on an existing comic book.

Detractors deride Heroes as relying on a tried-and-tested, overdone formula: A group of ordinary folk discovering they have extraordinary powers.

As they struggle to get to grips with their new abilities, they also find they'll need to use them to save the world, in this case from nuclear disaster.

But this did not deter 14.3 million adults in North America tuning into the premiere, making Heroes the highest-rated drama premiere in five years.

And the accolades keep pouring in. Last month, the American Film Institute named the show "one of the best programmes of the year", setting up inevitable comparisons to the debut of Lost in 2004.

It's not a bird, it's not a plane

Rather than featuring caped crusaders able to leap tall buildings in a single bound, Heroes takes a neater approach: Human evolution has given some people superhero-like abilities. Eventually, these people will be called upon to save the world from an impending nuclear disaster.

Refreshingly, there are also no cliched calamity-of-the-week plots. What makes Heroes a hit is that the creators have opted to explore how these new-found abilities affect the lives of their often-unwilling recipients.

As Heroes producer and well-known comic book author Jeph Loeb told online magazine Superhero Hype: "Spider-Man was interesting because Peter Parker is interesting. Bruce Wayne's private life is what makes Batman interesting. Unless you work on the person underneath the powers, you don't have anything, and Tim (Kring, creator of Heroes) had it all, and that is really the most extraordinary thing about it."

Like Peter Parker, the characters of Heroes provide the show's emotional centre; Kring is well aware of the fact that the show succeeds simply because it focuses on the characters first.

"You've got a cheerleader, a policeman, a single mom trying to raise her son," he said in a recent interview.

"These characters and stories are so diverse; my hope is that everyone can find something that they like."

And there are many characters to root for: Witness how 17-year-old cheerleader Claire Bennett deals with the fact that she can run through blazing fire and come out unscathed, or how how Japanese salaryman Hiro Nakamura discovers he can bend space and time simply by squeezing his eyes shut.

Attaching the powers to otherwise everyday people is what gives Heroes its charm and what has helped the series garner a fanatical fan base.

As with Lost, Heroes fans are engaging in intense online discussion on the fate of their characters.

These days, Kring finds himself deluged with questions from fanatics, but he is keen to emphasise that despite its rabid fanbase, Heroes was written with a mainstream audience in mind, and was never meant to be a "cult" show — hence the impressive viewership numbers.

"I think if a person is watching it for just the 'cult' aspect, they will be disappointed. This is a much bigger idea than that."

The show will go on

As fan opinion continues to ride high for Kring, followers may be glad to know that the show won't die out once this season's world-threatening calamity is dealt with.

"There is no ending planned for the show. I didn't create a story with an intentional ending," he told Infuze magazine. "It's a saga, and each year, we'll come up with a brand new obstacle that they have to overcome."

Masi Oka, who plays Hiro Nakamura, thinks Heroes is ultimately a step above the confusion brought forth by series such as Lost or Prison Break.

"The writers are brilliant and they know what they're doing," he told gaming portal IGN. "The show asks a lot of questions, but you have to trust that they will answer them.

"Best of all, they will give answers if you pay attention."

So, to viewers who once were Lost: You may now have found your superhero saviours.

Heroes characters to watch for:

Hiro Nakamura

The adorable Masi Oka is perfectly cast as Hiro, a Japanese office worker who delights in his power to travel through time. He is also the first to be clued in on the mission to save the world.

Claire Bennett

Claire, played by Hayden Panettiere, is no helpless teenager: The 17-year-old has the strange ability to heal herself from all sorts of injuries.

Niki Sanders

Ali Larter turns in a credible performance as a single mom with superhuman strength and a possibly violent, murderous alternate personality.

Peter Petrelli

Peter – sometimes reluctant hero, always a hunk – eventually decides he wants to be the leader of the pack. Played by Gilmore Girls bad-boy Milo Ventimiglia.

WHAT: HEROES
WHEN: WEDNESDAY, 9PM
WHERE: STAR WORLD STARHUB CHANNEL 18

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Takei is now a 'Hero'

Actor who played Sulu in 'Star Trek' is back on NBC

PASADENA, Calif. — In the 1960s, George Takei was one of the very few Asian-Americans on TV.

The man who played Sulu on "Star Trek" never imagined that four decades later he'd not only be back on NBC, but he'd be speaking nothing but Japanese. In a bit of perfect casting, Takei joins the cast of "Heroes" tonight (8 p.m., Ch. 5) as Hiro's (Masi Oka) father.

Yes, it's another science-fictionish show, but one very different from "Trek."

Paul Drinkwater, NBCGeorge Takei, right, plays Hiro's (Masi Oka) father on "Heroes"

"It's kind of a merging of the same audience base," Takei told the Deseret Morning News. "The 'Star Trek' fans are overjoyed."

But the producers of "Heroes" first had to be convinced of Takei's language abilities.

"My agent called and asked whether I speak Japanese. And I said, 'Yes, of course,"' he said. But the producers were unconvinced and faxed over a scene for Takei to play.

"I got the pages, and they were in English! And I said, 'I thought they wanted me to do it in Japanese?' And my agent said, 'They want you to translate this.' They want me to translate this as well as play it.

"So I went and auditioned, and they were blown away."

The elder Mr. Nakamura shows up as Hiro searches for the sword he needs to help prevent the impending cataclysm that threatens to destroy New York City. Takei can't tell us a lot about his character — partly because he can't give away plot-points, and partly because, well, he's just not sure who his character is.

"I can tell you that I'm a powerful industrialist from a distinguished, old-line family. And I have great aspirations for my son," Takei said. "But other than that, I don't know quite who I am. I don't know quite why I do what I do. Or what I expect to have happen. Everything is a surprise, and with each script I make new discoveries.

"Am I a good guy? Am I a bad guy? What are my motivations? What's my goal? What do I really want from my son? Am I the big boss, or am I taking orders from someone? It's like being part of the audience, but I get to do it."

And he gets to speak Japanese exclusively. "I speak Japanese fluently, but I've never worked in Japan," said the native Californian, who turns 70 in April. "And here I am in Hollywood doing whole scenes, episode after episode, purely and exclusively in the Japanese language.

"That's an amazing commentary on the sophistication and the globalization of the American television-viewing public. I mean, it's really remarkable." (Takei isn't sure how many episodes of "Heroes" he'll appear in — it's open-ended at this point.)
Takei and Oka — who has become the breakout star of the television season by playing the "Hero" who is overjoyed with his newfound powers— formed a quick bond. "George was amazing," Oka said. "He's so charming, he's so charismatic. He has so many stories.

"Off set, he would be, like 'Well, back in those days,"' Oka said, doing a perfect imitation of Takei. (An imitation he's "scared to do" in front of Takei.)
Takei was already a fan of both the show and Oka when he got the part. "It was nice when we met. We went directly to each other and we started chatting," Takei said. "And somehow we revealed to each other that we speak Spanish. ... So then we started conversing in Spanish. And we were going back-and-forth in Spanish when I thought we would be doing it in Japanese.
"So be prepared for another twist and turn," he said with a laugh.

BYD · Posted: Mon Jan 29, 2007 10:10 pm Post subject:

moving to spoilers

kelsums · Posted: Tue Jan 30, 2007 12:24 am Post subject:

wow had fun reading all the new Heroes spoilers. Im Glad Kring actually tells some of his plans for the beloved Heroes gang.