What if?
That’s all. It’s the plain and simple premise of the fun, fantastic new NBC drama “Heroes,” which premieres at 9 tonight on KING-TV, Channel 5.
With manmade and natural disasters ravaging the world these days, it’s clear we could use some heroes, and this show allows us to frolic in a fantasy world where there actually are some.
It starts with the classic comic-book premise that there are superheroes living among us, and the action gets going when a total eclipse darkens the world for a moment and we begin to discover some of our heroes’ powers.
In the premiere, a young man learns he can fly, a high school cheerleader discovers she’s indestructible and a Japanese man realizes he can teleport himself to a different place and time. Meanwhile, a heroin-addicted artist is painting elaborate scenes of destruction before they’ve actually happened.
As these people are trying to make sense of their newfound abilities, viewers learn about an Indian genetics professor who believed they existed and was on track to finding them before he was killed by someone who wanted the research.
Now his son is trying to finish the work that he started.
The conspiracy is enough to keep the story going, but the real beauty lies in the slightly more real picture of what it would actually mean to be a superhero in this world.
Classic comic-book heroes such as Superman, Spiderman and Batman have always been welcomed with open arms. They have slick uniforms and always descend upon the world just in time to save it. No one asks questions. It just happens, and everyone’s happy.
In “Heroes” we get a chance to see what the reactions might really be to individuals who claim they can teleport themselves, stop time, fly, hear other people’s thoughts or see the future.
The answer: People think they’re nuts, and they’re reluctant to reveal any more.
What we also don’t yet know is how these people will use their powers. It can be expected that some will use it for good, and others will use it for evil.
A quick standout, though, is Hiro Nakamura (played by Masi Oka, who had guest spots on “Scrubs”). Hiro works in a sterile, cubicle-filled office in Tokyo and finds that he can stop time and teleport. His sheer joy is infectious, and you’ll be cheering for him within seconds of watching him strain to stop time while sitting at his desk.
Hiro truly saves the day, in this case, as the creators of the show said they added the character late in the process to provide a balance to the others who were more reluctant to embrace their abilities.
“I felt that I needed one character who embraced it in a really positive way and saw it as the greatest thing in the world,” creator Tim Kring said. “And, sure enough, with every screening we’ve seen the response to (Hiro) has been fabulous.”
With the quality of dramas on television today, it’s a risk to ask viewers to buy into comic-book heroes in prime time. But with a big risk comes a bigger payoff when you discover these “Heroes” really are super.
Victor Balta’s column runs Mondays and Thursdays on the A&E page. Reach him at 425-339-3455 or vbalta@heraldnet.com.
For more TV and pop culture scoop, check out Victor’s blog at heraldnet.com/blogpopculture.
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