TV Watch

Heroes Tonight!

09/24/2007 at 12:00 AM EDT

We don’t need another hero, goes the old Tina Turner song from Mad Max: Thunderdome. Maybe not, but it’s definitely time for another Heroes. Season two starts tonight (NBC, 9 p.m. ET), and hopefully it’s as gallopingly weird, funny and exciting as the first one. Season one, remember, ended with antihero Sylar (Zachary Quinto) defeated– “dead”? (don't be naive)–after a showdown in Manhattan with hero Peter Petrelli (Milo Ventimiglia). Peter had this little problem in that if his emotions got out of control, he ran the danger of detonating into a nuclear explosion. Well, haven’t we all felt the same way? After the confrontation with Sylar, Peter and his brother (Adrian Pasdar) shot up into the night sky and exploded together in an oddly sentimental climax.

That was only one of many plot strands, though, in an unusually complex serial narrative. In broadest terms, the story was about these secret heroes’ acceptance of their powers–and their concerted response to the rallying cry of “Save the cheerleader.”



The new season picks up her and the others’ story four months later. The show tends to have a pretty high body count, so don’t be shocked if a hero (or more) gets offed in a spectacularly unpleasant manner. There has been a lot of good buzz about Kristen Bell joining the cast, but that won’t be until October. –Tom Gliatto

Tell us: Are you looking forward to tonight's premiere?Photo: Chris Haston/NBC