Tim Kring is a Hero

Posted on September 26, 2006

It has to be said: NBC's Heroes is by far the best pilot of the Fall 2006 season so far. In fact, it's what Six Degrees should have been.

The premise is that human evolution has just taken a big leap forward. All over the world, ordinary people are suddenly finding out that they have special powers. Claire Bennet, a blond Texas cheerleader played by Hayden Panettiere is virtually indestructible: she can leap from a tower or walk through fires and heal within seconds. Pete (Milo Ventimiglia), a hospice nurse, dreams he can fly. A brilliant artist who is addicted to drugs (Santiago Cabrera)thinks he's going crazy because he's a precong and can paint disasters before they happen.

Down on her luck single mom Niki Sanders (Ali Larter) has a mysterious doppleganger that she sees in the mirror and who can really get violent if Niki is threatened. Japanese uber-geek Hiro Nakamura (Masi Oka) is the only character who immediately realizes what's happening to him: he can manipulate space and time and teleport himself wherever he wants. An avid Star Trek and comics fan, he immediately knows that he must use his power for good and not for personal gain. His friend wants to know what good are superpowers if you can't use them for personal gain? But Hiro knows better. He's absolutely hilarious and is clearly destined to be a favorite character. The only other people who know about this evolutionary jump are a brilliant Indian geneticist Mohinder Suresh (Sendhil Ramamurthy) and a mysterious group of people who apparently killed Monhinder's equally brilliant father and stole his research. Next week, we'll meet telepathic cop Matt Parkman, played by Alias' Greg Grunberg.

The premise is exciting, the dialogue is snappy and the casting is excellent. We were just about to despair over this boring new fall season until searies creator/executive producer Tim Kring stepped up to the plate. He's our new Hero.

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