Heroes: What happened?

I'll be the first to admit that Heroes on NBC is one of my favorite shows. When it first appeared on television it was a far cry from anything else playing, especially with the crime shows all rating so high. Even so, the premier for Heroes last night was a quite the little shocker. First of all, it was a three hour event! An hour worth of countdown and then not one, but two new shows! As ecstatic as I was to see all the fun, overkill wouldn't be a huge overstatement. Apparently, the viewers agree with me, at least if the numbers are close.

Season 3 did not fair quite so well in the number category, breaking around 14.1 million viewers, which for all the hype wasn't any larger than its original season premier. NBC, apparently before the numbers were known, decided to combine last night's number with a second viewing of the premier on Saturday. It is all possible due to a little loophole in Nielsen's ratings. A show can combine their numbers for two showings as long as the same commercials are aired each time. Hence, the final number of Heroes season three premier will be larger than what it was in reality. Nielsen has also said that more homes are using things such as TiVo and that could be affecting the numbers as well.

As for the show itself, the countdown promised surprises and the show delivered, maybe the biggest one being the teaser for the next show. I won't ruin the show for you if you haven't see it, but suffice to say changes were made that were more than a little unexpected. While all will probably make for a more interesting show, I wasn't happy with many, as characters I use to like become ones I'm no longer routing for. Bummer. And some things (Tracy??) need some major explaining. We still haven't seen all of the characters return either and some returned we thought were gone. Interesting…

I mentioned at the beginning that Heroes started out as a show far different from anything else on TV, well, TV is catching up, so Heroes it out pacing in another way now. Heroes has taken television viewing and interaction to a whole new level is the use of their website and text messaging. Now, texting isn't really new, but unless it's a reality show, most don't let you determine the fate of characters. And when was the last time you visited the Heroes website? From e-comics, to 'webisodes', and behind the scene action, to entire websites based on the show. Mohinder has a site based on his father's book: Activating Evolution, the Nakamura Family's sight for their company is Yamagato Fellowship, and of course you can't forget about Primatech Paper. Plus, there are quite a number of tricks hidden in all areas of the main page from NBC. NBC has done a very good job of making Heroes a world any person can simply fall into if they want. Still don't believe? Go to http://www.nbc.com/Heroes/ and find out for yourself or take a trip to www.primatechpaper.com and well, follow the instructions if you dare.

If the show doesn't pull you in, all the action on the web will. I just hope I'm not disappointed with all the characters by the time this Villain season is done!