• There's a lot of them. Just when you're getting pretty sick of Niki not knowing what's she's doing or Peter moping about or even (god forbid) Hiro giggling up every scene, we turn our attention to Bad Glasses Man or Matt or Nathan or Mohinder or Sylar. The story is so spread out, we're still introducing most of these characters.


• They're familiar. Not familiar as in reminding you of your best friend, but culturally familiar. Hardly anyone watching Heroes probably actually knows an office drone in Tokyo or an internet stripper, but we absolutely believe that such people exist. Sure, she's an internet stripper ? so she must have a heart of gold. He's a smarmy politician ? he must want to cheat on his wife. It's comforting without hitting too close to home.


• Lots of stuff happens. There's not a lot of soap-opery dragging of feet. There's a lot of action, whether it's cheerleaders being flayed or politicians leaping into the sky. It's fun to see people in constant motion, trying to deal with crazy stuff and keep a somewhat normal life.


• We know what they know. Namely, that this stuff is really weird. But we're all in the same boat. Fun and communal-like.
  It's not afraid of its own dorkiness. I like a show that embraces its genre. This is a superhero show, and no one's shying away from that, trying to make it into Six Feet Under. It is what it is.