Despite playing the leader of a shadowy government organization steeped in skullduggery on NBC's "Heroes," actor Jack Coleman swears he doesn't know much more about what his horned-rimmed glasses-wearing character is up to than the average fan.

"There are certain scenes, where you go, 'okay, I really don't know what I'm alluding to here'....But in general, I don't spend too much time worrying about what's coming on five episodes down the road," said Coleman, during a conference call for reporters.


"Speculation only gets so far and you're going to be wrong anyway, so you might as well go for the ride."


What Coleman does know is that 25 years after striking it rich as Steven Carrington, the openly gay son of an oil tycoon on "Dynasty," the actor has notched his second big television hit. Catching "lightning in a bottle" twice is how Coleman describes it - an ironic choice of words for the direct descendant of Benjamin Franklin. And he did so by embodying a character that threatens to become an iconic pop culture villain: equal parts merciless schemer and loving father.