'HEROES' PREMIERE DELIVERS NBC'S HIGHEST 18-49 RATING FOR ANY FALL DRAMA DEBUT IN FIVE YEARS

BURBANK, Calif. ? September 26, 2006 ? Paced by the series debut of "Heroes," which posted the highest rating for any NBC drama premiere in five years, NBC won its second Monday night of the 2006-07 season in adults 18-49, according to preliminary "fast affiliate-based" "live plus same day" viewing figures from Nielsen Media Research.

Versus the second Monday night of last season, NBC's performance last night was up by 18 percent in adults 18-49 and up by 12 percent in overall total viewers.

At 9 p.m. ET, the debut of "Heroes" (5.9 rating, 14 share in 18-49, 14.3 million viewers overall) delivered NBC's highest 18-49 for any fall drama premiere in five years (since "Crossing Jordan" on Monday, Sept. 24, 2001). "Heroes" soared above the time period competition in the key demographic of adults 18-49, with a 31 percent margin of victory over second place (5.9 vs. a 4.5 for CBS' comedies). Pending updates, "Heroes" also won the hour in total viewers, adults, men and women 18-34 and other key measures.

"Heroes" was up 48 percent versus NBC's 2005-06 season average in the time period, excluding sports (5.9 vs. 4.0). From its first half-hour to its second, "Heroes" grew by 13 percent (to a 6.3/15 from a 5.6/14) and by 1.1 million viewers overall.

Pending updates, "Heroes" is within one tenth of an 18-49 rating point of the highest rating so far this fall for any new series premiere, close behind Sunday's debut of "Brothers & Sisters" on ABC. By comparison, "Brothers & Sisters" benefited from a 9.6 lead-in rating in 18-49 from "Desperate Housewives," while "Heroes" had a 3.8 rating lead-in last night.

The powerful "Heroes" premiere will be rebroadcast on NBC tonight at 8 p.m. ET and on the SCI FI Channel this Friday, September 29, at 7 p.m. ET.

NBC kicked off Monday night at 8 p.m., ET with "Deal or No Deal" (3.8/11 in 18-49, 13.0 million viewers overall), which finished #1 in its time period in adults 18-49, total viewers and other key measures. "Deal" was up 31 percent in 18-49 versus NBC's results in this time period on the same night last year.

At 10 p.m. ET, "Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip" (4.4/12 in 18-49, 11.2 million viewers overall) was up 10 percent in adults 18-49 versus NBC's season average for the time period last year (4.4 vs. 4.0, excluding sports). "Studio 60" ranked #2 in most key demographics and was #1, tied with "CSI: Miami," in adults 18-34.

Preliminary 18-49 averages for Monday night are: NBC, 4.7/12; CBS, 4.4/11; ABC and Fox, 2.7/7; CW, 1.2/3. In overall total viewers, September 25 preliminary results are: CBS, 13.5 million; NBC, 12.8 million; Fox, 7.4 million; ABC, 6.4 million; CW, 3.4 million

In local-market late-night results last night, "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno" (4.4 rating, 11 share in metered-market households) defeated CBS' "Late Show with David Letterman" (3.7/10), and ABC's "Nightline" (2.4/6) and "Jimmy Kimmel Live" (1.3/4 with an encore telecast).

At 12:35 a.m. ET, "Late Night with Conan O'Brien" (1.9/7) beat CBS' "Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson" (1.8/7) and the second half of Kimmel.

Note that all national ratings are "live plus same day" unless otherwise indicated. Metered-market household ratings are live only.

Right off, this beautifully made pilot, with its luscious photography and rich soundtrack grabbed me. The action spans the globe from India, to rural Texas, to Tokyo, and each location is richly realized. Just on a technical level this pilot was the most effective I've seen this season. Clearly NBC is behind the series. Despite all the globe-trotting, most of the action slowly begins to gather around New York City -- just like in Marvel Comics. Another good sign about this series: it is not shy or embarrassed about acknowledging its root inspiration in comics. One character, Hiro Nakamura (played by Masi Oka), is a Trekkie and an X-Men fan. Not coincidentally, he is the one character with little trouble accepting his abilities, nor has he any trouble conceiving what to use them for. They're going to need a guy like him, as many of the others are understandably confused and frightened by their developing abilities...

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As far as what I saw and wrote my initial review on, and what I saw for the most part tonight, the shows were largely the same. I don't recall the brother falling in the end, but I may have stopped paying attention; the preview for next week shows he must not have been too far off the ground, so good for him. Why he dropped his cell phone instead of his shoe is beyond me since they play up the fact he isn't that well off. I am glad the artist overdosed instead of whatever he did in the older version (I seem to recall someone asking for a tourniquet, but I could be remembering wrong and that's okay because that was sort of an odd twist anyway).

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Tonight was the long-anticipated (for me, at least) premiere of the new NBC show Heroes.

The show tells the story of a group of people, scattered around the world, who discover that they have special abilities, far beyond those of normal men and women. Show creator Tim Kring has said on multiple occasions that he's not a comic book guy and he's not doing a comic book super hero show.

He's wrong.

Kring and his team are doing what is, perhaps, the best comic book super hero show ever made.

It's not focusing on special effects. It's not dazzling us with super egos and high ideals. It's not pretending to take itself seriously while winking heartily at the audience. It's not focusing on the powers.

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I was really happy with the episode. It was a bit of a slow burn - lots of characters to introduce and plot elements to set into motion - but it sustained my interest. The writers managed to keep the tone of the show serious despite the rather implausible things that happen, and yet they still have a sense of humour about the whole thing, mostly shown through the characer of Hiro. There seems to be a long-term plan for the show (hell, the introduction of the episode called it the beginning of their "epic tale"). I'm definitely going to stick around to see how things play out, and I'd encourage you to do the same.

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Though the concept behind Heroes isn?t original, its pilot episode was really well executed. They kept the story moving along without getting too wrapped up in any one particular facet of the show, and left me only wanting more. I?m looking forward to next week?s episode.

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i just watched the prerelease pilot of NBC's Heroes.
kind of dissapointing. i still want to see the real pilot
b/c the editing was sort of poor but that is to be expected.
but editing and missing special effects aside it was still
pretty disappointing. acting was bad. the characters are
kind of 2 dimensional. seemed kind of forced

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While some I have talked to have commented on the slow moving story of the first episode, I like the build up, I like to get attached to and get the back story of each character (at least the characters I like?.Hiro especially).

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"Heroes" is a kind of "X-Men" meets "X-Files" leap of enormous faith for both NBC and viewers. The idea is that nine -- maybe less, maybe more -- ordinary individuals wake up one morning to find they've got special powers. One office worker in Japan can stop time and eventually teleport himself. A cheerleader in Texas is immune to injury -- she jumps off buildings, runs into fire, etc. -- a budding (slimy?) politician can fly, etc. Tonight's episode begins to weave the web by introducing each character and hinting at how they might all be related (cooler than "Six Degrees" because these people aren't self-obsessive, they're freaked out). Anyway, viewers need a significant amount of "buy in" to fall for "Heroes" because it demands that you have an open mind even if you're not into science fiction.

If you're thinking, "Wow, that's kind of like 'Lost' over on ABC," well, yeah, congratulations. A whole bunch of this season's new serialized dramas owe a debt to "Lost" for proving that audiences will stay riveted to a series all season long if you make the mystery fun enough.

Unfortunately, that may be the Achilles' heel of "Heroes." It's not that it doesn't have enough mystery or even fun, it's that it has perhaps too much. Because one of the codes that supernatural-themed shows must play by (to be fair to the audience) is the use of set rules. For example, if you give a character paranormal powers, such as Hiro (Masi Oka), then the audience needs to know exactly what he's capable of. Not in the first episode or two, mind you, but not far after. Let's see -- he can stop time? And then he can teleport himself from one place to another if he thinks about it hard enough? Fine, but that's it, right? We're not going to find out in Episode 6 that he can hold his breath underwater for hours, too. Right?

The point is, if producers and writers are true to their characters they create a bond with viewers who buy in. That bond is broken when characters -- no matter how supernaturally geeked out -- do things the audience doesn't expect in the last four episodes. That's cheating. Producers and writers who make up the rules as they go along are hedging their bets because they don't know where they're going. And in a crowded field of serialized dramas, the most essential element is a sure hand on the wheel of the show. People don't want their time wasted.

That said, it's too early to tell if "Heroes" is too much show for its own good. The end of the first episode is particularly intriguing and the second episode goes even further (and gets a whole lot more bloody and "X-Files" gross). Both episodes are entertaining and show enormous promise -- "Heroes" may be the dark horse among this year's serialized dramas. It also might be a dud down the road. Because after two episodes, it's not even remotely clear what these "special" ordinary people are capable of. No boundaries have been established.

And if keeping up with an artist who paints the future, a beat cop who hears things before they're said and a single mom who might be a brutal, avenging killer isn't enough, the writers and producers have come up with two more tricks:

-- There could be a worldwide government conspiracy at work.

-- There may be a serial killer involved (no pun intended).

Whoa, big boy. Let's crawl before we fly.

What "Heroes" has going for it -- other than ambition that's hard to resist -- is that the other 9 p.m. freshman series it faces off against, "Runaway," on the CW, is one of those series that looks great on paper but ends up less-than-thrilling on the screen. A man (Donnie Wahlberg) is framed for a crime he didn't commit. In order to prove his innocence, he needs time to see who framed him. But of course he has no time. He's going to jail.

So instead he takes his whole family -- wife (Leslie Hope from "24"), sullen teen boy, pretty teen girl and young, inquisitive grade school boy -- on the run. They flee from town to town, with made up names and background stories. Everything they knew before of their life is lost -- girlfriends abandoned, schools left, jobs dropped, while dad goes on the lam. It's "The Fugitive" with a family.

Now, that can either be an opportunity to tell more than one story or it will work like a man on the lam dragging four anchors. Who knows how it will play out on "Runaway" in future episodes? The sad truth is, in the pilot it plays out like one very long, not-very-exciting family vacation. While there's a sense of urgency -- the law is hot on his heels! -- it never really comes through on the screen.

Part of the problem is that Wahlberg, who was so good in "Boomtown" and "Band of Brothers," is too laconic here. Granted, he's got to play it cool so he doesn't seem like he's nervously hiding a secret, but you'd think his pulse might race a bit more.

Ultimately, it's the story and the directing that fail "Runaway" in the pilot. The show fails to hook and in this competitive environment of serialized dramas, how are you going to convince people to watch your mystery unfold over 22 episodes when they're bored by the 22nd minute?

"Heroes" may end up being the default winner in this timeslot for dramas ("Vanished" is vanishing and "Runaway" walks too much), but viewers sucked into the myriad tale of ordinary people turned supers ought to hope the writers come up with a workable and believable set of rules and then stick with them. There is such a thing as being too fantastic for your own good.

Heroes plays like X-Men (the original comic, not the movie) meets Smallville where the little details of life are as important to the action as the grand special effects that convey the heroes? powers. It?s when the special effects actually are the little detailed life moments?such as the breathtaking final shot of Milo and his politician brother that ends the pilot episode?that Heroes really soars. I wouldn?t want to spoil it for you, but let?s just say that the brothers are more alike than they seem.