The series, Inside Heroes, goes behind the scenes of NBC's biggest hit, Heroes. Part of the goal is to keep viewers interested and engaged in the show during it summer hiatus, with episodes spaced out until the fall beginning of season two.

To that end, NBC will also offer Heroes character profiles online and will continue the online "graphic novel" version of the show, which is itself rooted in the manga Japanese graphic novel ethos.

With the conclusion of the inaugural season of "Heroes," NBC hosted a live blog with creator Tim Kring and everyone's favorite cheerleader, Hayden Panettiere. Over a thousand comments were left when the show's creator left a message last Thursday on the "NBC Heroes" blog calling for fans of the show to leave their own questions for the pair to answer.
The first question they tackled was that of "Heroes: Origins," the new spin-off series debuting next year. "The idea was to try to do about half a dozen episodes that are stand-alone episodes dealing with the origin stories of characters all around the world who are waking up with the discovery of these unique abilities," Kring said "They are not connected necessarily to the show 'Heroes,' but if you do watch or are a fan of 'Heroes,' you'll see tiny little clues that tie into the show."

Kring said he almost wanted to do, "Rod Sterling type of story telling. Cautionary tales and morality tales. Dealing with these people with unique abilities. So they're completely stand-alone episodes that don't follow a serialized formula."

NBC DIGITAL ENTERTAINMENT LAUNCHES ORIGINAL WEB SERIES 'INSIDE HEROES'
Exclusive Web Series On NBC.com Goes Behind The Scenes at "Heroes"

"Heroes" Character Profiles And New Installments of Online Graphic Novel Launch in May

BURBANK, Calif. May 10, 2007 NBC Digital Entertainment today announced the launch of its new original web series "Inside Heroes." The eight installment series will go inside the making of "Heroes" and will begin rolling out exclusively on NBC.com on May 21st. The same day, "Heroes" Character Profiles will launch on the site as well. Additionally, the popular "Heroes" online graphic novel continues this summer with new chapters. The announcements were made by Vivi Zigler, Executive Vice President, NBC Digital Entertainment and New Media.

"Fans of 'Heroes' don't need to wait until next season to enjoy their favorite show," said Zigler. "Being able to interact with rich content all summer long is fun for the user and helps us keep the show brand top of mind."

To create "Inside Heroes," the NBC.com crews were given unprecedented access to the people and production process that makes "Heroes" a tremendous fan-favorite. The eight featurettes will roll out on NBC.com throughout the summer with new postings to the start of Season Two. The series will take fans through visual effects, music, wardrobe, stunts, make-up effects, artwork and even the catering and create the feeling of being there with the people who make it all happen each week.

"Heroes" Character Profiles are a look at individual characters' storylines from the beginning of the season, allowing fans to focus on the journey each character has taken. The Profiles begin with Peter Petrelli's story on May 21st. Other show characters profiled are Claire Bennet, Hiro Nakamura, Nathan Petrelli, Niki/Jessica Sanders, Matt Parkman and Mohinder Suresh among others.

The "Heroes" fan-favorite graphic novel continues in originals exclusively on NBC.com this summer from renowned comic book authors Joe Kelly, Duncan Rouleau, Steven T. Seagle and Joe Casey.

Take ONE drink when…

Niki sees her reflection wink back at her
Niki looks all panic-stricken (reserve yourself to no more than twice per episode)
Nathan talks down to Peter
Simone adds utterly no value to a scene
Hiro uses a lot of comical gestures and sound effects to complement his English
Claire breaks a bone (or vital organ) in a way that makes you a bit squeamish
Matt gets really confused about his power
Ando makes a comment regarding giving up or going home
Anyone’s eyes get all glossed over
Mr. Bennet takes off his glasses, wipes them (or his brow), then puts them back on
Mohinder makes a reference to something being impossible, stupid, crazy, etc
Someone’s head gets cut open
The Haitian guy shows up, and the episode fades to commercial within 5 seconds
Two Heroes’ paths cross coincidentally
A dead person comes back to life. Drink again if it is revealed that that formerly dead person is actually still dead
Claude snarls menacingly
Ted gets all sweaty (take a second drink if he subsequently doesn’t even use his power)
NBC shows a spoiler during a commercial break of another show, and you aren’t able to grab your remote and pause/mute/change the channel in time. Drink again if you curse the network out loud as a result.
Sylar fools someone and you sit there yelling at the screen “he’s the bad guy, he’s the bad guy!”
You get a glimpse of one of Isaac’s paintings and it shows something extra-cool (this is another ’subjective’ ones)
Linderman shows signs that he’s probably a grade-A crazy
Take TWO drinks when…

Hiro raises his arms to the sky in an expression of joy
Claire runs unnecessarily
D.L. doesn’t use his ability, but clearly could/should
A Hero uses their power in a way that makes you clap, cheer, or get otherwise giddy
Peter figures anything important out
Sylar shows how much of a badass he is
A “good” Hero turns out to be “bad” (and vice versa)
Thompson makes it through an entire scene smiling
Someone should really just give Candice a punch, because it would really solve some problems, but yet doesn’t

Hana gets more than 3 minutes of screen time in an episode

Chug it when…

They find the sword
The writers use Mohinder’s dad (Dr. Suresh) to explain a key plotline
A character is revealed to be a Hero and it was a genuine surprise (judgment call, but I trust ya)
A major character gets killed
NBC comes up with a key catchphrase to get new viewers involved
Any Hero dons a spandex uniform (and you must finish all the drinks around if that uniform sports a big X in the middle)
Someone (not you, of course) radically underestimates Sylar
An actor who is/was famous on another geeky TV series (or movie) makes a guest appearance
Two heroes make out. Chug it again if it turns out many episodes later they’re somehow related.
The writers introduce a Hero with a very average power, such as “slightly longer limbs than normal people” or “eerily aware of the exact humidity of the local region” or “can summon and control all the nearby butterflies”

What will happen when Heroes returns to the airwaves tonight? Fans have a theory … or 5,000. Videotaped hypotheses, assembled at NBC's Website, range from the goofy to the dead serious. "Can Sylar be stopped? Of course he can," claims one hyperenthusiastic fan, Mischa from Rhode Island. "He's gonna be on vacation in Mexico. Accidentally drinks some water. Montezuma's revenge, you see where I'm going here?" Mostly, though, these ideas are so baroquely complicated that even a die-hard follower can't make sense of them without watching the videos a couple of times through. ("So Peter will reach into his bag of tricks and pull out Hiro's time-stopping ability — which he acquired on the subway from future Hiro!")

The real joy of the Heroes theories is watching the moments when pure, undiluted fandom destroys self-control. Troy from California gets hyped up over the idea of Peter Petrelli beating the hell out of Sylar: "Sylar's gonna go and try and kick a can of whup on him, and Peter's gonna seal up the can at just the right moment and fling it back at Sylar! I wanna see some Sylar Putty. Bring it on for me, Heroes!" And Ashley, a girl seemingly in her late teens from Pennsylvania, spends her whole video speaking not about her Heroes predictions, but about how she's found a home in the ever-widening Heroes fan community. Wide-eyed and happy, proudly sporting a Heroes T-shirt, she says, "It's really amazing to see how one show can impact that much of society in only eighteen episodes."