save the cheerleader

So, you've heard so much about this Heroes show, but you didn't watch the early episodes and you're afraid to jump in because you're afraid you'll be lost? No fear, the Sci-Fi Channel is here to help you.

The network is going to run an all-day marathon of the show starting at 9am tomorrow. The only problem I see is that it seems like they're not running the shows in order, which seems like an odd decision. For example, the first episode at 9am is "Homecoming," followed by "Six Months Ago" and "Fallout." Huh? I think watching the shows out of order like that might be more confusing than jumping into the show sight unseen in episode 20. Not to mention the fact that all of the reveals and cliffhangers will be ruined.

If you're interested in seeing the pilot, it airs tomorrow night at 11pm. The season finale airs Monday at 9 on NBC.

The Heroes controversy continues.

It has been reported that Thomas Dekker (who played Zach) and his management didn't want him to play a gay character, and that's why the character and the actor suddenly disappeared from the show. But now Dekker has said on his web site (horribly designed, and I can't find the posting) that it's absolutely untrue.

In fact, Dekker says that he has played a gay character three other times in his career, as a younger teen, and would have done it again. He says his leaving the show had nothing to do with the story arc for Zach, though he doesn't really get into why he did leave the show.

Producer Bryan Fuller said in an interview last month that Dekker left because the character was gay and they were going to explore that plot further in later episodes.

In an interview with Popgurls.com, Heroes producer Bryan Fuller discloses that, yes, the character of Zach on the show was indeed gay and they were going to follow the story through, but then negotiations with the actor's (Thomas Dekker) management got "ugly."

Fuller says that Zach was going to come out on the show and actually help Claire "come out" about her superpower, but then reps for Dekker said that they didn't want to make the character gay because it might hurt his chances of getting the role of John Connor in the new series The Sarah Connor Chronicles. So they took out a line that would have said that Zach was gay and never really got into it again, though in everyone's mind the character was still gay. Fuller, gay himself, says that he was hurt and insulted by the entire "debacle."

They had whole episodes revolving around Zach planned, but then his reps pulled him from the show completely.

The entire cast of the NBC hit Heroes will appear on CNN's Larry King Live Friday at 9.

Now, I'm sure it's a pretty safe bet that King hasn't seen even one episode of the show, and he'll rely on producers and researchers to give him notes on the show. Though this never seems to help him for some reason. So I'm sure we can look forward to the following questions:

"OK, as I understand it, all of you people are trapped on some island, right?"

"So Jack Coleman...are you the cheerleader that needs to be saved?"

"Let's go around the room...what do each of you think of this Anna Nicole Smith story?"

NBC brings us the Golden Globes tonight, and this is the last in our series of preview posts looking at the television categories. Sandy will be blogging live updates of the show here on TV Squad, so if Jack and 24 already have your attention, keep a browser open to play along. That said, let's look at the award for Best Television Series - Drama.

Inertia is a powerful thing. And it is one of the big problems with Emmy nominations. Too often the same show will get nominated year after year because that's just what they do, while newer, more deserving shows, are overlooked. The Golden Globes doesn't fall into that particular trap quite as often, but they have their own issues. The Globes have a tendency to favor shows with a lot of buzz, or big ratings, whether their quality is up to snuff or not. I think it's something we see again in the list of nominees this year.

(S01E11) Promos for this "fall finale" promised a stunning climax and that "a hero will die." Show creators can't be held accountable for, shall we say, the exuberance of the network publicity machine, but we do get a great episode this time that lives up to the hype. Bear with me, I kind of went overboard this week, with what I'll have to call an overly-extended review, but hey, it's the last episode until January 22nd anyway. Feel free to skim, my feeling won't be hurt.

Claire's Dad initially matches her honesty by revealing that he's known about her ability all along. Before tonight ends the new bond between them is turned on its head. That impressed me. HRG has become one of the most complex and interesting characters on the show. By the way, it's cool when characters actually communicate with each other; that then adds more conflict. It's great to see that happen again and again in this episode, as characters come together and talk about what they know, and to try and figure out just when the frak is going on.

Is anybody else as pissed off as I am after watching last night's episode of Heroes, "Homecoming"? Talk about empty promises. I've been seeing and hearing NBC promos all week that promised I would learn what "Save the Cheerleader. Save the World" meant. I actually watched the damn show live last night instead delayed on my TiVo. Did I miss something? Because, all that happened last night was that a cheerleader was saved. Great. But, how does that translate into saving the world? Other promos said "The Heroes come together to save the cheerleader, save the world!" What heroes came together? Peter was alone.

Some of my anger is directed toward the writers of Heroes. They did have the characters say "Save the Cheerleader" a hell of a lot during this episode. But, I mostly blame the NBC promo machine that totally cried wolf! They're actually doing a dis-service to Heroes by promising more than an episode delivers. Yes, we see shows over-hyped all the time, but this time we were given a specific promise and it wasn't followed through.

I've mentioned several times here that I'm getting sick of all the times Lost, Desperate Housewives, Grey's Anatomy, and CSI have made the covers of both Entertainment Weekly and TV Guide. So it was really great to see the cast of Heroes on the cover this week.

Among some of the tidbits revealed in the article: Masi Oka (Hiro) worked on the special effects for The Perfect Storm; Ali Larter (Niki) bought herself a Porsche when the show was picked up for the whole season, and almost accidentally hit Kanye West with it; creator Tim Kring talked to Lost producer Damon Lindelof, a good friend, about the idea when he came up with it; and the first season finale is going to blow everyone away, especially regarding one major revelation. And speaking of...

Warning! This article contains several spoilers about the rest of the season!

(S01E06) What a minute. Did all this stuff actually happen in only one episode? I don't know where to start. Even Isaac, the mopey artist, seems to be charged-up and awake. Maybe he feels a little better now that he's seen Peter manifest paint-the-future powers of his own, and thinks he is not so crazy after all.

Just when you think Horn-Rim Glasses Guy might actually be okay, and that evil is just his day job, he sets up daughter Claire to meet her "bio-parents." I guess there's no good reason to call him Horn Rim and not Mr. Ben net, or even "Claire's dad." But HRGG is more fun, and sounds more mysterious. As he truly does love and worry about Claire, he makes a great complex villain.