The TV Zone

One of "Heroes" most famous behind-the-scenes guys has been ousted from the show. Jeph Loeb, a comic book author extraordinaire, and (I believe) a founding producer of "Smallville," was shown the door by NBC over the weekend, along with another co-exec producer, Jesse Alexander.

What happened? Besides the fact that every critic in America has been dumping on "Heroes" and the show's numbers have been sliding? If you read between the lines, it sounds like less a creative implosion than a cost one; as Variety reported, the show regularly goes over $4 million per episode, and NBC clearly wants it under $4 mill per; and as showrunner with Alexander, it's certainly incumbent - one would imagine - upon Jeph to keep those bills in line. But (one would also imagine) it would also be incumbent on Tim Kring too. And, if the show's numbers were booming, then $4 mill wouldn't seem too bad. So, maybe a combination of both...

What's wrong with "Heroes?" Beats me - since the season premiere, I've been woefully out of touch with the show. But perhaps...perhaps...it's become so knotted in its mythology that even hardcore fans are having a tough time keeping up. Plus, darn it, when you name episodes in a foreign language, notably a dead foreign language, than you're asking for trouble. (The recent "Eris Quod Sum?" As Wiki translates, that means "I was what you are, you will be what I am." Okay, thanks.)

Here's a clip...

Most of us don’t get NBC Universal’s Chiller channel (or its mystery outlet Sleuth, for that matter, or Universal HD in non-high-def homes).

Here’s more to wish for. This week, Chiller adds two ’90s cult items. First comes Chris Carter’s “Millennium” (Mon-Fri 7 p.m. and 3 a.m.), where the “X-Files” creator hopped on the Y2K bandwagon (gee, remember that?), casting Lance Henriksen as a psychic investigating an end-of-the-world prophecy.

Then comes one of my all-time faves: “Profit,” a twisted eight-episode gem with "Heroes" star Adrian Pasdar [right] as a demented corporate climber who’ll stop at nothing to exact a very psycho sort of revenge. Trust me -- this one is deliriously weird.

The first two hours run Thursday, Feb. 7 at 8 p.m. and midnight. Episodes (including some Fox never aired) then air Thursday at 8 and 11 p.m. Check Chiller’s “Profit” page for details.

G4 nabs the big one this week for its “Heroes” post-show, airing Saturday at 11 p.m. after the cabler’s 10 p.m. encore of Monday’s NBC episode.

Series creator Tim Kring [above in NBC photo] joins hosts Kevin Pereira and Blair Butler on Dec. 8, promises G4, “to break his silence on the future of ‘Heroes’ and what the writers' strike means to this season and beyond.”

Along with Kring, G4 is touting guests Jack Coleman (H.R.G.) and Jimmy-Jean Louis (the Haitian), “as well as a special surprise cast member guest.”

Wallow in interactive goodies at the G4 “Heroes” page.

So two heroes “fell” from gunshots, right? And another one seemed to otherwise perish? There was so much going on in last night’s “Heroes,” who knows?

One thing’s for sure, the season’s whole “Generations” theme was pounded into the ground in this wrap-up finale. (Watch it here.) “How long are we going to suffer for your sins, for your generation’s deeds?” demanded Nathan of steely Mother Petrelli. “How much longer are we going to have to clean up their mess?” pleaded Matt Parkman. And then there was Elle, trying ever so hard to make her devious daddy proud. It’s always the parents’ fault.

While those familial layers provided some nifty intrigue this fall, it did feel like time to wrap them up, and scripter Jeph Loeb’s hectic hour did just that. In retrospect, the smarter move might have been to spread some of the climaxes further back among the season’s 11 episodes. Last night was a jam-packed whirlwind – sending Niki into a flaming building to rescue Monica in New Orleans (St. Joan in a fire!); having Maya shot by Sylar as he sought Claire’s regenerating blood from Mohinder in New York; Nathan and Matt racing to stop Peter from helping Adam set off the virus in a vault in Texas, with a last-second assist from Hiro popping over from Tokyo.

With all the activity, the episode benefited from savvy injections of humor, too often lacking in this dour-dominated “Heroes” season. Nathan and Matt made wacky flying partners, and Claire got a special moment with Mr. Muggles. Director Allan Arkush was smart to pause from the frantic exposition long enough to give us a chance to breathe, and to build a rollercoaster of thrills and chill-outs that made the reveals all the more effective.

The story’s upcoming Volume 3, “Villains,” was nicely set up with Mrs. Petrelli on the phone conspiring (“You do know that you’ve now opened Pandora’s box”) and Sylar doing his Terminator thing (“I’m back”). Even Adam was merely put out of action rather than terminated.

But how many heroes actually died? Always parse the language with these people. The promos promised two would “fall,” and they did. Whether they get up again is the kind of thing “Heroes” always plays close to the vest.

[Above: Adrian Pasdar as Nathan Petrelli in NBC photo.]

“Two heroes will fall!”

Please, let it be the boring ones.

NBC’s “Heroes” promos have been screaming hype all week, and the last couple of episodes – He’s dead! He’s not dead! He’s good! No, he’s bad! – would seem to bolster high expectations.

So we’re cautiously hopeful for tonight’s (semi-)season finale (Dec. 3 at 9 p.m. on NBC), bearing in mind how last May’s first-season finish felt so diappointingly anticlimactic.

In last week’s penultimate episode (watch a two-minute replay here), things moved so fast, we could hardly keep up. We met older-generation hero Victoria Pratt (Joanna Cassidy), supposed spreader of the plot-crucial Shanti virus, soon revealed to be instead a herald of its destructiveness, and she was killed (or so it seemed) mere minutes later. Hiro did more time-traveling, back to the virus’ development in 1977, and forward to not prevent his father’s death but rather vow to avenge it. “And save the world,” added our favorite hero.

Claire showed down against Elle, and threatened to squeal the heroes’ secret to stop her and The Company once and for all. Meanwhile, H.R.G. and Suresh and Bob all faced off against each other in weird geometric permutations that for me have recently become the most compelling part of the tale. Bob maintained to Suresh he was trying to “find a safe way to remove the abilities of dangerous individuals.” And now Sylar has called Suresh to say he has his mitts on youngest-hero Molly. So who’ll get to experiment on whom?

And then there’s Adam Monroe/Takezo Kensei/other identities over the past 400 years. David Anders’ mysteriously immortal character is either responsible for the “future” unleashing of the virus that will kill 93 percent of the world’s population, or he’s a truly intriguing red herring. Too bad we have to go through his comrade-in-arms Peter to find out.

The episode’s tag promised us Peter vs. Hiro tonight. There’s only one way for this to go. Or I’m gone.

[Above: Milo Ventimiglia’s Peter, in tonight’s Chapter 11 episode, “Powerless.” Photo by NBC/Adam Taylor.]

Or some, anyway. Tim Sale, who does those prescient paintings for “Heroes” artist Isaac Mendez and the 9th Wonders comic books, appears this week on G4’s Saturday night “Heroes” post-show. It airs Saturday at 11 p.m.. after the channel’s 10 p.m. repeat of last Monday’s NBC “Heroes” episode. (Got that?)

Sale joins Kevin Pereira and Blair Butler for a live, interactive event incorporating video viewer mail, show trivia, and other "Heroes" hot topics.

Right: Tim Sale on the "Heroes" set, in NBC photo by Trae Patton.

OK, just when I think I’m out, “Heroes” pulls me back in with a whopper of an episode like last night’s. I think I’m still panting.

We had Claire with her dad doing that classic teen “I hate you!” thing. We had Hiro stopping time and tripping through it all over the place. We had heroes shooting each other, and saving each other, and controlling each other’s minds. AND we had two absolutely great reveals of breathtaking twists -- which you could see coming if you were halfway paying attention, but still they were great.

In fact, maybe they were better-great because you could anticipate them and then pat yourself on the back for being smart enough to follow the carefully laid clues.

Plus, the “Cautionary Tales” hour was laugh-out-loud funny in spots, which reminds us how much we miss that aspect of “Heroes” through episodes like last week’s morbid/morose flashback. Stephen Tobolowsky’s canny Company-man Bob continues to be not only intriguing but also amusing, with his Texas-drawl-dry delivery of lines like last night’s observation about gun-toting enemy H.R.G.: “He’s not big on the listening.” I’m not big on Kristen Bell’s too-cute executioner Elle, myself, but around big daddy Bob, this electric lady is a playful hoot.

And then there was Suresh’s nose getting broken again, and even Mr. Muggles playing a crucial role (or at least his doggie bathtub did) -- this is definitely an hour worth watching again. “Cautionary Tales” is online here, and with commentary here from Bell and Mrs. H.R.G., Ashley Crow, plus episode director Greg Yaitanes. It encores on TV Saturday at 10 p.m. and Sunday at 6 p.m. on G4. And in HD, Wednesday at 11 p.m. and Thursday at 8 p.m. on MOJO.

Now, “two episodes left” sounds like not just a threat but a promise. Of course, Peter will be back, with those other party poopers, the black-tears twins. But so will Niki, and Micah, and his cool new superhero cousin Monica.

You can revisit how we got from there to here with MOJO HD’s Thanksgiving weekend marathon of “Heroes” first season -- all 23 episodes, Friday noon-midnight and Saturday 1 p.m.-midnight.

[At top: Jack Coleman, Ashley Crow, Randall Bentley and Hayden Panettiere, in NBC photo by Chris Haston.]

“Strangely unmoved.”

That’s what it says in the notes I took watching last night’s “Heroes,” and it pretty much sums up this whole second season for me.

The show’s storyline does this and that, and jumps through hoops and back again, and yet -- so what? Remember how much we all wanted them to “save the world” last year? Seems like memories are all we have.

Last night’s “Four Months Ago” flashback hour provided one big indication why. The show’s two single most compelling characters -- Hiro and Claire -- were MIA. Daddy H.R.G. wasn’t around, either. Nor Matt or Mohinder. And the episode’s limp progress (re-gress?) made it clear the others are definitely second-stringers: Niki and D.L., Peter and Nathan, and as always bringing up the rear, Maya and Alejandro. (What was with that stupid bride-cheats-at-her-wedding storyline? Straight out of a novela. Sheesh.)

Sure, “Heroes” had a lot of ’splainin’ to do after jumping forward in time at the start of this second season. How did Nathan get disfigured and Peter marooned in a shipping container bound for Ireland? What happened to D.L.? And Kristen Bell’s Elle character was never properly introduced.

OK, so mission accomplished. But that’s about it. Even with last night’s episode written by series creator Tim Kring, there was no real, well, spark -- unless you count those shock encounters between powered Peter and electric Elle. Which were another “so what” event.

I’m still intrigued by Stephen Tobolowsky’s evil-or-is-he Bob, commander of The Company [above in NBC photo], and now, too, by actor David Anders, currently named Adam Monroe after being introduced as Kensei back in 18th century Japan. He comes across as a canny guy -- frankly, I wish we’d seen him and Bob at the loggerheads he mentioned (or made up?) -- with an immortal story worth telling.

So, for that matter, does The Haitian [Jimmy Jean-Louis, left in NBC photo], who’s gotten slighted by this series most of all. “Heroes” only has another month to make things right in this “volume” of the tale, before holiday hiatus and whatever the writers’ strike brings.

Or what would bring us back whenever that ends?

Imagine, if you will, that in watching last night’s “Heroes” episode you were a brand-new viewer trying to figure out what was going on.

Heck, I’m a certified “Heroes”-head, and I’m not sure I know.

Yes, it’s a good thing that more of our familiar favorite characters are coming together than being far-flung off in 18th century Japan or some Irish pub or the snowy Ukraine. But the show is also adding characters like mad to its already confusing roster: Kristen Bell as the electric chick who seems to be doing the bidding of her Company daddy, Alan Blumenfeld as Matt’s mind-controlling absentee father, and now the seemingly key character of Adam Monroe, a “visionary”/“God” renegade from the earlier generation of heroes, who seems to be -- wait -- Hiro’s feudal Japan pal Kensei? Sure looked like David Anders in both roles to me.

It’s all starting to feel a bit too curlicued and contrived somehow, with that and Claire’s boyfriend having been once abducted by her dad and Sylar stumbling into the black-tears twins and all that time-shifting mumbo jumbo and other handy twists of fate. I miss last season’s sense of individual discovery and character evolution. How can a character evolve this season when each gets about 25 seconds of screen time till we have to move on? When Nathan complained last night about the Company’s “half-truths and constant manipulation,” he might well have been discussing “Heroes” itself.

The only one really overcoming that for me is Hiro, who seems to finally be done with his solo samurai time trip. It was indeed getting old, and yet I suddenly sense I’m going to miss it greatly. I don’t know if it was the old-time Japan setting or the formality of so many subtitles there, but Hiro’s been getting away with a lot of fable-like aphorisms that lift the show into soulful flight above its expository mechanics. “Pain has made him cruel, but he is good, inside,” Hiro said of the turncoat Kensei last night, radiating faith, nobility and heart.

Actor Masi Oka truly is the show’s breakout star, and probably its best actor. That’s going aways with veterans like Greg Grunberg (Matt) and now Stephen Tobolowsky (Bob) on board. But Oka has been given the opportunity to play it all -- from gravitas to playfulness, with adventure heroics and romantic yearning in between -- and he’s made it all sing. He’s just a warm, glowing, affecting presence that lights up the screen every time he hits it.

Now that Hiro is back in the thick of things, in the present day, he may be able to lift the show along with him. He should have help from its other key hearttugger, Hayden Panettiere, after Bob informed us last night “Claire is the key.”

But oops, next week (Nov. 12), “Heroes” goes all temporal shift again, bouncing back four months to explain what happened to Nathan, how Peter survived the blast, the fate of D.L. and more. Sure, we want the questions answered. But do we like being jerked all over the place like this? Pain has made “Heroes” cruel. But the show is good, inside there. Somewhere.

Watch last night's and other Season 2 "Heroes" episodes online here, or here with commentary.

[Above: Masi Oka in NBC photo by Paul Drinkwater.]

So maybe the reason I loved last week’s “Heroes” episode so much was that Maya and Alejandro weren’t in it. That thought struck me watching last night’s episode, where they were, and where they seemed to sink the whole hour again in a trough of whatever black sludge comes out of Maya’s eyes when she goes all homicidal.

That “power” is a killer, both literally and figuratively when it comes to the show. It’s silly, number one, and sillier, number two, when Alejandro holds her hands to snap her out of it. These new actors (Dania Ramirez and Shalim Ortiz) don’t display much charm, either -- there’s no hint of buoyancy or playfulness in their portrayals. I know their Hondurans-fleeing-to-America situation is dire, but still. Something appealing or at least intriguing should seep through. But nada.

“Heroes” now has so many characters, it can’t begin to service them all each week, and it’s become increasingly crucial what an episode’s mix is. Between that south-of-the-border dreariness and the Ukraine winter/murder and Peter’s Ireland mopiness, last night’s hour just didn’t exude much magic. Even Hiro’s time trip to 18th century feudal Japan felt a little limp, his normal exuberance mired in romantic woes. (Though that last-minute betrayal twist was pretty nifty.)

Weird, isn’t it, that suddenly the show’s most compelling character seems to be Bob, that Company functionary (or is he?) played by cool-customer character actor Stephen Tobolowsky. Beware the guys in the glasses. With this show, they’re always more cagey than you expect.

(BTW, the episode’s “in memory of” end credit was for Tim Susco, the “Heroes” location manager who passed away Aug. 15 at the age of 25.)

Watch last night’s and other second-season “Heroes” episodes here, or with second-screen cast/crew commentary here (this week from episode writers Kay Foster and Adam Armus, with H.R.G. actor Jack Coleman).

[Above: Masi Oka and Eriko Tamura in NBC photo by Justin Lubin.]