Heroes

American drama series seemed to have saturated our great shores of late. While great as some of them may be, they tend to follow a well trodden path of crime themes. Take CSI for example, I've not managed to watch an episode in its entirety as I get the point of it. After much convincing by a friend of mine I managed to get around to watching 24. Admittedly, it is damn good. I am watching season 6 at the moment and after five season's I think it is buckling from the strain of having to become more innovative than the last. It has a lot to live up to after five seasons. How many more facets of the crime genre can the industry cover? Indeed are there anymore?

There are the teenage/coming of age drama's. One tree Hill, Smallville and The O.C. Again pretty compelling stuff. Why have I included Smallville? Its about a young Superman. Yes, true but after watching a handful of episodes, it still aligns itself to the two mentioned previously in certain ways.

So, on to the main topic of conversation. Yet another brand new show. But a show with more than just a difference. Rewind about two months ago. A friend of mine, Kumar (he who also convinced me to watch 24) mentioned a while back of a series called Heroes. Intrigued, I asked him what it was all about. And as articulate as ever, Kumar said with a broad grin, "its good". Taking that as a hint, as in, "don't ask, just watch". With that kind of endorsement, I had to believe the guy. Roll forward to about a month ago and I decided to watch the first eleven episodes (thanks to the miracle that is the internet). I wasn't prepared for what I saw next. I would find myself in almost as much difficulty as Kumar to articulate what this series is about. As it is now being shown in the UK, much of the mystery surrounding the series has disappeared so I can safely summarise what all the fuss is about......

Where the X-Men films are all glamour and glitz, Heroes is more...."real". How does a bored office worker who can teleport, an indestructible cheerleader, a man who can fly sound? Oh and there are more of them too with different abilities. This time around, the series doesn't decend into pretty social, moralistic mess It really, truely sticks to the objective that it sets out right from the first episode. Both are based on graphic novels but don't leet that put you off if you're not a fan of them. There is something for everyone in this brilliant new series. You'll be hooked by the first episode. I promise.