Why You Should Watch Season 3 of HEROES

Today I came across this week’s television ratings, including those for the Heroes premiere last Monday night.  They came in third behind “Dancing with the Stars” and a combo of bad comedies on CBS.  You can get a round-up of Monday night by reading this article.

I suppose a bunch of never-were real celebrities and Cloris Leachman doing their best to dance beating out my favorite network TV show is in-line with what I think of the U.S. viewing habits.  But more of this nation’s television viewing audience actually chose Charlie Sheen over Masi Oka and crew?

Why?  Well, there is the whole DVR issue; fans of the superhero show watch it heavily in DVR format.  That doesn’t show up on the ratings.  Last year’s writer’s strike interrupted people’s viewing of the show and it’s popularity may rely on people’s ability to watch it continuously and regularly without interruption.  (Even I had a hard time remembering some of the plot lines.)  Of course, the notable season 2 dropoff in ratings only exacerbates that trend.

But maybe people just don’t know how good the show is?

Heroes is a rich conglomeration of some of the best popular cultural trends from the last 30 years.  More directly, combines some of the strongest and most creative strains of popular culture generation x folks grew up with: comics and graphic novels, Japanese animation, mature superhero themes, themes of disease/genetics/blood, and cool effects.  Additionally, it consistently features an assortment of actors of color, some of them occupying major characters in multiple episodes.  This is yet another way it is reflective of a new generation’s vision of the future and all that.

I know it’s not as smart on race and power as was Battlestar Galactica, but it remains challenging TV, even when it succumbs to some of the more generic tendencies of network television.

Catch up with some of the online episodes and do yourself a favor and check out some of season 3 on Heroes.  If you need another reason:

Peter Petrelli is trapped in a husky, cholito, Chicano body.