14 Years Later, the Most Misunderstood Sci-Fi Show of 2000s Lands on Prime

Summary

• Back in 2006, NBC launched a sci-fi show that obsessed millions of fans.
• When its second season was halted due to the writer's strike, the show's quality never recovered.
• It's possible that the series was just ahead of its time, and now it might find a new audience on Prime.
• There are also rumors of a reboot coming our way.

Remember 2006? That was the year that High School Musical came out, and so did Lance Bass. The very first tweet was tweeted, and Miley Cyrus was just some actress on a new Disney Channel show.

In this strange and innocent time, NBC dropped a (then) totally unique pilot into its mix of programming. It was a superhero show – but one without any recognizable names, like Superman or Batman. It was an ensemble show, but it was also high-budget. And, two years before The Dark Knight declared superheroes to be serious business, it challenged the audience to really think about what it might mean if average, ordinary people developed superhuman abilities.

The show, of course, was Heroes.

What Was It About?

After an eclipse, random citizens from around the world discover that they have developed superpowers. These include people like Matt Parkman (​​Greg Grunberg), an LAPD officer who can suddenly read minds; Nathan Petrelli (Adrian Pasdar), an American congressman who can fly; and Hiro Nakamura (Masi Oka), an office worker in Tokyo who is thrilled to find that he has the ability to manipulate space and time.

The first season of Heroes was compulsively watchable. It combined the individual stories of a dozen very different people with an overarching narrative involving the end of the world and a superpowered serial killer (Zachary Quinto). As the threads of the plot came together, season one pulled in an average of over 14 million viewers per night.

Season one remains an incredibly compelling stand-alone watch, but the very next year Heroes was derailed by the 3-month Hollywood writer's strike. Creator Tim Kring had to scrap a lot of his planned timeline for the series, culminating in a rushed and confused season 2 and an improper setup for season 3. By the time Heroes limped to the end of its fourth season, its viewership had all but disappeared.

Ahead of Its Time?

When Heroes premiered, it was before the time of The Dark Knight, Invincible, Avengers, and The Boys. Even Iron Man, which kicked off the juggernaut MCU, was still two years away.

Audiences are now used to dark superhero material, and to the introduction of characters whose names aren't from DC or Marvel. Audiences are also used to taking some time to set up an ensemble of characters before jumping into the major conflicts. (This was one criticism of Heroes' second season – people wanted action, instead of more character introductions).

Hopefully the launch of Heroes on Prime video will mean a renaissance for this fantastic show, whose premise and cast still deserve praise – and whose first season you simply have to watch.

More to Come?

In 2015 an attempt to revive Heroes was short-lived. Network television was in crisis, and Heroes was not yet old enough to be nostalgia-bait, nor to be rediscovered by a new generation.

However, it's recently been revealed that creator Tim Kring is shopping around a rebooted version of the show, titled Heroes: Eclipsed. This new series will take place several years after the end of the original, with new humans discovering their powers and old villains returning with nefarious plans.

Fingers crossed 14 years after its first cancellation, Heroes will finally find its legs and give us a long-standing series that can live up to its outstanding first season.