IT’S time to save NBC.
The once-mighty net work, which has logged some miserably low ratings lately, may not exactly need saving. But the return of “Heroes” tonight (9 p.m. on Ch. 4) after a six-week hiatus has to buoy the network’s hopes of recovering some of its lost viewership.
It’s Chapter 19 of the 24-episode saga, which has emerged this season as NBC’s most promising new series, drawing an average of just under 15 million viewers per week.
Titled “.07%,” the episode kicks off the final story arc of the season – five episodes scheduled to conclude on May 21 and grouped under the newly minted slogan: “It’s time to save the world.”
The slogan implies a promise to wrap up this season’s storyline by season’s end, with none of the nonsense of a cliffhanger designed to hold fans in suspense for four months until the start of Season Two.
As you’ll learn tonight, the 0.7 percent in the episode’s title is a ghoulish estimate of the percentage of New York City’s population who would perish in the explosion that has been prophesied throughout the season, and which the heroes of “Heroes” are assembling to prevent.
Yes, as you might have guessed by now, I have seen tonight’s episode – a benefit of this job for which I am supremely thankful.
When we last saw “Heroes” on March 5, the show literally kept us hanging. As you may recall, the evil Sylar (Zachary Quinto) had suspended the badly injured Mohinder (Sendhil Ramamurthy) from the ceiling, where his blood dripped on an unsuspecting Peter Petrelli (Milo Ventimiglia).
Tonight, you’ll learn the fates of Peter and Mohinder, plus the specific power (or is it powers?) possessed by the mysterious Las Vegas kingpin, Linderman (Malcolm McDowell). In addition, Claire Bennet (Hayden Panettiere) will learn a lot more about her real family, and mind-reader Matt Parkman (Greg Grunberg) will have no choice but to learn how to use his unique ability for his own benefit – for a change.
Great episode, great show.
Welcome back.