It should be common knowledge that I do not stay up to date on most pop culture. This would include many films, television, music, fashion, burritos, and even video games, at times. By 'at times' I mean since 1994.

As a result I have just started to watch 'Heroes', which is evidently aired on NBC - but in my world it exists on my Xbox 360 via Netflix. I had previously been told to watch it (season 1) and then not to (season 2 & 3) and then told, once again, to watch. Obviously, there was some confusion as to if it was considered safe to view - and then I realized I don't give a shit what other people think and started watching.

Allow me to pause here and offer some insight: I rarely trust the opinions of others when it comes to television and film. Many a viewer are easily persuaded to watch just about anything if the networks have marketed correctly to your demographic. My belief of this has been tempered by the repeated claim that Heroes failed to deliver in the middle seasons. I was told my multiple sources that the show became too 'comic booky'. The show had hired comic book writers, apparently, and supposedly suffered as a result. First of all, the show - if I am not mistaken - is about super heroes and super villains, right? I could agree having a comic book story in the middle of a season of Grey's Anatomy would be confusing. However, allowing a story of people who can fly, shoot lightning from their hands, or teleport through space and time progress into something resembling a comic book should be expected. Anyone surprised by this should probably NOT watch a show like this. I have heard the same about films based on a comic book or graphic novel. I want to leave a movie theater some day and say that a movie based on a crime novel was too 'crime novely'.

Back to 'Heroes', I think it is a great show. I am happy that is has succeeded. I was an avid comic book fan for a long time and while it has aspects of the newer 'true to life' age of comic books (Astro City, Marvels) - it never really jumps into that style and I have found that it retains much of it's heart as the seasons progress ( I am mid season 3 ATM). I had been waiting patiently for it to suck - I was literally told to 'tough it out' until season 4. I am convinced that it is not going to suck. I am convinced that many people, and more than likely a few reviewers realized a season ago that they had been conned into watching a show about superheroes against their will - brainwashed by a solid marketing campaign. These same people were probably pissed when the saw Unbreakable, the M. Night Shamalamadingdang film which is essentially an origin story masked as a 'suspense thriller'. Fool you once, shame on you; fool you twice, complain like a little bitch.

Secretly, I think most people want to be a bit of a dork - why else would the science fiction/fantasy film genre constantly kick out the highest grossing movies of all time (see Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, Star Wars, Spider Man, X-Men, Batman/Dark Knight). However, when their dorkyness becomes brought into the daylight of prime time television - the closet dorks scurry away. ironically, they live the life of the superhero - with an alter ego that comes out at night to see Avatar at the closed IMAX, only to return to their normal life by daylight.