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My two favorite shows on television - Heroes and Lost - end this week. While I am excited to see them draw their season to a close, I am saddened to know the shows won’t be back on for a while. Heroes will return for a second season in the fall with the introduction of a spinoff called Heroes: Origins to fill in some of the time the show will take off during the winter. Lost will return, without interruption, in January 2008. Thinking about it now… it seems like it will be forever before new episodes air.

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Don’t forget! Tonight you catch three episodes of Heroes on NBC starting at 8pm EST. This will help you catch up before Monday when Heroes returns with an all new episode! You can also catch up and watch older episodes online, but you’ll want to hurry. After Monday night, NBC will only offer the latest episodes online!

A new graphic novel was posted to the official Heroes website today. This week’s story revolves around Hana:

The graphic novel comes in two flavors: interactive or printable [PDF]. Choose your poison.

If you’re not familiar with the graphic novel, you should be! (You can read all of the past graphic novels here.) In most cases they pick up right where the television show leaves you and fill in additional back story between episodes.

A brief introduction to this week’s graphic novel and some additional discussion/spoilers after the jump.

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Fortune magazine this week feaures a great article on the success of Heroes and what it’s meant for NBC so far.

(Fortune Magazine) Will NBC’s moguls spoil the momentum of this quirky hit? Fortune’s Devin Leonard weighs in.

“Heroes”, according to Nielsen Media Research, is the season’s hottest new series with viewers between the ages of 18 and 49, the demographic most coveted by advertisers.
[...]
The success of “Heroes” raises an intriguing question: Can Hiro et al. rescue NBC from last place in prime time? Since losing “Friends” in 2004, NBC has been like Peter Parker before his encounter with the radioactive spider. The Peacock Network has had to bear the bullying of its rivals.

Read more…

Tonight starting at 7pm Eastern, you’ll be able to catch 4 episodes of Heroes on the SCIFI Channel. (Check your local listings.)

• 7:00pm - 1×09 - Homecoming
• 8:00pm - 1×10 - Six Months Ago
• 9:00pm - 1×11 - Fallout
• 10:00pm - 1×12 - Godsend

Part Two of “How do you stop an exploding man?” was posted this morning on the Heroes website. Click here to view the interactive novel or download the printable version [PDF].

If you’re not familiar with the graphic novel, you should be! (You can read all of the past graphic novels here.) In most cases they pick up right where the television show leaves you and fill in additional back story between episodes.

I hate to say I told you so, but Heroes laid the smackdown on 24 last night. Take a bite out of that, Jack Bauer!

The peacock opened the night at No. 1 by a wide margin with an average of 17.6 million viewers and 5.2 rating/13 share in adults 18-49 for game show “Deal or No Deal,” according to preliminary estimates. Fox was competitive in the hour with the return of drama “Prison Break” (9.9 million, 4.2/10).

“Heroes” (14.8 million, 6.5/15) grew in the demo derby at 9 p.m. even in the face of “24? (14.4 million, 5.4/12) with its first regular time period airing of the season following last week’s four-hour premiere spread over Sunday and Monday nights. CBS’ “Two and a Half Men” (16.1 million, 4.9/11) held on to No. 1 in viewers in the 9-9:30 p.m. half-hour. CBS’ “The New Adventures of Old Christine” (13 million, 4.2/9) fell to third behind “24? and “Heroes” in the second half of the hour.

And to think, people were actually worried that Heroes might fair poorly versus the veteran it was up against… Never doubt the power of geeks and their TV shows…

So what if terrorists detonated an atomic bomb in 24? In Heroes, one of the characters IS a nuclear weapon. Put that in your pipe and smoke it. If tonight is any evidence of just how cool “Godsend” is going to be, or even the rest of the season… Jack Bauer better start hiding.

“We can find them, Ted. And you can nuke them.” - Hana

The schematic Hana showed Ted was awesome. I’ll try to snap a picture of it right after Heroes is finished. Apparently, Hana has evidence that the “heroes” were made the way they are via some sort of device. She wants Ted’s help in getting back at the people that made them the way they are…

Yep, I’m excited Heroes is back. It’s a show that keeps hitting home runs week after week.

BTW, Primatech Paper Company is hiring.

Also, new for this episode is the new Heroes 360…

Introducing the Heroes 360 Experience - As dark forces gather to spell doom for the city of New York, it’s become clear that the Heroes universe is missing one more person who can help stop this terrible disaster.

That person is you.

Each week, immerse yourself in the Heroes 360 Experience where you become part of this season’s biggest hit. Through original content created specifically for TV, online, and mobile, the Heroes 360 Experience lets you explore, interact, and discover exciting new characters, sneak peaks, new and expanded storylines and much more.

So be sure to log on each week to NBC.com (and mobile WAP site) to participate in the Heroes 360 Experience where you become part of the show that everyone is talking about.

So far, I’ve been really impressed by the current fall lineup on the major networks. A lot of new, creative shows have come out that I’ve quickly come to enjoy.

Heroes

At the top of my list is Heroes. The premise behind the show is that ordinary people around the world start to discover they have extraordinary powers. Last night’s premiere was everything I had hoped it to be and more. I remember as a kid - as I immersed myself in comic books - wishing I had super-powers.

Heroes airs on NBC - Mondays at 9pm EST.

Six Degrees

From the producer of Lost (my favorite show), J.J. Abrams, comes a new show called Six Degrees. It’s based on the idea that in a city of 19 million, a group of six people will be drawn together by fate. Some will meet the friends they’ve always needed. Others will meet the person they’ll marry. The pilot was pretty good and I’m anxious to see where they take storyline. (It’s almost a play on the whole Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon game.)

Six Degrees airs on ABC - Thursdays at 10pm EST.

Men in Trees

The past couple of episodes I’ve seen on Men in Trees have been entertaining. The show chronicles the life of a relationship expert who flies to Alaska and discovers her fiance had been cheating on her. She takes her trip to Alaska as a way to start over.

Men in Trees airs on ABC - Fridays at 10pm EST.

Returning Shows

• Lost

  Of course, if I had to stop watching any of the above shows in order to watch Lost, I would gladly do so in a heartbeat. Season Three starts October 4 at 9pm EST on ABC.

• Grey’s Anatomy

  I simply can’t help myself but to watch Grey’s Anatomy. It’s a great show with great writing and great actors. It airs on Thursdays at 9pm EST on ABC.

Hmm…. notice a trend here? ABC has a lot of great shows this year. Thankfully, I have one of those new-fangled Dual-Tuner DVR cable boxes through Comcast, so I won’t miss an episode…