Toob Talk

Picking up four months after the events that closed out the first season, Heroes has returned with just as much style and bite as ever.

For most of the world, not much has changed. Most knew nothing of the disaster that had been diverted–or the price that was paid–by those special few. Most of the familiar faces from last season have gone back to their normal, low key lives. Some hiding on purpose (like Claire and her family). Others wallowing in obscurity (like Mohinder who is lecturing about his research and his father’s work to sparsely populated hotel ballrooms).

We’re introduced to two new faces, Maya and Alejandro, who are making a desperate run for the U.S. border through Central America.

Hiro is still in the past, face to face with his childhood idol. His father and Ando are still waiting for his return.

The plots set up in the season opener are intricate and sure to intertwine in interesting place as the season unfolds. The characters, as always, are engaging and just complex enough to be believable. Probably the best news is, even with the dark tone some of those threads have, there are more than a few light moments to keep things from getting too grim.

Unless the writers, producers or network do something supremely stupid, there is no reason why this show won’t keep running strong all season. Though it will be interesting to see how it scored in the ratings against the second half of Dancing With the Stars.

Tonight you’ll be able to catch the broadcast premieres of Chuck and Journeyman on NBC. More importantly, there’s the second season premiere of Heroes, my personal favorite show of last season.

Chuck is already losing me to Prison Break over on Fox, in it’s third season, the show just keeps the action up and the plot twists interesting. I don’t know how Chuck is going to compete with that. Of course, K-Ville loses, hands down, to Heroes.

On deck for the DVR is the season premiere of How I Met Your Mother over on CBS, still my favorite sit-com that’s still on. That’s followed by a new sitcom, The Big Bang Theory, which, from what I’ve seen of promos, looks like it’s going to fall flat for me. But I’ll give it a chance this week.

ABC is kicking off their reality-laden schedule with the new Dancing With the Stars. After two hours of that, you can stick around for the new iteration of The Bachelor. I won’t be watching either. I’ll get all the Dancing info I need from Access Hollywood. And, really, I could live happily without knowing anything at all about what the new bachelor is doing with his roses.