Recently, I told you why I was sticking with Heroes,despite its sophomore slump (EW’s Gillian Flynn spanks the show with a C+ review in our latest issue). I haven’t changed my mind yet, but last week’sepisode left me feeling a little woeful. Raise your hand if (spoiler alert!) you saw the "Parkman’s dad is the nightmare-man" twist a mile away. Yet while I can deal with thislatest reveal being a little too easy and way too convenient, what’s with the worse-than-Sylarbaddie looking about as threatening as my high school drama teacher?
What I really want to see on Heroes this week are some loose ends getting tied up. It’s the fifth episode of the season already, and if you remember,it was this same time last year that Future Hiro appeared to Peter on the subway and declared, "Save thecheerleader, save the world." In other words, I think the show’s writers really need to find a single earth-saving mission to pull these disparate characters together.
But that’s just me.
For the past three weeks, I’ve been having a serious internal debate: will I, or won’t I continue to watch Heroes on Monday nights? The cons started to pile up as each week passed — lovesick Hiro again?, that awful promo two weeks ago featuring "the box," boredom with the Dominican twins, frustration with Claire’s flyboy,West, and their budding romance — but I’ve decided to stick with it and you should too. Theshow has offered up some tantalizing incentives to keep tuning in eachweek. The murder of Kaito Nakamura, Isaac’s painting of a Godfather-style executed Noah (the daddy formerly known as HRG), Kensei’s healing power, and my favorite tidbit: Angela Petrelli’schilling/silent command for Parkman to get out of her head during herinterrogation. Aside from these delicious plot points, I’m hopelessly devoted to my favorite Heroes: Nathan (Adrian Pasdar, pictured), whose storylinewill hopefully expand soon, and Claire, whose search for identity as an adpotee and hero is irresistible.
Look, I’venever missed an episode of Heroes.It’s good escapist fun. But that doesn’t mean the show doesn’t have itsproblems. I’ve been mulling it over all week, and my nominees for worst performanceon 
Save the cheerleader… and earn valuable prizes! Still scratching your head over the fates of Sylar (Zachary Quinto, pictured), Peter, Nathan, Claire, Hiro, and the rest after last season’s baffling 
8:00 p.m. Slow clap: L-Yeah! L-Yeah! Oh wait, sorry, gonna try to be neutral here for at least five minutes. Em-my! Em-my! Em-my!
Yes, yes, you don’t need me to tell you how cool it is that they keep casting actors from Star Trek: Original Flava on Heroes. Still: first Sulu, now Uhura. (Warning: some mild spoilers in 
Friday Night Lights, Gilmore Girls, Ugly Betty, Battlestar Galactica. We all know which shows and casts deeply deserve (but probably won’t get) Emmy nods this year. Heck, 
As a professional TV pundit, I guess I’m supposed to join my colleagues in wringing my hands over the turmoil in NBC’s executive suite and to profess shock that entertainment chief Kevin Reilly was fired so soon after presenting his handcrafted fall schedule. Yet I think would have been a shock if the network hadn’t fired him, given NBC’s 
