Ssssshhhh! Still Much Mystery Surrounds NBC's "Heroes Reborn"

There's no better time to discuss about rebirth than the start of a New Year.

As the Goat leaps in to take over the lunar calendar year, Red Dot Diva has been wondering what's up with the mini-series "Heroes Reborn", NBC's reboot of the popular TV show that ran for four seasons from 2006. Since the series was announced early last year, news about the project has been scarce.

Then, suddenly, a surprise piece of news emerged in January 2015 that caused Red Dot Diva to squee with glee. Zachary Levi, star of another well-loved NBC series "Chuck", will be taking up a key role in "Heroes Reborn". W00t! This was very good news indeed. To have Zac working together with Jack Coleman (who incidentally was the first cast member to be confirmed for "Heroes Reborn"), the project seems set to a positive start. 

For one thing, Zac has a horde of fans who adore him as Chuck Bartowski as well as real life in person. For the many who have met him in the flesh, either at the Nerd HQ or outside the Broadway theatre after his performance for "First Date", the man has been nothing but warm and friendly to his fans.

Zac looking super-serious in the "Heroes Reborn" teaser

Zac has also mentioned that he is no stranger to Tim Kring's works either, having confessed that he is a follower of the earlier "Heroes" series. That kind of familiarity to the original show's mythology and its fandom can certainly help an actor bring a respectable level of commitment to the table. Having the experience of dealing with the "Chuck" fandom, Red Dot Diva is also confident Zac is capable of handling the hardcore "Heroes" fans with his usual brand of charm.

NBC has stated that the show will be based mainly on new characters, around the timeline before the first season when some people are realizing that they have super-abilities. It is set to premiere in summer 2015 (probably around September??) and Jack Coleman will definitely be reprising his role as the ambiguous HRG in "Heroes Reborn". But other than that, no other casting news or details have been announced. 

The producers are not ruling out the original characters making a return, but we do know that Zachary Quinto, who as Sylar, stirred up evil intentions and was the main villain for many episodes, will not be returning to the franchise. This was not a surprise for Red Dot Diva, as Zach's choice of projects has always been eclectic. He had quite a few of them lined up in the last year as well. That included the drama about gay activist Michael Glatze "I Am Michael", which was screened at Sundance Film Festival last month, NBC's adaptation of the Australian series "The Slap", and an upcoming movie about Edward Snowden.

As for the rest of the cast members, Red Dot Diva managed to pose the question to Robert Knepper, who played villain Samuel Sullivan in the last season of "Heroes", and this was what he tweeted:

The short teaser featuring Zachary Levi and Jack Coleman that was released during Superbowl had "Heroes" fans craving for more. All it hinted was that something is about to happen in the cold north during the sighting of an Aurora Borealis that is swirling around another astronomical event, an Eclipse. The Eclipse, if one can remember, features strongly in the original series. Hmmmmmm........

Here's a look at that teaser again:



Generally, things seem to be so very hush-hush. While some networks are glad to toot their horns about their upcoming series, NBC has stayed tight-lipped about "Heroes Reborn". Red Dot Diva finds the lack of news disturbing, and she wonders if the ardent and vocal fanbase has anything to do with that. If keeping an air of mystery around the show is the intended marketing strategy, will there would be more tidbits leaked before and around San Diego Comic-Con? (That would be only about 3 months before September 2015, when most Fall Shows are beginning to air.)

Red Dot Diva and the rest of the "Heroes" fans await with bated breath.....

Heroes Reborn: Jack Coleman Set To Return As HRG!

This is the special day for "Heroes" fans around the world.

It has just been officially announced that Jack Coleman will be returning to NBC's "Heroes Reborn" as morally ambiguous Noah Bennett aka HRG (or Horn Rimmed Glasses)!

Jack Coleman has been seen in quite a few TV shows recently. He had a recurring role as the menacing Senator William H. Bracken in "Castle", and played CIA handler Andrew Strong in the last season of "Burn Notice". Although, he has not been away from the TV screens for too long, many "Heroes" fans still sorely miss dangerously sexy HRG.

"Heroes Reborn", a re-imagined 13-episode mini-series of the popular "Heroes" TV show, has been scheduled to premiere in 2015. The show is expected to have new characters and continues to be produced by the original series' creator Tim Kring.

There will also be a digital series that is currently angled as a prequel to "Heroes Reborn", and this will premiere before the show goes on air on NBC.com.

Red Dot Diva Readers' Picks for the Fall Season 2014-2015

The networks in the USA announced their TV schedule for this Fall recently. Being a TV series-loving fiend, Red Dot Diva followed the news with much interest.

Last year, the lineup was about monsters - the werewolves, vampires, zombies and terrifying serial killers. This year, the world of comics and superheroes seems set to overtake the primetime airwaves. Following the box office success of Marvel's superhero movies, like "Captain America: The Winter Soldier" and "X-Men: Days of Future Past", it seems that fans can't get enough of their favourite comic book characters coming to life on screen. But while Marvel is currently ruling the movie box office, DC Comics is determined to stand its ground in the TV series landscape.
   
Red Dot Diva polled a small number of her readers online on which new fall TV series they were looking forward to most. Out of a total of 31 respondents, shows based on superheroes were in the top 3 picks.

Here are the Top 5 TV series RDD readers can't wait to get on their gogglebox (in order of Highest Level of Squees to the lowest):

Heroes Reborn!! NBC Revives Show With Mini-Series To Air in 2015!

By all accounts, it was going to be a lazy Sunday with Red Dot Diva expecting to be peacefully Home Alone, enjoying her braincells turning into mush before another hectic work week begins.

But it was not meant to be.

Around noon Red Dot Island time, her Twitter feed exploded with news of "Heroes Reborn". NBC has decided to use the Winter Olympics coverage to air a special teaser. The network was going to reboot the popular TV series "Heroes" with a 13-episode mini-series 2015 produced by creator Tim Kring, complete with a new set of characters and very possibly, some of the fan faves from the original series.

Diva's 2012 New TV Series Recap Part 1 - "Revolution" and "Elementary"

This fall's TV season yielded a slew of new shows that were seemed to be mostly modernized reboots and weak, rather uncreative remakes.

Red Dot Diva was fortunate to be at SDCC Preview Night to catch early screenings of five new shows. They included CW's much-hyped "Arrow" based on the DC superhero Green Arrow, NBC's post-apocalyptic tale "Revolution" and ABC's supernatural drama "666 Park Avenue". And as reported earlier in a blog article, she was not impressed with all three of them.

During then and now, other TV new series have premiered - like "Elementary" - the very Americanized version of Sherlock Holmes, and a shiny reboot of the 1980's cult classic of the same name "Beauty and the Beast". There are more shows of course - "Vegas", "Last Resort", "Hunter", "Nashville" - just to name a few. But Red Dot Diva, with her busy schedule, was only able to carve out niches of time to catch some of them.

Here is her first review recap of the new 2012 Fall series -- four months later.

Sasha Roiz - Into The Land Of "Grimm" Fairy Tales

Red Dot Diva still thinks it is a pity that Syfy's "Battlestar Galactica" spin-off drama "Caprica" did not have the chance to go on for another season.

True, the short-lived series wasn't a full-on deep-in-space scifi show like the reimagined "Battlestar Galactica" with dogfights or had several buff characters who were easy to love. And admittedly, "Caprica"- which was set 58 years before the "Battlestar Galactica" timeline - was slow in its storytelling.

But Red Dot Diva stands by her opinion, that many of the characters in "Caprica" were complex and layered (especially Daniel Graystone), and the series actually offered many intelligent, mind-provoking questions about life and what it means. The production values for the series were mind-blowing, and despite its flaws, "Caprica" was actually a solid prequel to what was to happen later in the cherished BSG series.

One of the breakout actors in "Caprica" whom most fans could not help noticing was the tall, exotic-ly handsome Sasha Roiz. His appearance on screen as the Taurean homosexual mobster, Sam Adama, was an unforgettable package of slinky tattooed fierceness.

NBC Wants You To Stay "Awake"

When Red Dot Diva saw the trailer for new TV series "Awake", she thought it looked like a very promising and intriguing mind-warp. It was one of the rare trailers that really captured her attention.

Then, she noticed it was going to air on NBC. Surpriiiiise!!!

Together with the other new supernatural-fairytale-cop series "Grimm" (check out the blog post about it here), NBC seems very eager to put up some pretty good looking new shows for this upcoming Fall Season.

A New NBC Series - Fairy Tales of "Grimm"

'Twas the season for much awaited news on the upfronts and USA Fall TV schedules.

This is the time where some new series are slated for premiere; some would have been sadly/ gladly (take one's pick) cancelled.

So far, Red Dot Diva noted that NBC - the TV network that many fans are still angry at ("Heroes" anyone?) - had decided to not go ahead with "Wonder Woman". Which of all strange reasons was to be helmed by David E. Kelley. As experienced as he may be, Kelley who is more well-known for dramedy "Ally McBeal", "L.A. Law" and "The Practice", just did not seem to be a good fit for a super-heroine character like "Wonder Woman".